An Anniversary "SA-LUTE!" to the folks of Kornfield Kounty

One of the most popular and longest running variety shows in the history of television made it's debut 40 years ago on this date.



HEE HAW was a television variety show, co-hosted by musicians Buck Owens and Roy Clark, featuring country music and humor with fictional, rural "Kornfield Kounty" as a backdrop.



HEE HAW, sort of a country version of Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, was unlike anything else on television – a variety show that embraced the rural lifestyle of the South with skits, curvaceous country girls and the corniest jokes around.



The highlight of HEE HAW was the musical performances that filled each episode, not only by co-hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark, but an array of country music superstars and singers on the rise performing music that ranged from classic country to contemporary, and gospel to bluegrass.



Virtually every major country superstar appeared on Hee Haw at one time or another – Charley Pride, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Sonny James, Ernest Tubb, Charlie Rich, Ray Price, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, Roy Acuff, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Statler Brothers, Alabama, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Vince Gill ... and many more.



But not all the guests on the show were from country music. Frequently, there were singers from other genres who became popular with country audiences, plus actors and comedians appeared as well.

MEMPHIS MINNIE (1897 - 1973)

Guitar player and blues singer Memphis Minnie is considered by many to be the best female blues artist of all time.
Minnie (born Lizzie Douglas) was as tough a drinker and blues singer as any man. She not only ranks along with the blues' best female artists, but also along with the best male blues artists.
Lizzie received her first guitar in 1905 as a Christmas present. She was soon playing guitar and banjo, and sometime during her early teens began running away from home to play on Memphis' Beale Street.
Minnie would play anywhere she could- on the street, in juke jives, in dives, in the park, at house parties, anywhere they’d listen.
Memphis Minnie’s innovation and rhythm on guitar impressed her contemporaries and her teachers alike. She traveled all over the States, and she easily changed her sets or arrangements to suit the chemistry of her audience.
Minnie was married three times, and each husband was an accomplished blues guitarist: Kansas Joe McCoy later of the Harlem Hamfats, Casey Bill Weldon of the Memphis Jug Band, and Ernest "Little Son Joe" Lawlers.


"When The Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie



Memphis Minnie, Joe McCoy - "Pile Driver Blues"; Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey - "Down By The Riverside"; Memphis Minnie, Memphis Jug Band - "Bumble Bee Blues"



In the mid 1950s, her health began to fail. Minnie returned to Memphis and retired from performing and recording. She spent her twilight years in a nursing home, where she died of a stroke in 1973. She is buried at the New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery in Walls, Mississippi.
A headstone paid for by Bonnie Raitt was erected by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on 13 October 1996.

The inscription on the back of her gravestone reads:

"The hundreds of sides Minnie recorded are the perfect material to teach us about the blues. For the blues are at once general, and particular, speaking for millions, but in a highly singular, individual voice. Listening to Minnie's songs we hear her fantasies, her dreams, her desires, but we will hear them as if they were our own."

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.

"The Ultimate Jew"...

... turns 78 today, as Borscht-belt comedian Jackie Mason celebrates his birthday.
Mason (born Yacov Moshe Maza, on June 9, 1936, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin) has had several one-man comedy stage shows over the years.

Visit his official site, or view one of his politically charged vlogs (like the one below).

Pelosi: Like a deranged pig in heat



Also celebrating today, is guitar wizard Les Paul.
Here's last years post (just add one year).

That Cat Fats

Last weekend a film was posted over at Pass The Popcorn Please.That film, Tin Pan Alley Cats, -which depicts Fats Waller as a cartoon cat-got me to thinkin' that I should briefly resurrect my old series to pay homage to this great artist.

Fats Waller

Thomas Wright Waller (May 21, 1904 - December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer and comedic entertainer.
Waller was one of the most popular performers of his era. His songs have become standards of the jazz repertoire.
Fats wrote many songs, among them are "Squeeze Me" (1919), "Keepin' Out of Mischief Now", "Ain't Misbehavin'" (1929), "Blue Turning Grey Over You", "I've Got a Feeling I'm Falling" (1929), "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929), and "Jitterbug Waltz" (1942). He collaborated with the Tin Pan Alley lyricist Andy Razaf.
Waller also composed stride piano display pieces such as "Handful of Keys", "Valentine Stomp" and "Viper's Drag."
In addition to his virtuosic playing, Waller was known for his many quips during his performances, including:- "One never knows, do one?" ... "No lady, we can't haul your ashes for 25 cents, that's bad business" ... "Mercy!" ... "Well, all right then!" ... "I wonder what the poor people are doing - I'd love to be doing it with them!" ... "Run in and stab me, but don't bruise me!" ... "Wot's da matta wit DAT?!" ... and - of a large lady vocalist - "All that meat and no potatoes!"


The last few years of Waller's life involved frequent recordings and extensive tours of the USA. In early 1943, he returned to Hollywood to make the film Stormy Weather with Lena Horne and Bill Robinson, in which he led an all-star band including Benny Carter and Zutty Singleton.
Fats contracted pneumonia and died on a cross-country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri on December 15, 1943. His ashes were flown and spread over Harlem by the famous World War I aviator known as "The Black Ace".


In the player below; 18th Street Stomp (1926), Baby, Oh Where Can You Be (1929), Blue Black Bottom (1926), Loveless Love (1926), Numb fumbling (1929), Savannah Blues (1926), The Digah's Stomp (Pipe Organ Solo) (1927), Valentine stomp (1929), You Rascal, You! (1929)

".... so much applause, that at times it seemed like he was addressing the WhiteHouse press corps."

Obama gave his big Muslim speech in Cairo. How did Muslims react? What about Israel? Most importantly, what about Jackie and Dunlap?

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES”

RIP KOKO TAYLOR (1928 - 2009)

Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed.
Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments.



Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and Stevie Ray Vaughn.

The more things change...

Mallard Fillmore reflects on his first 15 years

Pointless Regulations Are Ruining British Pub Life

Nanny-State Idiocy Across The Pond:

Pubs were once one of the most autonomous spaces in Britain; now they are one of the most regulated. The traditional pub was a law unto itself—frosted glass and thick smoke gave patrons privacy from the prying eyes of the street. Police officers entered only in extreme circumstances. A typical maze of pub rooms exhibited—as Charles Dickens put it in Oliver Twist—"cunning, ferocity, and drunkenness in all its stages." There was gaming, dancing, and fighting, as well as people doing business and having affairs. Communities were often centered on the pub, known as "the local," and several districts of London—Elephant & Castle, Angel, and Swiss Cottage—are named after their old pubs. Indeed, the very name—public house—indicates that this was a place for the public, not the authorities. ...

via reasononline.

Remember when Dave's humor used to be called edgy?

"Journalism's kinda scary - and of it we should be wary"

M.C. and I have discussed, at length, the role that the mainstream media has played in leading our nation into its current predicament.
Below is a lyric fragment from a Frank Zappa song, which sums up his (similar) thoughts on journalists.

"... Oh no, you gotta go

Who do you write for?
I wanna know
I believe you is the government's whore
And keeping peoples dumb
Is where you're coming from..."

Excerpted from "Packard Goose".

Artist Spotlight: Lonesome Spurs

Lonesome Spurs are a true duo in the sense that their recordings are made live in the studio with just the two of them performing.
Lynda Kay Parker and Danny B. Harvey are the component parts of this quirky country duo.Self-described as the “White Stripes of country,” the pair's debut CD, Lonesome Spurs, shows off the retro sound they call “honky-tonk garage.” Their music is centered around the vocal stylings of Miss Parker — who plays rhythm guitar, tenor guitar, and a bass drum made from a vintage Samsonite suitcase — and the twangy lead guitar playing of Mr. Harvey.

Texas natives Lynda Kay and Danny B., first met in the wilderness country of New Zealand while they were there with their local 4H club studying the art of sheep-herding. Their studies turned out to be a very important, but extremely boring, so to pass the time, Lynda Kay and Danny B. entertained the sheep, other US national 4H members, local shepherds and the town folk by playing their odd mixture of honky-tonk, rockabilly and garage music. Being as there were no drummers in the 4H class that year and longing for the clickety-clack of a train, Lynda Kay took her raggedy old suitcase, found in a second hand store outside of Austin, rigged up a dried out gourd with some bailing wire and, before long, turned her suitcase into a bona fide drum. By the time their summer program came to an end, they had forged their own unique, original sound, and had penned over 50 original compositions. They called themselves 'The New Zealand, Honky-Tonk Sheep Herding Garage Duo of Outrageously Clever 4-H Students'. Realizing that this name was somewhat long, they later would be become the LONESOME SPURS.

"He Spelled My Name Wrong"

Medley:Folsom Prison Blues > Whole Lotta Love > Who Do You Love? > Folsom Prison Blues

Elana James Live at Ballard Park - May 29, 2007

Today's Date In Music History:two years ago, Elana James and The Continental Two performed at Ballard Park in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Elana James is a masterful violinist and vocalist who is reknowned for her work with the Hot Club of Cowtown. She and her duo (Whit Smith on guitar and Beau Sample on bass) produced a dazzling mix of sound, predominantly old-timey dance tunes and foot tapping western swing played with enormous verve and spirit.

This performance was a part of the "C.H.I.R.P." (Concert Happenings In Ridgefield's Parks) series.

Disc 1
1.) intros, 2.) Exactly Like You, 3.) Ragtime Annie,
4.) Down The Line, 5.) Emily, 6.) Cotton Eyed Joe,
7.) Devil's Dream, 8.) The Little Green Valley, 9.) Dinah, 10.) Ida Red, 11.) 'Deed I Do, 12.) Fuli Tschai, 13.) Run Away With Me, 14.) Mississippi Delta Blues, 15.) Twenty-Four Hours a Day,
16.) Eva's Waltz, 17.) Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette), 18.) Orange Blossom Special
Disc 2
1.) Oklahoma Rag, 2.) Oklahoma Hills, 3.) Oh, Baby, 4.) One More Night, 5.) It Stops With Me,
6.) Hamilton County Breakdown, 7.) I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good), 8.) Stomp, Stomp,
9.) Dev'lish Mary, 10.) Blue Bonnet Lane, 11.) Tchavolo Swing, 12.) Atomic Cocktail,
13.) Cherokee Shuffle, 14.) I Can't Believe You're In Love With Me, 15.) Sally Goddin'

Play show here:

Download full show here.

Special thanx to MC for the C.H.I.R.P. photo.

“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!

Jay Bennett - Dead At 45

Jay Bennett, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer, singer-songwriter, and former member of the band Wilco, is said to have died in his sleep Saturday night at the age of 45.
Further details were not yet available at post time.

From Wilco World.net:
"We are all deeply saddened by this tragedy. We will miss Jay as we remember him -- as a truly unique and gifted human being and one who made welcome and significant contributions to the band's songs and evolution. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends in this very difficult time." ~ Jeff Tweedy

Miles Ahead Of His Time

Jazz trumpeter, composer, and small-band leader, Miles Davis (May 26,1926-Sept. 28,1991) was in the jazz vanguard for more than two decades.
To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s. Miles was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the music during that period, and often led the way in those changes, both with his own performances and recordings and by choosing sidemen and collaborators who forged new directions.
Miles Dewey Davis III was the son of a dental surgeon, Dr. Miles Dewey Davis Jr., and a music teacher, Cleota Mae (Henry) Davis.He grew up in the black middle class of east St. Louis. Miles became interested in music during his childhood and by the age of 12 began taking trumpet lessons. While still in high school, he started to get jobs playing in local bars and at 16 was playing gigs out of town on weekends.
Davis first heard modern jazz at age 18 when Billy Eckstine’s ensemble - which included saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie - came to town for a two-week residency. Davis wound up replacing a trumpet player in the band who had taken ill. He accompanied Eckstine back to New York, where he studied classical music at Juilliard by day and played jazz clubs at night. Davis joined Parker’s quintet in 1945 and made his recording debut as a band leader two years later.

Throughout the years, Miles continued inventing new ways of making music and in doing so he discovered many up-and-coming musicians. They include John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, among others. Besides making recordings with his own small jazz groups, Miles also had a great success with a large orchestra that his friend Gil Evans wrote the music for. In later years, he experimented with fusing rock and pop music with jazz.

Miles remained an innovator of music throughout his entire career.

Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991 from a stroke, pneumonia and respiratory failure in Santa Monica, California at the age of 65. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.

Freedom Highway (1956)

In honor of Memorial Day, I present to you this short patriotic film (about 30 min.).

Freedom Highway shows a nation in need of spiritual and patriotic renewal, and as we'll see, this renewal is to be sought in our past.
A Greyhound bus transports us through the landscape of American mythology in this entertaining "story of America".
You'll meet an unusual group of travelers on this cross-country bus trip. Fred Schroder, embittered by the death of his son in Korea, is riding to Washington to accept a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor on the son's behalf. Jimmy Rollins, the Boy Scout, is heading to Washington for his first Jamboree. Love interest is supplied by Mary (a young Angie Dickinson) and Bill Roberts, a football hero on the make. Tex Ritter, playing himself, takes a short ride on the bus as it passes through Texas, singing about the Alamo and the "freedom road." Most important of all, a black-suited mysterious stranger (Marshall Thompson) appears, as if from nowhere, to transform the outlook of the passengers.

The bus-bound journey through space becomes a journey through time as great moments and personalities in U.S. history are recreated.

There are a lot of families whose lives are forever changed by men who gave everything for us.


They deserve our respect.

"I think I'd rather eat the barrel, of a double-barrel loaded shotgun, than to hear that shit they call pop-country music, on ninety-eight-point-one"

_
Today's Date In Music History: Hank Williams III Live at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas on 5/23/2006

COUNTRY SET
01) Straight To Hell - 02) Thrown Out Of The Bar - 03) A Little Bit Of Smoke & A Whole Lotta Wine - 04) I Don't Know - 05) Pills I Took -
06) Devil's My Friend - 07) Country Heroes -
08) Mississippi Mud - 09) Trashville - 10) Legend of D Ray White -
11) Dick In Dixie - 12) Longhaired Redneck - 13) If You Don't Like Hank Williams - 14) Ramblin Man' - 15) Cocaine Blues - 16) Crazed Country Rebel - 17) Seven Months 39 Days - 18) Not Everbody Likes Us -
19) Hoedown - 20) Louisanna Stripes - 21) Nighttime Ramblin Man'
HELLBILLY SET
01) Don't Wanna Go Home - 02) Prayin For A Heart Attack - 03) Life Of Sin - 04) White trash Pt. 2 - 05) Mississippi Highway (Go Fuck You) - 06) Hellbilly
ASSJACK SET
01) Gravel Pit - 02) Trepanation - 03) Cutthroat - 04) Brutal, Rough & Bloody - 05) Redneck Ride (Gotta Buy Paw A Truck) - 06) We Take Pills - 07) Choking Gesture - 08) Tennessee Drive -
09) No Regrets - 10) No Values - 11) Punch, Fight, Fuck - 12) Cocaine - 13) Cops Shoot Drugs -
14) Eat and Kill - 15) Black Destiny

The sound on this one isn't crystal but it's good enough to get drunk to!

Play Show Here:
(warning-strong language)

Download full show here.

Hank and the band are extremely cool to all tapers, on June 25, 2004, Hank Williams III gave his OK for archive.org inclusion:

"I give all bootleggers permission to upload my shows ... if there are any venue troubles it is encouraged for the taper to knock on the bus door and ask for road managers Karma or Randy. If they arent available ask for Hank himself and he will get you taken care of." ~ Hank Williams III

One For MC

MC, over at A Fine Mess, has long been a staunch supporter of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Actor Charlton Heston was also a champion of the right to keep and bear arms.

Below is a photo of what was reportedly** Chuck Heston's gun safe.

(thanks to Al at WGY)

Click photo to look inside!

As this Memorial Day weekend approaches, take a moment to reflect on all the brave souls that have given their lives to protect this, and other rights.
Don't let their deaths be in vain.

DON'T ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO STRIP YOU OF YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS! Don't give in without a fight.

NEVER GIVE UP YOUR FREEDOM!

Today's Date In Music History:

(This type of post may become a new regular feature on the blog, so feedback is welcomed.)


Grateful Dead Live at Edmundson Pavilion - University of Washington on May 21, 1974

Set 1

Me And My Uncle, Brown Eyed Women, Beat It On Down The Line, Deal, Mexicali Blues, It Must Have Been The Roses, The Race Is On, Scarlet Begonias, El Paso, Row Jimmy, Money Money, Ship Of Fools, Weather Report Suite Prelude -> Weather Report Suite Part 1 -> Let It Grow -> China Doll

Set 2
Playing In The Band, U.S. Blues, Big River, Stella Blue, Around And Around, Eyes Of The World -> Wharf Rat -> Sugar Magnolia
Encore
Johnny B. Goode

Particularly of note is the version of Playing In The Band, which clocks in at over 46 minutes!

Play show here:

Download complete show here.

Pete Townshend

Rock musician/composer Pete Townshend, founding member of The Who, celebrates his 64th birthday today.


Below is a video of The Who performing at Tanglewood in July 1970.



Download: The Who at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 29, 1969
- complete soundboard recording of The Who in 1969 includes a full performance of Tommy:

disc 1

disc 2

via CROZ.FM

or, if you'd prefer, download some solo Pete - The Lifehouse Demos.

Vol. 1

Vol. 2

via Never Get Out Of The Boat

"if there is any justice in the world, she will be eating out of garbage cans by the end of the year!!!"

-Bob opines on Nancy Pelosi

Alfred has also posted on the subject, as has Jimmy.

Has anyone noticed how these people so quickly rely on the "idiot defense" each time a scandal arises?
Either they're lying or incompetent.Neither quality should be tolerated in a leader.

Michael Savage rants on Pelosi as well:

"SHE BETRAYED THE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHO WORK FOR OUR GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT US BY CLAIMING THAT THEY WERE EVIL TORTURERS. AND LIBERALS, LISTEN UP. SHE BETRAYED YOU, TOO, BY PRETENDING ALL ALONG THAT SHE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING. WELL, AT LEAST THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HAS ITS FIRST FEMALE SPEAKER, RIGHT?"

I like where this appears to be going.Soon we'll all be singing that song from The Wizard Of Oz.

It's Alright, When He Does it.

The "Sunshine Superman" turns 63

Born Donovan Leitch in Glasgow, Scotland, the singer/songwriter known as Donovan has achieved immortality on oldies radio thanks to the popularity of songs like "Mellow Yellow" and "Sunshine Superman." First promoted as Britain's answer to Bob Dylan, Donovan began as a straightforward modernizer of folk music, and then later embraced the flower-powered spirit of hippie mysticism that characterized the mid-'60s. Teaming with producer Mickie Most, Donovan put out a series of increasingly eclectic albums that tapped into the psychedelic spirit of the time before turning heavy and apocalyptic as the '60s drew to a close.

Below is the song "Barabajagal (Love Is Hot)" recorded in May of 1969, on which Donovan is backed by the Jeff Beck Group (Beck on lead guitar, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins on piano, and Micky Waller on drums).

Happy Mothers' Day!

Mama Tried

by Merle Haggard

First thing I remember knowing was that lonesome whistle blowing

And a young man's dream of growing up to ride
On a freight train leaving town, not knowing where I'm bound
No-one could change my mind but mama tried

One and only rebel child, from a family meek and mild
Mama seemed to know what lay in store
In spite of all my Sunday learning towards the bad I kept on turning
Mama couldn't hold me any more

And I turned twenty one in prison doing life without parole
No-one could steer me right but mama tried
Mama tried to raise me better but her pleading I denied
That leaves only me to blame 'cause mama tried

Dear old daddy, rest his soul, left my mom a heavy load
She tried so very hard to fill his shoes
Working hours without rest, wanted me to have the best
She tried to raise me right but I refused

Click image below to hear Mama Tried as performed by New Riders of the Purple Sage (w/ special guest, Bob Weir), recorded at the Fillmore East May 15, 1970.

Feeling a bit Odd?

Happy Odd Day!

It's 05/07/09 which means there are three consecutive odd numbers that make up the date.
This happens only 6 times per century.

"Oh, the Humanity!!"

The Hindenburg disaster occurred on this date in 1937.
The German rigid airship caught fire and was destroyed while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station.Out of the 97 people on board, 35 were killed, in addition to one fatality on the ground.


The largest man made object ever to fly, the Hindenburg would carry a gas volume of 7,062,000 cubic feet.


Although the Hindenburg is most famous for her fiery death, she was not initially meant to be filled with hydrogen at all. In order to keep the Zeppelin Company afloat during the hard times of the depression, large sums of money (bailout?) had been accepted by the National Socialist Party (anyone see a parallel here?).The United States, having the only natural deposits of helium in the world, was getting more and more suspicious of Hitler and his new Third Reich. Government officials wondered if the Zeppelin could be used for military purposes.Thus, a decision was made in the U.S. Congress and The Helium Control Act made it impossible for the Zeppelin Company to obtain helium for their new ship. With this turn of events, the Hindenburg was inflated with the volatile gas, hydrogen.
The "accident" served to shatter public confidence, and marked the end of the giant, passenger carrying rigid airships.
While many conclude that the cause was sabotage, various alternate theories abound.
Some credit the Pineys.

"a storm forced the Hindenburg into a holding pattern. The airship, only a few hundred feet off the ground, circled central New Jersey for two hours. Lakehurst, where it was trying to land, is on the edge of the Pines, and everyone knows Pineys don’t tolerate anyone poking into their woods, They figured the zeppelin was a government ship looking for their stills where they turn blueberries into whiskey, so they shot at the thing and opened leaks in the fabric. By the time the Hindenburg started to tie up, there was enough free hydrogen to blow the ship to kingdom come, which it did."
[excerpted from “Blue Highways” by William least Heat-Moon]

Just as with many of today's recent happenings, we may never know the "truth".
So much for transparency.

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).