Article: The Art of Excellence Bennett packs punch for generations; Tony Bennett on three of his favorite singers: On Billie Holiday: "I don't know why, but the radio insists on playing those records at the end of her career when she was practically dying. They don't play the early records where she was a happy, young girl. "Those are the records they should be playing. You ask any musician and they'll tell you, she's the greatest singer who ever lived. She has so much musicality and sang with so much soul. Unfortunately, they just play the last five years of her life." On Doris Day: "She was about 30 times bigger than Barbra Streisand. She was beautiful, talented and she was a vastly underrated singer." On Hank Williams: "Hank is like Billie Holiday. It's like modern art. People say they don't like modern art, but what about Picasso? Picasso used color brilliantly. He was a prime example. Hank was a country singer but he was a philosopher who was full of truth and beauty. k.d.lang has that same gift."; A dozen of Tony Bennett's greatest hits: "Because of You" "Just in Time" "Cold, Cold Heart" "Rags to Riches" "Stranger in Paradise" "In the Middle of an Island" "The Autumn Waltz" "Firefly" "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" "I Wanna Be Around" "The Good Life" "If I Ruled the World" ----------- Tony Bennett will appear at 8 tonight at the Riverside Theatre, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave. Tickets are $49.50, $39.50, $29.50 and $23.50.

First he wowed the Xers on "MTV Unplugged." Now he's set to capture the rug-rats with a guest stint on the "The Muppet Show." Tony Bennett is slowly, steadily working his way toward the pre-born audience. Soon second-trimester fans will be kicking mom in the kidney to the tempo of "I Got Rhythm."

That the Smashing Pumpkins/Alanis Morissette generation should have fallen hard for this 69-year-old advocate for classic pop is still a shock that requires some digesting.

The kids also have wrapped their arms around '50s/'60s lounge music and Tom Jones. There's an element of camp in both of those passions; might the same ingredients be at play in the Xer/Bennett love affair?

Bennett, who ...

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