In the fall of 1986, during my first year of college, school sponsored a field trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It was unchaperoned, so we just wondered around the museum taking notes and sketching. We just had be outside, ready to leave by a certain time.
At the end of the day, while waiting for our bus ride home, my friend Rich yelled without warning, at the top of his lungs, "Oh my god, Tony Bennett! Look everyone, it's Tony Bennett!" So edgy. He scared the crap out of everyone, but we looked and, sure enough, there was Tony Bennett walking down the stairs to his ride. He looked back and everyone was mortified, some of us pointed at Rich who tried to hide. Tony had a look on his face that said "Kids..." When he got to the bottom of the steps I walked towards him. As he got in his car I said, "Sorry about my friend, he's kind of an idiot." He could have been grumpy or just ignored me, but he smiled at me and waved me off as if to say, "Don't worry about it. These things happen." He wasn't going to let some ignorant kids ruin his evening.
That's my Tony Bennett story. I didn't appreciate his music or learn that he was also a painter and loved spending time at the museum until years later, but based on that experience alone I always thought he was pretty cool. Still, I think seeing Rich get knocked out by Tony Bennett would have been a much better story.
RIP Tony.
