Andy Williams (1927-2012): On His Own Personal "Moon River"

Cover of Andy Williams

Andy Williams, who died of bladder cancer at age 84, was an entertainer whose singing voice sold millions of records in the 1950s and 60s.  He was also part of many Baby Boomers' lives when they watched his TV show with their parents.

There was "Butterfly" and "Can't Get Used to Losing You" as Williams' first hits on the record charts,  But he was best known for popularizing movie theme songs that became associated with him long after the films were forgotten:  "Moon River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "The Days of Wine and Roses", "Where Do I Begin" from "Love Story", and so on.

Williams' success led to his own weekly TV variety series, which had two separate runs on NBC (1962-67 and 1969-71).  You don't see this type of show today, unless they involve awards or celebrity judges.  But Williams' show was typical of the genre that began with Perry Como and Dinah Shore in the 1950s, and ended in the 1970s with Sonny and Cher and Donny and Marie Osmond.

It went something like this:  Host sings a few songs, duets with musical guest (usually Ethel Merman or Ella Fitzgerald), participates in a skit with guest comedian (usually Jonathan Winters), introduces rock-and-roll band or pop singer for the kids watching (this is the 1960s, folks), then closes the show with an inspirational tune.

Williams also helped popularize the TV Holiday Show with his annual specials.  You know the ones:  Host enlists members of his family, along with a special guest or two, in an hour of Yuletide songs and cheer taped inside a TV studio months in advance.  Even today, Williams' influence on the Christmas season still holds sway.  His song "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has become a holiday standard.

We mentioned the Osmonds.  It was Williams who discovered Donny and his brothers during a Disneyland performance, then brought them on his TV show and became stars singing barbershop.

Andy Williams' life was not without controversy.  He stood by former wife Claudine Longet during her trial in the mid-70s, accused of murdering skier Spider Sabich.  Her claim that it was accidental got her a lesser sentence, and thirty days in jail (though she ended up spending a week there).

In a time of national grief, there was Williams at the funeral of his friend Robert Kennedy, singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".  He later said he was a lifelong Republican.

For the last few years of his life, Williams opened up his own theater in Branson, Missouri, where he continued to perform until recently.

Andy Williams was a part of the 1960s that didn't involve war and protest, nor was he part of the rock generation.  Instead, he was a pop singer who soothed a nation with lush ballads, and was seen as someone they could trust who was on TV every week.  Right now, he's on his own private Moon River.

The Duchess and The Candidate

Family of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, 2008 US presidential candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Though they're separated by an ocean, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and the Duchess of Cambridge--also known as Kate Middleton--both have something in common:  getting caught in compromising situations in supposedly private environments.

Romney was caught on video making statements that could be lethal to his campaign.  Duchess Kate was sunbathing topless, and the results were seen all over the world.

Romney, for his part, was secretly taped at a gathering in Boca Raton, Florida last spring while speaking to a group of like-minded wealthy individuals who paid maybe thousands of bucks to see him.  There he told his audience some things he normally doesn't share on the campaign trail.  Such as:  dismissing 47% of the potential voters because he thinks President Barack Obama has them in his back pocket already, and because they're not exactly ambitious enough to get off government assistance.  He also said on the tape that the Palestinians aren't really interested in peace with Israel.

Duchess Kate thought it was OK to expose her royal breasts to sunlight while she and her husband, Prince William, were on holiday in the south of France.  Some photographer with a high-powered lens must have been watching this and smelled opportunity.

Romney struck back by owning up to the comments he made on the tape, which was released by Mother Jones magazine.  Then his campaign unearthed a 1998 videotape of then-Illinois state senator Obama calling for a redistribution of the nation's wealth.  Nice way to change the conversation, isn't it?

Kate is now one of the most photographed women in the world.  But this time, not so much.  She and William took the French magazine Closer to court, and got the judge to order them to turn over any digital copies of the Duchess' suntanned nudity.  French officials are also undergoing an investigation to see if there's any criminal wrongdoing.  But it may be too late for the royals.  The photos have already turned up in publications all over Europe, and on the Internet.

What lasting damage the secret videotape will do to Romney's chances of defeating President Obama remains to be seen.  With a few weeks to go, and with the debates still to come, Romney has nowhere to go but up.  Recent polls show the President widening his lead, even on the one issue that Romney was hoping to gain ground on, which would be the economy.

Duchess Kate is a beautiful woman.  Prince William must think so, too.  Otherwise he would not have married her, and we never would have heard of her.  But so was his mother, Princess Diana, and look what happened to her.  That's what William is trying to avoid with Kate in dealing with the paparazzi, as they prepare to take over the British throne one of these days.

Thanks to our digital age, it's no longer possible for celebrities and public figures to go behind closed doors and be themselves.  Now they have to cover up even outdoors, and watch what they say at private functions.  Otherwise, it's on the Internet for all to see.

Sometimes, it's to society's benefit for someone to be exposed for who he really is.  Sometimes, they're just overexposed.

Hate Kills a Diplomat

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 12: A U.S. flies at half staff outside the State Department September 12, 2012 in Washington, DC. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

There are times when an international crisis comes to a boil, and there's not much the United States can do to prevent it.  What happened in Benghazi, Libya on the anniversary of 9/11/01 was one of those times.

Muslim protesters overran the U.S. consulate there and killed the four Americans who worked there.  One of those was L. Christopher Stevens, who was the ambassador to Libya.  He was the first American diplomat to lose his life while on the job in more than 30 years.

You will recall that, some months back, the dictatorship of Muammar Qadafi was toppled in a civil war with help from Europe and the United States.  And this is the thanks they get.

It turns out that all this violence is over an American-made video that made the rounds of You Tube (before it got pulled), ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed and doling out anti-Muslim rhetoric.  Media reports say that the man who produced the video allegedly duped actors into appearing in it, then overdubbed their lines in post-production.

The United States government had nothing to do with the video, any more than they had anything to do with a Florida preacher who threatened to burn Korans, or with anything else radical Muslims have done in the past to make people conclude that Islam is a violent religion and must be stopped.  But that doesn't matter to those who have been protesting at American embassies all over the Middle East.  To them, perception is reality.

It's still too early to say if President Barack Obama's handling of the situation has made things worse or better, but Mitt Romney couldn't wait.  The Republican presidential candidate, whose own visit to Europe over the summer wasn't exactly a success, reacted like any other candidate whose party has been out of the White House for at least four years:  Heckle from the sidelines, whether you have all the facts or not.

However this incident plays out, a couple of things need to be done going forward.  First, the United States must now tread carefully in Middle Eastern politics, given that the results of Arab Spring hasn't always been working in their favor.  Second, security must be beefed up at the American embassies and consulates, but not at the expense of diplomacy.  Third, without trampling on civil liberties, something needs to be done about hate speech online and in the streets.

Doomsday Is Not Entertainment

September 11, 2001 (Photo credit: wallyg)

In the decade since planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into buildings and fields on the East Coast on September 11, 2001, killing around 3000 people, wars have been declared and civil liberties have been trampled on, all in the name of keeping us safe.  And we wondered what other disaster might befall us.

Hollywood has been more than happy to help with that one.  Since 9/11/01, there have been movies, TV shows and video games depicting various forms of the apocalypse:  alien invasions, the year 2012, the aftermath of nuclear war, zombies, asteroids the size of Australia, killer epidemics, environmental calamities, and so on.  There's even a new TV show imagining what would happen if the lights would go out on the world for good.

Disaster movies and TV shows--both serious and cheesy--have been with us since the Cold War 1950s.  It's one thing to take your gamma ray monster and cheaply-made flying saucer with your popcorn.  It's quite another to witness the end of Life As We Know It in 3-D and high definition.  Times have changed.  Life has gotten more serious and depressing to take this genre as simply entertainment.

For instance, as you watch aliens obliterate Los Angeles or New York, do you wonder how the loss of those two cities would affect the national economy and its culture?  What would happen to the country if Washington is taken over by a dictatorship, if it isn't destroyed first?  When flesh-eating zombies attack your neighborhood, how would you protect yourself and your family?

If you're a devotee of "Batman", "Superman", or any of those other movies featuring costumed action figures and villians, do you ever wonder what life must be like for the average citizens of Metropolis or Gotham City?

The point is that the hero--usually some ordinary shlub forced into a dangerous situation by sheer circumstance--ends up saving the world from further calamity.  But only after thousands of people have already died, including the hero's supermodel wife/love interest and cute 12-year old child.

It's hard to be cheerful after seeing something like that.  It's also that way if you have no intention of seeing the movie or program in question, but you see countless ads for it on TV and become depressed because you're the type who tends to believe the disaster they're promoting is breaking news.

And there are some people who really do think that way.  In a recent poll, respondents said they would trust President Barack Obama instead of Mitt Romney to lead the country in case of an alien attack.  The Centers for Disease Control even offers information on what to do in case of a zombie invasion.

What we should be worried about, even a year after the death of Osama bin Laden, are terrorists who smuggle dirty bombs or nuclear weapons into the country, the threat of cyber war that would take out our ability to use computers, and lone gunmen who shoot up movie theaters and shopping malls.  We can't depend on guys in costumed underwear, or even the military to save us from these threats.

What happened eleven years ago on September 11, 2001 went far beyond anything Hollywood script writers could have dreamed of.  Real people were killed--men, women, children--as the World Trade Center towers came down on live television.  Those who tried to recover what was lost also died.  Now we are all trying to move on with our lives.  And what Hollywood puts on the big screen, on your TVs, and in your computers isn't helping us heal.  It's only a movie.  Isn't it?

Redefining Hope In Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC - SEPTEMBER 05: (EDITORS NOTE: ALTERNATE CROP) Former U.S. President Bill Clinton stands with Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. President Barack Obama (L) on stage during day two of the Democratic National Convention at Time Warner Cable Arena on September 5, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The DNC that will run through September 7, will nominate U.S. President Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

President Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic National Convention Thursday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Sounding like an insurance commercial, the President promised that the country will get to a "better place" once they get through the long and hard process of economic recovery.  But he also said that he is more hopeful of the resiliency of people who have been facing hard times.

It wasn't the speech of sunshine and lollipops Obama gave in 2008, but he did differentiate himself in important ways over his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.  He's had four years' experience as President.  Romney has not.  Obama has detailed what he would do in the next four years.  Romney's been pretty vague about it. 

The President made his nomination speech inside Time Warner Cable Arena instead of Bank of America Stadium because of inclement weather.  That meant stiffing thousands of folks who weren't delegates and other VIP's out of the chance to hear Obama in person, instead of on TV.  Republicans claim the change in venue was less about the weather than it being a cover for Democrats' not being able to fill the stadium.  Next time, repeat after me:  Retractable.  Roof.  Stadium.

In the first two days of the convention, as speaker after speaker sang the praises of Obama and belittled the efforts of Republicans, the Democrats made a slight change in their platform.  Along with acceptance of gay rights, they also put God and their support for Jerusalem in there after the GOP apparently shamed them into doing so.  American politicians of both parties always support Israel, no matter how obnoxious that country sometimes is, because they need the Jewish vote.

Michelle Obama, like her Republican counterpart Ann Romney, did a pretty convincing job of standing by her man.  Former President Bill Clinton took less than an hour, veering from his prepared remarks from time to time, making his case for Obama's re-election.  Even if they're not exactly BFFs four years after wife Hillary lost to Obama in the primaries.

It is now two months until Election Day.  Through debates, campaign appearances and television ads we will be asked to make a choice:  Do you want a man who's had a so-so record over four years to turn the country around, and now wants four more years to improve on that?  Or do you want a man who takes a business-like approach to government, undoing every program the current occupant's been in favor of because his party's vowed to get rid of him from the moment he was elected?

The choice is yours, America.

Democrats Have Carolina On Its Mind

Barack Obama (Photo credit: jamesomalley)

After the Republicans had to share its convention with a hurricane, unfocused speeches and Clint Eastwood's empty chair, it's time for the Democrats.

You remember the Democratic Party.  They're the ones President Barack Obama belongs to.  The reason you haven't heard much from them lately is because the GOP and their sycophants in talk radio and Fox News have Americans believing that the Party of Donkeys are responsible for the ills of the world, when in fact the Elephant Party bears some responsibility, too.  It's just that the Democrats haven't effectively answered them until now, including the one about "are you better off now than you were four years ago?".

The Democrats are convening in Charlotte, North Carolina for the same reason the GOP had its shindig in Tampa, Florida:  Both are swing states.  In a close election, the electoral votes of certain states matter.  And in Tarheel Country, Mitt Romney has a slight lead over the President in some polls.

So it's up to the Democrats to change the narrative, and to provide voters with a compelling reason to keep Obama in the White House.  The economy is improving, but a lot of people are still out of work.  Needed legislation has been stonewalled by Republicans in Congress, with very little to replace it.  Osama bin Laden is dead, so the troops will be coming home eventually.

Ultimately, it all comes down to what President Obama will say Thursday night.  He's being outspent by Romney and his corporate pals 2-1.  Some people still don't think he was born in the United States, and no birth certificate is going to convince them otherwise.  Some also think his executive orders borders on the dictatorial, when in fact Republican naysaying forced his hand.  Oh, and he needs to avoid gaffes like "you didn't build that".  He's not Romney.

For a party that caters less to big business than the GOP does, the Democrats are holding their convention in venues with corporate ties.  The first two days are being held at the Time Warner Cable Arena, home of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats.  President Obama will be making his acceptance speech at Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL Carolina Panthers.  Draw your own conclusions.

Like an old James Taylor song, the Democrats have Carolina on their minds this week.  After that, they'd better have re-election for the President and regaining control of Congress on their minds from now through November.  The longer the Republicans bluster their way into the majority, the more difficult it will be for Democrats to fight back.