Ten years ago today the final episode of SEINFELD aired. Has it really been a decade? A short time later that night, maybe early the next morning, the networks interrupted their regular programming with the sad news that Frank Sinatra had died. The cover I’ve chosen to show here isn’t my favorite Sinatra album (Come Fly With Me? Swing Along With Me? Live at the Sands? Probably that one) and I’m not sure it’s even my favorite of his sad albums (In the Wee Small Hours? Frank Sinatra Sings for Only The Lonely?) but it’s definitely my favorite album cover of his, the one I connect with most of all. I guess there have been times when I’ve felt just like how he looks here more than I care to admit. And right now I’m reminded of how his music and what passion he brought to it, what unparalleled excellence, can help during both good times and bad. I may have really discovered what he gave the world after he left it, but that doesn’t affect its power as it follows me through life.
Go listen to one of his albums. Go watch PAL JOEY, SOME CAME RUNNING or THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Go buy those stamps that just came out. Remember Frank.
I am astonished that I didn't record the proximity of those two seismic shifts in the culture.
ReplyDeleteThe Seinfeld-Sinatra thing? I remember a friend, realizing Sinatra died just a very short time after the final Seinfeld aired, asking me, "So, do you think he saw it?"
ReplyDeleteI remember I was in high school when these incidents occurred. During morning announcements, it was declared that there would be a moment of silence in honor of Francis Albert (Yeah, I'm from Jersey).
ReplyDeleteHowever, Jerry was never acknowledged.