...As he pored over the mass of texts and thumbnail photos that the eBay search engine had pulled up on that day in 2005, one strangely worded listing caught Schein’s eye. It read, “Old Snapshot Blues Guitar B.B. King???” He clicked on the link, then took in the sepia-toned image that opened on his monitor. Two young black men stared back at Schein from what seemed to be another time. They stood against a plain backdrop wearing snazzy suits, hats, and self-conscious smiles. The man on the left held a guitar stiffly against his lean frame. Neither man looked like B. B. King, but as Schein studied the figure with the guitar, noticing in particular the extraordinary length of his fingers and the way his left eye seemed narrower and out of sync with his right, it occurred to him that he had stumbled across something significant and rare... the more convinced he became that it depicted one of the most mysterious and mythologized blues artists produced by the Delta: the guitarist, singer, and songwriter whom Eric Clapton once anointed “the most important blues musician who ever lived.” That’s not B. B. King, Schein said to himself. Because it’s Robert Johnson.
Searching for Robert Johnson reveals not only what may be the third picture of Robert Johnson but a Byzantine struggle over his legacy as well.
posted by y2karl
on Oct 9, 2008 -
29 comments
Enterprising kids in Connecticut spend a few weeks clearing weeds out of an empty lot, planning a halcyon summer of
wiffleball. They scavenge some plywood out of a dumpster, buy some paint, dig some holes, pour concrete, and next thing you know, they have their own custom built playing field. As one kid put it, "if we build it, they will come." But the outcome was
not what they expected.
posted by tractorfeed
on Jul 10, 2008 -
128 comments
The Other Side of the Wind is the
lost last film of Orson Welles, a reputed
unseen masterpiece, that may
finally see the light of day in late 2008. The film tells the story of Jake Hannaford (played by
John Huston), an aging movie director who has to film a low budget sex-and-symbolism flick to avoid getting overtaken by the
Movie Brats of the Spielberg/Coppola generation. After providing voiceovers to two documentaries on the
Persepolis ceremonies of 1971 and an intimate portrait of
the Shah of Iran, Welles obtained
Iranian financing to finish The Other Side of the Wind. Unfortunately, after
the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the bank accounts of his Iranian financier were seized, which led to the negatives for the film getting locked in a French vault. After Orson Welles died in 1985, his lover/collaborator
Oja Kodar had to settle his estate with Orson's estranged (but never divorced) wife
Paola Mori. There the matter might have rested, if not for an unfortunate coincidence. (More inside.)
posted by jonp72
on Apr 15, 2007 -
50 comments
Steve Carell may be hilarious in
the office, but how much would his jackass behavior
cost in real-life?
clips (youtube)
posted by tylerfulltilt
on Feb 13, 2007 -
47 comments
SCO is at it again ... this time they've asked a federal judge to declare that Linux's general public license — a backbone of the free software movement — unconstitutional.
Let's hope the judge has more sense than SCO.
posted by silusGROK
on Oct 31, 2003 -
33 comments
Judge, citing al-Qaida-Iraq link, awards $104 million to Sept. 11 families A judge ruled yesterday that lack of evidence should be no barrier to suing people who cannot be found.
"The judge wrote that lawyers relied heavily on 'classically hearsay' evidence, including reports that a Sept. 11 hijacker met an Iraqi consul to Prague, Secretary of State Colin Powell's remarks to the United Nations about connections between Iraq and terrorism, and defectors' descriptions of the use of an Iraq camp to train terrorists."
--This would hardly be the first documented example of a court being overtly political, but the judge himself has no problem commenting on how shoddy the case was.
"The judge noted that the experts provided few actual facts that Iraq provided support to the terrorists."
--Apparently, the judge had
just been waiting for Saddam to cease to be a diplomatically immune head of state before ruling against him. Is the low standard of evidence needed for civil rulings allowing the courts to begin establishing something that the military and intelligence can't? [more inside]
posted by Ignatius J. Reilly
on May 8, 2003 -
33 comments
Sticking to the gay stuff: The ACLU is threatening legal action against a middle school in Arkansas whose administrators have gone to extraordinary lengths to punish a student for being gay, including outing him to his parents, forcing him to read passages of the Bible, calling him "abnormal" and "unnatural," and disciplining him for mentioning between classes to a female friend that he thought another boy was cute.
(via CalPundit) [more inside]
posted by grrarrgh00
on Mar 16, 2003 -
29 comments
I made my claim. Have you?
This Web site was established to provide information about a proposed Settlement of lawsuits brought by Attorneys General of 43 states, Commonwealths and Territories, and by counsel for the Plaintiff Settlement Class entitled In re: Compact Disc Minimum Advertised Price Antitrust Litigation. You may be a member of the Settlement Group and your rights against Defendants may be affected if you are a person or entity that purchased these prerecorded Music Products from a retail store during the period of January 1, 1995 through December 22, 2000.
posted by Witty
on Jan 7, 2003 -
12 comments
Girl to sue over detention "The family, who want compensation, will argue that the detentions were unlawful because they took place in Freya's free time. " If you can't give kids detention, how else are they going to be punished for breaking school rules?
posted by feelinglistless
on Dec 28, 2002 -
88 comments
Is there really a
$7 billion lawsuit against the Bush administration -- filed on behalf of 14 of the victims' families -- charging that he let 9-11 happen on purpose? Seems like kind of a weird thing for a few web sites to fabricate, but a
google search doesn't reveal many mainstream news sources.
And what do folks think of the "Let It Happen On Purpose" theory... or more importantly, the evidence that the theorists cite?
posted by queequeg
on Aug 16, 2002 -
17 comments
Georgian Rep. Bob Barr is a fragile and delicate man. So fragile, in fact, that he has
filed a lawsuit against President Bill Clinton, James Carville and Larry Flynt for "loss of reputation and emotional distress" and "injury in his person and property." He's seeking damages in excess of $30 million. This from the man who called for the impeachment of Bill Clinton
before the whole Monica thing.
James Carville said, "To call this suit 'frivolous' would be to elevate the status of 'frivolous.'"
posted by crunchland
on Jun 13, 2002 -
16 comments
"He's not gay, and the judge so ruled," says Bert Fields, attorney for Tom Cruise. Yes folks, Tom Cruise is now the world's only
legal heterosexual. While this is old news, I've always been fascinated with how much zeal Cruise prosecutes these allegations. This case, though, is unique in that the ruling in favor of Cruise contains a stipulation which states that Cruise is not, nor ever has he ever been, gay. In other words, Tom's heterosexuality is now enforced by the courts. Should we, the moviegoing public, now file a class-action lawsuit to force Cruise to publicly prove his unique legal status as a compulsory heterosexual? Would Tom being a backdoor boy
really damage your enjoyment of his movies, as Cruise seems to think? Just how stupid do Hollywood stars and their publicists think we are? Discuss.
posted by WolfDaddy
on Apr 4, 2002 -
51 comments
"It's really like rape" say lawyers for a college student who sued Arco Media (makers of "Wild Party Girls Video") and won 5 million dollars. From what I was able to find, alcohol was not forced down her throat (she used intoxication as part of her defense) so I am having a difficult time seeing where the "rape" part comes in.
posted by KevinSkomsvold
on Feb 28, 2002 -
53 comments
Who says DeCSS litigation is
dead? Norwegian court indicts the fellow who cracked DVD protection.
posted by donkeysuck
on Jan 11, 2002 -
2 comments
Ashcroft and Bush make their move. "Justice Department lawyers have warned that they may soon be forced to abandon the federal government's landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry because the Bush administration has not proposed enough funding to keep the litigation alive, according to a confidential memo reviewed by The Washington Post."
posted by owillis
on Apr 25, 2001 -
22 comments
Columbine parents sue game makers Claiming computer games partially at fault for Colombine killings, parents of victims have brought a law suit against game makers...will this be viewed as unprovable cause of the shootings or bring about a study of relationship between violence and games?
posted by Postroad
on Apr 25, 2001 -
18 comments
Stacy sues Survivor. She claims that producer Mark Burnett urged Dirk and Sean to vote against her rather than against Rudy, in hopes that the last older contestant would not be booted.
posted by rafeco
on Feb 6, 2001 -
17 comments
When asked, Apple said "Of course we're going to sue
them, what sort of silly question is that?"
posted by baylink
on Nov 18, 2000 -
19 comments
Are americans really this stupid or does the rest of the world just have better things to do? TV owners are suing a company for running an ad with a CGI cockroach in it after destroying their TV's while trying to kill the roach. Will wonders never cease?
posted by jedrek
on Apr 18, 2000 -
12 comments
It looks like the Microsoft vs. DOJ case might be worth paying attention to again, as their
settlement talks have ended.
"After more than four months, it is apparent that the disagreements among the parties . . . are too deep-seated to be bridged," said mediator, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson will probably issue a verdict any day now.
posted by endquote
on Apr 2, 2000 -
0 comments
