… of demented p.r. releases sent to Margalit Fox. On Facebook today:
Most, ah, arresting lede on any press release I’ve ever received: “I am a former incarcerated acid chemist. …”
Putting aside the question of the intended parsing of former incarcerated acid chemist (conveying, I assume, something like ‘acid chemist formerly incarcerated’), I focus on acid chemist, which has a straight sense — as in nucleic acid chemist ‘chemist who studies nucleic acids (like DNA and RNA) — and a high sense, as in this book title:
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where the acid in question is the psychedelic drug LSD, lysergic acid diethylamide, also known as simply as acid.
Presumably, Margalit’s correspondent was incarcerated for cooking up LSD.
The 2007 book is by the obviously pseudonymous Leonard Skinnerd. The publisher’s trippy copy on Amazon:
This work is a trip down memory lane for the baby boomer generation. The psychedelic 1960s and the counterculture or underground are explored herein. This is the account of an average American boy who was in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your point of view. The Haight-Ashbury segment will take you on the ultimate acid trip. It will walk you through the Haight, the purple and orange head shops, down past the fish and chips place by the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. We will party with Jimi, Janis and Jerry at the Fillmore West. Read on and have a good trip.
Then the pseudonym Leonard Skinnerd. Also from those trippy times. From Wikipedia:
Lynyrd Skynyrd is an American rock band best known for popularizing the Southern rock genre during the 1970s. Originally formed in 1964 as My Backyard in Jacksonville, Florida, the band was also known by names such as The Noble Five and One Percent, before finally deciding on “Lynyrd Skynyrd” in 1969. The band gained worldwide recognition for its live performances and signature songs “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Free Bird”.
,,, In 1969, [Ronnie] Van Zant sought a new name. The group settled on Leonard Skinnerd, a mocking tribute to physical education teacher Leonard Skinner at Robert E. Lee High School. Skinner was notorious for strictly enforcing the school’s policy against boys having long hair. Rossington dropped out of school, tired of being hassled about his hair. The more distinctive spelling “Lynyrd Skynyrd” was being used at least as early as 1970.
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