From Party to Party - It's An Italian Way of Living

Ciao a tutti,

The week started with an Italian-American Birthday Party. This party was for a dear friend of mine, a very important CEO, and as a matter of fact, the youngest CEO I know.

His company is Nathan Anthony, and he is the Nathan Anthony, and he is five years OLD! He is the sweetest o gentle and good mannered and he treats his employees with so much respect, most of the time, especially his designer, Tina, and his President, Khai, otherwise known as, Mom and Dad.

Here he is on the right, with his cousin on the left, who you may recognize as the character Barbara Jean Hart's son, Henry Jesus Hart, on the hit TV show "Reba." In real life his name is Jon Paul Defabry. Look at the smiles on these two, aren't they too cute.

Click on the picture to make it bigger and just enjoy their sincere desire to give us the best picture they knew how. This could be the future of Italian-Americans. And they are off to a good start too. They are both grandchildren of a very prominent lawyer, Fred Calabro, member of a law dynasty, Calabro, Calabro, Calabro and Calabro.

It is the only four brother law firm in the Country and for that matter the most noted Italian-American law firm in the country, made up of lawyers, judges, and a designer. Yes, Tina Calabro, Nathan's mom, happens to have followed in her father's footsteps and is a lawyer too, though her heart is in designing hip, chick furniture for her son's company.

But back to Fred, I hadn't seen him in a long time and we had a lot of Italian-American community goings-on to catch up on. Then Fred blew me away with something I didn't know about him. Fred is an author and has published several things, from articles, to books, to greeting cards, etc.

But the thing that got me the most was that he is a poet. He recited to me over a dozen poems he had written over the years, like poems he wrote to pretty girls in Italy,... so Italian, and poems he has written about his Italian immigrant parents and his life growing up.

Oh, and he has taken on the task of rewriting Shakespeare in American-English, in rhyme. So far he has finished "rewriting" three complete works of Shakespeare. What a project. By the way, I read somewhere that Shakespeare was probably Italian. Anybody want to comment on that?

Fred also takes quotes from Shakespeare and writes poems around them. Here is an example of such a poem. I hope you enjoy it. And Fred, thanks for letting me print it and I look forward to the published book of poems.

All the world's a stage
Upon which we act each day.
With entrances and exists
And each something to say.

The actors we encounter
Each plays his separate part.
All strut and fret upon the stage
in the display of his art.

The scene is ever changing
From the present to the past.
Me thinks the plot's improving
But the play's been poorly cast.

Fred Calabro

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After years of knowing comedian and now radio host Mike Marino, I finally made it on his "A" List. You see, Mike holds an Industry Mixer with top professionals from Film, TV, Music, etc., and mainly Italian-Americans, because, that's just how it is, he, he. Well, I finally got invited to one. It's more like I finally was available to go to one, but I gotta tease him, because he is a funny, funny guy and knows how to take a joke.

"But seriously folks," it's an amazing thing how many great people there are in this business, and how many Italian-Americans make this Industry go round. I got to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones, and right away it felt like we had known each other a hundred years. Nice people!

I will just let the pictures speak for themselves for now and I am sure the stories will soon follow. Let me introduce you to some of these characters.

Like directly above we have the lovely Charissa Saverio, otherwise known as DJ Rap, a DJ artist, being her lovely self, and Clay Heery, would you guess, a comedy writer and producer for Laugh Factory, etc., being his lovely self. Pretty funny huh? He is a two timer, Emmy Award Winner that is. And things just got funnier from there, at least for Charissa and I.

Below we have two funny, funny guys, both the kind of characters from the neighborhood you could hang out with for hours, just cracking jokes. They are comedy writers although they both are working as Producers right now. Not a bad gig.

On my right is Tommy Caprio who produces Tavis Smiley for PBS, and occasionally the Larry King show and shows like that. On my left is Chris Risucci who is a Sr. Production Coordinator and Production Management for PBS with a long list of shows that he works on.
Below is yet another one with a roster of shows he has produced that is too long to mention, but you can click on his name and see some impressive titles. And speaking of his name, don't let the name fool you, he is indeed Italian-American. He is Emmy Award winning Christopher Debiec, but you can call him Chris.



Next we have the ever serious Fred Bartolone, part Napolitan, and part Sicilian, gotta love it. He is a Writer, Director and Artist, with hair longer than mine. I wish I could tell you about his upcoming project because it is going to be great, but he said it wasn't time to publicize it yet. But I think it is safe to say it is Italian themed.
And finally, we have an honorary Italian-American and, one that we are working on. The honorary Italian- American is Bill Boyd. He gets his honorarium after having worked with "The Man Show's" Italian-American hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla, and with producer Doug DeLuca, and for hanging around with them even after the show ended.

He has even volunteered for years at the Los Angeles San Gennaro Festival. And hey, he is a musician, actually, of the "Cracker and a Coaster" Band, so he's gotta be a nice-a guy. And the young lady is TJ Myers, another Producer. Beauty and brains, what more could you want?





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Then came the Dr. John Demartini lecture. Now I wouldn't call this an Italian-American event. But he is Italian-American and I am proud to be able to write about him on this blog as such.

Italian-American or not, I would still go to hear him. Hear him, read his books, listen to his CDs, watch his videos, etc., etc. He has some amazing things to say and since learning about him from watching the movie "The Secret," I have been all ears.

He rarely gets to Los Angeles, so this was quite a treat. The topic of his lecture this time was "The Secrets of Life Mastery" Basically he spoke about the Law of Attraction and creating abundance in the seven areas of ones life.

I mentioned him in a previous post after I had watched him on CNN's Larry King, where he was part of panel that focused on this same subject. I have posted a clip of him at the end of this post. Lets see, what else can I say and keep it under 324,697,663,410,975 words, he, he? Actually, I really like something I read about him recently because I think it is right on, so I will print some of it here.

Dr. John F. Demartini is an international speaker, author and consultant who breathes new life into his audiences with his enlightening perspectives, humorous observations of human nature and practical action steps. For thirty years his words of wisdom have been inspiring minds, opening hearts and motivating people to action.

His understanding of human behavior is reshaping psychology as we know it, and his revolutionary personal transformation methods have enhanced millions of lives around the world. His heart-felt and energizing presentations are informative, inspirational and invigoration.

Dr. Demartini's books include "Count Your Blessings - The Healing Power of Gratitude and Love," published by Harper Collins, "The Breakthrough Experience, a Revolutionary New Approach to Personal Transformation, "How to Make a Hell of a Profit and Still Get to Heaven," and "You can Have an Amazing life in Just 60 Days," published by Hay House.

Oh, have I got a great and inspiring personal story about Hay House and Louise Hay herself. I don't know if there is a connection, but if I find one and when the time is right I would love to share that.

In the mean- time, here is a picture of Dr. Demartini, Amanda of the Thank God I... book series, and I at this weeks seminar. I actually may have a story in the first "Thank God I..." book due to be released in a few months. There is an Italian connection there, namely John Castagnini, co-author of the series. I will probably be writing more about them in the future.


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Finally the week ended with yet another party. This time a gallery premier of some beautiful functional art pieces at Utopia Design, a high end boutique which carries functional art from top designers from Italy to Istanbul. In this case the hoopla was for Ebru Cereczci, a Turkish artist, who calls her collection "Hiref."

The mayor of Los Angeles, Mayor Villariagosa, even sent a proclamation welcoming the artist on her United States premier.

Now you may recognize the young lady in these pictures as Laura De Leon, the opening act singer from my show in Long Island just two months ago. Yes, it is her and she is still singing, even more so than ever, in fact she is in the process of writing more songs for her debut CD that she is in the process of recording. She however, is multi-talented, and has varied interests and passions, and engages in as many as she can, especially those that relate to the arts.

In this case, she is the President of the wholesale division at Utopia Design where she travels around the world discovering unique and talented artists and giving them an opportunity to be seen in the United States, like "Hiref," for example.

Which is by the way how she discovered me, he, he, just kidding. I discovered her, he, he, just kidding there too.

These pictures are self-explanatory, but just in case, Laura is the one in this picture on the left. As a matter of fact, Laura is standing in front of the Alessi Design Section of the Boutique. Alessi is an Italian designer of functional art that is not easy to find in the United States.

Above you see Laura and Ebru, the Turkish artist, holding the proclamation from Mayor Antonio Villariagosa. The other gentleman you see in these pictures, besides myself, is Darren Frank, the owner of the boutique, who by the way, is an artist and designer in his own right, of jewelry and more.

There were a couple other parties this "party" week, but they had nothing Italian to report, though I tried. So, needless to say, I am party'd out for the week.

The party is over for now,

Ciao a tutti.

Filippo

P.S. Here is a Youtube video clip of Dr. John Demartini as interviewed by www.consciousmedianetwork.com. (In English)