His parents played gospel music in their church and his uncle headed a local R&B band, the Blue Notes. He started playing saxophone at 8, and soon formed the Junior Blue Notes with his younger brother Melvin on drums and older bro Kellis on trombone. By the time he was in the sixth grade, the band was performing between sets at the Blue Note's gigs.

By the time he graduated from college with a degree in music, he had perfected his hard-driving sound, a gritty, insistent, rhythmic incantation that he perfected with Melvin.

"His second year, I talked him into doing the freshman talent show, just drums and saxophone, no guitar or piano," Parker recalled. "We used to fool around like that at home, this Africa kind of sound, where I'd kind of scat to change the tempo. We had that connection.

News of Hydetown

The Hydetown Firemen's Festival is June 13 and 14. We at the Hydetown Volunteer Fire Department are starting the plans for the Firemen's Festival 2008. We would like to include the coverage area of the fire department. Who would like to help or take part? Come to our festival meetings which will be held the third Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Hydetown Volunteer Fire Department Social Hall. Let's make it bigger and better this year. Come and help! We need your help, support and ideas. We are now accepting Parade Entry forms for our parade on June 14. You can sign up by calling Buddy Edwards or Jennifer Edwards at 827-2267, e-mail to jenbuddy@zoominternet.net or by going to the news Web site at http://hydetown.bravehost.com and go to parade entry, print it and send it to the fire department.

Billable-hours choice eases rate pressure

It ended up paying a price in recruiting, Cosgrove said.

Before the most recent raise went into effect on Sept. 1, the firm polled associates and partners on some new approaches.

When it offered a choice of hours to third-years, the class of 2005, three of the nine associates chose to work 2,000 hours, Cosgrove said. Realistically, these lawyers likely will bill more than 2,100 hours, making the difference between the lower tier and higher tier significant, he added.

First-year associates still do not have a billable-hour requirement. Second-years are expected to bill at least 1,850 hours, which means about 37 hours a week, assuming a 50-week work year. To bill 37 hours a week, lawyers generally have to work about 47 to 50 hours.

BRIEFLY: James Henry, a former Cook County Circuit Court judge, joins Meckler Bulger & Tilson as "of counsel." Henry, 56, who retired from the bench in October, will focus on pretrial remedies such as mediation and arbitration.

Race to replace Hastert is in national spotlight

The territory is just the latest suburban Chicago district that's gone from reliably Republican to a potential toss-up.

To the north, Democrat Melissa Bean of Barrington unseated Republican veteran Phil Crane in 2004 and fended off a well-funded challenger two years ago. Along the lake, four-term Republican Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park has been stockpiling campaign cash for a rematch against Dan Seals, who came surprisingly close in 2006. And in DuPage County, Henry Hyde's retirement led to a close, nationally-watched contest two years ago between eventual winner Republican Peter Roskam and Democratic Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth.

Hastert's district also is one of three open seats in Illinois created by Republican retirements, making it that much harder for the GOP to compete for control of Congress in the fall.

CAN 2008 to enjoy uninterrupted power - VRA

Accra, Jan. 18, GNA - The Volta River Authority (VRA) on Thursday said it was fully prepared to provide adequate uninterrupted power supply throughout the African Cup of Nations Tournament the country was hosting. The Authority told the Ghana News Agency that: "VRA has made adequate arrangements such as the provision of generating sets to serve as standby power plants at all the four stadia in the country for the tournament to start this Sunday January 20." Mrs. Gertrude Koomson, of the Corporate Affairs Department of the VRA, who gave the assurance said technicians to man the various equipment have been given orientation to effectively carry out their duties. She said, "even though the VRA is currently running two to three turbines at Akosombo, it can conveniently operate all the six turbines when the need arises given the water level as at today." The VRA official said Ghanaians and their brothers and sisters from other African nations would have enough power to enjoy their football matches but added: "This is the time that we should also know that conservation of energy is key." "The 550 Megawatts (MW) Thermal Plants at Aboadze, Government's Emergency Power Programme are all in place to ensure uninterrupted supply," Mrs Koomson said.

Automated Killer Robots ‘Threat to Humanity’: Expert

If you murdered your neighbor and stole his property could that be described as 'winning". When you start out with an evil premise there is no way to turn it respectable. I am disturbed at the continuing dehumanization of this murdering. The same stuff they use on them can be used on us. Most of the people they are killing are innocent. They do have the right to defend themselves against imperial occupiers. Anyone who opposes them they call terrorists. Are you a terrorist? The real terorists are the ones who launched this illegal war based on lies.

Teekay LNG Partners Reports Fourth Quarter and Annual Results

Limited (3) (RasGas 3), a joint venture company between a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corporation and Qatar Petroleum, at fixed rates, with inflation adjustments, for a period of 25 years, with options exercisable by RasGas 3 to extend up to a total of 35 years. Teekay's joint venture partner, Qatar Gas Transport Company, owns the remaining 60% interest in these vessels.

The Partnership has agreed to acquire Teekay's 70% interest in two 155,000 cubic meter newbuilding LNG carriers scheduled to deliver during late 2008 and early 2009.

Jotspot Returns As Google Sites: Wiki-Style Collaboration

Ever since Google bought the wiki-based online application startup Jotspot in late 2006, people have been wondering if it had disappeared forever inside the bowels of the search giant. Tonight, Google's launching Google Sites, using Jotspot's technology to create a free group collaboration service that will be part of its online software suite Google Apps.

Google characterizes Sites, which had been hinted at in late 2007, as the biggest Apps launch since Apps Premier Edition a year ago, and it may be right. The new service lets people in an organization instantly create a wiki-style group workspace, where they can post text, videos, calendars, and various attachments for their group or department to view and edit. Scott Johnston, Google's senior product manager on Sites, has more in a blog post and video.

Downloading: That Other Way to Get a Video Game

GameTap offers two all-you-can-download subscription options, $9.95 a month or $59.95 a year, for access to its library of nearly 1,000 titles. About 50 titles are free to anyone who registers with the site. GameTap also allows people who are not subscribers to download games at prices closer to those of the retail editions.

My download from GameTap of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a 1.1-gigabyte Windows game that was available in stores and on GameTap the same day, took about 45 minutes to complete over my cable broadband connection.

Eagle has landed

Drugs, he says, helped the band at first, "taking down a lot of personal defences and walls between each other" and bringing them together to party and write songs. But later, he says, cocaine-fuelled paranoia, soured relationships and caused the music to become "inhumanly flawless" and sterile.

There has been speculation in the media and on the internet that members of The Eagles were unhappy with the book, which would not be surprising given his eyewitness account of their excesses.

Senior Olympics draw new friends to center

The competition wasn't too fierce among the participants, who meet most weekdays at the center. There, they socialize, play games and share lunch. "It's good for them to make new friends," said Jessica Medina, 17, who volunteered to help with this week's games. Medina is a student at the center who takes classes to earn a GED. The brightly painted center at the corners of Ocotillo Road and 54th Avenue in downtown Glendale has become a gathering place for all ages. It's where seniors gather each morning and where students like Medina take classes. Schoolchildren head there after school and teens hang out in the evenings. Julia Aguilera sank 15 shots in one minute. Asked if she ever played on a basketball team, the 68-year-old replied, "Not yet." That spunky attitude made the Glendale woman a two-time gold-medal winner.