Suzuki Shigeru, guitarist for the legendary Japanese rock band Happy End, was arrested Tuesday in Tuesday. The 57-year-old had 27 grams of cannabis in his possession and apparently 'fessed up that the stuff was his.

In the usual rending-of-hair, gnashing-of-teeth response, record labels have withdrawn all Happy End CDs, as well as all of Suzuki's solo work, from the market. They've been pulled down from I-Tunes and other on-line providers, too. As this Japanese-language news report notes, Internet bulletin boards and other venues are filled, quite appropriately, with complaints: what the hell is the point of banning excellent music (recorded nearly forty years ago) because one of the performers got himself into trouble?

But of course there are rituals that must be performed here. Suzuki will pay his dues, and the CDs will slowly find their way back into retail store racks. When that happens, if you don't already have them, you should pick up a copy of the eponymous debut album or "Kaze machi roman," their second: lost classics of West Coast folk rock, ala Buffalo Springfield, with marvelous lyrics and musicianship. And then perhaps we can look forward to Suzuki reuniting someday with his old bandmates--Hosono Haruomi, Eiichi Ohtaki and Matsumoto Takashi. That would be a really happy end (apologies: I couldn't resist).