Left photo: Cliffie and I posing in front of Frank Sinatra’s MGM’s promotional photo display in MGM Grand’s lobby before we went into the ballroom to see his magnificent and nostalgic performance. Right photo: As you can see, our table/seats were close to the stage, and here’s a historic photo from his last Las Vegas show engagement. Joan Carol’s comments: “Cliffie and I used the above “left photo” for our 1994 Xmas card, which we sent to our families and friends. Printed on the bottom of the card was ‘Holiday Greetings’….. Cliffie, Joan & Frank – Las Vegas MGM 1994.’ Many of our friends called to tell us how much they enjoyed our holiday greeting card! Cliffie and I both were big fans of Frank Sinatra and to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary, we treated ourselves to a romantic night with Frank Sinatra. I had never seen him perform in person, but Cliffie did many years ago when he was dating his first wife, Dorothy. He had taken her to the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles when Frank Sinatra was still performing with the Tommy Dorsey Band. We walked into the MGM ballroom and sat down in our reserved seats which were near the stage. After everyone was seated, the curtains opened up, the orchestra started playing, which was conducted by Frank Sinatra Junior. Then Frank Sinatra walked out on stage to thunderous applause. He had the audience in the palm of his hand before he sang one word. And once he started singing, he took the entire audience on an incredible and emotional musical journey. After Frank’s magnificent performance was over and after the last standing ovation, Cliffie and I sat in our seats for about 20 minutes and never said a word. In fact, most of the audience stayed and they were as speechless as we were; all of us were engulfed in our own individual thoughts about what each of us had just witnessed. To quote Quincy Jones: “Frank owned every room he ever played.” Truer words were never spoken!” The night before Cliffie was going to record or perform at a concert, he would listen to a Frank Sinatra album because it inspired him; he loved Frank’s phrasing and how clearly he enunciated his words. When he was producing an artist, he’d advise them to listen to Frank Sinatra too. Being such a Sinatra fan, Cliffie interweaved comments about Frank throughout his talent show book, ‘You Gotta Be Bad Before You Can Be Good.’ Here are a few excerpts: “There was a big time talent show on network radio called ‘Major Bowes and His Original Amateur Hour.’ Some of the best performers got discovered on Major Bowes’ show. In my opinion, Frank Sinatra is the greatest popular singer/entertainer of our generation and possibly any future generations. Frank has always credited ‘Major Bowes and His Original Amateur Hour’ for giving him his first big career break. Frank was a hit when he appeared on that show in 1935 as part of a vocal quartet called the ‘Hoboken Four,’ which lead to a cross-country tour with other variety acts.” “…In an article I read about ten years ago, Frank Sinatra made a statement to the effect that there were thousands of actors/artists who were just as talented as he was but they never got a lucky break. Well, I differ with Frank Sinatra on one aspect of his statement in that no one can even come close to the ‘Chairman of the Board’s’ one-of-a-kind talent! But Frank was certainly on target with regard to the untold thousands of extremely talented people out there who don’t get a lucky break in show business.” “…George Strait is a CMA and ACM multi-award winning entertainer and his staying power is simple: he stays true to himself and his faithful country fans by giving them what they want to hear – traditional country music both on records and on stage; this results in one hit song after another, year after year. Consequently, he has ‘sold out’ concerts wherever he goes! George is the ‘Frank Sinatra of the country music field!’ “…Let’s look at some of the one-of-a-kind superstars such as Frank Sinatra and Ms. Peggy Lee, who have incredible charisma on the stage. Both of them have spellbinding power and control over their audiences, and with the minimum of body language, they can make every person in the room feel whatever emotion they are feeling whether it’s happy or sad.” I know that Cliffie would be pleased to end his “Later Years’” gallery section by honoring Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra! Simply put, Frank Sinatra, as well as Peggy Lee, are two of the greatest entertainers of all time! Visit: www.sinatra.com.