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The kid from Kershaw, S.C., picked a guitar like his fingers were on fire. Hot licks flew from the instrument when Arthur Smith played – a wizard coaxing magic out of the strings. In 1945, he wrote and recorded a sizzling instrumental that eventually hit the charts worldwide. “Guitar Boogie” would go on to influence generations of musicians, including Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Glen Campbell, Roy Clark. A young Paul McCartney played the Kershaw kid’s boogie in a tryout for a Liverpool band that became the Beatles. Smith, who died Thursday at home at age 93, was a Charlotte-based entertainer...

Vice President Joe Biden drew parallels with the movie Deliverance while addressing a benefit dinner for a volunteer legal group that helps domestic violence survivors. Biden’s daughter-in-law, Kathleen Biden, is a co-chair of the group. Calling him “Pop,” she introduced the veep to the crowd packed with even more Bidens. According to the White House pool report,

32-year-old Fla. son calls 911, demands mom's arrest after she takes boozeIt's hard to be 32 years old and still live with mom, but when she takes your beer away, sometimes you have to take it like a man. Charles Lee Dennison, over in New Port Richey, learned that the hard way this past weekend when he was arrested for calling 911 to complain his mother had poached his pilsener. Dennison was "very intoxicated" and demanded that the police arrest dear old mom when officers responded to his initial 911 call Friday night, according to tampabay.com. The sloshed son told...