Jack White Pleads Guilty

Jack White pleaded guilty yesterday to an assault and battery charge stemming from a December nightclub fracas with Von Bondies singer Jason Stollsteimer.

White and Stollsteimer tangled at an album release party in Detroit for fellow Motor City band Blanche at the Majestic Theater Center on December 13th. In the courtroom, White said that he confronted Stollsteimer at the show because of negative things the Von Bondies frontman had said about him in the press and to friends. White claimed that Stollsteimer ignored him, prompting White to spit at him, initiating the scuffle.

According to White, when the two fell to the ground, Stollsteimer fell on White's hand, recently healed after being broken in a car accident, and White punched him. In January, White pleaded not guilty, saying he acted in self-defense.

Stollsteimer told police at the time that White had punched him in the face seven times and a published photo showed that he suffered a bloody nose and his eye was swollen shut.

With the plea, White was hit with a $500 fine plus court fees. Judge Paula Humphries also ordered him to attend anger management classes.

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »

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