I’m attending an Italian dinner in honor of Tony Bennett where the fellow guests include the likes of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. Could this be a red sauce-soaked fever dream? Did I overdo the Sambuca? No, this was all real. Or as Mr. Bennett would sing, I’m living “The Good Life.”

The event, hosted at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on Manhattan's Lower East Side, was to support the nonprofit, Exploring the Arts, founded by the late singing legend, which partners with 55 public middle and high schools throughout the city to bolster their arts' programs.