Just watching a documentary on Frank and it reminds me what a convoluted character he is. Obviously, I am not talking about his voice which was amazing (although too often set to songs higher pitched than best displayed his voice at its best, I thought) but the person. On one hand, he was a, for the States, left-leaning liberal who told Hoover's lot to fuck off when they accused him of being a communist. He also was, for that time, amazingly outspoken against racism and supportive of the NAACP, MLK, the black musicians that backed him and, of course, Sammy Davis Jr (although the latter got the bad side of Frank as well). Obviously, Sinatra later played Sun City so his anti-racist sensibilities weren't that acute.
On the other hand, he was a bad-tempered and difficult fucker, to say the least. Chippiness in any genius is no surprise but Sinatra took this to the extreme even for performers of great (and fragile) egos. Obviously, the other thing with him was the Mafia connections. Whether this helped him get the power to make Vegas more multicultural doesn't matter, they were murderous fuckers and he knew it. Certainly, he obviously used it to promote Kennedy through the Teamsters and deliver votes. This backfired with the Kennedys throwing him under the bus which, with his inherent spite, meant him backing the Republicans - Nixon, Kissinger and Reagan of all people.
Obviously, he wasn't the only one like this especially at this time - many of the same sort of accusations could be made pointed at the rest of the Rat Pack, Elvis, the Kennedys etc - bit he does seem to have more of these contradictions than most. Perhaps all genii have got these sort of complicated personalities and Sinatra was just not as good as hiding them. Perhaps, Sinatra is actually emblematic of America more than anyone else in that, despite his many flaws, we are drawn to what he produces.
On the other hand, he was a bad-tempered and difficult fucker, to say the least. Chippiness in any genius is no surprise but Sinatra took this to the extreme even for performers of great (and fragile) egos. Obviously, the other thing with him was the Mafia connections. Whether this helped him get the power to make Vegas more multicultural doesn't matter, they were murderous fuckers and he knew it. Certainly, he obviously used it to promote Kennedy through the Teamsters and deliver votes. This backfired with the Kennedys throwing him under the bus which, with his inherent spite, meant him backing the Republicans - Nixon, Kissinger and Reagan of all people.
Obviously, he wasn't the only one like this especially at this time - many of the same sort of accusations could be made pointed at the rest of the Rat Pack, Elvis, the Kennedys etc - bit he does seem to have more of these contradictions than most. Perhaps all genii have got these sort of complicated personalities and Sinatra was just not as good as hiding them. Perhaps, Sinatra is actually emblematic of America more than anyone else in that, despite his many flaws, we are drawn to what he produces.
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