[SINGING: Start spreading the news / I'm leaving
today / I want to be a part of it / New York, New York / These vagabond shoes...]
The idea got started when I was at my grandma's
place and she's the one who had introduced
me to Frank Sinatra. When I was younger she
put on, you know, "New York, New York" and "My Way."
Listening to me sing these songs to her around
her house, she had this idea that I should
go around to other seniors in the area and
give them the gift that I had given her, which
was, you know, singing Sinatra.
She gave me this idea and I decided to run
with it. In total I've probably done 50 or
60 shows around the Boston area.
[SINGING: Come fly with me / Let's fly, let's
fly away...]
This is bigger than just Sinatra. This is
about Jesse's feelings for the greatest generation.
I sometimes think that I might have
the soul of like an 82-year-old because I
take so much pride in the greatest generation.
He seems to be so patient with old people
and they're not--I mean my generation, we're not so easy.
He feels a tremendous sense of connection
to that generation and to their sacrifice.
The time that they were becoming adults was
the most tumultuous time in American history
with World War II and, you know, growing up
being a child in the Great Depression having
to deal with that sort of poverty.
So, when he performs in this room, Sinatra
is the vehicle, but he's connecting with them
on many levels, and one of those levels is
thank you.
I feel like music is such an incredible tool
to bring people back to their youth. When
you talk with some of these women at these
homes they go back to times when
they were just so happy and their face lights
up as soon as you mention the word Sinatra.
And for me, I personally love doing it because
I get to hear the stories.
[SINGING: Of paradise where roses grew...]
I saw him when I was just in high school in
the forties.
At the New York Paramount, that's where I
saw him sing.
The audience was mostly young girls.
We went running in to ooh and aah and scream.
The girls were screaming so loud, screaming
in the way that they did for The Beatles.
You got emotionally involved. You could express
it in a way you really couldn't in real life
because you were too young.
[SINGING: The memory of love's refrain...]
What I really like about Frank is that he
was a self-made man. He's a guy who grew up
in a really, you know, dirt-poor family, but
he always knew he wanted to be an artist.
You know, that's sort of what we all want
if we feel like we were born with something,
we're born with a gift, we want to go out
there and we want to be able to, you know,
bring that to the world.
He made himself into this huge persona of
music and of pop culture, and like he says
in the song, he did it his way.
[SINGING: And now the end is near / And so I
face my final curtain...]
When I was first planning out which songs
I was going to sing in each of these sets,
I was worried that "My Way" would
be a little bit too taboo because a lot of
these people that I'm singing for, the end
might be near for a few of them, but, you
know, getting up there and singing for the
first time and everybody was singing that line, "My way."
[SINGING: I did it my way...]
It's changed me. I think it's made me more
understanding of what happens as we get older.
I used to be so afraid of growing up. I used
to be so afraid of, you know, getting old,
but now I see that, you know, that's equally
as wonderful because you get to share your
experiences with a younger generation and
you continually pass that down the line.
[SINGING: I faced it all / And I stood tall / And did it my wayÉ]
[CHEERS]
Thank you. You've been a fantastic audience.
