By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga perform ‘One Last Time’
Tony Bennett won over generations of fans crooning “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” And on his 95th birthday, the beloved singer left his heart on the stage of Radio City Music Hall.
Six months after Bennett and his family revealed he is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Bennett sang alongside Lady Gaga before sold-out crowds in a two-concert series in
early August billed as his final New York performances.
Now the rest of the world has a chance to take in the moving August 3 show in a TV special, “One Last Time: An Evening with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga,” which aired Sunday on CBS.
In addition to his signature song, Bennett performed standards like “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Steppin’ Out with My Baby” and duets with Lady Gaga including “Love for Sale” and “Anything Goes.”
His family members have said sometimes Bennett doesn’t know where he is and what
is happening around him. But onstage in the TV special, the legendary performer didn’t miss a beat.
Tony Bennett reveals he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s
Belting out “New York, New York” before Bennett took the stage, Lady Gaga teared
up when she paused to talk about him. “He’s, my friend. He’s my musical companion.
And he’s the greatest singer in the whole world. And I’m counting on you, New York, to make him smile. So, you better cheer. You better yell. You better laugh. You better cry.
You better give your soul.”
The Radio City Music Hall audience held up its end of the bargain. Bennett got his
first standing ovation before even singing a note — and racked up at least a dozen more throughout the night. In “Fly Me to the Moon,” when he crooned the line, “Let me sing forever more,” the audience erupted in cheers. At one point the camera panned to an audience member shouting, “We love you!”
Bennett, whose singing career spans eight decades, is no stranger to performing for throngs of adoring fans. Still, before the concert, family members told “60 Minutes”
they weren’t sure what would happen during the show. But wife Susan Benedetto
said that once she saw him onstage that night, his eyes twinkling and arms outstretched toward the crowd, she knew everything would be alright.
“He became himself. He just turned on. It was like a light switch,” she told “60 Minutes”
in a segment that aired last month. That’s because music and performing are so ingrained in the singer, according to Bennett’s neurologist, Dr. Gayatri Devi.
“People respond differently based on their strengths. In Tony’s case, it’s his musical memory, his ability to be a performer. Those are an innate and hardwired part of his brain,” Devi said on “60 Minutes.”
“So even though he doesn’t know what the day might be, or where his apartment is,
he still can sing the whole repertoire of the American Songbook and move people.”
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga performed together at The Grammys in 2015.
Bennett released his first album with Lady Gaga in 2014. Their latest collaboration, a Cole Porter tribute album titled “Love for Sale,” was released in October. Last week it garnered six Grammy nominations. After the nominations, Lady Gaga told BBC Radio 2’s “The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show” that it’s been heartbreaking to watch what Bennett is going through.
She told “60 Minutes” that Bennett had been calling her “Sweetheart” every time she’d seen him since the pandemic began, and she wasn’t sure he knew who she was. But when she came onstage to join him during the Radio City Music Hall concert, Bennett appeared to have no doubt.
“Wow,” he said as she twirled around in a shimmering gold gown. “Lady Gaga!”
A look of joy flashed across Lady Gaga’s face. She bent over, her head in her hands, before doing another twirl. “I had to keep it together, because we had a sold-out show and I had a job to do,” Lady Gaga told “60 Minutes.” “But I’ll tell you, when I walked out on that stage, and he said, ‘Lady Gaga,’ my friend saw me, and it was very special.”
Lady Gaga gave the world — and me — a powerful gift.
After the successful Radio City Music Hall shows, Bennett canceled future tour appearances. His son and manager Danny Bennett told Variety those New York concerts would be his last. “This was a hard decision for us to make, as he is a capable performer. This is, however, doctors’ orders,” Danny Bennett said. “It’s not the singing aspect but, rather, the traveling. Look, he gets tired. The decision is being made that doing concerts now is just too much for him.”
Lady Gaga told “60 Minutes” she heard a powerful message in Bennett’s last Radio City Music Hall performances. “It’s not a sad story. It’s emotional. It’s hard to watch somebody change.
I think what’s been beautiful about this, and what’s been challenging, is to see how it affects him in some ways, but to see how it doesn’t affect his talent,” she said. “I think he really pushed through something to give the world the gift of knowing that things can change, and you can still be magnificent.” Despite his Alzheimer’s, Tony Bennett prepares to perform with Lady Gaga
Joel Sartore Wifes Cancer Story
Taking Time Out: Lessons from Cancer (CBS Sunday Morning) – Joel Sartore
Joel’s essay about his wife Kathy’s experience with breast cancer and successful treatment, as it appeared on CBS Sunday Morning.
Joel Sartore Reflects on 15 Years of Photographing At-Risk Species for Photo Ark.
By Jessica Stewart on August 24, 2021
Photo Ark 15 Year Anniversary – Bing video
Joel Sartore is a photographer, speaker, author, teacher, and a 20-year contributor to National Geographic magazine. His hallmarks are a sense of humor and a Midwestern work ethic. Joel’s assignments have taken him to every continent and to the world’s
most beautiful and challenging environments, from the High Arctic to the Antarctic.
Simply put, Joel is on a mission to document endangered species and landscapes
in order to show a world worth saving.
A endangered Florida panther, Puma concolor coryi, at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo.
(Photo: Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark)
His interest in nature started in childhood, when he learned about the very last passenger pigeon from one of his mother’s Time-Life picture books. He has since been chased by a wide variety of species including wolves, grizzlies, musk oxen, lions, elephants and polar bears.
His first National Geographic assignments introduced him to nature photography,
and also allowed him to see human impact on the environment first-hand. In his words, “It is folly to think that we can destroy one species and ecosystem after another and not affect humanity.
When we save species, we’re actually saving ourselves.”
In addition to the work, he has done for National Geographic, Joel has contributed to Audubon Magazine, Geo, Time, Life, Newsweek, Sports Illustrated and numerous book projects. Joel and his work have been the subjects of several national broadcasts including National Geographic’s Explorer, the NBC Nightly News, NPR’s Weekend Edition and an hour-long PBS documentary, At Close Range. He is also a contributor on the CBS Sunday Morning Show with Charles Osgood.
Joel is always happy to return from his travels around the world to his home in Lincoln, Nebraska where he lives with his wife Kathy and their three children.
Since 2005, photographer Joel Sartore has been on the hunt to document the world’s biodiversity through the National Geographic Photo Ark project. Now in its 15th year, Photo Ark has become an important tool for raising awareness about conservation issues. As Sartore travels to zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the globe, he reminds the public of the precious species that we are at risk of losing. Amazon.com: National Geographic The Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals: 9781426217777: Sartore, Joel, Ford, Harrison: Books
Having created portraits of over 11,000 species under human care, Sartore is on track to hit his goal of photographing 20,000 animals in 20 years. From amphibians and reptiles to birds, fish, and mammals, the Photo Ark is a reminder of what can happen when we take away the precious habitats that these animals need to thrive. The portraits are used
as educational tools in the classroom and through exhibitions and publications, raising awareness to the general public.
As Photo Ark celebrates its 15-year anniversary, the project continues to get people
talking about endangered species. To celebrate this special anniversary, Photo Ark is currently running a sale on its print inventory.
Just go to the Photo Ark store, use the code PhotoArk15 by August 31, 2021, and you’ll receive a discount. All proceeds from the store go back into making the project possible.
We were lucky enough to catch up with Sartore and ask him to reflect back on
15 years of the Photo Ark.
A federally threatened koala, Phascolarctos cinereus, with her babies at
the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. (Photo: Joel Sartore/ Photo Ark)
How has the mission of Photo Ark changed over the past 15 years, if at all?
The mission behind the National Geographic Photo Ark hasn’t changed.
If anything, I feel like we’ve made an actual impact. When I started the Ark 15 years ago, my mission was to inspire people to help protect species and get them to care. That’s always going to be an uphill battle, but I’m proud to say that we’ve moved the needle.
A pygmy slow loris, Nycticebus pygmaeus, at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo
and Aquarium. (Photo: Joel Sartore/ Photo Ark)
Over the course of the 15 years, what’s your proudest moment with Photo Ark?
I have a few, but National Geographic Magazine pulled together a story not too long ago about the work many people are putting forward to save the Florida grasshopper sparrow.
Historically, the Florida grasshopper sparrow inhabited the prairies of central Florida.
In the last few years, however, it has neared extinction, with biologists struggling to find the reason why.
When the Photo Ark covered the bird for an Audubon Magazine cover story, it got so much attention that the U.S. Government went from spending $20-30k per year to document its demise, to $1.2 million to begin a captive breeding program. That breeding program is a success today, and so there’s real hope for the sparrow, thanks to the hard work of the researchers and breeding centers such as White Oak Conservation Center in Yulee, FL.
Two Golden snub-nosed monkeys, Rhinopithecus roxellana, at Ocean Park Hong Kong.
(Photo: Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark)
You’re now more than halfway through the 25-year project.
What’s been the most challenging part of Photo Ark?
My goal is to photograph the approximately 20,000 species in the world’s zoos, aquariums, and wildlife sanctuaries. At this moment, I’ve photographed nearly 12,000 species. I’ll have to travel farther and wider to get the remaining species for Photo Ark.
What’s on the roster coming up and what’s the game plan for the next 10 years?
Well, I’m now able to do a bit more traveling. The past few months I’ve been driving across America to take photos of species in various zoos and aquariums (and also some even in my own backyard of Lincoln, Nebraska), which has been exciting. Soon I’ll be working in Peru, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. For the next 10 years or more, I’ll be working on Photo Ark.
The bottom line is, I’ll likely be doing this for the rest of my lifetime.
An endangered baby Bornean orangutan, Pongo pygmaeus, named Aurora, with her
adoptive mother, Cheyenne, a Bornean/Sumatran cross, Pongo pygmaeus x abelii,
at the Houston Zoo. (Photo: Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark)
What do you hope the public takes away from your work?
I want people to care, to fall in love, and to take action for species conservation.
Quite literally, our future depends on nature. We cannot continue to destroy one species and ecosystem after another and think it won’t matter to humanity. It’s quite the opposite—everything we depend on, our air, water, and food, hangs in the balance.
What’s one species that you haven’t photographed yet that you are hoping to
get in front of the camera? I hope to take a photo of the Amazon River dolphin,
also known as the pink river dolphin. It only lives in freshwater in South America.
Time will tell.
An endangered Malayan tiger, Panthera tigris jacksoni, at Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo.
(Photo: Joel Sartore/National Geographic Photo Ark)
The Photo Ark is a National Geographic project which has the goal of photographing all species living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the globe in order to inspire action to save wildlife.
The project has been documented in a series of books and in a three-part documentary first shown on PBS and then released to home video. A selection of photographs from the project has been exhibited in various museums, zoos, and exhibition halls around the world. The documentary, RARE: Creatures of The Photo Ark, was awarded the Best Conservation Film award in 2018. The Photo Ark was featured on American television program 60 Minutes, with the episode first airing on October 14, 2018.[1]
The Photo Ark project, led by Joel Sartore in association with National Geographic,
has the goal of inspiring action through education, and to help save wildlife by supporting conservation efforts.[2][3][4]
It is a multiyear effort which originally intended to document 12,000 species [5]
living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries.
In November 2021, the 12,000th species was photographed by Satore who was 59 at the time, and the new goal was announced as being 15,000 species, which Satore anticipated would take him another 10 to 15 years.[6]
According to a February 2017 press release by National Geographic, one half of
Earth’s animal species could go extinct by 2100. “Joel Sartore… is acutely aware of this devastating reality and is passionate about protecting our planet’s animals.”[7] Regarding the scope of the project, Sartore said: “The logistics of pulling off a project of this scope is numbing at times. The travel, the long hours, the setup and teardown of our mobile photo studio… it wears me down just thinking about it”.[8]: page 170
In a February 2017 interview with NPR, regarding the issue of him being able to complete the project before retirement, Sartore said: “I will be greatly relieved when all this is done, but I figure another 15 years or so, that’s what it’s going to take. No matter what, I’m going to get it done if I can still do it, if I can still walk and talk and shoot”.[9]
Sartore says that National Geographic sees themselves as responsible stewards of the environment and says that they are in it for “the long haul”.
He said that he believed that if he could get the project started, National Geographic
would see its value, and he believes that they have. Since starting the project, Sartore says several species he photographed are now extinct. “It saddens me greatly, but also angers and inspires me to want to give everything I’ve got to this project and use extinction as a wakeup call. As these species go away, so could we.”[10]
Satore gained a love of nature while growing up in Nebraska. He was amazed by the
idea of species going extinct and thought that he would never see such occur in his lifetime. However, now he believes that in the 11 years
he has worked on the Photo Ark project, he has seen 10 go extinct.[11] In a March 2018 interview, Sartore said that he went to the Omaha zoo regularly as a child, getting to
know the various animals. He says that his parents “made sure he was out in nature and appreciated it”, which he says made all the difference.[12]
In a February 2018 interview, Sartore said that he began the Ark project about 12 years ago when he was caring for his three young children while his wife was being treated for cancer, leading Sartore to consider his own future. “That’s how the Ark got started, and I’ve been going at it ever since.”[13]
In an April 2018 interview, Sartore said he had been a National Geographic photographer for over 27 years, and although he worked for 15 years doing various conservation stories, the impact was not enough to “stop the extinction crisis”. So he realized that maybe “very simple portraits lit exquisitely so you can see the beauty and the color, looking animals directly in the eye with no distractions, would be the way to do it.”[10]
The lush and unique photography in this book represents National Geographic’s Photo Ark, a major initiative and lifelong project by photographer Joel Sartore to make portraits of the world’s animals—especially those that are endangered. His powerful message, conveyed with humor, compassion, and art: to know these animals is to save them.
Sartore is circling the globe, visiting zoos and wildlife rescue centers to create studio portraits of 12,000 species, with an emphasis on those facing extinction. With a goal of photographing every animal in captivity in the world, he has photographed more than 6,000 already and now, thanks to a multi-year partnership with National Geographic,
he may reach his goal.
This book showcases his animal portraits: from tiny to mammoth, from the Florida grasshopper sparrow to the greater one-horned rhinoceros. Paired with the eloquent
prose of veteran wildlife writer Douglas Chadwick, and an inspiring foreword from Harrison Ford, this book presents a thought-provoking argument for saving all the
species of our planet. The Photo Ark – Introduction HD – Bing video
Joel Sartore Photography: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
My Modern Met granted permission to use photos by National Geographic.
Related Articles:
Sneak Peek of The Power of Photography: National Geographic 125 Years
Man Spends His Life Documenting Every Animal Species in the World
Photographer Captures Brilliant Bird Portraits to Help Save Endangered Species
National Geographic is Sharing Photos of Endangered Species This Summer to Help Save Their Lives
JESSICA STEWART
Jessica Stewart is a Contributing Writer and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy.
She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she’s not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book ‘Street Art Stories Roma‘ and most recently contributed to ‘Crossroads: A Glimpse into the Life of Alice Pasquini‘. You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
Read all posts from Jessica Stewart
Birds Are Rapidly Disappearing from the Earth.
‘The Guardian’ reports that in the past 50 years, a fourth of all the birds in North America have disappeared. In a recent opinion piece, author Kim Heacox shines a light on these amazing creatures and the grim warning their disappearance represents for humans.