L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 22 L'Italo-Americano O n S a t u r d a y J u n e 2nd, San Francisco honored Tony Ben- n e t t a n d h i s l o v e for the city with a special celebration: during a block party along the Fairmont Hotel, the Tony Bennett Way sign was unveiled within the 900 block of Mason Street. In 2016, t h e s a m e s t r e e t w e l c o m e d a Tony Bennett statue during the celebration of his 90th birthday. The event took off around noon, while the famous "I left m y h e a r t i n S a n F r a n c i s c o " played in the air. The song was originally written for Claramae T u r n e r b u t s h e n e v e r g o t t o record it. Then, it found its way to Tony Bennett through Ralph S h a r o n , B e n n e t t ' s l o n g t i m e accompanist and friends with the composers. Sharon brought the music along when he and Ben- nett were on tour and on their way to San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel in 1961, becoming Ben- nett's signature song. Entering his 7th decade as a recording artist, Tony Bennett recorded over 100 albums and w on 15 G rammy A w ards , including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He per- formed for ten US Presidents, from Eis enhow er, K ennedy, Johnson, Carter, Reagan, to Bush S r., Clinton, Bus h J r., and Obama. He also worked with, and marched alongside, Martin Luther King in his 1965 civil rights march and was honored with the Martin Luther King's Salute to Greatness Award. In addition to performing, he is a visual artist with three of his original paintings featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian, including his por- traits of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington. It was without any surprise that hundreds of people gathered on a sunny, unusual warm day in San Francisco to give their round of applause to Tony Bennett and some of the people who had the legislation passed. The legisla- tion renaming the street was indeed passed unanimously by the S an F rancis co Board of Supervisors in November 2017, and was one of the last official acts of the late Mayor Edwin M. Lee. A stuntman took off the event rappelling down the Fairmont Hotel, right before Tony Bennett made it to the stage. The celebra- tion gave voice to US Senator Dianne Feinstein; House of Rep- resentatives Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi; former San Fran- cisco Mayor, Willie L. Brown; Jr. Supervisor Aaron Peskin; SERENA PERFETTO on, like his Calabrian relatives." The Italian connection stayed strong also when Tony started working on Cheek to Cheek a collaborative album with Lady Gaga, also of Italian-American roots. The album was released on September 19, 2014, after Mr Bennett and Lady Gaga first met at the Robin Hood Foundation gala in New York City. After these two recorded a rendition of "The Lady Is a Tramp" they began discussing plans for work- ing on a jazz project. It consists of jazz standards by popular jazz compos ers s uch as G eorge Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. The album was inspired by Bennett and Gaga's desire to introduce the songs to a younger genera- tion, since they believed that thes e tracks had univers al appeal. Mr. Bennett ended the round of speeches by keeping his short, yet full of emotions. "Well this is a day I'll never forget. The sun is out. It's San Francisco at its best today." Italian Consul General, Lorenzo O rtona, and P aul Tormey, Regional VP & General Manag- er Fairmont. Liam Mayclem, KCBS Radio's "Foodie Chap," gave pace to speeches and per- formances by Cos mo A lley Cats , accordionis t S uzanne Ramsey, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the San Francisco Boys Chorus, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus and The Dick Bright Orchestra. Shawna Ferris from Beach Blanket Babylon. "Tony Bennett forever immortalized our great city with the legendary song "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," so it is only appropriate that we return the favor by renaming a portion of Mason Street in his honor," s aid M ayor M ark F arrell. "Throughout his iconic career, Tony has been a w onderful ambassador for our City, always eager to literally sing the praises of our home. It fills me with pride to formally recognize San Francisco's longtime relation- ship with our great friend by announcing the unveiling of Tony Bennett Way." According to Charlotte Mail- liard S hultz, S an F rancis co Director of Protocol and orga- nizer for this weekend's event, "On any street in the world, you can hear San Francisco's singing ambassador singing his signa- ture song, our song." And con- tinued, "It's perfectly appropri- ate for us to now have a street named in his honor here, right in front of his statue. I promise, this Saturday will be a true love- in on the streets of San Francis- co." "That song helped make me a world citizen," Bennett wrote in his autobiography. "It allowed me to live, work and sing in any city on the globe. It changed my whole life." That's why Mrs Pelosi underlined how Bennett brought "honor to the city and luster to this street." As reminded by Consul Gen- eral of Italy, Lorenzo Ortona, Anthony Dominick Bennett's parents came from Italy. He was born in 1926, in the Astoria neighborhood of N ew Y ork City's Queens borough to grocer John Benedetto and seamstress A nna S uraci. Tw enty years before Tony was born, John had emigrated from Podargoni, a rural town close to Reggio Cal- abria. Anna had been born in the US shortly after her parents also emigrated from the Calabria region in 1899. Tony grew up with an older sister, Mary, and an older brother, John Jr. His Italian roots played a big role in Tony's career. "Always portray- ing the best of Italy in reinforc- ing the positive image of hard working, creative and honest Italians who have contributed in shaping this country that today counts more than 18 million people of Italian descent," Con- sul Ortona stated. According to some relatives, Tony used to stand at the top of the mountain in Podargoni and the whole val- ley would hear him sing. "It seems most appropriate, there- fore", Mr. Ortona concluded, "that we are singing his praises here on the top of Nob Hill, for all of San Francisco to cheer him Tony Bennett reveals a street sign in San Francisco. Photo: Drew Altizer SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY Tony Bennett Way, San Francisco renames a street to honor the Italian-American artist

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