Ten years ago.

Where were you when Old Blue Eyes died?

In May 1998, I was in Europe on a business trip (thank you Wisconsin Electric customers). I knew about Frank Sinatra's declining health before leaving the U.S., but did not have access to English language news during my first week across the pond.

On May 14, I went to dinner at Munich's Hofbrauhaus, where I inadvertently got drunk with some Chicagoans. Somewhere in the middle of an um-pah set (my BAL was somewhere near .28 after 2 liters of Maibock), the band stopped playing and the leader started to speak in German. It went something like this:

Blah blah blah, blah blah Frankie Boy blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah Old Blue Eyes, blah blah blah blah blah.

Frank Sinatra blah blah blah blah. New York, New York.

The band then played an um-pah version of New York, New York. Even in my condition, I figured out that Francis Albert Sinatra had left us.