Happy Birthday Merle!

Country music legend Merle Haggard turns 73 today.
Merle was born in Bakersfield, California. His parents had moved from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. At that time, much of the population of Bakersfield consisted of economic refugees from Oklahoma and surrounding states.
By his twenty-first birthday Merle had run away regularly from home, been placed in two separate reform schools (from which he in turn escaped a half-dozen times), worked as a laborer, played guitar and sung informally, begun a family, and performed sporadically at southern California clubs and, for three weeks, on the Smilin’ Jack Tyree Radio Show in Springfield, Missouri. He also spent time in local jails for theft and bad checks.
Haggard's criminal career culminated in 1957 when, drunk and confused, he was caught burglarizing a Bakersfield roadhouse. After an attempted escape from county jail, he was sent to San Quentin. There, in a final burst of antisocial activity, he got drunk on prison home brew, landing himself briefly in solitary confinement.
While incarcerated, Haggard attended three of Johnny Cash's concerts at San Quentin. Seeing Cash perform encouraged Haggard to straighten up and pursue his singing. Several years later, at another Cash concert, Haggard came up to Johnny and told him "I certainly enjoyed your show at San Quentin." Cash said "Merle, I don't remember you bein' in that show." Merle replied, "Johnny, I wasn't in that show, I was in the audience."
Merle's guitar work and voice gives his country a hard edged, blues like style in many cuts.
Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield Sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville Sound recordings of the same era.
Merle Haggard has been outspoken in his dislike for modern country music.

Stringbean

a.k.a. David Akeman (6/17/15 – 11/10/73)


In my last post, I paid tribute to television's HEE HAW.Today I will remember an individual member of the cast--a great man, who met a tragic and untimely death.




Stringbean, was a banjo player and comedy musician.He is best known for his role on the hit television show Hee Haw, but his work also goes back to the 1940s and a three-year stint with Bill Monroe.Oddly, it was as a ballplayer -- not a banjo player -- that Akeman first came to the attention of Monroe, who fielded a private semi-pro team.It was during this period that Akeman teamed with Willie Egbert Westbrook as "String Beans and Cousin Wilbur," a comedy duo, who often worked on the same bills with Monroe's Blue Grass Boys.
Stringbean would leave Monroe's group in 1945.

David Akeman was born to a farming family in Annville, KY. He built his first homemade instrument (at age seven) out of a shoe box and thread borrowed from his mother.
During the Depression-era, Akeman spent time working for the Civilian Conservation Corps, building roads and planting trees ("shovel-ready" projects?).
One day he entered a talent contest that was being judged by singer-guitarist-musical saw player Asa Martin, and won. He joined Martin's band, and during one performance the bandleader stumbled over Akeman's name and, unable to remember it, introduced him to the crowd as "String Beans." With his tall, lanky frame, the name was a natural and it stuck.In 1946, he first began working with Grandpa Jones (Louis Marshall Jones), a fellow old-time banjo player with a penchant for comedy.During the late '40s, Akeman also formed a team with Lew Childre and became a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry.It was also around this time that he became a protégé of Uncle Dave Macon, a banjo-player/comic and one of the Opry's most beloved performers.



It was in 1969 that Stringbean and Grandpa Jones became founding members of the cast of Hee Haw. Stringbean became an instant hit, his lanky figure and bewildered expression, coupled with self-deprecating one-liners, made Akeman one of the most popular members of the cast.One of his regular routines was to read a "letter from Home" to his friends.He was also known for being the "Scarecrow" in the cornfield, who would shoot off one liners before being shouted down by the "crow" on his shoulder (The Scarecrow would remain in the Cornfield as a silent tribute after his untimely death).

Akeman lived an extremely modest, simple life. Remembering the hard times of the Depression, Stringbean and his wife lived in a tiny cabin near Ridgetop, Tennessee, approximately 20 miles outside of Nashville. Their only luxury was a Cadillac.
Stringbean did not trust banks due to the multiple bank failures of the Hoover years, and he kept thousands of dollars on his person, which he was known to flash around. It was rumored that Stringbean had a fortune in cash stashed at his house. It was these rumors that led two cousins, John and Marvin Douglas, on the night of November 10, 1973, to break into the cabin.
Returning from a performance at the Grand Old Opry, the burglars shot Stringbean dead after he entered his house, then ran down and killed Estelle. By immediately murdering Stringbean, they had no chance to question him on the whereabouts of any hidden cash, which they were unable to find. They managed to steal some firearms and a chainsaw, all at the cost of two lives. Stringbean and Estelle's neighbor Grandpa Jones discovered his slain friends the next morning.
David and Estelle Akeman are buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Goodlettsville, Tennessee.


Jackson County, Kentucky now hosts the annual Stringbean Memorial Bluegrass Festival.

Below, Grandpa Jones pays tribute.

Phil Spector Wig's Out

Prison confiscates Phil Spector's wig

I thought for sure it was his real hair!

(via the smoking gun)

Many More Mugshots Here.

“Johnny Sue-nami” - the most litigious person in America.

Man sues over most-litigious crown [via The Spokesman-Review]

Jonathan Lee Riches, aka Irving Picard, alleges that the Guinness Book of World Records is planning to print false information about the number of lawsuits he has filed, which he says is more than 4,000 worldwide. And he objects to the names Guinness intends to call him, including: “The litigator crusader,” the “duke of lawsuits,” “Johnny Sue-nami,” “Sue-per-man” and the “Patrick Ewing of suing.”
Some of the Federal inmate’s many targets include pirates, Plato, Nostradamus, James Hoffa, and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!

Yankee Crank?

Jacqueline Standley, the estranged mother of Joba Chamberlain, was jailed in Nebraska and faces a felony charge after being arrested on suspicion of selling methamphetamine to an undercover police officer

(via NY Post)

You may recall, Joba had some troubles of his own last October ( in addition to the Yankees not playing in the post-season).

Obama Weekly Address Translated - The Road To Serfdom

Here's B.O.'s 3/21 address.See what he's really saying.




From the folks at Conservative Punk.

AIG and America's New Free Enterprise

Oh here comes the change. Our President hires a chief tax collector who is either a tax cheat or someone who can't figure out the tax code he has to enforce. Meanwhile, hundreds of executives at AIG get multi million dollar bonus direct from the tax payers. It looks like free enterprise as we know it is dead. Failed companies get richer, successful companies get poorer and the poor and middle class keep losing jobs and there savings. G-d Bless You Capitalism, you'll be missed!~Jackie Mason

"Would you people wake up! AIG is a freaking smoke screen to take your attention away from the real criminals in this country...

... The freaking government!"

The government is playing a game with you and no matter what freaking number they roll, YOU FREAKING LOSE!!! You're worried about AIG. I'd be more worried about the GOV than AIG!! Would you wake up! The only way we're going to stop this is to all grab a freaking musket and charge the freaking White House!

Posting May Be Light For A While

Just kidding!

Oh wait, I think there's someone at the door.

Drinking w/ Bob:Illegal Immigrants sue American Citizen and Win...

"You're gonna love this story. A rancher in Arizona has a problem with illegal immigration.

What's his problem?

He lives in an area that state and federal authorities like to refer to as an "avenue of choice". What's an avenue of choice? This a place where illegal immigrants like to come over the border. So for years, illegal immigrants have been coming over the border. Trapsing through this guys property. Leaving behind water bottles, clothing, toilet paper, fesces. His animals have been eating this stuff, getting sick and dying.

Finally he got so tired, he put up security cameras. He winds up catching 24 illegal immigrants trespassing on his property. He went out with a gun and his dog. And he held them there till the cops came. The cops came and took them away. Whenever they got done doing whatever it was they did with the freaking cops. They turn around and they sue the guy.

Are you freaking kidding me?!!

Here's the capper to the story... THEY WIN. This guy has to pay them 73 thopusand dollars, for holding them against their will.

Are you freaking kidding me?

When are you people going to get it?

The United States Government is disenfranchising everyone of us.

They're the ones who came up with immigration laws. They're the ones who decided how you get into this country legally and how you get into this country illegally. And when people started coming into this country ILLEGALLY! The United States Government DID NOTHING to stop them!!

Now we're overrun by freaking illegal immigrants. And when we stand up. When we the people stand up and defend ourselves. When we defend OUR property. We wind up paying 73 thousand dollars. Are you freaking kidding me?!!

When are you people going to get it? No Republican or no Democrat is ever going to bring any change to this country!

The Democrats aren't going to do it, because these are the kind of people they cater to. They're giving this country away to anyone who'll put their hand out and agrees to vote for them.

And the Republicans... they're too big a pussies to stop them! Because they're afraid they're going to be called racists if they do!!

Would you people wake up! Would you get it!

The only way we're going to get change in this country is through a freaking Revolution!!!

When are you gonna get it?

73 thousand dollars, for stopping an illegal immigrant from trespassing on YOUR freaking property!!"

(click photo for video)

"What do they want next? What are we going to let them take next?'Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied'."

If you want to read the stimulus bill for yourself, it’s on the web at the Library of Congress website.

somebody needs to read it!

It would seem that our "representatives" have not.

This site here has a breakdown of the "Eco-stimuli" bill. It also includes the actual bill itself.
(this is the most recent update - 2/16, includes PDF)

or visit:

ReadTheStimulus.org !

Or:
View PDF Document

Let your reps hear your voice!
You want to send an e-mail, a letter, or a phone call?
This site here is a good resource.

Thanks to Al Roney for providing these links.

Bob Takes A Swing At A-Rod

"A-Rod. Alex Rodriquez third baseman for the New York Yankees. Do you realize that in 2003 this guy tested positive for steroids? 103 other players tested positive for steroids in 2003. That's 5 percent of Major League Baseball was doing steroids in 2003.

Did you ever hear about it? Were any of these guys ever prosecuted? Why not? Do you know it's a crime to do steroids in this country? Not just in Major League Baseball. But, in this country.

You have guys sitting in jail today who smoked crack, sniffed cocain, smoked weed and did steroids. Where's Alex Rodriquez?

He's sitting on a beach in Aruba sucking on the sagging tits of some geriatric pop star. And you think that's fair? You think if some guy was doing coke in the bathroom of Yankee Stadium, Major League Baseball and the Yankees wouldn't have prosecuted him to the full extent of the law? You think if some guy stole a freaking bobblehead from one of their stupid concession stands, he wouldn't be prosecuted? Of course he would! Cause it's a crime!

But, I guess you don't get prosecuted when you make 300 million dollars a year and can hit a freaking baseball.

Aren't you people sick of these freaking celebrities getting treated better than you? Aren't you sick of it? Why don't you do something? Why don't you stop buying Alex Rodriquez jerseys? Why don't you stop buying Yankee hats? Why don't you stop going to baseball games? You love baseball so much/ Go to a freaking college game! You don't have to watch these pieces of trash!!

You think major League Baseball really cares that Alex Rodriquz is doing steroids.? They don't care if he's doing steroids or shooting heroin in the freaking dugout. As long as you go to the stadium and spend 8 dollars on peanuts, 12 dollars on freaking beer and 100 dollars on an Alex Rodriquez shirt!

When are you people gonna freaking get it?!

And then Alex Rodriquez. He gets asked the other day, did you do steroids? He could stand up! He could stand up and act like a man and either admit his guilt or innocence. What does he do? He says, talk to the union. I have nothing to say.

Oh you got nothing to say? You know what Alex, Fuck You! Fuck You you arrogant piece of shit! FUCK YOU!!!"

"Pelosi is an Idiot and Obama has No Balls..."

"Let me break it down to you in simplest terms. NOBODY is against the stimulus package! No Republican. No Democrat. No freaking person in this country is against the stimulus package.

We may not agree with it. We may not think it's a great idea to give tax rebates to people who don't pay taxes. We may not think it is a great idea to spend taxpayers money on infrastructure projects that won't even start for one or two years in the future. But, that doesn't mean we don't agree with the right that Barack Obama has to at least try, if he thinks that is going to work.

What people object to is the PORK! The pork that has been pushed into this freaking project. The freaking swimming pools and freaking golf courses. The freaking money for doorbells in Mississippi and new schools in Milwaukee, where they have too many schools already. The 192 billion dollars being spent on Filipino World War II Veterans. That's what everybody has a problem with!

If the pork was taken out of this bill. It would have passed yesterday. It would have passed two weeks ago. Why is the pork in this bill? I'll tell you why, change! Change! Change has a new definition in this country. What does it stand for now? It means the President, Barack Obama is no longer in charge. The new leader of the country is, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. She's in charge. And her and her democratic cronies have stuffed this stimulus bill so full of pork it's busting at the seams!

This woman came on t.v. the other day and said that every month that goes by and we don't pass this stimulus bill. 500 million Americans will lose their jobs. 500 million Americans?! Hello!! We don't have 500 million people working in this country! At best we have 140, 150 million people working in this country.

The woman is an idiot and she's in charge!

You want this bill to freaking pass? Then Barack Obama has to get some balls! He has to be a man! He has to step up and tell Nancy Pelosi and her democratic cronies, who stuck all this freaking pork into his stimulus bill. To get every ounce of pork out of it! Put the bill back on the table. Let everybody sign it. And LET'S MOVE ON!!!"

Mallard Chimes In On The Current State Of The Media

... and the lapse of reason within the GOP.

What does Blagojevich know? and who does he know it about?

Why is Rod Blagojevich still Governor?
"This is a guy who was caught on tape trying to SELL a senate seat. he was dragged out of his bed and arrested at 6 o'clock in the morning. Yet, he is still allowed to govern? Cmon! Governor Elliot Spitzer only slept with prostitutes and he was forced to resign in less than a day. My guess is Rod Blagojevich has some information on someone a lot more powerful than himself and he is not afraid to use it if need be."

Jackie and Dunlap talk to the corruptest, bribe-takin'est governor in all of America

Blagojevich


here's a link to their holiday video,"Christmas In A Beer Joint".

Can You Believe It's been 28 Years...

... since the other date that will live in infamy?


Auio clip:

New York, NY Radio / The Night John Lennon Died

Video tribute:

What is it gonna take for people to wake up?!

Here's a couple more rants,

on the Black Friday "Murder at Walmart", and yet "Another Freaking Bailout",

from Drinking With Bob.

WHAT'S NEXT?!

So Many Birthdays...

There are many birthdays to acknowledge today.
Neil Young, the Singer/songwriter with many different styles (at various times he recorded with the bands Buffalo Springfield, Crazy Horse, and Crosby, Stills & Nash&Young), is 63 today.

Turning 64 today, Booker T. Jones, the multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known for fronting the band, Booker T. and the MGs.

In honor of these two, I present this video in which they perform together.




November 12 also marks the 74th birthday of Charles Manson, leader of the "Manson Family" convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate among others,a "nut case who will never get out of jail".

But wait!, there's more.

My friend Tom Vizi (seen here with the Duke) also celebrates today (damned if I know how old he is), and finally, a happy birthday to my friend Rachel Connolly!