adios

this is the last post from yours truly.

I'm not stopping my nonsensical wordflow, just moving it to a different, more fit, environment. Those whom I consider to be my friends, know where it is (if I forgot to alert any of you, friends, just ask).

The others really don't even need to bother.

See you!

a cobra bit my tongue

so I can't talk. don't ask! I can't talk.

Don't miss

NUOVOMONDO aka The Golden Door (to represent Italy at this year's Academy Awards)

There is no greater story than that of the wave of immigrants who left the Old World to come to the New around the turn of the last century. The narrative of immigration embodies ideas of hope for a better future, of taking large risks with no guarantee of success, of shedding the skin of the past and creating a new person. This tale has been the inspiration for many works of art - just think of Francis Ford Coppola's Godfather trilogy, or Elia Kazan's magnificent America, America. Emanuele Crialese's sweeping new film is a fine addition to this genre. Beautifully shot and conceived, Golden Door also boasts a radiant, nuanced performance from the wonderful Charlotte Gainsbourg and Crialese's singular storyteller's finesse.

Set in 1913, the film begins in rugged, rural Sicily, where weather-beaten peasants have eked out a living working the same land for generations. One day, the monotony of their lives is interrupted by the arrival of a stranger from America, who passes along stories of wealth and good fortune, potatoes as big as train carriages, carrots as long as canoes and trees dripping with gold coins. His job is to accompany the families of men who have already emigrated and are now working happily across the ocean in America.

The Mancusos, a Sicilian peasant family, decide to chase the dream of a new beginning. Golden Door tells their story as they pack up family and possessions and, despite the objections of their grandmother, turn their backs on their country. The trip will not be an easy one. Physical hardships are certain, but the voyage will also require a new way of thinking - and this is what Crialese is so interested in depicting.

The Mancusos, all of whom must tentatively confront their hopes and fears, are beautifully portrayed. They become a microcosm of all those stoic travellers who left their homelands in search of a better life on this continent. Their journey - by cart to the port, by ship across the ocean, culminating in arrival at New York's Ellis Island (*where humiliating physical and psychological examinations await them, not to mention a degrading "raffle" for single women to be wed on the spot*) - becomes a captivating story of steely endurance and unanswered questions that does not end once their boat reaches land.

- Piers Handling (with a little add by Ducati, between **)

Emanuele Crialese was born in Rome and graduated from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. His feature directorial debut, Once We Were Strangers, was completed in 1998 and his second feature, Respiro, played at the Festival in 2002. Nuovomondo aka The Golden Door (06) is his most recent feature *and was awarded the Silver Lion/Revelation at the 2006 Venice Film Festival*.

OH HELL Jay!

first single off the new Jay Z's "Kingdom come" .. if it's true .. 's hot

pair it up with Beyonce's video for "Ring the alarm'' and get ready to get smoked, right at the intersection of despicable and high brow, where we like to spend time from time to time

..

Hova !

So. There's this girl I know, she's the director of pr for the Italian division of a famous music/entertainment network, right?

We work together on a project and afterwards she tells me she's so happy with the result she's gonna invite me to one of their concerts, "next time you're in Italy".

Next thing you know I get to Italy, right? And "a promise is a promise" so she calls me and invites me to this concert, "but who's playing?" I ask. She doesn't know. In hindsight I think she prolly just wanted to suprise me.

I figure it has to be someone at least mildly interesting considering the concert is going down on the grounds of the new, titanic Milan's Fair and is co-sponsored by a famous brand of sodas...

But holy shit. Who would have thought. And look, I'm with security, two feet from the stage. And there's this 16yrs old boy behind me who's crying his eyes out.

And the Man is UN-believable.











Please... can I get an encore?

cover me/2

(great cover, great album, later renamed "Ain't no mountain high enough")

I'm currently addicted to my "Marvin Gaye" Pandora station - I swear coaching that thing is no walk in the park but it's helped me discover a few jewels. Among which: Switch, "My friend in the sky". Heavy rotation. HEAVVY. Almost embarrassed to link my iChat to iTunes... Seriously.

cover me

I've been postponing this for a long time. Album covers I very much dig, in no particular order. To be continued.

things I'll miss about nyc #3

Free concert.

Central Park SummerStage

Feat.
Prefuse 73
DJ Spooky
Talvin Singh
Asha Puthli
Dres of BlackSheep

It's 86 F. Asha is wearing white ostrich feathers. She does a higher-than-CeeLo version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". Then coos with BlackSheep's Dres "Yeah" she says "I am the real the black sheep". Finale with "Engine Engine Number 9". Surreal !

Vernon's Depeche

...in his new cd, Vernon tackles one of my fav songs ever. Can't wait to hear it. Here's what the Voice has to say about it...

"A Depeche Mode cover, "Enjoy the Silence," airs chiming octaved guitar in a bluesy then joyous motif, spiced by an oddball whammy bar effect that makes the CD sound like it's changing speed. And just when it seems like everything remotely possible has been wrung from the tune, the man on six-string delivers a forearm smash for good measure at the finish"

He touched Enjoy the Silence, I still can't believe it. It's like laying hands on the forbidden fruit. Oh what a sinful lot are we.

Very few people know it but Enjoy the Silence is the switch you gotta hit if you really wanna see me lose:
- my religion
- my restraint
- my mind

I've done the most stupid things under the influence of that song.
So much fun.

Visual stimulae

exhibit 1: what's left of my near-death experience. I'll call it fleur du mal.
exhibit 2: at East Hampton's IT brunch spot, Babette's, feeling nauseated by the crowd and how seriously they take themselves in between sips of Acai and mammoth bone powder frap, i venture to the bathroom and ... voila'. A nude. Confined, with guilty self-indulgent pleasure, to the only spot where it could be seriously savoured, removed from the pesto and sundried tomatoes omelettes. Vulgar (the pesto/tom omelette). Excelsus (the nude).

Things I'll miss about nyc #2

1. Tiresias and Truman Capote: every day on my block, around 6pm, an emaciated man wearing ruby-red silk payamas walks his dog, an equally emaciated blind old poodle (simply wiggling his tail makes his limbs shakeshakeshake, r-a-t-t-l-e), who always points his hollow iridescent corneas at me and frankly bugs me out. I call them Tiresias (like the bind seer in Oedipus) and Truman Capote (minus the body fat)

2. Dr. Z and his subway ads: in a series of ads on the subway, famous (infamous?) dermatholgist Dr. Z encourages the MTA riders to take a pop quiz to evaluate if they need a little nip'n'tuck. First question, "How many chins do you have?". I mean, are you serious?

3. The ethical hopscotch, the unspoken, softly spoken, shouted codes of conduct and morality (sex, friendship, politics, religion, income, education) one has to figure out along the way when living in New York City, like invisible lines you must be careful not to tread upon: every day on my way to work I walk past a peddler, squatting on the sidewalk near Lincoln Center, with a dog, a cart (or a bundle of newspapers, rags and miscellaneous belongings) and the traditional "help me" sign. His says: "Shalom. Hungry Jew".

I walked past him again a few days later and the word "Jew" had been crossed out. I wonder who told him to take it out and how.

Only in New York City.

for those who never got me (understanding Italy to understand me)

FINALLY AVAILABLE ON DVD

The Best of Youth
a k a La Meglio Gioventù
2003-Italy-Drama
N.Y. Times Review by A. O. Scott
* Critic's Pick

REVIEW SUMMARY
Orignally commissioned by Italian television as a miniseries, Marco Tullio Giordana's six-hour journey through recent Italian history is nothing less than a masterpiece, combining epic sweep with precise, heart-rending intimacy. At the center of its sprawling story of family and politics are two brothers, Matteo (Allessio Boni) and Nicola (Luigi lo Cascio), whose entwined and diverging fates become a microcosm of Italy's tumultrous transformation in the decades from 1966 to 2002. As rich with character and incident as a 19th-century novel, the film chronicles the radical politcs of the 1960's and 70's and glances at the political corruption of the years that follows, but its deep subject is the way the lives of ordinary citizens reflect and shape the life of a nation. While Nicola and Matteo journey to the extremes of ideological nihilism and encounter tragedy and frustration, their story is ultimately about the survival — indeed the triumph — of a humane, temperate world view, embodied in the thrift, decency and generosity of the middle class that bred them, and against which they both, in their youth, rebelled. — A. O. Scott, The New York Times

machines say G(L)O(W)

New York, June 25, 2006 — (...) condom sales (in the U.S.) should reach $409 million by the end of 2006, well above 2005 sales, when sales rose 2.8% to just shy of $400 million. While three U.S. marketers dominate the market—tracked sales alone show them controlling 98% of retail sales—innovative up-and-comers have helped renew interest in condom usage for pleasure as opposed to contraception and protection from STDs. In 2005, approximately two thirds of the condoms on the market were pleasure-oriented products (vibrating condoms, glow in the dark condoms, and condoms with climax delay lubricant).
(...)
Similarly, direct marketing to female purchasers of condoms has had a direct effect on increasing sales, as has the emergence of condoms and condom-related products from behind the pharmacy counter to retail spaces that are more prominent and easy to reach.

(from MarketResearch.com)

So what is the deal? We as a society are more horny than responsible? Maybe we have finally shed the weight of useless ipocrisy and guilt-soaked puritanism to embrace our true nature? Or could it be that in the light of so much socio-political unrest and gratuitous brutality we have decided to cut ourselves a little slack and bite into one of the little satisfactions left? Or is this a reaction to the rise of the machines, of a reality made of silicon, metal, plastic chips and shells and circuits surrounding us, encapsulating us?

Whatever the case, it's interesting that even in this stance my gender should be the one to set the rules, play the game, lead the way.

So heroically erotic, that's us. But let's not forget to protect ourselves.

Watch out for the Clan

Next August, the Wu-Tang Clan ( Witty Unpredictable Talented Natural Game ) will be hitting the road once again (NYC, Webster Hall, August 17-18). Wanna brush up on your knowledge of the group's lineup? Watch this

Only problem, I can't decide whose flow I like best. What about you?

p.s. interesting detail: in this version of the video at least, all weapons are blurred out.

wtf gwb

President Bush today used the first veto of his presidency to stop legislation that would have lifted restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research (...) The House and Senate do not appear to have the votes needed to override the veto, meaning it is unlikely the measure will become law this year. The Senate voted 63 to 37 yesterday to approve the bill, passed by the House last year.

O's B

Last Saturday, late afternoon, just finished bitching with Pookalu about the snobbishness of the staff at supposedly laid back anti-artificial, artificious grocery temples such as Trader Joe's , "it's so much better to go to the Farmer's market right?" and then, pow!, we approach the blueberries stand only to be greeted by a squeaking comment: "We were featured on Oprah, you know? She said ours are the best blueberries e-v-e-r! WE ARE OPRAH'S BLUEBERRIES!!!"

Well.

abattoir blues

Pick of the week.
"Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus"
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (2004)

This man is a midnight talker and a midday sleepwalker. Truly refreshing, from time to time, being reminded that amidst all the Intercrap ISpaceYouSpace BlogBlah frenzy (I plead guilty), the congregation of geniuses, poets and troubadours survives and creates.

And once again who do I have to thank? Dave Gahan.

One track for all? "Carry me". No, seriously: carry me.

Things I'll miss about nyc (and the USA)

First installation of a new project of mine.

Brooklyn Bridge Park's Movies With a View
"Easy Rider"
with los companeros... and what a view!

and people too...

talk about release

Rome shouts

... this is crazy - here's a few seconds stream
from a webcam mounted in Rome, the instant Italy kicked its winning penalty kick: hear our capital city ROAR ...

CHAMPIONS IN NEW YORK

... we were here, with all our hearts ...

IT'S OURS

FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME

Be patient and navigate the whole gallery, it's worth it... Hope they don't kill the link too soon!

when in Italy...

A few priceless moments I brought back from Italy:

1. The perfect silence descending on Milan (and the rest of the country) when a world cup game begins. You think absolute silence is that hiatus in sound preceding a storm? Think again: think my team, on a field, as the first notes of our national anthem are played (and on another note: to all German fans in the stadium who booed it, well, see the finger?)

2. Umbria, for Terni jazz.
The music: check out bassist Michel Benita's latest cd, "Drastic" > when jazz meets electronica and they actually shake hands. I asked him what were his sources of inspiration, he replied: Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Amon Tobin, DJ Krush, Matthew Herbert, Massive Attack, Autechre, Murcof (absolutely great minimalistic house/ambient check it out if you haven't yet), Telefon Tel Aviv, Talvin Singh... His performance at the Terni amphitheater was absolutely stunning. What is also stunning is the fact that he only started dabbing in electronica one year ago.


The music #2: Maria Joao > her performances are like exorcisms, her voice ranges from child-like whimsical blabbers to guttural shrieks, with moments of intense, poetic, lyrical, stunningly beautiful phrasing. She puts on a show, dances, gestures, very dramatic diva is she. This time, though, she was aided by a very special effect: the "Marmore" waterfall, first started by the Romans, now commanded by a switch, it started pouring water as soon as she hit the last note. The stage was just a few meters from it, we were handed raincoats and watched mist and music dissolve in the night...


The people: went to Collescipoli, a small town near Terni, built atop a hill in Umbria, fortified, with a few hundred souls. That's where the jazz magazine I write for has its headquarters, believe it or not. That's where my editor-in-chief rents a whole turret for 600 Euros a month and gets to enjoy a view like this:



The people #2: it was like building a new family in 4 days. Such great people, so welcoming and generous and fun! And so in love with jazz! Operating hours where 9am-4am. All the time, we'd be listening to a concert, a cd preview, a conference or workshop, eating, drinking, laughing out loud. Really, what more could I possibly want? Well, maybe... Rome...>>>

3. Rome: I can't wait to go back. And to eat more of that coffee granita with vanilla gelato E. made me try. I owe him one. Well actually more than one: what did I just say about very interesting encounters, hehe?

4. Liguria: freshly baked focaccia at 8am on the way back from my run, fritto misto, more gelato, pesto. Watching Italy's game with Croatia in a bar on a caruggio (Liguria's typical alleys), sun sun sun (I'm the color of burnt caramel, in some areas at least), THE SEA.

The only place where you can enjoy a private moment in your hotel room, with your camera, oblivious to the world only to look out of the window and see a nun, wearing white and staring at you (she was washing the banister of a balcony: the minute after she gave this sly wicked smile, winked, looked left and right and swwwwwosh! she emptied her bucket of dirty water on the street! Was it a code message for me?).


The day after, another nun, dressed in black, was hanging her laundry in the sun, while chanting "Hail Mary".


The only place where people can afford to be terribly blase' about their Ferraris, parking them next to trash bins. After all, we make Ferraris.



Since I opened with silence, let me close with it as well. Here's where I ate on my last night there, the so- called "bay of silence", "baia del silenzio".

Ain't it somethig? Enjoy the silence.

G+G

No matter what happens on Sunday, last night was memorable.

Team Italia can make you miserable one minute and ecstatic the minute after and then miserable all over again but right now I got 2Gs for my boys. "G" as in "grazie" and "grandi".

No matter what happens on Sunday, they proved they still got game. We got game. VAI ITALIA (and "go" also to my American and British and South African friends who are rooting for us: honorary Italians, so damn cool!)

fresh

Nas is back and he's out for presidents to reperesent him... sort of... anyway from "Hip Hop Is Dead" his first solo disc for Def Jam comes a pretty damm tight new track Where Y'All At . Download it here

Carnegie Hall last night

CARNEGIE HALL - June, 19th
Sweet Lorraine: A Jazz Celebration For The Village Vanguard

The Bad Plus
Roy Hargrove Quintet
with Guest Soloist Bobby Hutcherson
Paul Motian Trio 2000 + One
with Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier & Rebecca Martin
Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
with Guest Soloist Joe Lovano
Dr. Michael White's Original Liberty Jazz Band

Highlights from last night:
*Dr. Michael White's clarinet, olympic champion of glissando and control, and a gipsy rendition of a Second line (never realized how close it sounds, the neworleanian benjo and the sounds of the nomads from Eastern Europe).

*Paul Motian, the most senior of the Vanguard's alumni, always reminding me (don't know why) of Larry David from "Curb your enthusiasm" with stunner Chris Potter (incredible tenor sax). Their set, two flights of free jazz over the cuckoo's nest enclosing a few standards, as in brackets.

*Roy Hargrove Quintet - white sneakers, a flugehorn that for once didn't irritate me, fiery solos on a ritmo caliente latino and ***Bobby Hutcherson and WJ3*** (and myself playing checkers with empty seats to get even closer to the stage and YumYum, who was waving to me from across the hall)

*The Bad Plus. Normally not strictly my favourite. When to many people tell me I have to HAVE TO like something I tend to do the opposite. But I did love "Giant", the way they introduced their first song (This song is called "Mint" and it's in "Perfect condition". Come on, it's funny) and the way the closed the set, a dedication to the Vanguard's Lorraine ("A lot of people say, oh The Bad Plus, it's not real jazz. Well, Lorraine gave us our first break and I guess if it's good enough for Lorraine then... IT'S JAZZ")

40 10 and 9

The only good thing about the game (Italy-Usa 1-1, World Cup 2006, last Saturday) was the company. I formally apologize to all my American pals who sat watching, graciously avoiding to tell us to go the fuck off, us and our team's fould play. What is wrong with team Italia? We have a damn good game in our feet, technique and a tradition in soccer that goes back to before Romolus and Remus but we don't have humility and the spirit of sacrifice anymore. We win one game, we already feel the Cup in our hands. And once we realize it ain't so, that our braggadocio has made us lose focus, we react elbowing people in the face and pulling a Robert De Niro: "Who me? ME??? (hands thrown in the air, disbelief on our faces). I canNOT believe he actually thinks I deliberately broke his nose... "

Pookalu, way into second half: "Is that another Italian being carried out on a stretcher? ANOTHER one?". Yup. Don't we just love drama. Come ON guys, we could be kings of the world(cup) if we wanted to.

'Nuff said. So, to a 4-days long b/day celebration: two nights of jazz (I have two words for you: GUILLERMO KLEIN, oh man!), one night of Indian razzmatazz and one long hot day of Summer soccer. Thank you all for coming out!

(memorable quotes: "So you're turning 40 minus what?". "10 Italians=9 Americans")

this day one year ago

Yesterday I went down to the Foreign Press Center to have my badge renewed. It got me thinking about time: the FPC badge expires every 3 years. My hair was blonde and short in that picture. And only today, after showing the FPC officials a pile of articles (my work!) published in the past few months and seeing their pride (after all, they're the ones who started us all, we rookie foreign journalists, f.o.b.s who couldn't even tell Congress from White House and now look at us we cover THE UN - ok, it's social issues and MUSIC in my case, but you get the gyst), well only then did it really hit me: I've come a long way since I got here.

I also had a highly insipring exchange with one of the FPC officials: me "you look fantastic! You actually look younger than the last time I saw you and certainly younger than I do" (he's one year older). him "sweetie, that's cause I don't let stress get to me".

So here's to myself. (And to all the friends who helped me along the way)


This very same day, one year ago. I like to think I still defy gravity.

(Today I'm 31)

The things you find

Ah, New York City, eternal source of wonder, good-eats and random finds.

Here's to a few nights of discoveries:

* APT's restroom: 1 hotel room key

* APT (el Colombiano found it, where I don't know): compact blue Nautica umbrella with a nice faux walnut root handle
* That song I like from The 25th hour, whose title I always ignored, is "Bra" by Cymande (thank you Duane)
* Prince and Apollonia recorded the demo for "Manic Monday". Wow! I-want-that.
* Two slices at Two Boots are great. Two slices + 3 vodka tonics + Florent's goat cheese omelette with home fries at 5:30am are a recipe for disaster. And why do I always schedule phonecalls with my parents on week-end mornings?
* I can listen forever to a man who knows his music. That how far I'm willing to go for now and who knows how long. Listening.
* Freaky guy from two years ago (is he a drug dealer, is he a gigolo, is he really a Columbia university student and why is he fixated with my manicure?) is alive and well and showing up at APT!
* Nina Simone's all-time fav: Sinnerman, Mississippi Goddamn, See-Line woman.
* Two nights at the Village Vanguard, two sets each night: too much? Not enough! Gospel is a nice place for jazz to be rooted in. And you "Don't knock the swing" (WJ3).
* The fourth item from the top listed in the window of the beauty salon next door to the Vanguard is an 18$ hair CUT. The second letter is a "U", not an "L-I" but it sure looks like it. So if the "U" looks like "L-I" the "18$ hair cut" actually reads like... that. Too funny.
* If 4 aussies, fresh out of music school, decide to pulverize who-knows-how-much money on a two months "field trip" in the New York of jazz and systematically go see two gigs per night, plus the occasional jam, while practicing during the day and occasionally scoring a lesson with one of the musicans, the morale for us is simple: waste energy on what moves you. Find it first. Then let it consume you. Oh, and jazz is amazing food for body and soul.

Stay tuned for my personal recommendations for a month of can't miss jazz. JVC Jazz Fest is upon us.

brother in arts

Open studio day @ Crane studios
46-23 Crane St., LIC New York
(7 train to 45Rd.)

Studio artists on five floors from all over New York City & the world
Classical practices to the most cutting edge expressions
Painting, sculpture, mixed media, multimedia, installation, textile arts, fine jewelry, prints and much more
Building exteriors and stairwells by the aerosol artists of 5Pointz

... My friends in the Arts (Dad in the first place) would have loved this place.

Amazing how in a city that seems to resemble more and more a crochet of solitudes - a matrix with holes - places like this can thrive. Crane studios are a big commune, only apparently a beehive of isolated units this is in fact a place where artists create in a continuum, exchanging ideas, biorythyms (two female artists on the top floor are friends and expecting at the same time: they both have morning sickness and therefore rearranged their schedule in order to work in the afternoon only) and free time (Marissa, 3 floor, got everybody together for a Met game).
Five minutes in one of the 5th floor studios, where 3 friends from Art school regrouped to create, years after graduating (and you can tell, there's more than a similarity in their works) and already I had been invited to a dinner-party in BK by a couple, wife and husband (his craft is cuisine, he tells me, strictly Italian). Wife is German, she's a late addition to the trio of friends from Art school; her style is completely different: at first the three didn't get it, eventually they came to find it oddly inspiring...
I don't want to sound naive: I'm sure there is competition and not everybody dances in circles holding hands but let's keep it romantic and let's assume the majority does, ok?

Art inside out: the walls and stairwells are triumph of graffiti. A group of kids were scraping a huge mural to make space for new work.