By Jerry Pearce

Hat in hand, I strolled into the Bergen County Performing Arts Center on the brisk Friday evening of November 13th, 2015, racked with anticipation. After picking up my ticket at the will call window, an older woman led me to my seat nearly at the foot of the stage: row three, seat one. As we walked down the left aisle of the cavernous auditorium, the stage already cast in the indigo of a warm blue lighting, she looked back briefly with a smile and said “you looked excited to be here.”

Indeed, I was excited. The Sinatra Centennial Celebration Concert had arrived in the Garden State, hosted by the Chairman of the Board’s equally talented son, Frank Sinatra, JR. It had been more than seven years since I last saw FSJ live in concert, and from accounts I received from fellow Sinatra fans who saw the program in the weeks prior, I was in for one hell of a show.