I spent this week in Long Island doing publicity mainly for the Filippo and the Chef Show as well as the upcoming show at Hofstra University.
I finally got to feel like an East coast Italian-American instead of a West coast Italian-American. One more week in Long Island and I would have permanently developed a Long Island accent and my hair would have turned black.
I was living in a private apartment above a house in a typical Long Island neighborhood. you know the type of apartment I mean, the one that you put the oldest boy in when he gets too old to share the same room with his younger sister. And then a few years later, when the oldest boy gets married and his wife moves into the main house and the kids start to come, it is where the parents end up living.
Anyway, it was great, all I needed was a few more Italian friends from the "neighbor- hood" and a little more time for fun and it really would have felt like home. Instead I was there to work, even though my work is always fun, for me at least. It was especially fun because I got to work with Director Bob Spiotto of Hofstra USA Productions. He is not only a great director but a great actor, singer and all around great guy. Here he is in this picture giving one of his lectures in which he gets into different characters, be it Danny Kaye, Joel Grey, or in this case, Michealangelo. Below is another picture of Bob, this time with me and Ben Scannella, Editor of L'Esperienza Magazine.
The week started off with radio interviews on both "The American Italian Music Hall" with Joe Farda, 93.5 FM WRTN New York, and "Italia Mia" with Luisa Potenza on 1370 AM WALK Radio Long Island. Both of these two are such great Italian-American characters. Joe could be my Uncle and Luisa my Aunt, they are both so familial and of course lovable. I so enjoy this kind of thing, we laughed so much off the air. One of these days we should play what happens off the air on the radio instead of the interview itself, I think it is much more entertaining, he, he. In a way, that is what our show "Filippo and the Chef" is about.Then I got to do a TV taping interview with the lovely Laura Savini, host of "Ticket" on WLIW Channel 21 New York. That was a lot of fun. Both of us have the same hair and we laughed about that as we teased each other, as her hair was being "teased" by the make-up artist. The fun continued on the set, though we managed to get serious long enough to do the interview. Then they showed a clip of me singing "It's Impossible."
I have to tell you, this next TV interview I wasn't so sure about. I have been known to be a "trouble" maker, in fun of course, and when I was told that they had set up an interview for the Catholic show "Good News with Father Jim Vlaun," I felt like I had to make sure I was in my best behavior. Not that it is hard for me to do, but especially when I am performing I like to not be too serious. I was having these visions of being reprimanded by the priest like when I was an alter boy in church years ago.
Well, boy was I wrong, Father Jim was a hoot and we actually did talk about being reprimanded by the priests and we laughed about that and many other "growing up Catholic" funny stories. For that matter we talked about growing up Italian-American too because Father Jim is too. Father said some wonderful things to his audience about me and I was really touched. He made me promise I would come back on his show and cook with him next time I was in town. That show hasn't aired yet. It should air sometime in November, I can't wait.
Singer Laura De Leon joined me for an interview on Rita's radio show "Profumo d'Italia," on 90.3 FM WHPC Long Island. I have known Rita for years and we were so comfortable together, maybe too comfortable. At one point we got to talking about a certain subject on the air that we started to wonder if it was within the FCC approved guidelines. Fortunately the program manager walked in and told us we were fine but not to take it any further, he, he. Laura got a good dose of being in a show with me before our actual performance together the following weekend. She not only was great about it, she jumped right in and became part of the family right away. The calls from the listeners were actually the best part. This is a picture of Rita and I taken a couple years ago at the Hofstra Italian Festival. I gotta love what she is wearing. If you can't see it, click on the image to make it bigger.
My in-studio radio interviews with Giovanna of "Souvenir d'Italia" on 88.7 FM WRHU New York and Long Island as well as with Nino and Rosa on "Ciao Italia" at 88.7 FM WRHU New York and Long Island unfortunately went by too quickly. Nino and Rosa and I had so much fun that they wished I had been able to be there at the top of the show because they said they would have dedicated the whole show to the interview. Because of rehearsal I was only able to get there twenty minutes before the end of their show, but though it was short, it was really sweet. I enjoyed it so much that I asked for a copy of the show so I could hear it later.
What a riot my week has been!
Ciao for now,
Filippo
P.S. Here is a Youtube video clip of Massimo Troisi in the movie "Rincomincio da Tre" in which he wants to act like he "happens" upon this young lady that he likes, but his plan backfires. It is in Italian w/o subtitles but you don't have to understand Italian to figure it out and enjoy.
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