Andy Williams Dead at 84 | Music News | Rolling Stone

One of my earliest memories of TV, black and white of course, is The Andy Williams show and Moon River. I'll never forget the laid back relaxed style of singing. Another memory is the infatuation I had with a recurring guest star of his, the beautiful Claudette Longet, and my estimation of him only grew when I later found out that she was his wife. They met on the road, literally, when he stopped to offer her help with her car break-down. His children mentioned in this article are hers. I will never forget him.

"Andy Williams, the golden-voiced singer known for "Moon River" and his popular TV Christmas specials, has died following a year-long battle with bladder cancer, his publicist confirmed to the Associated Press on Wednesday. He was 84. 

Williams recorded 18 gold and three platinum records during a career that spanned more than 70 years. His relaxed, low-key vocal style, once called "a national treasure" by President Ronald Reagan, made him an easy-listening icon, an image reinforced by The Andy Williams Show. Airing in various formats from 1959-71, the show featured Williams along with regular guests including the Osmonds, Bobby Darin and the New Christy Minstrels. Williams also became known for clean-cut Christmas specials.

Born December 3rd, 1927, in Iowa, he began performing with three siblings as the Williams Brothers when he was 11 years old. Williams launched a solo career in 1953, compiling a steady stream of pop hits on cuts including "Canadian Sunset," "Are You Sincere" and his only Number One single, "Butterfly." "Moon River" became his signature song after he recorded the Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini tune for his 1962 album, Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes. 

The song was so closely associated with Williams that he named his theater in Branson, Missouri, after it when the venue opened in 1992. Although Williams continued to tour in short bursts, the Moon River Theatre became his performing home for most of the past 20 years, and also displayed portions of Williams' world-class art collection, which included works by Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn and Paul Klee.

Williams is survived by his wife, Debbie, and his three children, Robert, Noelle and Christian."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/andy-williams-dead-at-84-20120926#ixzz27jK2pj3a
Andy Williams Dead at 84 | Music News | Rolling Stone

How to Avoid a Smartphone's Bite

This article gives a good guideline on how to avoid racking up large phone bills while overseas. The 2 categories of user listed below probably encompass the large majority of travellers, and are likely to be the wisest choice for connectivity when on the go. At a pinch, getting a local SIM may be the best option. The point about ensuring data roaming being turned off is the most pertinent and crucial in limiting the amount on the bill.

The Semi-Connected

You don’t feel the need for constant connectivity, and can wait until you’re connected to your hotel’s or hostel’s Wi-Fi network to call home, check e-mail and plan the next day’s activities.

What you should do: Once you connect to Wi-Fi, e-mail, Web browsing and online chat are free. But phone calls are not, so be sure you have an account with an app like Google Voice or Skype that can dial out to real world numbers. 

Choosing the company is a matter of personal preference. Google Voice has lower rates than Skype to virtually every country and is especially easy if you already use Gmail. Skype is reasonable too and maintains a loyal following. There are many other competitors, and all them claim to be revolutionary and cheap, but I’ve yet to find one that can beat the reach and dependability of those two.

Keep in mind that while offering “free Wi-Fi” is practically an industry standard at budget hotels, and even some campgrounds, it can mean many things. A system that’s always online, is acceptably fast and actually works in your room (rather than the lobby) seems more the exception than the rule.

Finally, when you go out for the day, bring your smartphone along for emergency calls and even for the occasional 50-cent text message if you make local friends or split with travel companions and need to meet up. Just be sure the international data roaming is turned off.

The Moderates

You love to make friends in a new country and want to be able to call and text them later. Tweeting every minute is too much, but you would like to alert your friends the moment you’ve reached the mountaintop/seen the Mona Lisa/eaten a bug. You want the option of checking with TripAdvisor or Yelp to decide between two restaurants. You need to check your e-mail occasionally.

What you should do: If your phone is “unlocked,” meaning you can use other providers, get an international SIM card. 

Web browsing was surprisingly affordable in many places; in Scandinavia, it was 49 cents a megabyte on Telestial, which was enough to keep up with e-mail, tweet regularly and use the occasional app or Google search. Prices have dropped recently, to as little as 10 cents a megabyte with a $99 bundle from Telestial or 25 cents a megabyte with OneSimCard’s Daily Data Package.

For pure Web browsing, install the Opera Mini app, a free, intuitive browser that saves money by compressing data to a fraction of what Safari or Chrome or many other mobile browsers do.

Most of the time, you can travel from one country to another and your phone is unfazed, simply switching from one local company to another. (Data rates will change, but you can find them easily online.) You load your phone with credits and set your account to reload automatically.

But the international SIM cards can be quirky. For instance, to make a call, you enter the number and press enter or send. The call is instantly disconnected, and sometimes weird codes appear on the screen. Seconds later, the phone rings. You pick up, and then it connects your call. It’s weird at first, but you get used to it. 

A final note: though the rates sound reasonable, beware. You can easily fall into your home habits and stay overconnected. Don’t. For a while, I was running through $10 or $15 of data a day.

How to Avoid a Smartphone's Bite - NYTimes.com

Breaking Down Gangnam Style

For 48 straight hours in early July, Korean pop star Psy and his crew drove Seoul's crowded highways in search of absurdist settings for his sexy horse dance. Obviously, they succeeded – "Gangnam Style" is not only spontaneously, ridiculously funny, it has snagged more than 167 million YouTube views since its release in mid-July and is climbing up the iTunes charts. "This is history in my country," Psy says, from a promotional tour in New York City, during an enthusiastic 45-minute phone interview that had been strictly scheduled for 15 minutes. Following is the singer's scene-by-scene breakdown.

THE SCENE: Dozing off in the sauna

THE TIME: 0:48

PSY SAYS: "It was a real sauna, so it was hot, and I was so exhausted, and all of a sudden I feel like getting sleepy on his shoulder. That was 100 percent ad-libbed. At this sauna, every staff, even me, was out of their consciousness. We were like, 'Hey, what are we doing right now? Why are we at the sauna?' The fat guy? Yeah, he was an actor."

THE SCENE: On the tour bus with the disco balls

THE TIME: 1:04

PSY SAYS: "It's like a tour bus, and a lot of older guys and older ladies are traveling to somewhere on the highways. Honestly, that's illegal, I think: They are standing when they are riding. When we were moving to this location, to that location, I suddenly found some bus on the highway, and I talked to the director: 'Hey, let's do that, the illegal thing, the older guys' party time.' The situation was ad-libbed on the highway. There's some lighting going on and mirror balls – that's not suitable for transportation, right? I cannot play that scene in the Korean National Broadcasting System. That's funny!"

THE SCENE: Explosion behind Psy's head

THE TIME: 1:08

PSY SAYS: "I've used very highly big-budget special effects in my own concerts for 12 years in Korea. So that was just a tiny piece of my concerts. That kind of explosion is kind of like a trademark of me in Korea."

THE SCENE: Dancing forward while the ladies march backwards

THE TIME: 1:15

PSY SAYS: "I try to show I'm dancing this horse-riding dance everywhere, and with everybody. The two women – they are walking back, right? In Korea, some aged women walk back to lose their weight, you know? That's a very normal situation in Korea. Younger people feel like, 'Hey, why are they walking back?' and aged women say, 'Hey, that's the kind of thing in Korea for 20 years.'"

THE SCENE: Dance-off with the Man in Yellow in the parking garage

THE TIME: 1:42

PSY SAYS: "The yellow-suit guy – he's a Number One comedian in Korea. His name is Yoo Jae Suk. In the music video, he danced very serious, right? Overseas, they are watching, just 'Oh, some unique yellow-suit guy's dancing, who is he?' But in Korea, everyone's going crazy: 'Wow, he's dancing so serious. He's a really busy man in Korea so we didn't have that much time with him. He's my very good friend. He just volunteered to do that for free so I cannot say, 'Hey, let's do that one more time.' We did it like three times, that was all. That was also ad-libbed – his moves, my moves, everything. We just played the whole song and we just danced what we know in our lives. There were some dirty moves and there were some horrible moves we couldn't use in the video. We have a lot of cut scenes. At the spot, everyone was crying – dying!"

THE SCENE: Elevator dance

THE TIME: 1:55

PSY SAYS: "He's also a very famous comedian in Korea. His name is Noh Hong-cheol. He's really a good friend of mine. He just came to my music-video spot to cheer me up. That was all. He didn't expect any filming. He didn't make [anything] up. The move – that was his trademark. He'd done that kind of move for several years. When he stepped in the elevator, I asked him, 'Hey, why don't you do that move in the elevator?' And he said, 'What are you going to do?' I said, 'I'm going to be between your legs, how about that?' He said, 'What?' And we were laughing. 'Let's see what's up.' All the staff was, 'What the fuck? . . . Oh, that's disgusting, that's nasty!' We didn't do that on purpose at all – as a result, I love the scene most."

THE SCENE: Dancing with the beautiful redhead in various locations

THE TIME: 2:11

PSY SAYS: "She is the leader of a very famous K-Pop girl group. The group name is 4Minute; her name is Hyun-a. She's kind of a sexy symbol among girl groups. She didn't do that kind of thing at all before. She asked, 'Why? Why? Why did I . . . ?' She was like, 'Oh, what is this? He keeps asking me to do some dumb shit. I don't have any clue. What are you talking about?' At some point she realized what's going on and she says, 'Oh, Psy, you idiot! This is genius, this is awesome!' That's what she told me in the middle of the video. And then she did it right."

THE SCENE: Splashing in a small pool with swim goggles

THE TIME: 2:38

PSY SAYS: "That was the same place with the sauna! The guy was one of my staff. After doing the sauna scenes, we are like, 'All right, it's done!' And we cheered. Honestly, that scene I copied Lady Gaga, you know? 'I want a volunteer from my staff. Take off the upper shirt. Who's it going to be?' He sat down there and I tried this move, that move.

THE SCENE: On the toilet

THE TIME: 3:16

PSY SAYS: "That was right outside of the sauna. [Laughs] That was the last spot, and we didn't expect anything. We were totally exhausted. Every staff, including me, we were thinking, 'Why don't we just finish here?' We went inside and found three scenes in there – sauna, water and toilet."

From an article by Steve Knopper in Rolling Stone September 14 2012 

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/breaking-down-psys-gangnam-style-20120914#ixzz26ax5RWYH