When Eugene, OR, comes up in conversation, several fixations quickly pop to the average mind: rain, forest, hippies, marijuana and Ducks. Easy to miss would be a chubby, middle-aged man with a shaved head who often adorns dark sunglasses. But that, perhaps, may be just how Frank Black likes it.
Leisurely enjoying the morning at his home in the rainy college town, the former leader of the Pixies is on daddy duty. “We all have kind of like this flu thing and my wife is eight months pregnant and she’s just wiped out. I’ve got the babies with me downstairs so we may be periodically interrupted,” tells Black through sounds of toddler babble. Already a father of four, his two youngest, Lucy and Jack, can be heard adjoining his every move. “Oh, I see Jack, okay, all right. Let daddy talk on the phone for a few minutes.”
Born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV, the self-titled Frank Black has enjoyed a fairytale career of indie success. The Pixies, both in their efflorescence and after, have been embraced the world over, and Black has since sustained an acclaimed solo career over the course of 16 albums. Returning to the proven stage name of Black Francis for 2007’s fall release Bluefinger, Black has continued channeling the powers of old for his newest output; a seven song EP tagged Sv n F ng rs. The process of writing, recording and producing said record took place over just six days, which Black is quick to downplay. “I don’t know if it’s that big of a deal. As long as I’ve got a day or two in the studio [I can] come up with something. It may not be ‘Hey Jude,’ [laughs] but I’ll come up with something.”
The creative burst came from label Cooking Vinyl simply asking for a b-side. Black, typical of his prolific nature, proceeded to hash out six additional cuts in a flurry. Violet Clark (who also happens to be Black’s wife) and Jason Carter, both of whom joined on Bluefinger, make returns to the studio filling out bass and drums respectively. Carter also wears the producer hat, but more to the tune of engineering assistance and relaxed constructive feedback.

synthesis.net

Wacky Jack’s Singing Telegrams
New business offers variety of characters, packages to satisfy all
By Fred Pace
One of Keith Berneburg’s first jobs was with Eastern Onion Signing Telegrams in Pittsburgh. He dressed in various costumes and delivered the humorous telegrams in a musical form.
“I had a blast,” he said. “It was a fun job.”
When Berneburg and his wife, Rhonda, relocated to Beckley they began thinking about starting their own singing telegram business.
“There was nothing like this in Beckley,” Keith Berneburg said. “We did some research and surveying and due to the tremendous amount of requests for this type of entertainment, we decide to start Wacky Jack’s Singing Telegrams.”
Rhonda Berneburg says her husband has always been an entertainer.
“I thought it was a wonderful idea,” she said. “Telegrams have been around for a while, but you don’t see them around as much these days.”
Singing telegrams are historically linked to normal telegrams, but tend to be humorous. Sometimes the artist is in costume or formal clothing. Singing telegrams are often given as a gift.
Western Union, the American telegraph company, began offering singing telegram services in 1933. On July 28, 1933, a fan sent Hollywood singing star Rudy Vallee a birthday greeting by telegram.
According to Wikipedia.com, the Western Union public relations director at the time decided this would be a good opportunity to make telegrams, which had been associated with deaths and other tragic news, into something more popular. He asked a Western Union operator, Lucille Lipps, to sing the message over the telephone, and this became the first singing telegram.
Western Union suspended its singing telegram service in 1974, but independent singing telegram companies, like Wacky Jack’s, specializing in often costumed personal delivery of gift messages, have kept up the tradition.
“The memory of an event like this will never die,” Keith said. “And it’s just as fun to send one as it is to get one.”

register-herald.com

The Jazz hit more low notes than high notes in Game 1, but they did hit every Laker in sight, even Phil Jackson when Ronnie Brewer fell in Phil’s lap.
Percussion? Game 1 looked more like a concussion.
-The Lakers are better than the Jazz and could win the series in five games even if they continue to get murdered on the boards. Wouldn’t be a bad idea, though, to put on the hard hats for Game 2 and push back. A 17-rebound discrepancy is flirting with danger. Heck, LA had only eight more total rebounds than Utah did offensive.
Kobe told the media on Monday: “We ain’t no punks.” Meaning, like Tom Petty, they won’t back down. That’s fine, but they need to body up.
I don’t like Pau Gasol guarding Mehmet Okur on the perimeter. Takes Pau too far from the defensive boards. Put Radmanovic on Memo, Vlad Rad is long enough for that cover.
Okur may be from Turkey but he didn’t play like one, pulling down 19 boards and choking their gizzards on the boards.
-It has Okurred to me that Memo should not be allowed to get 19 rebounds ever again in this series.
-Believe it or not:The scruffy Okur has a hot wife. She’s a former Miss Turkey.
-Do you think playing against D-Will every day in practice for a year helps Derek Fisher in his matchup against
Deron Williams?Fisher’s ability to stay in front of Williams was a huge component in the Lakers’ 11-point win, one pretty overlooked by just about everybody.
The Lakers didn’t box out but one thing they did do was converge on Williams with big bodies once he got into the paint.
Williams looked frustrated. Fish’s six steals were another reflection that after that full year up in Utah, he knows the Jazz almost as well as they know themselves.

sportshubla.com

“On the day it is all sold and settled, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other,” says Ian Usher, who is selling his life on EBay. And according to his poll, 18,569 people think it’s an awesome idea.
The Australian adventure enthusiast, who lives in Perth, Australia, is ready to give up his home, vehicles (car, motorbike, jet ski), business, sky-diving gear, friends – everything to start new after having split with his wife.
Alife4sale.com is the tell-all website where serious buyers (and voyeurs) can get details and watch videos of what’s being offered. You can even meet with Ian and check out his home and belongings before you bid — by appointment only, of course. There are a whole bunch of ALife4Sale videos on YouTube, too. (Click the “YouTube” image here to watch.)
Cost: The bidding will start at $1 (Australian).
Caveat: If Ian’s story excites you so much that you’re ready to pack it in and rush to Perth, hold your horses. The auction doesn’t start until noon June 22; it ends June 29.
How much do you think Ian’s life will go for?
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel Deal Blogger
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travel.latimes.com