Is it time for NJ to have an annual Frank Sinatra Day?
A plan is moving forward to pay special tribute to an all-time great performer, who just happened to be born in the Garden State.
Assemblyman Bill Moen, D-Camden, has introduced a measure to designate every Dec. 12 in New Jersey as Frank Sinatra Day.
Old Blue Eyes, an 11-time Grammy winner who was famous for singing "New York, New York," was born in Hoboken on that day in 1915. He died in 1998.
He said this kind of designation “would allow for the state to just add another piece to his legacy, showing our appreciation for his works as not just a singer but as an actor, an entertainer and a humanitarian.”
Moen, who’s in his 30s and the youngest member of the Assembly, says he became a huge Sinatra fan when he was a kid visiting his grandparents' house and said the recording artist "transcends generations.”
“They would have Mr. Sinatra on the radio or playing Mr. Sinatra’s movies, and I think at that young of an age he absolutely had an impression on me," he said.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’m made sure that I have him on my playlist, and if I had any long drives to Trenton or elsewhere around the state, I’d be sure to have Old Blue Eyes on my radio.”
Moen has worked on a number of laws since he joined the Assembly this year, including poverty, student loan debt and transportation. But he added that it’s important “to reflect on and be able to celebrate the history and the people who have come before us in the state and to realize how we got to this point, and I think that Frank Sinatra is absolutely one of those figures.”
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