Swyden met Ol' Blue Eyes at Kemper Arena, through an uncle who lived in Wichita. "His wife grew up with Barbara Sinatra," he says, "and they stayed really close."
Swyden and the uncle's entourage were led backstage by "some Vegas-looking guy," he says. "We were all really nervous when Sinatra came in, as you can imagine -- we were like eight dogs staring at a snake. I remember him being smaller than I thought he was, maybe 5-foot-7.
"He looked really good. But I tell you what, I'm convinced he did not know where he was and not because of dementia or anything. Let me put it this way, I don't think he really cared where he was. As long as he had his people around him and his bubble, it didn't matter where he was. And he looked at me and said, `You! Make drinks for everybody.' "
Swyden's final recollection: "When we were walking out, he put his arm around my uncle and said, `Jimmy, if anybody bothers you, call me. I can be back here from anywhere in three hours.' I think he thought of himself as somebody that takes care of people."
Drawing power
No arguing Sinatra's popularity. But his last two KC concerts were a mixed bag.
"I'll bet we sold under 6,000 tickets" for a 1985 show at Kemper Arena, says former Capital Automated Tickets honcho Mardi Silva. "I remember saying it should have been a Midland show."
So poor were ticket sales that Silva carried out a quiet, last-minute giveaway to "dress the arena."
In fact, yours truly, then a mild-mannered stock/commodities broker, gave out about 300 freebies, from VIP seats to nosebleeds.
"They actually had to go in and hang drapes so Frank wouldn't see (the empty seats)," says attendee Marti Dolinar.
But promoter Mark Edelman says he doesn't recall giving away that many tickets. "How you got yours," he says, "I'll never know."
Lean cuisine
Apparently the Chairman of the Board had a fairly delicate appetite, says Mark Edelman, who promoted the 1985 and '90 shows.
"Carl DiCapo (of the Italian Gardens) would send food down there for backstage, but Sinatra never ate it," Edelman says. "His rider was very specific about his food -- you would think he was this gourmand -- but all he ate was an egg and three cans of Campbell's chicken and rice soup that had to be opened there."
We've heard ...
Liza. The funniest story that then-production guy Mardi Dolinar recalls from Sinatra's '90 concert at Kemper went down when the caterer from Tulsa prepared steaks.
"All the smoke from the steaks was blowing back into the tunnel and back into the hallway where the dressing rooms were," Dolinar says. "Which prompted Liza (Minnelli) to say she would never play Kansas City again. She was furious."
Papal. Sinatra's dressing room action at the '90 show: "There was a lot of liquor back there," Dolinar says. "But Frank only drank Jack Daniels and two cubes of ice. That and a carton a Camels, no filter.
"Afterward, people would come back to see Frank in his dressing room, and it was almost as though people were coming to see the pope. It was incredible."