Free Republic

If it weren't for an argument over lumpy mashed potatoes, Jimi Hendrix may never have crafted one of his most famous songs. Kathy Mary Etchingham was an apprentice hairdresser living in London when she met Hendrix in 1966. The two were introduced by Etchingham’s best friend who was dating Eric Burdon, lead singer of the Animals, and the attraction was immediate. The couple lived together for three years: the longest relationship in Hendrix’s short life. But it was a turbulent romance, marked by constant fighting. And one quarrel in particular would lead to one of the most mysterious rock songs...

The post-storm housing — a refugee camp on the grounds of the Monmouth Park racetrack – is in lockdown, with security guards at every door, including the showers. No one is allowed to go anywhere without showing their I.D. Even to use the bathroom, “you have to show your badge,” said Amber Decamp, a 22-year-old whose rental was washed away in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. The mini city has no cigarettes, no books, no magazines, no board games, no TVs, and no newspapers or radios. On Friday night, in front of the mess hall, which was serving fried chicken and...

Woman mashed by mashed potatoes, boyfriend charged with battery South Floridians will turn anything into a weapon, even comfort food. A Port St. Lucie man found himself behind bars after he tossed a bowl of mashed potatoes at his girlfriend during an argument last week, police said. Darren J. Baker faces domestic battery charges after the tater tussle that left his girlfriend with bruises and swelling on her face and mashed potatoes in her hair. The victim claimed she was making dinner when she got into an argument with Baker after she didn't take him to a recycling center, according...

BETHALTO, Ill. -- Some women at a tavern near this Metro East community took playing with their food to a new level last week by wrestling in mashed potatoes, and now the bar's owner is in hot legal water. Rhonda Cato, 48, was charged Monday with misdemeanor obscenity and violating the liquor code after what happened last Thursday at the Palace Tavern, where authorities say patrons grappled in a shallow, inflatable children's pool filled with mashed spuds. Cato, of Wood River, was charged because female participants allegedly pulled up each others' shirts as about 30 to 40 people watched during...