Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

Caught a bit of Public TV's special of Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga in their Cheek to Cheek special. Bennett is 88 I believe. I saw his concert at Westbury, New York a little while back and was amazed that he still had his voice, not like he had it in 1950, but he really knew how to sing now while back then he was learning how to put a song over. 

Lady Gaga is around 28. I saw her a couple of times on TV and heard a few of her releases and while I liked her personally I thought she was just a gal making a lot of money anyway she could and soon would fade. But since I first heard and saw her she has come out with talent and beauty I never imagined. The first I saw of this was The Grammies tribute to The Sound of Music when she gave tribute to Julie Andrews. She showed a voice and beauty that could grace any Broadway stage. But when I saw her with Bennett she showed an amazing understanding of Jazz, The Great American Songbook while displaying a quirky beauty that was sexy as well and not just because she was halfway showing her breasts.

There was 60 years separating these two artists. One could say one ascending, the other descending the ladder of life itself. Yet they meshed. Six decades separated them yet it was as if all that was brushed aside and they met in the middle and while one could see the age differences one could not see the differences in the respect, and I might say "love" (not sexy love) shown for each other. They really enjoyed performing with each other, each one feeding off the other's talent even when they were soloists. They showed tremendous respect for their environment acknowledging the musicians for embellishing their performances.

A couple of lessons these two artists showed me. The first one is that differences in generations doesn't necessarily mean inseparable differences. That respect for each other can bring a meeting of generations.

That general understanding can be had and friendship and love can emerge by sharing each one's experiences so that each member of that generation can grow and become more of the person they were meant to be.  Bennett showed me that you can be useful and successful at any age even if you made great mistakes when you were younger. Lady Gaga showed me that there can be many levels of genius and the real genius is the one who knows when to let each level show itself.

Art is a reflection of truth. We should all recognize the truths art reveals to us no matter what the form, or the artists.