Eartha Kitt at Jazz Alley in Seattle

August 9, 2007 by SUM.

For many years now, I’m living a far too isolated life in the Seattle area. Since I’m not working for a company, my social contacts are very limited. In addition, I’m not only single and without any family in this area, I’ve not met anyone with whom I could imagine wanting to be in a close relationship. Though I love to go out, attending concerts and other artistic performances, I stopped doing that after a while. But last Saturday afternoon, out of the spur of the moment, I visited the web site from Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle.

When I read that Eartha Kitt, who is 80 years old, would perform that evening, I had to buy me a ticket. I’ve heard her name quite often, though I wasn’t familiar with her performances. And it was quite an enlightening evening. I think she is an inspiration to all the people who think age is no barrier and more than a frail vessel.

When Eartha left the stage, she walked by me and for a short moment she paused right next to me. I was so stunned so that I was speechless; I couldn’t say a ton at that moment. I wish I could have said to her that she is an inspiration. The whole purpose of me attending her performance had been to pay tribute to her that evening.

The next day I read her biography. To my surprise I read that her professional carrier took a setback in the United States, after she had expressed her political opinion about the Vietnam War. She was blacklisted for about 10 years in the U.S. While professionally exiled from the U.S., she performed overseas. At the end her persistence, resilience, and outstanding performances paid off, she made her professional comeback in the U.S. with a Broadway musical in 1978.

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