Cultural icons

 Earlier this week I saw a TV special, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett at Radio City Music Hall.  Bennett is 95 years old and suffers from Alzheimer’s, but he came alive on that stage.  Gaga said it was Bennett’s farewell performance.  

Drew and I saw Bennett in concert in 2013.  Becca won tickets from a radio station and thought we would appreciate the show more than she would.

My remarks that night:

Tony Bennett is 86 now, and still able to perform a show.  He sang for a little over an hour.  Sorry to say, he's not as good as he used to be.  Very charismatic, but the voice....he's getting by on magnetism and memories.  Still very entertaining.   Though I was very impressed when, at the end of the show, he turned off his microphone and sang "Fly Me To The Moon", and could be heard in every seat in the house.

Who knew he’d still be singing 8 years later?

I know I’m going to cry when he’s no longer among us.

And then, on Wednesday, the Kennedy Center Honors.  Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, Lorne Michaels, Berry Gordy and Justino Diaz.

I’m not much of an opera aficionado, so I really wasn’t familiar with Diaz.  But the rest?   OMG, I couldn’t decide who I was most excited to see.  I laughed and cried through the entire show.  How could I do anything else, listening to David Letterman, Steve Martin and Amy Poehlner crack jokes?  And to hear Billy Porter, Paul Simon and Kelley O’Hara singing? Or watching the President and First Lady dance to Stevie Wonder’s s song?

Yes, we have a normal President again, one who appreciates culture, one who understands it isn’t always about him.

One who isn’t afraid of comedians and satire.

The show was recorded earlier this month, before COVID began to surge again.  Everyone in the audience was properly masked, of course.  Maybe next year we can see a show without masks.