Posted by Max H. Schwartz
on 11/4/2009, 10:27 pm
It came out yesterday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-sachs/frank-sinatras-big-apple_b_345135.html
I got to see Sinatra twice.
In the late 1980s.
He still had it then.
Both times were in Charlotte, N.C., at the basketball arena there.
The first time, we were flat broke.
One of the local FM stations there had a syndicated show on Saturday night
called, “Sounds of Sinatra.”
I listened every week.
It came on right after Prairie Home Companion.
The show really got me into Sinatra.
AND, I started collecting his albums.
When I found out that he was going to be in Charlotte
we were in the middle of another damn recession.
(I’m beginning to wonder if my life hasn’t been nothing but an endless recession.)
Anyway, we didn’t have the money to go.
But, the day of the show, “I said to Jackee, We’re goin!!!!!”
AND, we did.
We were on the next to last row in the nose bleed section.
The guy in front of me let me use his binoculars for a few seconds.
Long enough for me to see that it was really him down there.
The sound was the best I’ve ever heard at a concert.
It was like listening to his albums, only 10 times better.
He came back a year later.
This time, it was the show he was supposed to do with Dean and Sammy.
By the time he got to Charlotte, both of them had dropped out.
Liza had taken their place.
The economy had gotten better, and I got in line at 5 AM.
3 other people were in front of me.
I bought two $100 tickets.
We were on the second row.
Right in front of Frank, Jr., conducting.
Frank was probably 15 feet away.
The sound was horrible.
For the vocals, all we could hear were the stage monitors.
Frank was in a hurry.
He raced through his part of the show.
Liza put on quite a performance.
It was all interesting to see.
I never saw Elvis.
But, my father saw him twice, which has always irked me.
2 out of 3 isn’t bad.
Max
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