WHEN FRANK SINATRA WAS A RED

Frank Sinatra is remembered as an entertainer who sided with Republican politicians like Nixon and Reagan, hung out with mobsters and swaggered about Las Vegas with his cronies singing, “I did it my way…”

There was another side to Sinatra, an early radical Frank, ol’ pinko eyes.

At the height of his popularity in the 1940s, Sinatra was branded a Red, a commo.

While Bing Crosby was crooning to a Republican tune, Sinatra was backing Roosevelt’s New Deal of state-funded work schemes and nationalised industries.

When Sinatra was a Red  is a show with 20 Sinatra standards and a commentary on his life.

The commentary concentrates on the ’30s and ’40s -- the ’30s, when Sinatra’s early views were formed, and the ’40s, when he identified with the poor and the oppressed and Duke Ellington remembered him as being the leader of the campaign against race hatred.

The show has been successfully performed on Karangahape Rd twice in recent months.

Now it’s coming to the Auckland Jazz and Blues Club.

Justin Horn and Linn Lorkin will be featuring, backed by “The Mouse Pack” Big Band of Bryan Harris on drums, Stuart Grimshaw on bass, Dave Powell on tenor sax, Ben Cooper on trumpet, all led by local Brooklyn band leader Hershal “Lucky Luciano” Herscher at the piano.

Door Charge $5.00 members and $15.00 Non Members