Hugh Hefner News Blog @newzblogz.com

A small group of students lighted candles and shared stories about Hector Hugo Barrera-Barraza on Monday at a makeshift memorial in his honor, just a few feet from where he died outside his UC Merced dorm.

Some reminisced about how the Moorpark native would sit on a bench outside Tulare Hall, occasionally smoking cigarettes and singing songs like the '90s rock ballad "More Than Words" in Spanish, while strumming his acoustic guitar.

"Even if you didn't speak Spanish, you wouldn't even care," said student Jasmine Hinds, 18, from Watts. "He brought so much light into everyone's life."

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Now, some of ya might know me, at least a wee bit, from the old Shenandoah Evening Herald, former home of two other proud Irishmen, Bill O’Brien and Babe Conroy. Hope yur both doin’ grand, Billie Boy and Babe!

As fer meself, I used to pop up every now and then in the newspaper column “Wanderin’.” Now, I didn’t write it as often as I wanted, but it would only be at the whim of that Usalis fella, who writes this column. It’s been a lot of years, and meself is surprised about bein’ asked to, especially after bein’ snubbed for many a year. Meself thinks Usalis is jealous of me talents, as well he should be.

Where is Usalis? He’s taken a week off for a rest. Yeah, like he needs a rest! Usalis needs a rest like Hugh Hefner needs to go to eHarmony.com for a date. Sheesh! Sleep well, Johnny Boy! Maybe meself will stick around for next week’s column, too. Sure it is the readers need a break, too.

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The two men, who treated Flessel to a sumptuous Mexican lunch, bid Flessel and his wife, Marie, goodbye and quietly leave their modest apartment.

"He's the Elvis Presley of the Golden Age of comics," says collector Scott Bonagofsky, a San Francisco attorney who with collector friend Kris Moore took Flessel to lunch. "He was there at the beginning of the industry. Everything he's done has become a classic."

"He's my favorite Golden Age artist," says Moore of Dallas. This is the happiest day of my life."

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The times, they are always a-changin', and soundies are a nearly perfect example.

The word soundie means nothing to most people younger than 60, but they were hugely popular and profitable from 1941 to early 1947. Forerunners of today's music videos, 1,865 soundie machines entertained pop music lovers in bars, eateries, amusement parks, even ferries -- anywhere crowds gathered.

Michael Feinstein hosts the nostalgic documentary "Soundies: A Musical History," which offers many examples of what '40s listeners heard and saw for a dime a song. They enjoyed the singing and dancing on a Panoram, a jukebox about the size of a refrigerator, which had an 18-by-22-inch screen at eye level.

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As I assured you all last week, I awoke at the crack of noon last Saturday following a very enjoyable Friday night. The evening was capped off with a delicious wee-hours Taco Loco over at El Rancho. I fell asleep at about the same time area farmers ?Bo and Luke Jim-Jam? awoke to distill their ?bathtub gin,? at least according to my fellow columnist Dan Friesen, the J-School snob-turned-Ag advocate.

That morning, shortly before the Nazi march, I looked out my bedroom window onto University Avenue. It was the kind of beautiful breezy day that made you feel like your assignments would never be due, your checks would never bounce and your stomach could turn into a six-pack by dinner. Like Simon and Garfunkel?s ?The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin? Groovy),? I was ?badada-dada-dada... feelin? groovy.?

Four cop cars were outside. Some uniformed officers were opening trashcans, recycling bins, manhole covers and any place that could have explosives stashed in them by those Marxist extremist graduate students the Nazis said our town was crawling with. I didn?t see many onlookers waiting. I smiled.

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Flint's LaKisha Jones passed muster during the first 10 minutes of the "American Idol" elimination show Thursday night.

Called on stage with Blake Lewis, from Washington state, both were told they made the cut as dictated by 37 million phone and text voters, according to emcee Ryan Seacrest.

Not only were they spared the suspense that the remaining contestants faced, Seacrest said the duo would get to work with next week's celebrity guest, legendary Motown diva Diana Ross.

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COLORADO -- Columnist Philip Potempa is reporting from Vail this week.The naked truthHugh Hefner allowed his three favorite girlfriends time away from the hutch, aka the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, to hit the slopes of Vail for snowboarding lessons.Of course, 80-year-old Hefner's permission was also part of a plan that included a trademark promotion for his Playboy Enterprises.Holly Madison, 27, Bridget Marquardt, 33, and Kendra Wilkinson, 21, were in Vail to tape an episode of the E! networ...

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It's been said that there's no such thing as bad publicity. That axiom is certainly proving true on "American Idol" this season.

Melinda Doolittle may well have the best voice in Fox's singing contest, but no one is talking about her. All the buzz surrounds New Jersey hottie Antonella Barba, whose provocative pictures have made her the Internet's It girl.

Wednesday, Joe Francis, the controversial entrepreneur behind the risque "Girls Gone Wild" series, publicly offered Barba $250,000 to host one of his videos. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has also expressed interest in having Barba pose for his publication.

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WASHINGTON - Investment plan fees can sap thousands of dollars from a worker's retirement savings. Some lawmakers are considering making companies that manage 401(k) plans give clearer and more complete information on those costs.

"We have to ask whether all these fees are necessary and we have to examine whether they are undermining workers' retirement security," says Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

A committee hearing was scheduled for Tuesday to examine the issue.

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NEW YORK - The European Union can learn from New York City as it battles health threats that include smoking and trans fats, EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said.

Kyprianou, who's pushing for pan-EU legislation to ban smoking in public places, met with New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden to discuss the city's smoking restrictions and its ban on artery-clogging trans fats at restaurants, among other matters.

"I was impressed by the leadership shown by New York City in the area of public health," Kyprianou said Monday. "And it was interesting that they faced the same sort of opposition, but the fact that they overcame that opposition and they managed to produce results."

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TOKYO (AP) -- Citigroup announced a tender offer Tuesday to raise its stake in Nikko Cordial to more than 50 percent and make the scandal-tainted Japanese securities company a subsidiary, strengthening its presence in the country. The purchase, valued at up to 1.253 trillion yen, or $10.8 billion, if realized, would be the biggest foreign acquisition of a Japanese brokerage. The U.S. banking group said it will pay 1,350 yen, or $11.63, for each Nikko Cordial share in the tender offer, which ...

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The Democrat Party has announced that career politician Joe Hoeffel will lead its ticket in November.  

There is no one in Montgomery County who has run more times for public office than he.  

As an elected official‚ Hoeffel has fed at the public trough for years  His time spent in the private sector can be counted in months‚ not years. 

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NASSAU - There were supposed to be 300 guests and a parade of stars. Hundreds of locals and tourists gathered near the church preparing for a show, hoping to spot Hugh Hefner, Patti LaBelle, Boyz II Men or Michael Bolton.

But fewer than 100 guests -- and no stars anyone could recognize -- turned up for Anna Nicole Smith's funeral in Nassau on Friday, an extravagant ceremony that brought the world's eyes onto the simple Baptist church and the now-famous hillside cemetery where she is buried.

Bahamians, who have grown tired of the media attention during recent weeks, now consider Smith part of their community. On Friday, they mourned her as one of their own.

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