Andy Williams R.I.P.

Joe Lizura San Diego, California. September 26, 2012.  Well, it's late in the day here and before I go to bed I wanted to share a few thoughts about the passing of Andy Williams.  It's been sad lately with the number of very talented actors, singers, songwriters and comedians passing away - It's almost as though the "old guard" of entertainment, whom we usually forever remember as young, are slowly leaving us with memories that will never take the place of the real thing. 

Andy Williams is someone whom I always admired and respected as a very talented singer, actor and performer.  His musical work was second to none with 18 gold records and countless television episodes and specials.  I can remember very clearly the sounds of Andy Williams playing on my parents record player even though I was just a little boy. 

His Christmas specials and albums were wonderful and two of my favorite songs - Moon River and The Theme From "Love Story" will always be remembered as though I was still a youngster.  Yes, it was a bit of a sad day for me knowing that the world lost such a talented man.


Here is big part of the story from the San Francisco Chronicle that mentions just a few of his accomplishments:

With a string of gold albums, a hit TV series and the signature "Moon River," Andy Williams was a voice of the 1960s, although not the '60s we usually hear about.

The singer known for his easy-listening style and his wholesome, middle-America appeal was the antithesis of the counterculture that gave rise to rock 'n' roll.

"The old cliche says that if you can remember the 1960s, you weren't there," he once recalled. "Well, I was there all right, but my memory of them is blurred - not by any drugs I took but by the relentless pace of the schedule I set myself."

Mr. Williams' plaintive tenor, boyish features and clean-cut demeanor helped him outlast many of the decade's rock stars and fellow crooners such as Frank Sinatra and Perry Como. He remained on the charts into the 1970s, hosting hugely popular Christmas television specials and becoming closely associated with the holiday standard "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

Mr. Williams, who continued to perform into his 80s at the Moon River Theatre he built in Branson, Mo., announced in November that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and vowed to return to performing the following year, his 75th in show business.

The 84-year-old entertainer died Tuesday night at his Branson home, his Los Angeles publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday.

He became a major star in 1956, the same year as Elvis Presley, with the Sinatra-like swing number "Canadian Sunset." For a time, he was pushed into such Presley imitations as "Lips of Wine" and the No. 1 smash "Butterfly."

But he mostly stuck to what he called his "natural style" and kept it up throughout his career. In 1970, when even Sinatra had temporarily retired, Mr. Williams was in the top 10 with the theme from "Love Story," the Oscar-winning tearjerker. He had 18 gold records, three platinum and five Grammy nominations.

Mr. Williams was also the first host of the live Grammy Awards telecast and hosted the show for seven consecutive years, beginning in 1971.

Movie songs became a specialty, including his signature "Moon River." The longing Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini ballad was his most famous song, even though he never released it as a single because his record company feared such lines as "my huckleberry friend" were too confusing and old-fashioned for teens.

"The Andy Williams Show," which lasted through the 1960s and into 1971, won three Emmys and featured Williams performing his stable of hits and bantering with guest stars.

He was born Howard Andrew Williams in Wall Lake, Iowa, on Dec. 3, 1927. In his memoir, Mr. Williams remembered himself as a shy boy who concealed his insecurity "behind a veneer of cheek and self-confidence."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Andy-Williams-Moon-River-singer-dies-3897683.php#ixzz27eJZiCSl

 

- Yes, we lost a good one today, but we get to keep the memories.  R.I.P. Mr. Williams.

 

Joe Lizura

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Stock Markets are going up and up and you'd better watch out

Joe Lizura's thought for the day:  Nobody wants to be the one to yell "fire" in a crowded room, but the fact that the stock market has been soaring when the economy has been relatively stagnant can NOT be a good thing.  Let's face it, the NASDAQ is the highest it's been since the year 2000?  Let me ask a simple question, "Does the economy feel like it's the best and healthiest it's been so far this century?  If you answered no, then chances are there's trouble brewing.  So all I'm going to say is - watch out.  Here is the story today from the Huffington post:

NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 jumped to a more than four-year high on Thursday as a new bond-buying program in Europe was hailed as an effective way to contain the region's debt crisis.

Positive sentiment was also lifted by bullish data on the U.S. services sector and labor market, the latter especially notable ahead of Friday's non-farm payrolls report.

The rally was broad, with materials, financials and industrials-- all groups tied to the pace of economic growth-- leading the way with gains of more than 2 percent. Advancers outnumbered decliners by a ratio of more than 4 to 1 while the Dow had its biggest gain in two months and the Nasdaq advanced to its highest level since 2000.

ECB President Mario Draghi, seeking to back up his July pledge to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro, said the central bank's new plan of potentially unlimited bond-buying would address bond market distortions and "unfounded" fears of investors about the survival of the euro.

"We think this is a credible plan to addressing the issue, and while there are still political hurdles we expect those will be addressed," said Alec Young, global equity strategist at S&P Equity Research in New York.

U.S. companies added staff in August at the fastest clip in five months, according to the better-than-expected ADP report, while a gauge of employment in the service sector also improved more than had been anticipated. Another report showed new claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level in a month.

Even with Thursday's encouraging numbers, economists think the payroll report will show only modest hiring of 125,000 jobs and the unemployment rate holding steady at 8.3 percent. Investors will scrutinize the details for clues as to when the Federal Reserve may provide more stimulus to prop up economic growth.

"ADP doesn't correlate perfectly with payrolls, but people are feeling better about the jobs market these days," Young said. "There was confidence we would see jobs in the mid-100's even before this."

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 217.11 points, or 1.66 percent, at 13,264.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 26.43 points, or 1.88 percent, at 1,429.87-- its highest level since May 2008 as the financial crisis began to gather pace. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 62.52 points, or 2.04 percent, at 3,131.78 -- its highest level in 12 years.

The ECB's program, which Germany's Bundesbank is known to have opposed, would focus on bonds maturing within three years and was strictly within the ECB's mandate. Draghi said only one member of the ECB Governing Council had dissented.

The ECB also announced that it will keep its main interest rate at a record low of 0.75 percent, holding fire af a pick-up in inflation last month offset pressure to breathe life into the flagging euro zone economy by easing borrowing costs.

Tech shares helped lift the Nasdaq to its best daily performance since July 27. SanDisk Corp climbed 8.3 percent to $43.97 and Micron Technolgy Inc added 7 percent to $6.63. The Dow was lifted by Walt Disney Co, which advanced to an all-time high of $51.75.

In company news, Supervalu Inc said it would close about five dozen stores as it works to turn around its grocery business, which lags Kroger Co and Wal-Mart Stores Inc . The stock was up 2.2 percent at $2.33.

Realty Income Corp plans to acquire American Realty Capital Trust Inc for about $1.93 billion as it looks to diversify its portfolio outside of the retail industry. Shares of Realty Income slipped 0.05 percent to $42.46 and Capital Trust rose 1.9 percent to $12.19.

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Phyllis Diller Passes Away

Phyllis Diller, a very rare lady passes away.  Joe Lizura, August 20, 2012.  One of my favorite entertainers has passed away, but I will always remember here fondly.  When I was a child growing up on the 60s and 70s, Phyllis Diller was always a comedic fixture.  You could find her on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson at least 3 or 4 times a year, as well as on any special Bob Hope was performing on as well.  She led a wonderful life and was a Vegas regular entertaining hundreds of thousands of people a year. 

Here is the story from Yahoo:  Legendary comedienne Phyllis Diller, who blazed a trail for a generation of female comics with her self-deprecating stand-up routines, has died at age 95, according to TMZ.

Diller had been suffering health problems as of late: She recently hurt her hip and wrist in a fall and has been living under hospice care at her home. She passed away there, surrounded by family.

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM PHYLLIS DILLERThe wild-haired comedienne enjoyed a six-decade-long career: She started out in stand-up in 1952, and first rose to fame on TV with a series of TV specials alongside Bob Hope in the 1960s. She starred in several TV shows based around her act ("The Phyllis Diller Show," "The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show") and often appeared on the seminal '60s variety show "Laugh-In."

In recent years, Diller reveled in her role as an elder statesman of comedy, outdoing much younger comedians in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats" and even performing a routine on "The Tonight Show" in 2007, at the tender age of 90.

She is an entertainer I will very much miss, RIP - Joe Lizura

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William Shatner is Back!

August 15, 2012.  Priceline has done it again!  First they killed of William Shatner as the negotiator and now they've brought him back from the dead!  Check it out, here is some of the story -

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Priceline is bringing back popular pitchman William Shatner in a new television ad, seven months after "killing" his character in a bus crash spot.

The online travel site has seen its own high-flying stock plunge in the past week on bad news out of its European unit, although shares were up 1.5% in midday trading Wednesday on the news.

The new spot, which is now available online and will start airing on TV on Thursday, doesn't explain how Shatner's "Priceline Negotiator" character survived the fiery bus crash shown in the January ad.

The ad shows Shatner on a beach, wearing a business suit with the legs rolled up and holding a surfboard. An executive comes up to him and says, "You've been busy for a dead man. After you jumped ship in Bangkok, I thought I'd lost you." Shatner replies, "Surfing is my life now."
He then launches into his spiel about Priceline saving customers money. The executive says, "You still have it," and Shatner responds, "I'll always have it."

Shatner, best known for his role as death-defying James Kirk in "Star Trek," remained under contract with Priceline even while he was missing from its ads. His contract runs through early next year, and while it hasn't been extended, he said Wednesday that he expects it will be, especially given the new campaign. He has been the company's spokesman for more than 14 years, almost from its start.

Gotta love "The Negotiator" - Joe Lizura

Bear with a Beer problem

What a funny story!  Check out this story about a family of bears who break into a cabin and drink over 100 beers! Here is the story -

A family of bears has broken into a holiday cabin in Norway and consumed more than 100 cans of beer.

A mother bear and her three cubs broke into the wooden lodge in the north of the country by ripping off a wall, according to Norway's Finnmarken newspaper, and went on to eat and drink nearly all its contents.

The cabin’s owner, Even Borthen Nilsen, told reporters that over 100 cans of Norwegian beer - stored in the hut in preparation for the autumn hunting season - had disappeared.
Bear excrement and footprints – and an awful stench – left him in no doubt that it was the animals that had trashed the place during a night of revelry.

The carnage was discovered by Mr Borthen Nilsen’s mother and grandmother when they returned to the family-owned 26-square foot hut in Jarfjord in Finnmarken.
The bears had also polished off their store of marshmallows, chocolate spread and honey.
Mr Borthen Nilsen, who has studied natural resource management and bears, said: "They had a hell of a party in there.

"The entire cabin was destroyed. The beds and all kitchen appliances, stove, oven and cupboards and shelves were all smashed to pieces.
"They have bitten into the cans and drunk the beer.
"It's almost like taken out of Goldilocks and the three bears."

He added that now that the mother had shown her cubs how to get into the cabin and given them a taste for beer, he feared they might come back for more.

Definitely something to watch out for!

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The 2 Year Old Future Olympic Diver

August 9, 2012.  This morning on Good Morning America, there was the cutes story (along with video) of the 2 year toddler who had been watching the Olympics and decided that she wanted to try Diving!  Here is the link:  http://news.yahoo.com/video/entertainment-959800/diving-toddler-s-father-i-figured-she-had-been-watching-the-olympics-30231291.html#crsl=%252Fvideo%252Fentertainment-959800%252Fdiving-toddler-s-father-i-figured-she-had-been-watching-the-olympics-30231291.html

The video is very cute!  And, I hope she goes for her dreams and becomes an Olympic diver one day!

Joe_Lizura - Lochness Monster Story

August 8, 2012 Joe Lizura San Diego, CA.  So I stumbled upon this interesting story about the latest sighting of the "Nessie" more formally known as the Lochness Monster.  Here is a link to the story from the MSN homepage.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48496067/ns/technology_and_science-science/

What's interesting about the story is not so much the fact that there is another claim of a sighting of the Lochness Monster itself - it's interesting, but because of its distance from the shoreline and lack of other objects to be used as a reference point to the size of the "hump" thought to have been photographed, it's more likely not the monster at all.

But that wasn't what was of interest to me.  What really caught my eye was the Castle in the background of the picture, which doesn't look too spectacular in the photo.  I saw the name of the castle was the Urqhart Castle.  Just for fun, if you want to read a great story about the castle, click here on the Urqhart Castle link - it turns out that in it's day it was one of the largest castles in all of Scotland!  It's history is also well documented, so in a kind of nerdy way, it's a fun little read - check it out!  Oh, and as for the photo of the monster in the lake - is it just me or is there nothing in the water to see at all???

Have a great weekend!

Joe Lizura
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