Rock singer Sheryl Crow announced this week she has donated her 1959 Mercedes-Benz 190SL Roadster to be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to help rebuild the tornado-ravaged community of Joplin in her native Missouri.  "Like everybody else in America, the coverage of the devastation in Joplin was just heart-rending," Crow said in an interview with the Springfield News-Leader.  "We wanted to figure out a way to create some funds that were immediate and I looked around me and I thought about the Mercedes because I love the car and have such great memories, but I don't drive the car anymore."

The singer hopes to fetch as much as $500,000 in the auction, scheduled for August 21st in Pebble Beach, California, but said she wold be pleased if the auction raised $100,000.  Crow worked as a schoolteacher in Missouri before launching her music career with a string of hits including "All I Wanna Do" and "Everyday Is a Winding Road".  She said she considered holding a benefit concert, but decided that the auction could be organized more quickly.  The proceeds from the auction will go to the Joplin Schools Recovery Fund  and the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri.