The SEC on Thursday charged five men with executing a fraudulent $150 million bond offering for the doomed Dewey & LeBoeuf law firm.
Friday, March 07, 2014Last Update:
Retailers sued California, Texas and Florida this week, claiming state laws prohibiting "swipe fee" surcharges for credit card purchases are unconstitutional, as they have the same effect as offering a "discount" for using cash: the only difference is in the speech.
2 comments I went to the repair shop to pick up my clarinet the other day but the usual guy wasn't there. An old Mexican trumpet player took my check. I'll call him Joe. A half-hour chat with him reminded me of all the things I loved about the jazz life.
You couldn't have shut Joe up if you shoved a clarinet swab down his throat, but I didn't want to shut him up; I wanted to listen to his stories. I believed every single one. He told them one after another without indicating at any time that anyone might find any humor in them. It's just how things were.
He told me about "the worst sax player in the world," who made $1 million from one song. I checked it out and it's all true.
Chuck Higgins cut "Pachuko Hop" in 1952.
"He was the worst sax player in the world," Joe said, cradling his Bach Stradivarius trumpet in his hands. "I thought he recorded it as a joke. But it went to number one in California. Then it went to number one in the nation, and it stayed there forever.
"When it hit number one nationwide and the residuals started coming in he'd made a million dollars. He was driving a new car, wearing spiffy clothes. And he could hardly play at all. They used to kick him out of jam sessions because he'd play his whole solo in the wrong key. And he didn't even know it."
"Did he keep playing after he cut 'Pachuko Hop'?" I asked.
"I don't know. Who cares? It went to number one in Germany. Then it went to number one in France and England.
"Bobby Avila used to kick him out of jam sessions. He said, 'Don't let that guy come in here again, because if he does I'm going to kick his ass.' This was after he'd played a whole solo in the wrong key.
"But pretty soon on gigs people would come up to Bobby and say, 'Can you play "Pachuko Hop"?' And Bobby would say, 'Pachuko Hop,' what's that? I told him it was a song by Chuck Higgins and he said, 'What, that guy?'
"But I wrote it out for him cause we had to learn it because everybody was always asking for it. Everybody had to play it: Harry James, Count Basie had to play it."
Joe shook his head and wandered off into a story about his new, shallower mouthpiece, and how he had to play a session in two weeks and the new mouthpiece ...
Joe is 79 years old. When he wasn't telling stories he was playing old tunes for me. He loved Chet Baker. He'd never heard of Fats Navarro. Had a distant acquaintance with Clifford Brown. Joe's roots went way back before be-bop. He told me his father used to play with Jack Teagarden, and I believe it.
I had to escape the Little Shop of Horns, though. Old jazz stories or not, I had work to do. I picked up my horn and tried to ease on out of there, but Joe followed me, relentlessly telling me stories.
"Remember Mighty Joe Houston?" he asked.
"I remember Mighty Joe Young," I said.
"He would only play on his back."
"A honker, hey?" I said, wistfully looking at my truck, so near and yet ...
"He'd only play one note, and he'd only play on his back," Joe said, truthfully, I am sure.
"Hey, man," I said, "I got to go."
Here is a link to Chuck Higgins' Number One International Hit "Pachuko Hop," from 1952. I suggest you skip it and do something useful with your life. Wash your truck or something ...
Richard T. Posey, vice president of operations at nonparty Carter's Inc., the children's clothing maker, made or avoided losses of $50,000 by inside trading, the SEC claims in Federal Court.
Advanced Micro Devices claims LG Electronics smartphones, TVs and other products violate nine patents, in Federal Court.
Ecuadorean President Correa Blasts NY Federal Judge's Ruling for Chevron in Enviromental Battle Over Oil
By Adam Klasfeld
AMBATO, ECUADOR (CN) - After singing a local folk tune, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday answered a New York judge's decision blocking a $9.5 billion verdict against Chevron with a fiery speech that decried "lies," "bias" and "imperialism."
“Imagine for a moment that an Ecuadorean judge said that a sentence from North American tribunals was not valid,” Correa said.
He was drawing a parallel to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s Tuesday finding that Ecuador’s judgment had been “procured by corrupt means,” such as bribery. Kaplan devoted two separate subsections of the 500-page decision to Correa’s election and “influence” on the Lago Agrio litigation.
Those sections described how Correa pushed for the prosecution of Chevron lawyers, offered to call a judge, and launched a public relations campaign attacking Chevron and its allies to help the country's citizens win in court.
Before slamming Kaplan as "biased” in his 364th enclase, a Saturday tradition that spokespeople say started on Sept. 17, 2013, Correa had withheld comment on the ruling.
“But I insist, there is no proof that President Correa, imagine the craziness, is interfering in a trial between private parties,” an animated Correa said in the third person, during his enlase ciudadano address, Spanish for “Citizen Link.” “What is the reality? That we refused to submit to Chevron’s pressures.”
Officials estimated that more than 5,000 people filled the seats at the center of the Estadio Tisaleo in the Tisaleo, a canton just outside of the commercial hub of Ambato, with more sitting around the perimeter of the stadium.
Long after ascending to the top ranks of the Administrative Office of the Courts, former lobbyist Curt Child is still living in Sacramento, supervising over 100 employees from afar and billing taxpayers for travel to meetings at the AOC's headquarters in San Francisco.
Smokey Robinson sued his ex-wife, Claudette Rogers Robinson, seeking declaratory judgment that he may terminate and "recapture" the copyrights to all the songs he wrote during their marriage, and that she cannot claim interest in them under California community property law.
The NCAA and its five biggest football conferences collude to limit financial aid to college athletes at far below market levels, a former running back for the West Virginia Mountaineers claims in a federal antitrust class action.
FirstEnergy lost its challenge against experts who say toxic "black rain" discharged from its coal-fired electric plant caused a 2-year-old to get sick and go bald.
An 88-year-old Holocaust survivor claims in court that Germany refuses to return a valuable artwork stolen from his great-uncle by the Nazis and recently found in a trove with works by Picasso, Chagall and Matisse, locked away in the apartment of the son of Adolph Hitler's art dealer.
A Boise State University student-athlete was sexually assaulted and taunted by a male teammate, but the head track coach "refused to take any action and told her he 'could not help,'" the woman claims in court.
The owner of Oheka Castle -- America's second-largest private home and an inspiration for "The Great Gatsby" -- cheats his workers on wages and tips, a class action claims in Federal Court. The lawsuit comes a week after the castle's owner was shot in the head on the castle's grounds by a masked gunman who remains at large.
A "wolf pack" of high school bullies subjected a boy of Korean and Latino heritage to such vicious bullying that he killed himself, and the school district is responsible, his parents claim in court.
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A funeral home offered a couple a discount to keep them from going to police after an employee molested the corpse of a family member, the couple claim in court. |
"Goodfellas" star Ray Liotta claims in court that a pyramid scheme for skin cream doctored his image in before-and-after photos for an online ad campaign he wants, and had, nothing to do with.
A concert promoter waltzed with $180,000 he was supposed to pay rappers Gucci Mane, OJ da Juiceman and Nicki Minaj to book them for the 2009 "Icey City Tour," a talent agency claims in court.
A trust duped an art company paying a $1 million down payment on a Salvador Dali collection that contains only a few of the pieces of the artist's work, the company claims in court.
A federal judge melted down claims that Hershey, Mars and Nestle ran a $726 million chocolate cartel, finding that "nothing scandalous or improper has been discovered."
A woman whose son police shot and killed may have a legal malpractice case against the lawyers who allegedly advised her to pass on a $3 million settlement, a federal judge ruled.
Domino Foods and other sugar companies must face claims from a molasses supplier that the maker of Red Vines blames for a recall of licorice "adulterated" with lead, a federal judge ruled.
An Afghanistan-based contractor accused of using bribes to win inflated transportation contracts must face a $63 million forfeiture action, a federal judge ruled.
After the U.S. government refused to intervene in a man's False Claims Act suit against Coca-Cola, he voluntarily moved to dismiss the misbranding claims.
Granting final approval to a $2 million settlement with Specialty's Cafe and Bakery, a federal judge approved $600,000 in attorneys' fees.
MCM Construction can pay $865,000 to settle minimum wage and overtime claims, plus more than $250,000 in attorneys' fees, a federal judge ruled.
Meter reader Roy Kronk claims Clarity Digital Group dba Examiner.com defamed him in stories about his involvement in finding the remains of Caylee Anthony, in Federal Court.
A patient claims her licensed professional counselor at Lakeside Behavioral Health System had sex with her, and sent her photos of it, causing her husband to leave her, in Shelby County Court.
SWO & ISM LLC, and Graybar & Associates LLC defrauded investors of millions of dollars for purported oil and gas leases, say two plaintiffs who claim to have lost $600,000 to the scheme, in Federal Court.
A woman claims her North Carolina Department of Public Safety probation officer sexually assaulted her under threat of sending her back to prison, in Mecklenburg County Court.
Sonic Drive-In makes employees work off the clock and illegally deducts presumed tips from their paychecks, a class action claims in Federal Court.
Hundreds of people claim they suffered cancers, miscarriages, stillbirths and deaths because of radioactivity stirred up by oil companies' pipe cleaning; click headline to see defendants in Orleans Parish Court.
The Illinois State Police properly fired an agent who sabotaged her ex's romantic getaway by committing identity theft and other misconduct, an appeals court ruled.
In a double blow to gun owners, two federal judges upheld California's definition of assault weapons and a Silicon Valley suburb's ban on large-capacity weapons.
A 67-year-old secretary and bookkeeper pleaded guilty to stealing more than $605,000 from the South Carolina church for which she worked.
GE and Dresser are trying to sell their Wayne subsidiary for $500 million after swiping the technology for a dispenser system that blends specialty fuel additives into fuel as it is pumped, Additech claims. |
An assistant principal at Spring Independent School District claims that the superintendent and others defamed him to co-defendant Fox TV and others, claiming, inter alia, that he had sex in his office with a graduating senior during the prom, in Harris County Court.
A customer claims he was injured by an exploding dessert at the Blue Chip Casino, in LaPorte County Court.
A film crew member claims her manager at American Multi Cinemas sexually harassed her by, among other things, sending her "a video of himself masturbating," in Federal Court.
New York state wants to close down a Dollar Tree store in Utica that allegedly sold food under "severe insanitary conditions," including a bag of pretzels with a live mouse inside, in Albany County Supreme Court.
A federal class action claims Home Shopping Network, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Emeril's Homebase et al. claim their Emeril brand kitchen knives are made in Solingen, Germany, though they are made in China.
Iowa Pacific fired an engineer to retaliate for his support for unionization, the man claims in Cook County Court.
A man died from exposure to toxic chemicals at a nearby Monsanto plant, his widow claims in Calhoun County Court.
Dozens of families say they suffer from "fright and anxiety" after a natural gas explosion at their Birmingham, Ala., apartment complex, in a negligence and wantonness claim against Alabama Gas Corp., in Jefferson County Court.
Jakks Pacific's Board of Directors hurt shareholders by rejecting a $20 a share buyout offer - Jakks trades at $6 today, a public pension fund claims in Federal Court.