Articles by: Natasha lardera

  • Art & Culture

    Farewell to Italian Singer-Songwriter Lucio Dalla

    The news runs, passes from mouth to mouth ... Lucio Dalla has died ... He died of a heart attack ...
    We are never ready to hear news like this one, we are astonished, amazed, frightened, angry, then sad very sad, speechless. C'est la vie, that's life ...it comes before everything, except for death... Fate betrays us!
    Suddenly we feel part of the same family, a family that has lost its head...because this is what Lucio Dalla was: an affectionate father who was always present with his enthusiasm, with his innovative ideas for Italian songwriting, and with his great love for music. Music has been with him up to his last breath and this consoles us. Lucio has gone as he would have wanted to, while on tour, making his music.
    Nobody ever dies completely, something of his will always stay alive within us!
    - Italian singer Vasco Rossi on facebook

    Waking up on a Thursday morning with phone calls from Italy and messages on facebook that let you know that one of Italy's greatest singers and songwriters is gone. At first you do not know if it is true or if you are still dreaming, even his website (www.luciodalla.it) does not report the news, but no, more and more sites pick the story up as the seconds tick by, and it is right there, black on white, Lucio Dalla, the author of the national super hit Attenti al lupo and the classic love song Caruso, performed at a concert in Montreaux, Switzerland, last night (he was supposed to have a series of concerts there) and after breakfast, this morning, has had a heart attack and died. He would have turned 69 on march 4th.

    All reports say he was feeling fine, nobody was worried about his health because there were no reasons to worry. “He and Michele Mondella, founder of Midas Promotion a communication company that promotes music and entertainment, spoke last night after the concert and he was very about about its outcome,” Michele Mondella's assistant told the press, “In the morning he had breakfast, made a couple of calls and then he had the heart attack.”
     

    “At the moment,” she continues “the pain is so strong that there is nothing we can do to cope with it or to remember the singer from Bologna” who collaborated with Midas since 1997.

    Italy's president, Giorgio Napolitano was one of the first who commented on the artist's passing. “(Dalla was) a strong and original voice who contributed to renew and promote Italian music in the world. He was an artist beloved by so many Italians of several generations.” International star Laura Pausini remembers on her twitter account how when she was only 8 years old Dalla saw her singing in a restaurant in Bologna and he encouraged her to pursue her career, while young singer Francesco Renga is perplexed “I was with him just a couple of weeks ago at the Sanremo festival... His work will live forever,” he said. Sanremo was indeed Dalla's last television appearance. He participated with his protegee Pierdavide Carone with the song Nanì.
     

    Meanwhile the melody of his songs echo on the streets of his native Bologna. The windows of his apartment on Via D'Azeglio are closed but out of them comes the music of his successes, songs like Canzone and Caruso.

    Discovered by another Italian singer and songwriter, Gino Paoli, Dalla started performing in the 1960s. His debut at the music festival Cantagiro in 1965 was unsuccessful “probably due to his appearance and to his music, which was considered too experimental for the time. His first album, 1999, was released the following year. His next album, Terra di Gaibola (from the name of a suburb of Bologna), was released in 1970 and contained some early Dalla classics. His first hit was 4 Marzo 1943, which garnered some success at the Sanremo music festival. Regardless of its title, the song became popularly known as Gesù bambino. Another song Piazza grande, which Dalla would sing again at Sanremo, was also a success.” wikipedia writes. In 1977, Dalla's first album with songs written by himself How Deep is the Sea came out and it was a success. He produced new albums nearly every year over the next few years, including the popular Banana Republic (an album developed in 1979 in collaboration with singer-songwriter Francesco De Greogri and Ron). The hit single Attenti al Lupo (1990) gave him wider success in Europe and sold nearly 1.4 million copies.

    Dalla, whose musical genres ranged from folk to jazz to classical, sold millions of records worldwide, and he toured abroad frequently, including in the United States. He had eclectic artistic interests: he also composed an opera Tosca. Amore disperato, inspired by Puccini's Tosca, he worked on several Tv shows, he discovered new talents, composed songs for some of Italy's most famous film directors, including Mario Monicelli and Michelangelo Antonioni, and he curated an art gallery in Bologna.
     

    Yet his greatest international success was the haunting melody Caruso (1986).It sold 9 million copies worldwide and was sung by numerous international artists, including the late opera great Luciano Pavarotti (who sang with Dalla himself at a 1992 concert in Modena) and Andrea Bocelli (who recorded it his in first international album Romanza). This piece is also on Josh Groban's album Closer, which sold over 5 million copies in the United States alone.
     

    Carusowas written by Lucio Dalla in the summer of 1986 and released the same year in October on the album Dall'America Caruso. The song came to be this way: Lucio Dalla ship’s broke down in Sorrento, and the only place to stay was a luxurious apartment in the Grand Hotel Excelsior Vittoria, the same apartment where the famous Italian tenor Enrico Caruso had lived the last two months of his life and in which today we can find his books, photographs and his piano. A man who owned a bar in the port told Lucio this story, and he gave it to the world with music: “Caruso was sick with throat cancer but this condition did not prevent him from giving singing lessons to a young woman, a woman he was in love with. On a hot summer’s night, Caruso, who did not want to give up singing to her, he was very sick but he had people carry his piano to the terrace that overlooked the port and began singing a passionate declaration of love and sorrow.

    His voice was so powerful that the fishermen, hearing him from afar, returned to port and anchored their boats under his terrace. The lights of the boats were so many that they looked like the stars, or the bright lights of New York's skyscrapers. He was weak but he kept singing, gazing into the eyes of the girl who was standing by the piano, looking at his with admiration. That night his illness worsened. Two days later, on August 2, 1921, he died at the age of 48. That was his last concert, performed in front of a unique audience… the sea, the stars, the fishermen, the lights of the boats and his beloved. Dalla's song narrates the drama of that night, with lights and shadows of the past, life and death.

    Just like the great Caruso of his song, Dalla got the chance to sing his last concert for those who looked at him with admiration and loved his music.

  • Events: Reports

    In the Shadow of No Towers

    Back in 2004 the comic artist, Pulitzer prize winner and New York City resident Art Spiegelman drew the comic board book In the Shadow of No Towers, his way to reclaim himself from the post traumatic stress disorder he suffered after the September 11th attacks. In its pages, Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary, chronicling his experience on that day and its aftermath.

     
    His family lived in Tribeca and his daughter was in a school located at Ground Zero that morning. The story follows Spiegelman's search for his daughter in the chaos, combined with his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks.
     
    Italian musician and producer Marco Cappelli decided to set Spiegelman's story to music as a multi-media event scored for a narrator with guitars, live electronics, and drums. The music fuses rock, jazz, and contemporary classical music. The narrator assumes the voice of Spiegelman, as well as other characters, accompanying visuals comprised of a moving collage of Spiegelman's actual cartoons. John Turturro makes the perfect voice for Spiegelman's New Yorker viewpoint, while an alternative Italian version is also presented with actor Enzo Salomone as the narrator. All this is presented in a DVD that is an impressive piece of multimedia art.

    In an interview given to The Jazzsession.com, Marco Cappelli talks about the origins of this project. “About four years ago I was in Palermo and I was just browsing in a bookstore, a bookstore I always went to just to spend some time. I saw Spiegelman's graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers but at first I did not make the connection, I mean I was familiar with Maus but I did not know it was by the same author. I was really impressed by the topic but mostly by the author's point of view, considering what a sensitive subject September 11 is. The way the book is assembled inspired me musically. There are ten tables and each table has more than one layer of narration that overlaps the others. So just by leafing through its pages I got inspired for its score. Also, when I was a teenager in Italy there was a show on TV that I loved and it immediately came to my mind. The title of it was Supergulp! It brought comics to TV, meaning that the comic strips were actually filmed and a voice over narration read the bubbles. I thought this was perfect for Spiegelman's graphic novel. So along with my wife, the graphic artist Maria Isabel Gouverneur, and her colleague, video artist Anne Rothschild, we started experimenting. We then went to meet Spiegelman and he welcomed the idea. I don't think he realized at the beginning what we were going to do, honestly we didn't really know either. He was very direct with us when he said 'Most likely I will not like what you'll do with this stuff because I don't like anything, I don't even like what I do sometimes. So here is the graphic material of the book, do whatever you want with it and let me know when you're done.' He always has great comments.”
     
    The team was then able to put together a multi-media project comprised of images, live music and voice over narration. “We wanted to have live performances where a video would show the content of the book accompanied by music and voice over narration,” Marco continues, “The first performance was done in Italy as we got funding from a local festival. As there was the possibility of doing more shows we thought that recording the music in the studio was the best idea. I worked on the score with two friends, Daniele Ledda, keyboards and live electronics, and Roberto Pellegrini, drums and percussion (the group was called Sintax Error).”
     
    The music and the narration are in a crescendo in order to create a dramatic effect that never lacks a bit of irony, the irony that also appears in Spiegelman's writing. The author saw a live performance done in Manhattan a couple of years ago. He attended the event with is entire family. During the show Marco looked at the table where they were sitting but it was empty. He was really afraid of having disappointed the writer. He later had the chance to speak to him and be told that he had run after his daughter who had been really moved by the music. “Music can really bring out feelings and emotions, I don't think my book gives such powerful emotions.”
     
    Indeed the video addresses the topic in a sensitive way, but as you watch it you feel closer and closer to its story emotionally as it is easy to relate to it, especially the part about parents frantically looking for their daughter in a school right at the feet of the towers.
     
    “I shied away from touching this topic as it is so close to so many,” Marco continues, “It is always difficult to express an opinion about all this. So many people, especially in Europe and in leftist political parties, have doubts, questions, theories, criticisms and ideas on how something of that magnitude could happen in the United States without any sort of prevention. Spiegelman's point of view is very close to mine, and his idea is that it's not important to know the truth. The truth will come out in a century or so, when some report will be disclosed and none of us will be around to know. Whatever the cause was, the Government at the time decided to use what happened to accomplish their own agenda.”
     

    ---

    JOHN TURTURRO (English version)
    ENZO SALOMONE (Italian version)
    Music composed and performed by
    SINTAX ERROR: Marco Cappelli - guitars, music box and live electronics / Daniele Ledda - piano, keyboards and live electronics / Roberto Pellegrini - drums and percussion
    Video Art
    ANNE ROTHSHILD
    Graphic Art
    MARIA ISABEL GOUVERNEUR
    Produced by
    MARCO CAPPELLI
    Executive Producer
    BRIAN BRANDT, Mode Records NYC
    IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS ©2004 by Art Spiegelman
    originally published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York

  • Events: Reports

    Presenting New Italian Cinema at N.I.C.E.

    N.I.C.E. (New Italian Cinema Events) turns 21 and it is great to celebrate its birthday at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, the place where it all started. We are here to present new Italian cinema, that never is an easy feat. Making movies in Italy is always difficult for the newcomers, the young talents ... you need sponsors, you need stars... but still, despite major financial limitations, Italian cinema has been evolving and not only under an artistic point of view but also technical. It is appreciated by both national and international audiences, if, only if, they get the chance to see it.”

    With these words Viviana del Bianco, director of N.I.C.E., introduced the 21st edition of Italy's most prominent film festivals for films made by young directors at their first or second experience. Cinema, the seventh art, is the cultural medium broadening the horizons of our minds and encouraging our imagination. However it is also a business, a productive industry, providing many people, at best, with work; “a miracle made of art and technique” operating around the world.

    In the past 21 years, N.I.C.E. has played a crucial role, as a film institution, in the programming of the new Italian cinema, with a double aim: discovering and promoting new talents through their first and second feature films capable of daring new styles and exploring new themes and, simultaneously, giving visibility and energy to the sounds, images, faces, lines and emotions from back home in the USA (and Russia and China).
     

    This year's edition brings to NYC, followed by San Francisco, eight films, films that tackle critical issues, tell stories that are close to reality and denounce corruption and criminality.

    “The movies selected to be presented in NYC are all world premiers featuring current stories told with unique artistic voices,” Viviana del Bianco said.

    “It is utterly important to celebrate Italian cinema here in the States. Sometimes I miss watching a good movie... cinema is influenced by what happens in life and living is captured in the movies presented at the festival... let's all be grateful to be able to watch these good films,” Consul Lucia Pasqualini added.

    A movie like La Nostra Vita, presented at the conference by its director Daniele Luchetti tells the story of a family “where the characters are animated within the background of an anti-glamorous Rome, never wretch, without losing sight of the Italian context, irrevocably oriented towards consumerism, illegal work, cynicism and lack of ethics. A portrait blinking at Italian Neorealism, authentic and precise in the description of attitudes and languages, all drawn out of the observation of reality.”

    “It is good to bring movies like this one abroad,” Luchetti said, “We need to show how Italy really is... once I met someone who said to me, ‘I want to meet those Italian women who are all dressed in black and take care of children... I saw them in a movie.’ I had to explain that those women don't exist anymore. They were the women featured in Il Postino, a movie set in the sixties.”

    Luchetti had some interesting points on the status of current Italian cinema, as it is “living a rather fortunate season. Italian people are actually going to see domestic movies, (there was a 40% growth of viewers). One point that must be raised is that what is successful in Italy does not travel abroad. Italian audiences enjoy comedies, satires, anything that makes fun of themselves, their disgraces and their lives in general. It would be interesting to see how they would do, as it is difficult to translate humor. Next to this humorous cinema there is what is called “quality” cinema, a more serious form that portrays reality with more serious tones it gives a critical outlook and tackles important issues.”

    He then continued to explain that Italy's cinema is helped by the Government and in the latest years there have been cuts to everything that is cultural. Artists in all fields have fought a big fight against it. Because of lack of funding Italian filmmakers have to create ways to make movies spending the least money possible, featuring simple stories with simpler means.”

    So unemployment, economic crises, corporate corruption and foreign cultures are just a few of the topics touched by the films that will be presented at the Anthology Film Archives starting tonight, November 10.

    For a complete schedule of the screenings: http://www.i-italy.org/18590/21st-return-n-i-c-e-new-italian-cinema-events-nyc

  • Events: Reports

    All are Invited to the Festival della Canzone Italiana di New York

    The echo of the success of the third season has not dissipated, yet we are ready for the fourth edition of the Festival della Canzone Italiana di New York (New York Italian Music Festival). Ten singers, Italian or of Italian descent, selected among 150 applicants, will compete against each other each performing their own song. Their names are: Maria Rosa Trapani, Aldo Bianchi, Massimo Poggioni, Recover South, Angelo Venuto, Joe Nastasi, Jessica Trevisan, Patrizio Dettori, Elodea and Sandra Di Gangi.

    Each of them has his/her own story: Maria Rosa Trapani, for example, lives in Glendale. She started singing at the age of nine with the choir called "La Zagara." She loves singing songs by Lady Gaga , Giorgia and Matia Bazar. Aldo Bianchi is a tenor from Taranto. He started his singing career as lead singer in several orchestras. He specializes in opera, operetta and classical Neapolitan music. Massimo Poggioni also comes from Italy, from Bettolle near Siena to be exact. When he was only 11 years old he won the “Ragazzi in Gamba” music award, which he won for two more years in a row. This early success placed him among the best young piano players of Central Italy.

    Three of the ten singers were selected in Italy and have been flown to New York to participate at the festival. Back there, the musician and songwriter Gino Borrelli, was the producer of “Una Canzone per Volare,” while Susy Dal Gesso and Flora Grassivaro coordinated “Artisti per New York.” Both were competitions held to select the three artists coming to perform at the Festival.

    The chairman, Cav. Tony di Piazza and the president of the Associazione Culturale Italiana di New York, Tony Mulè, are beyond enthusiastic. Every year the festival grows both artistically and in size. It is the pride of the Italian community and the Associazione Culturale Italiana di New York. "We grow better every year," Tony Piazza has said, "The Festival is a real treat for the Italian American community".

    The day of the show is September 25th, the location is Christ King School in Middle Village and the time is 5.30 pm. Several personalities of the Italian and Italian American communities are collaborating in order to provide a one of a kind show.

    Several prestigious guests will also appear. The hostess, Benedetta Rinaldi is a pro of Italian television. She first started as a hostess for the Roman radio station Radio Meridiano 12. She then landed at Rai, where she worked as a correspondent and hostess for the religious show "A sua immagine", on Rai Uno and the film-related show "Off Hollywood" also programmed on Rai Uno. In 2009 -2010 she was part of the "Uno Mattina weekend" team. Since June 2009, she has been working as a hostess of the talk show "Gap, generazioni alla prova" on Rai Tre. But what made her known to all Italians abroad is her work for "Italia chiama Italia" the program featured on Rai International.

    Another prestigious guest is the singer and Cavaliere della Repubblica Tony Dallara. Dallara rose to success in 1959 with the release of his famous song "Come prima.” He got at the top of the charts in the blink of an eye and his song stayed there for several weeks. He sold 300.000 copies (a real record back then), and it became one of the pillars of Italian music of those years. Musically speaking, Dallara’s style differed greatly form the melodic style of traditional Italian music, the music of Claudio Villa, Tajoli and Togliani, and introduced a new, more rhythmic fashion that was at the basis of the music of Modugno and Adriano Celentano. He was one of the first Italian singers to fly to New York. Because of his great talent he was invited to sing at the Carnegie Hall to perform in a show alongside Perry Como. Unfortunately he could not stay as long as planned as he needed to return to Italy to attend the military service.

    He released several other famous songs : "Ti dirò," " Brivido blù," " Ghiaccio Bollente," and "Julia." He even acted in two films "Agosto donne mie non vi conosco" and "I ragazzi del juke-box." In 1960, he competed in the Festival di Sanremo with Renato Rascel, and won with the song "Romantica." In 1961 he participated to Sanremo again paired with Gino Paoli, with the song "Uomo vivo." Several other successes followed. Dallara sings in Japanese, Spanish, German, Greek, French and Turkish. This has helped him win several international singing competitions.

    “I am happy to be at the Festival della Canzone Italiana because it encourages Italian music and new talents to fulfill their singing dreams,” Tony Dallara has said. “I brought Italian music all over the world and I hope these artists will do the same. This is the beginning of a great journey for them all.”

    On the stage at Christ the King, there will also be a representative of Italian cinema and television: Riccardo Polizzy Carbonelli. A theater and film actor, Carbonelli is mostly known for the role of "Roberto Ferri" in "Un posto al sole". His character is a strong man, a sly businessman, willing to do it all in order to get what he wants. Riccardo is different form his character: he is fascinating, friendly, cheerful and always has the right answer. Riccardo got his start at the acting school "La scaletta," to later debut n the theater with Salvo Randone in “Henry IV.” In addition to acting, Riccardo is passionate about red wine and soccer (he is a Roma fan).

    The program also features the Sicilian comedian and the Sicilian folk group Val d'Akragas. The show will be broadcast on Rai International.

    Sunday, September 25, 5:30 pm. 25. Christ the King, 68-02 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, Queens. Admission is free.

  • Art & Culture

    In the Shadow of No Towers

    Back in 2004 the comic artist, Pulitzer prize winner and New York City resident Art Spiegelman drew the comic board book In the Shadow of No Towers, his way to reclaim himself from the post traumatic stress disorder he suffered after the September 11th attacks. In its pages, Spiegelman presents a highly personalized, political, and confessional diary, chronicling his experience on that day and its aftermath.

     
    His family lived in Tribeca and his daughter was in a school located at Ground Zero that morning. The story follows Spiegelman's search for his daughter in the chaos, combined with his feelings of dislocation, grief, anxiety, and outrage over the horror of the attacks.
     
    Italian musician and producer Marco Cappelli decided to set Spiegelman's story to music as a multi-media event scored for a narrator with guitars, live electronics, and drums. The music fuses rock, jazz, and contemporary classical music. The narrator assumes the voice of Spiegelman, as well as other characters, accompanying visuals comprised of a moving collage of Spiegelman's actual cartoons. John Turturro makes the perfect voice for Spiegelman's New Yorker viewpoint, while an alternative Italian version is also presented with actor Enzo Salomone as the narrator. All this is presented in a DVD that is an impressive piece of multimedia art.

    In an interview given to The Jazzsession.com, Marco Cappelli talks about the origins of this project. “About four years ago I was in Palermo and I was just browsing in a bookstore, a bookstore I always went to just to spend some time. I saw Spiegelman's graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers but at first I did not make the connection, I mean I was familiar with Maus but I did not know it was by the same author. I was really impressed by the topic but mostly by the author's point of view, considering what a sensitive subject September 11 is. The way the book is assembled inspired me musically. There are ten tables and each table has more than one layer of narration that overlaps the others. So just by leafing through its pages I got inspired for its score. Also, when I was a teenager in Italy there was a show on TV that I loved and it immediately came to my mind. The title of it was Supergulp! It brought comics to TV, meaning that the comic strips were actually filmed and a voice over narration read the bubbles. I thought this was perfect for Spiegelman's graphic novel. So along with my wife, the graphic artist Maria Isabel Gouverneur, and her colleague, video artist Anne Rothschild, we started experimenting. We then went to meet Spiegelman and he welcomed the idea. I don't think he realized at the beginning what we were going to do, honestly we didn't really know either. He was very direct with us when he said 'Most likely I will not like what you'll do with this stuff because I don't like anything, I don't even like what I do sometimes. So here is the graphic material of the book, do whatever you want with it and let me know when you're done.' He always has great comments.”
     
    The team was then able to put together a multi-media project comprised of images, live music and voice over narration. “We wanted to have live performances where a video would show the content of the book accompanied by music and voice over narration,” Marco continues, “The first performance was done in Italy as we got funding from a local festival. As there was the possibility of doing more shows we thought that recording the music in the studio was the best idea. I worked on the score with two friends, Daniele Ledda, keyboards and live electronics, and Roberto Pellegrini, drums and percussion (the group was called Sintax Error).”
     
    The music and the narration are in a crescendo in order to create a dramatic effect that never lacks a bit of irony, the irony that also appears in Spiegelman's writing. The author saw a live performance done in Manhattan a couple of years ago. He attended the event with is entire family. During the show Marco looked at the table where they were sitting but it was empty. He was really afraid of having disappointed the writer. He later had the chance to speak to him and be told that he had run after his daughter who had been really moved by the music. “Music can really bring out feelings and emotions, I don't think my book gives such powerful emotions.”
     
    Indeed the video addresses the topic in a sensitive way, but as you watch it you feel closer and closer to its story emotionally as it is easy to relate to it, especially the part about parents frantically looking for their daughter in a school right at the feet of the towers.
     
    “I shied away from touching this topic as it is so close to so many,” Marco continues, “It is always difficult to express an opinion about all this. So many people, especially in Europe and in leftist political parties, have doubts, questions, theories, criticisms and ideas on how something of that magnitude could happen in the United States without any sort of prevention. Spiegelman's point of view is very close to mine, and his idea is that it's not important to know the truth. The truth will come out in a century or so, when some report will be disclosed and none of us will be around to know. Whatever the cause was, the Government at the time decided to use what happened to accomplish their own agenda.”
     
    There will be a premier screening of Mode’s just released DVD to commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9/11, In the Shadow of No Towers, at The Stone, on September 22 at 10.30 PM.

    ---

    JOHN TURTURRO (English version)
    ENZO SALOMONE (Italian version)
    Music composed and performed by
    SINTAX ERROR: Marco Cappelli - guitars, music box and live electronics / Daniele Ledda - piano, keyboards and live electronics / Roberto Pellegrini - drums and percussion
    Video Art
    ANNE ROTHSHILD
    Graphic Art
    MARIA ISABEL GOUVERNEUR
    Produced by
    MARCO CAPPELLI
    Executive Producer
    BRIAN BRANDT, Mode Records NYC
    IN THE SHADOW OF NO TOWERS ©2004 by Art Spiegelman
    originally published by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc, New York

  • Art & Culture

    Capturing September 11 on Film

    She was supposed to see some guy the night before. They were not boyfriend and girlfriend, they were just enjoying each other's company. At the very last minute things changed and she decided to stay, she didn't really like him that much, in the city. “Better that way, if I had gone I would have been stuck in Brooklyn for who knows how long...” she joked later on. She lived in a really cool and trendy area, on Broome Street, between Spring and Prince, the heart of Soho basically. So instead of going to see him she had opted for a drink at one of the local bars with the “usual suspects.”
     

     On September 11, 2001, Annalisa Iadicicco, photographer and mixed media artist, was sleeping late, like any other morning. Things were going as usual, with a little difference. Rosa, her mom, had just called. She knew she was never to call before 12 pm. It was unusual for her to be calling.

    A light knock on the door, it was her roommate, carrying the phone. “She was worried, she wanted to check if everything was OK. I had no idea what she was talking about,” Annalisa recalls, “I was still half asleep but as she kept talking something in me was coming to life. I didn't let her finish. I just grabbed my camera and ran out. I wanted to see it for myself. I didn't even put clothes on, I left still wearing my pajamas.”

    Looking south, at the corner of Spring and Prince, tourists used to take pictures of the city's twin towers. It was a perfect shot, a shot for postcards. That's where she planted herself. But the panorama was different on September 11. Stunned, as everybody else around her, she looked at the cloud of smoke that was engulfing the area where they used to stand. “I started to click away and I was able to catch the North Tower as it was crumbling on the ground. I didn't even realize what was happening, I was just focused on capturing it on film. And in just a few seconds it was over... the tower had been totally engulfed by smoke and disappeared. I had no curiosity to get any closer. As my mind was registering what my lens had already recorded random sentences that my mother had told me came back to me.”

    “I was running late this morning,” Rosa had said to her, “So I am safe at home.”

    “Safe at home,” that's what really mattered, as Rosa worked at Gemelli, Tony May's restaurant in the World Trade Center. In 1997, Tony May opened Gemelli in the World Trade Center followed by PastaBreak in 1998. On September 11, 2001, both Gemelli and PastaBreak were destroyed in the attack on World Trade Center. Later, Tony May worked tirelessly to help feed the rescue workers, as well as to help his displaced employees.

    The street was jammed packed and despite the great amount of people there was an eerie silence. The Police was already blocking the streets. “I went back to my apartment. I grabbed some things and went to Queens on my scooter. I wanted to be close to my family. To hug them... and from then on September 11 has become a day to hug my loved ones. You should hug them too, as life can change in the blink of an eye.”

    ---

    about ANNALISA IADICICCO

    A.I. is made up of photographs, and installations.

    My work is a genuine celebration of the beauty found in simple and natural things.

    In my work I contemplate personal quests, social injustices and environmental problems. I use components such as cement, aluminum, burned wood and recyclable materials to draw a connection between the organic world and the urban world we live in.


    Each day is an opportunity to come across my latest media, which I find along my urban travels. These humble materials, like rusted corrugated steel metal might be found passing a N.Y.C construction site (used in the “Origins” series). Or maybe along an adventure to an old farm upstate where I come across pieces of weathered

    two hundred-year-old wood (used in the “Stone Angel”)


    Breathing new life and repurposing material that would otherwise have been left to wither and age in anonymity compels me to create my art. Each piece inevitable goes through multiple incarnations before it reaches its final state. Just to be able to be a part of the process of art coming alive in my hands; the process of creation and listening to each unique piece and allowing it to lead me in its metamorphosis is what

    A.I. is about.


    A.I. website

  • Life & People

    A Star Studded Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival

    The Italian Trade Commission opened its doors to the presentation of the sixth edition of the Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival that will be held in September, from the 23 to the 25, in Newport, RI.

     
    The festival is the most sophisticated food and wine tasting held on the East Coast and features a vast array of celebrity chefs, exclusive wines from around the world, scrumptious food from the region's best restaurants and, most of all, one of America's most picturesque settings - the historic Newport mansions, Rosecliff and Marble House, in the seaside resort of Newport.
     
    Sponsored by FOOD & WINE the festival will kick off with the Wine & Rosecliff Gala, where guests will enjoy special vintages uncorked exclusively for the evening, with delicious food pairings. The festival's special surprise this year will be chef, television personality and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich, hosting a fabulous jazz brunch at the Hotel Viking on Sunday morning, September 25.
     
    “I am very happy to participate,” Mrs Bastianich said at the presentation, “Being Italian I know the meaning of heritage and history. Plus the festival gives me an opportunity to show my strength, which is Italian food.” There is no better combination than good food and the long lasting traditions they hold. “We know we have made it to the top this year,” Trudy Coxe, CEO and Executive Director of the Preservation Society of Newport County said, “Lidia is the best we could ask for. She is a master chef and a lover of history.” Mrs Bastianich will also be available for book signing on Sunday at the Grand Tasting at Marble House.

     With a healthy participation of Italian wine and food importers, the Grand Tasting will certainly engage the senses of festival goers with the pure flavors of Italy. At the kind request of the Preservation Society, the ITC was invited to present its ever popular tasting seminar Perusing the Peninsula (on September 23 at the Viking Hotel), presenting a magnificent medley of wines hailing from the snow capped mountains and the sun kissed shores of Italy. The ITC will also have a desk at the Grand Tasting on the 24-25.
     
    “We are so happy to welcome the Italian Trade Commission back to the festival,” Trudy Coxe added, “Italy produces some of the finest wines and specialty products in the world. The opportunity to feature these products and feature an Italian educational wine experience gives festival goers that much more to look forward to this year.”
     
    The US importers of Italian products who will be participating are: Banfi Vintners, Dark Star Imports, Domaine Select Wine Estates, Fine Wines of the World, Moet Hennessy USA, Nestle Waters North America, Palm Bay International, Pernod Ricard USA, Wilson Daniels, Wine Worldwide Inc, World Wide Wine Importing. “The combination of qualities best described, by celebrated wine writer Burton Anderson, as SUN, SOIL, AND SOUL, is what entices both wine experts and novices to experience the variety, complexity and quality that is tantamount with Italian wine,” Trade Commissioner Aniello Musella explained. “These qualities distinguish Italian wine from all other wines. It is the reason why Italy remains the leading wine exporter to the US boasting a 32% market share in the first six months of 2011, in spite of the economic malaise.”
     
    Lou di Palo, noted trade member, epicurean and owner of Di Palo's Fine Foods, was at the presentation for a tasting of Italian products sold at his store had his say as well, “The authentic Italian products presented at the Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival this September will underscore the versatility and superb quality of Italian wine and food items. Many will discover just how complimentary Italian wine is to many international cuisines and just how much flavor authentic Italian products can add to any dish. The bottom line is the resounding commitment to quality shared by Italian producers. Consumers will leave the festival with a new found knowledge of what exactly product of Italy means: having understood the difference between authentic Italian products and their domestic counterparts.”

  • Facts & Stories

    An Italian Plague: the Fraud Phenomenon

    In 1991, years before his Oscar, Roberto Benigni came out with a very successful movie: Johnny Stecchino. The story is simple, Dante (Roberto Benigni) is an unfortunate man who drives a school bus for a school of kids affected by Down syndrome. One night, he accidentally meets Maria (Nicoletta Braschi), an attractive and wealthy woman from Palermo with whom he immediately falls in love. Soon Dante is lured by Maria into unwittingly impersonating famous mobster Johnny Stecchino, Maria's husband, with whom he shares an uncanny resemblance.

    The movie was funny and it also addressed some serious issues and a couple of scenes that really caught the audience's attention were the ones where Dante receives the visit of a man from the social security office who is there to check on his condition of invalid. Suddenly Dante's hand starts shaking incessantly, the situation is so bad he cannot even write and for this he will get a check as he is not able to work (let alone being a bus driver) this work thus survive.

    Reality often is harsher than fiction, and although these scenes are funny the truth behind them is not fun at all as every day we read of all these scams taking place in Italy. Fake bums who own dozens apartments, fake blind men who drive cars, ride bicycles or go grocery shopping. The incidents appear to be small scenes of a commedia all'italiana but Carabinieri have videos of blind men parking their cars or reading the newspaper, while in 2010 in Siracusa a councilman promised social security checks in return of votes. The same year, in certain Sicilian neighborhoods each building housed an invalid, so there would be up to 15 invalids on a single street

    There are so many cases that defy imagination, so many movies can get inspiration from these stories. In the first 7 months of the current year, the Guardia di Finanza (Italian law enforcement agency under the authority of the Minister of Economy and Finance specialized in financial crimes and smuggling) has reported 3000 people who declared being invalid and poor and has reported 4400 for frauds to INPS (National Institute for Social Security) that amount to more than 48 million euros.

    In seven months the guards have preformed 11000 checks on people who have benefited from “facilitated social services (Prestazioni sociali agevolate, Psa)” and have found people declaring to be poor in order to get full scholarships, maternity checks, food stamps, housing or contributions for rent and more grants who could be really used by those we really are in need.”

    The latest one happened just a few days ago in the Lecce area: in about 10 years a fake invalid has received by INPS 112.000 euros. Among the 4400 subjects who have cheated INPS for an amount of 48 million euros, there are 270 foreigners who, after have reunited with their older parents, asked for the social security check to support them, while, after having received it they actually sent it back to their own country, thus “stealing” a total of 6,2 millions of euros, about 23.500 euros a person.

    Among the investigations one got particular attention because it involves a couple of 70 year olds from Reggio Calabria: they were receiving a regular check for years but they actually lived in Argentina. There have been about 612 people who were receiving checks for their parents who actually had died years before. The numbers on this are 3,7 millions of euros and 556 were unmasked in the Lecce and Palermo areas only in the month of July.

    Another chapter involves fake farmers, people who officially are registered to work in the countryside during the summer, gathering fruit or whatnot, in order to collect unemployment in the winter months, but they actually have never worked. The investigation performed by the guards resulted in 3222 reports for an amount larger than 19 million euros. But this doesn't end here, in Foggia the guards uncovered a serious scam, where attorneys (14 to be exact) would appeal for the farmers presenting fake documents and getting money, oftentimes of people who were already dead.

    With all the talk about the economic crisis in Italy and ways to solve it lately, this is definitely an area that should be looked into as so much money can be saved and people who really need support can have it and those who don't can stop being human leeches.

     

  • Life & People

    New Educational Program! Healthy Eating with Club EATalian

    “Eating a healthy meal is not a special occasion, it must be a habit.” Truer words could not be spoken and what better place than the Summer Fancy Food Show to introduce a new and inspiring program?

     
    “Club EATalian is an educational program presented by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development and the Italian Trade Commission, meant to showcase healthy alternatives to highly processed food-based meals for American kids and their parents,” Trade Commissioner and Executive Director for the United States Aniello Musella said at the presentation at Dartlington House in Washington DC, “From the country that created the healthy Mediterranean diet, the “Club EATalian” initiative is designed to promote healthier eating habits and fast, fresh kid-friendly meals to help combat a national epidemic of obesity and diabetes spreading across the globe. The focus is put on teaching elementary and middle school children about nutrition and food preparation consistent with the Italian Mediterranean diet.”

    Club EATalian was founded by Stacy Jolna and is an innovative initiative promoting healthier eating habits to help combat the epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes in the United States that is now spreading to other developed nations as well. Club EATalian enlists educators, parents and chefs to teach kids nutritious and delicious eating and cooking based on the authentic Mediterranean diet form Italy, featuring fresh vegetables and fruits, virgin olive oil, lean meats and fish, and multi-grain pastas. The program with support from the Italian Trade Commission and the Italy Chamber of Commerce West, began in spring 2011 in Los Angeles, winning overwhelmingly positive responses from school administrators, teachers and parents.
     
    “Elementary school children learned about growing food and make recipes, with the assistance of a chef, with what hey have grown,” Jolna said, “Then they had homework, go shopping with their parents for a great meal, prepare it together, sit at the table with no TV or phone to enjoy each other's company and the good food.”
     
    According to the material supplied at the presentation “the U.S. Centers for Disease Control affirm that one in three teenagers in America are obese and obesity has tripled in the past thirty years. These children will grow up to be diabetics and suffer all kinds of health problems – unless they learn the benefits of eating the kind of healthy diet that is so much a part of the authentic Italian lifestyle.
    No need to emphasize that nutritionally balanced meals are vital to children for proper growth, cognitive development, as well as maintaining a healthy weight that can lessen the incidence of diseases such as asthma and diabetes.”
     
    This program is really really close to First lady Michelle Obama's latest tool to fight America’s obesity epidemic: ChooseMyPlate.gov, the new food icon and website that Obama administration officials say is a lot easier to understand and follow than the old food pyramid from which we’ve learned for nearly two decades. The plate is a new, multicolored symbol designed for people to see visually how much room on a plate each of the food groups -- fruits, vegetables, grains, protein & dairy -- should occupy.
     
    The First Lady has said at the MyPlate.gov unveiling at the US Department of Agriculture, which developed the MyPlate icon: “This is a quick, simple reminder for all of us to be more mindful of the foods that we're eating. Parents don't have the time to measure out exactly three ounces of chicken or to look up how much rice or broccoli is in a serving. I still don't know how much protein comes in X number of ounces. And we're all bombarded with so many dietary messages that it's hard to find time to sort through all this information. But we do have time to take a look at our kids' plates. We do it all the time. We usually are the ones fixing the plates. And as long as they're eating proper portions, as long as half of their meal is fruits and vegetables alongside their lean proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy, then we're good. It's as simple as that. That's how easy this can be for parents. MyPlate is a simple tool that's simple enough for children to understand, even at the elementary school level. It's an image that can be reinforced and practiced at breakfast, lunch, and at dinner, no matter how old we are.”
     
    Obviously Club EATalian has a very similar mission and the plan is collaborate with the First Lady.
     
    As things develop further, the Club's advice to get children to be more interested in healthy fresh food is to encourage a sense of discovery by visiting local farmer's markets and growing a few fresh vegetables or herbs at home. Touch, feel and explore the different colors, fun shapes and tastes of vegetables and food ingredients. Include kids in food preparation through simple tasks like scrubbing and cleaning potatoes or breaking and beating an egg that will go into a recipe. For foods that kids already like, introduce variations by baking instead of broiling, or cook a meal on the BBQ grill. Add new ingredients to a favorite food such as homemade pizza to vary colors and add nutrients. Review school lunch menus and vary food served at home to insure proper nutritional composition.

  • Life & People

    U.S. The Evolution of Italian Food

    Fusion or Confusion? A New Century for Italian Cooking in America was held at the Darlington House in Washington D.C. and it was the last special event organized by the ITC at this year's edition of the Summer Fancy Food Show. Over breakfast, four panelists (two chefs, Luigi Diotaiuti of Al Tiramisu and Mike Isabella of Graffiato) and two food writers (John F. Mariani and Corby Kummer), discussed the future of Italian cooking in America and the use of authentic Italian ingredients.

     
    “It was a lively and engaging discussion,” Trade Commissioner and Executive Director for the United States Aniello Musella said, “it raised questions on how authentic Italian food ingredients and wines fit with the modern concept of fusion, which blends high-quality components with other cuisines of the world.”
     
    The question for the panelists was simple: “Does getting creative and innovating on nonna's traditional recipes mean giving up authenticity of ingredients in the kitchen?”
     
    Italian born chef Luigi Diotaiuti represented the traditional side of the panel. Chef Luigi opened Al Tiramisu in 1996 and his place is considered the most authentic Italian restaurant in Washington DC where he serves traditional Italian fare using fresh, high-quality ingredients and follows his lifetime cooking philosophy “Respect the ingredients, the food and the people.” According to his stories, finding the right Italian ingredients was rather difficult at first.
     

    “When I opened my restaurant, I had problems getting fresh fish to put on the menu, now I get it in just a few hours. I had gnocchi alla romana on the menu but nobody would order them because they didn't understand how gnocchi could not be made of potatoes but they were made of semolina instead, or I had to come out of the kitchen and show them radicchio and fennel because they had no idea what they were... now things are different, through the years people have become more educated in Italian cuisine.”

    According to writer John Mariani (author of How Italian Food Conquered the World) Italian food had a humble beginning in this country but improves as decades went by. “Fashion helped the food business quiet a bit. In the mid eighties the fashion scene moved from Paris to Milan, and the media presented big designers having dinner with fashion editors or other personalities in Italian restaurants... it all looked so good... trendy... fashionable. Then a decade later, the craze of the Mediterranean diet had its start and that introduced the health issue... so eating Italian was not just cool anymore, it was also good for you.”

     
    Of course through the years Italian food and its preparation developed even more and now we are witnessing a rise of “Italian inspired” places.

    Mike Isabella's Graffiato was only two and a half weeks old at the time of the breakfast. “At Graffiato Chef Isabella serves seasonal, artisanal pizzas and small plates inspired by the food he grew up eating in New Jersey prepared by his Italian-American grandmother. With heavy influence from Chef Isabella’s Mediterranean and Latin culinary training, Graffiato is anything but a traditional Italian eatery. Roasted potato gnocchi, chicken thighs with pepperoni sauce, bone marrow with cured lemon, and king crab legs with sea urchin and guanciale are a few of the signature wood oven roasted dishes.”
     
    “Very few ingredients are from as I prefer to use local products,” chef Isabella said, “I am a third generation Italian and I grew up on my grandmother's food and have given her recipes my own touch, that is why I call it 'Italian inspired'.”
     
    There are those who think that if a chef was not born in Italy (and some have not even traveled there) he has no right to claim he is making Italian food and say that he is evolving Italian cuisine. Chef Luigi had his answer on this issue. “In Italy it is not just about food it is about culture, that's why some think others cannot do it, it's not that they lack the skills, they just don't have that culture. They are amazing chefs and they know what they are doing, they just come from a different culture, that's all... but as Italians we are a bit protective of our heritage.”
     
    We are protective but we also are proud gourmands... and 'Italian inspired' definitely makes us proud. Being an inspiration is part of being the best.
     

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