Recently, we’ve noticed an odd trend in the greater Boston dining scene: restaurants holding “Sinatra nights”, evenings that feature a Frank Sinatra impersonator covering Old Blue Eyes’ songs, drinks, dancing and dinner. Now, we enjoy Sinatra as much as the next girl (we’re especially partial to anything off Swing Easy!), but we’re a little confused as to why there are so many Sinatra nights. After all, Sinatra was a Jersey boy, so it’s not like it’s a hometown connection as there would be if we were suddenly seeing a proliferation of, say, James Taylor nights or Jonathan Richman nights (we would totally go to the latter, by the by). And, while the Chairman’s music is ideal for dinner and dancing, so are the songs of countless other artists. So why Sinatra?
The answer, it would appear, lies with Michael Dutra. Dutra is a New England based Sinatra impersonator who performs more than 300 nights out of the year. He is at LTK once a week (next Monday and then every Tuesday in October) and Red Sky every Wednesday. He makes a multitude of appearances throughout the suburbs and as far away as Providence. It seems that Dutra has built a career off of founding Sinatra nights at Boston restaurants, so, we suppose, the real question is not why there are so many Sinatra nights in Boston restaurants. The real question is why the monthly Sinatra night at Vinalia doesn’t involve Michael Dutra. Will there be a Sinatra impersonator showdown in the Hub’s future? Because that would be awesome.
Michael Dutra [Official Site]
LTK [Official Site]
Red Sky [Official Site]
Vinalia [Official Site]
