Free Republic

Country music fans have come to expect a little eccentricity from legendary crooner Willie Nelson, but he pulled off a real shocker this time: He cut his hair. ...Nelson's waist-deep, reddish pigtails have long been one of the singer-songwriter's signature features. But spokeswoman Elaine Schock said Nelson, who's been hanging loose in Hawaii, got his hair cut in the past couple of weeks.... he might have grown tired of dealing with long locks. She said, "there's a lot of maintenance."

Troy Polamalu might not have to worry about getting tackled again by his hair. At their meetings in Palm Beach, Fla., next week, NFL owners will consider a proposal to ban players from having hair flow from their helmets below their names on the back of their jerseys. That might affect Polamalu's image, but help him on the field. Two seasons ago, the Pittsburgh safety with the long ponytail had his hair grabbed by Kansas City's Larry Johnson and was thrown to the turf after an interception against the Chiefs. The rule banning long hair on the field was proposed...

You guys have had total rule of the Country for years and years and here we are with $3 a gallon gas, a mess overseas, and crappy jobs here with wages depressed by unchecked illegal immigration. Stop whining about us -- you run the darn country, and you aren't doing jack. You've got about 6 months left before you are thrown out of Congress and we run it, and impeachment proceedings begin against your President. It will happen, too, as though the bluebloods and corporate fat cats who reside here might laugh at $3 a gallon gas, I am sure...

LONDON (AFP) - A bold plan by Irish rocker-turned-activist Bob Geldof for multi-city concerts to combat poverty in Africa ran into flak when it became clear how few black artists are involved. With the arguable exception of Mariah Carey, none of the headliners for the centrepiece Live8: The Long Walk to Justice concert at Hyde Park in London on July 2 are black, let alone African. It's a bit better elsewhere, with Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour and British soulman Craig David on the bill in Paris, former Fugee Lauryn Hill in Berlin, and rapper 50 Cent and the legendary Stevie...

They were just trying to save his hair. But what started as a desire to preserve Koran Akindele Jenkin's dreadlocks, grown during his 13-year life, ended in tragedy and changed the Berkeley boy's world forever. Koran had picked up head lice in his thick, black shoulder-length dreads during a backyard campout with a group of friends. The eighth grader had never in his life had a haircut. He loved his hair. His mother loved his hair. Koran, a member of a hip-hop group, needed the hair to complete his look. But as the critters hopped around in Koran's locks, mother...