DAILY DIRT: Nancy Sinatra missed famous dad’s death because she was watching ‘Seinfeld’ series finale

The Chairman of the Board’s daughter was five minutes away at time of his heart attack — watching Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 928 of The Daily Dirt.

1. One of the darkest days in American pop culture history will always be May 14, 1998. 

That’s when 83-year-old Francis Albert Sinatra died of a massive heart attack — even though Sinatra’s ambulance was able to make it to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in what was probably record time. That was largely due to so many L.A. streets being virtually deserted because so many people were at home watching the series finale of “Seinfeld”.

Ironically, one of the 76 million Americans at home watching “Seinfeld” that evening was Nancy Sinatra, daughter of the Chairman of the Board. Nancy had been scheduled to visit her dad that day, but got caught up watching reruns of “Seinfeld” leading up to the finale.

Nancy Sinatra admitted to the oversight following her dad’s passing. She’s since called the ordeal her “greatest sadness,” saying, “Now, I know that in order to live a happy life you’re supposed to let go of your anger and move on, but I was five minutes down the road watching TV while my dad was dying. That’s something I will never forget, let alone forgive.”

2. Keeping with the Frank Sinatra theme, here’s a handful of unusual facts about The Voice:

• Fourteen years before Elvis Presley burst on to the teen idol scene, a young Frank Sinatra was the dominant heart throb of America’s young girls. “Sinatramania” dominated the landscape from the early 1940s to the early 1950s” — until Elvis arrived.
• The FBI kept a massive file on Sinatra, detailing his life and relationships for four decades. They were especially interested in his alleged ties to people involved with organized crime.
• Sinatra was an integral part of the famed “Rat Pack,” which also included Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. They frequently teamed up both on an off screen. They are best known for their performance in the 1960 heist film “Ocean’s 11”.
• Sinatra left this world 26 years ago, but his star power lives on in an actual celestial body. Named 7934 Sinatra in the singer’s honor, the asteroid was discovered in September 1989 by E.W. Elst at the European Southern Observatory. It’s located in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter.
• Sinatra is credited as one of the first artists to pioneer and popularize the modern concept album. Pop records used to be simple collections of songs with one or two hits and little to no connective tissue between them, but Sinatra changed that with 1955’s “In the Wee Small Hours”. For his ninth studio album, he aimed to create a “pervasive feeling of loneliness and heartbreak” that stretched from the first song to the last and even to the melancholy cover art.

3. In case you missed, the NHL has approved the Phoenix Coyotes’ moved to Salt Lake City, beginning next season.

The team will play as “Utah” and is just beginning the search for a proper nickname. Here are some of the early suggestions:

• Utah Yetis (Seems to be the leader in the clubhouse)
• Utah ‘Yotes (There’s potential here, and would be pronounced Yo-tees)
• Utah Stormin’ Mormons (Tremendous, but we know this will never happen)
• Utah Blizzard (Not bad, goes well with the Colorado Avalanche)
• Utah Olympians (Boring)
• Utah Eagles (Boring)
• Utah Chads ( have no idea)

Steve Thought O’ The Day — My favorite Sinatra effort is not “My Way,” “Fly Me to the Moon” or “New York, New York,” but rather 1966’s “That’s Life”.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River news. The publisher’s favorite Sinatra tune is “Summer wind”