A FAIR TO REMEMBER
Plug Into EW’s New
Community Stage
Local musicians rock the fair
F
For a Good Time, Call
Tommy Tutone dials up the Lane County Fair
T
here is no shame in being a one-hit wonder. Why should there be? We can’t all be the
Beatles or Mariah Carey. And when you take to mind the fact that the vast majority of
human beings don’t even record music — much less record a song that charts at #4 on the
Billboard Hot 100 — it begins to seem a bit jejune to trash on a band that at least once reached
such rarefi ed heights of mass popularity.
Can you say Muh-muh-muh-muh My Sharona?
In 1982, Tommy Tutone released “867-5309/Jenny,” a terminally catchy pop rocker that
continues, nearly three decades on, to inspire snickering knuckleheads to dial out drunkenly and
ask for the titular dream girl. When I, snickering, dialed the number with a Eugene area code, I
encountered the universal “If you feel you have reached this recording in error” recording, which
defi nitely lowered my excitement to about half-mast.
Jenny, Jenny, who can I turn to?
You give me somethin’ I can hold on to,
I know you think I’m like the others before,
Who saw your name and number on the wall.
The Wikipedia entry for “867-5309/Jenny” is double the length of the Wikipedia entry for the
band itself, so I persisted, this time dialing out with a Boston area code. A mellifl uous female voice
answered, asking me, royally, “How can we make you smile?” But, alas, it wasn’t Jenny. Did she
ever get calls for Jenny?
“We get a few,” she said breathily.
How many?
“I have to end this,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Talk about one hit, right below the belt. Like every other sad sack who’s tried to call Jenny only
to have his heart broken and his dreams dashed — and there have been at least 8,675,309 calls
since 1982 — I was left with nothing but that chronically singable song and its seven heavenly
digits. Oh, but what a song it is.
Tommy Tutone plays 7:30 pm Friday, Aug. 19, at the Lane County Fair; FREE with admission.
— Rick Levin
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BETTY AND THE BOY
For full line-up, see pg. 25
ROSHAN MALONEY
RECYCLERS AT THE FAIR
Experts on recycling and other pursuits of sustainable living will be on
hand at the Lane County Fair at a booth on the Midway next to EWEB’s water
and cooling station.
Representatives of several programs including Master Recyclers, Compost
Specialists, Climate Masters at Home and Master Gardeners will offer advice
and literature. The recently updated Repair2Reuse Guide will be available,
listing more than 80 local businesses that “help keep the things we already
have in working order,” according to organizers.
Information will be available on BRING Recycling, Materials Exchange
Center for Community Arts (MECCA), and NextStep Recycling; and despite
cutbacks in local funding, the OSU Extension Service still has resources
online at http://wkly.ws/13l and trained volunteers in the community.
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E TUITION:
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Wed., Dec. 15, 6-8PM
14 AUGUST 18, 2011
or the fi rst time ever at the Lane
County Fair, EW is sponsoring
its very own stage, which will be
decked out and supersnazzed with an
electric, eclectic line-up of local musi-
cians sure to knock the socks off Gran-
ny Mae, kick the boogie to Uncle Boots
and make the kids jump the hay for
days. Everything from folk and fanfare
to blues and rock will be represented
at EW’s debutante debut into the fair
freak — miss this coming-out party and
you’ve only got your brain to blame.
Located at the Community Stage,
our funky and free (with admission)
foray into county fair festivities will
feature such melodic luminaries as
Scott Austin , Boomchick , Betty
and the Boy , Roshan Maloney and
Saint Krampus , to name but a few.
This is your chance to get sun-soaked,
deep-fried and worse-for-wear by
checking out a fantastic, three-day bill
(starting at Friday, noon, and running
till 5 pm Sunday) of Next Best Thing,
Eugene fi nalists like Tyler Fortier
and Judy Vogelsang , along with
other long-established or up-and-
coming artists.
So grab an elephant ear, chug a lug
and put your funny shoes on at the
EW’s Community Stage, where all
good things happen. — Rick Levin
EUGENE WEEKLY
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