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Boston Globe
13-06-2025
- Boston Globe
Cruising with the oldies
I'd long thought of life as a merry-go-round you are already on, with people you love getting on. At some point, they get off. Or you do. Joining me on my floating merry-go-round were two journalist girlfriends I'd met ages ago through the business who'd become close chums. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up "The Boat Girls." From left, Kristin Ewald, the author, and Judy Bachrach. Margo Howard Advertisement I'm not certain how the idea of a boat came to me. I don't think it had anything to do with my not wanting to fly — anywhere, ever. Widely traveled as a younger woman, I'd watched as things seriously deteriorated with air travel. Passengers, it was reported, were said to pee on, feel up, or smack fellow travelers. A pilot intentionally crashed the plane he was flying into the French Alps. A Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft lost a door shortly after takeoff. Climate change-induced turbulence had one planeload of people on the ceiling, like bats. But I digress. Advertisement Now is probably the time to mention that I live in Florida, whence the boat embarked, and so I did not have to risk life and limb to get to my party. A yacht is also different from air travel in that you have your own cabin and sleep there; in our case, for six nights. Several days before we were to embark, excited emails came in from 'the boat babes,' as my friends had anointed themselves. I was excited too. The author, one of the self-appointed Boat Girls of 2025. Margo Howard We'd arranged to meet for dinner at the airport hotel, and it was great fun … until midway through I realized I had left behind my new shoes. Pristine shoes are requisite on yachts. Do not ask me why, because the wood floor is nothing special. In fact, bare feet are encouraged. The boat, of course, was beautiful. The aptly named 'Satisfaction' was 88 feet of sleek white fiberglass, or whatever such boats are made of. The captain was a surprise. He was not just adorable but younger than some of my grandchildren. His bonafides, however, put me at ease. The first mate, Lalo, I mistakenly called Lego, but he was a good sport about it. The stewardess was adorable Anna, who was a really good sport about my texting her several times because I could not turn the lights off or on or manage the thermostat. I guess now would be the time to say that systems on yachts are, let us say, temperamental. Even the locks and handles can be problematic. I locked myself in and out of my bathroom (but only had to call for help once). Related : Advertisement A cruise, of course, is a stand in for Life — the occasional rough seas, and all that. A last cruise with a couple of your oldest friends is something else entirely. I do not remember ever having laughed so much. The war stories from our journalism careers were a hoot. I suspect the crew thought we'd been three of the most important journos of our day! One friend talked about certain commotions at Vanity Fair. The other dished about weird things at People and the glory days of that magazine's famously generous expense accounts — 'the sixth floor,' a reference to where the money people in the building worked, for short. I talked about everybody, having been syndicated and free to interview anyone I wanted. Some names that came up: Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Gina Lollobrigida, Silvio Berlusconi, Sophia Loren, and the cardinal in Chicago known as 'Louisiana Fats' who called me a liar, after which the Chicago Tribune mandated that all reporters record their interviews. Each of us felt the specialness of the occasion and of the decades-long friendships we were there to celebrate. We were aware that this was likely the last time we might see each other, given our obligations, ages, and my new airplane phobia. I'm unsure whether that realization made getting together all the more delicious. But this I do know: What a swell party it was. I think about it every day.
The Courier
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Hysteria and Satisfaction when Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in 1965
Screaming, fainting and sobbing teenagers caused pandemonium when the Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in June 1965. The Marryat Hall was turned into a casualty station. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts could barely hear themselves play and dodged stuffed toys of all shapes and sizes. It made national headlines. The Stones were the band of the moment following the release of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which dominated the airwaves in the summer of 1965. The band first played the Caird Hall a year earlier. Albert Bonici and co-promoter Andi Lothian booked the Stones to join the bill of a pop package tour which was headlined by Freddie and the Dreamers. The Stones performed at 6.30pm and 8.50pm on on May 20 1964. The band returned to Scotland for a headline tour in June 1965 which included dates at Glasgow's Odeon, Edinburgh's Usher Hall and Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre. They received 40% of the gross box office and 'no less than £750 per venue'. Everyone wanted to see them. Four Dunfermline schoolgirls skipped lessons after the Edinburgh show. Hitchhiking 23 miles to the Gleneagles Hotel where the band were staying, they managed to meet the Stones and get autographs and souvenirs. Next stop was Aberdeen. You can't always get what you want, it's true, but the Stones did when they enjoyed a hearty meal of sausages, eggs, bacon and chips in Laurencekirk. The fry-up at a country pub prompted Jagger to sing a song for the locals. 'We had a great meal on the way up,' said Jagger. 'Laurencekirk, I think it was. 'And the people were very nice.' They returned to Gleneagles before the two shows at the Caird Hall. Tickets were priced from five shillings to 15 shillings. The Stones chose the supporting acts and were backed by The Hollies, Doris Troy, Johnny Cannon and the Shades, and the West Five. Before the gig they were taken to Broughty Ferry for a photo shoot for Romeo and Jackie teen girl magazines in the grounds of the Taypark Hotel. The band members were all clad in suits. The two shows at 6.30pm and 8.45pm were attended by 3,500 fans. The Stones were drinking bottles of Coke backstage. They played for 30 minutes. Songs included Not Fade Away, It's All Over Now and The Last Time, although little could be heard because the screaming was so loud. Jagger and his bandmates thought a young fan had fallen from the balcony during the show when an enormous cloth gonk was hurled on to the stage. In fact, it was a gift from Jean Gracie from Dundee and Ann Brown from Monifieth. The Stones brought the girls backstage during the interval. They were photographed by The Courier for the following morning's paper. It was the calm before the storm. The screaming reached a crescendo at the second show. The teenybop adulation threatened to become overwhelming. Hundreds of hysterical teenage girls attempted to break the cordon of police and 50 stewards which were made up of amateur boxers and wrestlers. However, one girl got through. Jessie Noble from Fintry raced past Wyman and Jones to the centre of the stage. She threw her arms around Jagger and started hugging and kissing him. Two burly stewards dragged her to the wings. 'I kissed Mick,' she said. 'I touched him and hugged him.' There was a short spell of peace. Then it was back to the yelling, stamping, screaming and fainting again. Jessie broke through the cordon a second time. She was promptly carted out again. The Courier said the floor of the hall became a battlefield. The screaming girl fans stood on seats and chanted: 'Mick! Mick! Mick!' Rooster-strutting Jagger looked in his element on stage and the cheering got louder when he took his jacket off and threatened to throw it to the audience. Red Cross workers had stationed themselves around the hall. Forty 'hysterical and fainting girls' were carried to the Marryat Hall. They were laid out on blankets, then revived and treated at the scene. One girl who collapsed unconscious was taken to Dundee Royal Infirmary for treatment after attendants worked unsuccessfully for half an hour to revive her. Maureen Rooney of Mid Craigie was suffering from 'acute hysteria'. She regained consciousness and was sent home. Other teenagers attempted to reach the stage but were held back by stewards. After the final song, many girls, who were still in the venue, were sobbing with disappointment because the band had left the stage. The fans left behind a litter of dolls, papers, autograph books and sweets. There were a number of broken seats. A car was waiting for the band in Castle Street. The Stones drove back to Gleneagles. A policeman grabbed a girl who attempted to throw herself in front of the car. Jagger defended the group's followers after the Dundee gig. 'The fans don't mean to break the seats,' he said. Afterwards, the band flew back to London from Renfrew Airport without Jagger. He spent the weekend in Scotland with 19-year-old girlfriend Christine Shrimpton. They visited Fort William, Oban and Loch Lomond. Jagger and Shrimpton stayed in the Loch Lomond Hotel. They flew back to London before the band went on tour to Scandinavia. The Stones never returned to Dundee. However, Bill Wyman did. He left the Stones in 1993 and later formed Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. Wyman returned to the Caird Hall with his new band in February 2008. There was also an equally famous 'what if?' Charlie Watts might have performed at the Dundee Jazz Festival. He put together his own 33-piece extra-big band in 1985 featuring many of the biggest stars of British jazz – including Jimmy Deuchar from Dundee. Deuchar stayed in Barnhill. Watts described him as 'quite brilliant' and 'probably the best writer in the band'. The friendship almost brought the Stones drummer back to Dundee. Alan Steadman was the organiser of Dundee Jazz Festival. He tried to persuade Watts to join the bill. The plan never came to fruition, though, and Steadman was left waiting on a friend.
Hans India
11-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Zoom launches Zoom Contact Centre in India
Zoom Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) today announced the launch of Zoom Contact Centre in India, delivering a modern, AI-first, omnichannel contact-center-as-a-service solution (CCaaS) optimised for video. Zoom Contact Centre supports a wide range of channels, including voice, video, virtual agents, social media, email, and messaging apps. The launch enables businesses in India and global multinational corporations (MNC) with a domestic presence to unify customer and employee engagement through a single AI-first platform. This intelligent and scalable contact centre solution with Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) capabilities offers a personalised total experience (TX) by integrating customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX). 'Zoom Contact Center will empower and enable local businesses and MNCs across industries in India to elevate customer engagement through a flexible, AI-first omnichannel solution that enables customers to meet local regulatory and compliance requirements and addresses the evolving needs of today's customers," said Velchamy Sankarlingam, president of Product and Engineering at Zoom. 'India is a critical market for us, and our latest offering brings the power of unified collaboration and contact centre capabilities onto one platform. This reflects our commitment to delivering secure, scalable, and innovative solutions for modern enterprises in every market, including India.' Zoom Contact Centre utilises the Zoom data centres in India to handle its services, supporting customer expectations and compliance requirements, particularly in sectors such as government, healthcare, and financial services. 'Our research has documented the substantial business metric improvements when companies use AI in their CX strategies. For example, AI in CX increases Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) by 32% and revenue by 27%,' said Robin Gareiss, CEO of Metrigy. 'Zoom Contact Centre's launch in the Indian market will only expand these types of benefits to another region. Those who leverage BYOC can quickly deploy the technology to add AI, automation, and analytics to their customer interactions.' Zoom's BYOC capabilities allow businesses to retain their existing public switched telephone network (PSTN) service provider while routing voice traffic through the Zoom Contact Centre cloud. This gives companies more flexibility and control over their telephony infrastructure and offers a clear, manageable migration path from legacy on-premises PBX systems to the cloud. With this capability, customers in India can take advantage of Zoom Contact Centre's features while keeping their existing phone numbers and calling rates with their preferred carrier. BYOC also simplifies migration, reduces friction with existing carrier contracts, supports global operations through local providers, and offers pricing flexibility by preserving negotiated rates and avoiding early termination fees. This flexibility lays a strong foundation for innovation, particularly as artificial intelligence emerges as a transformative force in the evolving contact centre landscape AI is reshaping the future of customer engagement, and Zoom Contact Centre is built to lead that evolution. From self-service solutions to predictive analytics and auto-summarisation capabilities, AI has the potential to significantly improve contact centre efficiencies, boost agent productivity, and enhance customer satisfaction. AI helps customers move smoothly across channels without repeating information, as agents have full visibility into each interaction. This creates a unified, intelligent workflow that enables a 'total experience'—a seamless solution that goes beyond the traditional contact centre to empower agents and strengthen collaboration across the organisation. Zoom Contact Centre's current AI-first products include: Zoom Virtual Agent is an intelligent AI-first solution that makes self-service a breeze with agentic AI and intuitive conversational fluency. It independently understands your customers' needs and efficiently handles complex end-to-end issues with ease. Zoom Virtual Agent takes the heavy lifting from IT and support teams while providing hassle-free self-service that just works. Zoom Contact Centre is built with AI-first capabilities that support both agents and supervisors. With AI Expert Assist , agents receive real-time support across voice, chat, and video through instant knowledge retrieval, next-best-action suggestions, and automated summaries. For supervisors, Zoom expects to roll out Advanced Quality Management features in May, including Auto Quality Management and Ask Quality Management, to streamline performance insights, while AI Agent Adherence will help track trends and optimise staffing. Zoom Contact Centre also supports inbound and outbound cloud-based voice calling via Zoom Phone, also available in India. It allows users to utilise the features of Zoom Phone while using a contact centre solution to handle calls. This facilitates a total experience in a unified solution that goes beyond the contact centre, empowers agents, and makes collaboration seamless for employees and customers. 'From onboarding and supporting, automation and analytics, Zoom Contact Centre offers features that help provide better experiences for customers,' said Sameer Raje, general manager and head, India and SAARC, Zoom. 'This launch marks another milestone in Zoom's commitment to the Indian market—helping businesses streamline operations, elevating the total experience, and staying ahead in a digital-first world.'
Boston Globe
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The priesthood, or rock 'n' roll? How the Stones inspired me to break my grandmother's heart.
Advertisement Mick wrote the words, and Keith helped make them better. With the other Rolling Stones, they flew to Chicago and recorded the track at Chess Records on the South Side, 25 miles east of my family's house. They'd just performed three pretty good songs on Ed Sullivan, but none were as good as this new one. No song was, really. One mag said Keith used special tuning and something called a fuzzbox to make his guitar sound so aggro and dirty. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Five years before that, our Grandma Grace had moved from the Bronx to our new house in Lisle, Ill. Her husband had died back in 1928, and she loved telling me about my namesake grandfather — mine-laying sailor during the war, stalwart teetotaler, devout and pious Catholic — and how much he respected Jesuits, how thrilled he'd be to look down from heaven and watch me serve on God's altar. I was 9. 'My little lamb,' she called me, as in Lamb of God. Advertisement Next thing I knew, she'd landed a job as the secretary at our parish's rectory and talked Father Fred into letting me start serving mass two years early. I became the youngest altar boy in the history of St. Joan of Arc! But that was just part of her plan. After serving at masses, weddings, and baptisms from fourth through eighth grade, for high school I would attend St. Stanislaus Jesuit Seminary in Florissant, Mo., where I'd 'accept the gift of celibacy.' After four years there and four more at a Jebby university, I'd be ordained as a Jesuit priest. As she drove me to and from the 6:15 a.m. masses I served almost daily, Grandma Grace told me that if a boy became a Jesuit priest, his grandparents, parents, brothers, and sisters would all go straight to heaven the moment they died, skipping what could be dozens or even millions of years in purgatory. 'Most indulgences remove only some of the penance,' she said, 'but a plenary indulgence, like when you get ordained, removes all of it.' I promised her many times I would do it. I didn't think that lifelong celibacy was a deal-breaker, if I thought about it at all. Plus I was proud to be able to spare my whole family the stinging, cleansing fires — cooler than hell's, but still pretty hot — so our souls could all zoom up to heaven the second we passed away. Advertisement Our plan stayed on track until I was 12 or 13, when what celibacy forbids started sinking in. What the hell had I been thinking? For months and months, I seesawed back and forth about breaking my promise, though I forgot about the whole thing for long stretches during football or baseball season. As the summer between eighth grade and the seminary rolled around, 'Satisfaction' was on the radio all the time, most predictably when WLS counted down to the No. 1 song every night at 10 o'clock. My parents would be watching TV downstairs, and I'd turn it up as loud as I dared. I dug when Mick sang, 'He can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me,' because my friends and I were smoking them too, especially when we played poker. Keith, Mick, Charlie, and Brian all smoked, sometimes while playing onstage. The biggest difference was, they never had to get haircuts; we couldn't avoid them because our parents were so strict. Mick is 'tryin' to make some girl,' though he's obviously made a few others. But the coolest thing was that even Mick couldn't 'get no satisfaction' that summer, since we couldn't get any ourselves. In late July, the paperwork for St. Stanislaus had to be signed, and I somehow found the courage to tell Grandma and my parents that instead of the seminary, I wanted to go to St. Procopius, the all-boys prep school right there in Lisle. Thank God, whom I no longer completely believed in, that my dad supported the switch, because he secretly hoped I'd become a good Catholic businessman and usher, like him. If he hadn't, I'd be Stanislaus-bound. Advertisement Grandma was stunned, which killed me and her son. She couldn't have known that in 1999 I'd name my fourth child after her. All she knew was that in five years I'd gone from being probably her favorite kid (there were six of us now, and counting) to an undevout promise-breaker. She said she no longer recognized me, and not because I was taller than she was and had whiskers. 'In here,' she said, touching her heart. When she asked why I changed my mind, I wasn't sure what to say, but I didn't want to lie. 'Maybe I'll change it back while I'm at Proco,' I said. Proco was Benedictine but Catholic, I reminded her, and half the teachers were priests. Their motto was U.I.O.G.D., 'Ut in Omnibus Glorificetur Deus' — That in all things God may be glorified. Grandma just sniffed, shook her head, looking down and away, like she did when she really wanted you to know how disappointed she was. If I'd been totally honest, I would've told her girls, sports, poker, and 'Satisfaction.' That whatever's the opposite of becoming a priest is what the words and Keith's riff are about.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
After 60 years, even Mick Jagger can finally get some satisfaction
As rock anniversaries go, 60 years is quite the milestone. Consider what the world looked like on June 4, 1965, the day (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction was released by the Rolling Stones: humanity yet to set foot on the moon, communism ruling Eastern Europe, war escalating in Vietnam, and it would be two years until the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction turned the big 2-0 as then UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher stared down striking coalminers in 1985, and space shuttles orbited the planet, Uluru was handed back to traditional owners and MTV took over a generation. On its 40th anniversary, in the wake of September 11, the 'Axis of Evil', Iraq and Afghanistan, we spoke of the song on the internet (that's what we called it then) and wondered how the Rolling Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger, could still do it. Could still do anything, really. A few years later, we shared clips – originals, live performances, tributes – using these new little phones we kept in our pockets that were 100,000 times more powerful than the computer that landed that spacecraft on the moon a generation earlier. And the world kept on changing, moving, relentlessly pushing forward: Trump, COVID, more Trump. But 60 years on – we're still singing the song and humming that riff.
