ArtsBeat

Tony Bennett coming to UB's Center for the Arts on Sunday at 8 p.m., to sing a fund-raiser for the Ronald McDonald House. (Tickets are $125-$150; call 645-ARTS.) This is a good excuse to revisit past appearances Bennett has made in the Buffalo area.

There was the time he sang with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Dunn Tire Park, in 1999. This was the most recent time I heard him in person. It drizzled throughout his appearance, and there were sound problems. Bennett wasn't bothered by the occasional low volume. "If you can't hear me, go hear Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones," he told the crowd.

Four years before that, in 1994, I caught his act at Melody Fair. Remember Melody Fair?  With that revolving stage, the crowd had a lot of time to study the back of Bennett's head.

Meanwhile, he bubbled with Vegas humor. "I was the Madonna of my day," he boasted. "And I didn't have to take my clothes off." He pronounced Madonna "Madonner."

"Rosemary Clooney and I were the first American Idols," Bennett reportedly bragged in October in Niagara Falls, Ont., where he played the Fallsview Casino. Not as memorable as the Madonna comment, perhaps, but still witty. And true.

We'll be hoping for a few Tony Bennett-isms on Sunday at the Center for the Arts. There might be one or two.

But keep in mind, Bennett never has to be told to shut up and sing.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman