June 2nd - Italian Independence Day

Ciao a tutti,

Of course we all celebrate the Fourth of July in America which is of course our National Independence Day. Some of us, especially in California, even celebrate, or should I say get into the celebration of, Cinco de Mayo, Mexico's Independence Day.

But how many people, and Italian-Americans included, even know that June 2nd is Italy's Independence Day? I have felt for a long time that we should be celebrating the Italian Independence, and though I am not much of a flag waver I always try to bring attention to this day.

This year, without even planning it, "Filippo and the Chef" celebrated an Independence of its own, so to speak, on this day, and boy did we bring attention to our show.

This was the first time that we invited a team of people to see us record the show live for the purpose of signing on the proverbial dotted lines signifying their official joining of the Filippo and the Chef family as Marketing Representatives, Producer, etc.

We all knew it would be fun, but little did we know just how much fun. Richard and I went about our business of putting the show together as we always do, only this time with an audience. We then recorded our 41st show, Mozzarella In Carrozza, with pre-recorded interviewee Italian Singer Patrizio Buanne. If you want to know what our dish is and who our guest is, you have to log on to www.FilippoandtheChef.com and learn how to make it, because it is so good, and to hear Patrizio, because he is good too.

Having a studio audience threw us off for a second because this time, when Chef Richard and I were throwing zingers at each other, people were actually laughing and it made us laugh even more. That of course made it more fun . But the fun was just beginning.

After the taping of the show we all sat around Chef Richard's dining room table, including his wife, and we ate Richard's delicious meal he had just cooked on the show. We knew right away that we had the right team in place to help us take the show to the next level, because they were just as funny and fun loving as us.

We joked about everything under the sun and ate and laughed and ate and laughed for several more hours. It really did feel like family, and it was.

I actually envisioned when the Filippo and the Chef Show gets on television that we would have a Christmas Special like Bing Crosby used to do. On that show I envisioned all of these folks being in that show with us, that's how close I felt to all of them. Now that's family and that's Italian.

I can't believe I mentioned Christmas when here we are June 2nd, the Italian Independence. Viva L'Italia.

I must add in closing that every time my Father used to say "Viva L'Italia," he always followed it up with "E Viva L'America!" And now I am going to follow that up with "E Viva Filippo and the Chef e Tutta La Famiglia!"

Filippo

P.S. In parts of Northern Italy, some say that the famous chorus "Va Pensiero" from Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco," is revered more as an Italian National Anthem then the actual Italian National Anthem itself, "Inno di Mameli."

Well, on the way to Richard's house, to meet everyone and record the show today, I happened to be listening to an opera radio show. The theme of this particular show that day happened to be called "Non-Italian Basses." Ironically, the show host played "Va Pensiero" because there was a Bass aria that followed, being sung by a non-Italian, of course.

Little did he know of the significance that piece had on this particular day to the Italians and to me in particular. The significance it has personally is a story I would like to share someday. But in the meantime, for those of you who don't know it, and for those of you who do, here it is for all of us to enjoy. (In Italian)

Patrizio - The Italian

Ciao a tutti,

About a year and a half ago I was putting together the Italian Music Store Page on our Filippo and the Chef Show website before we officially released the website.

In so doing I came across a singer I had never heard of so I browsed his website, listened to the sound clips and liked it so much that I bought his CD. The CD I bought was simply titled "Patrizio - The Italian."

From what I gathered it was his debut CD and he was just starting out. I remember commenting to Chef Richard that I thought he would go far, and I wished that on him, in my mind. Little did I know that a year and a half later I would be wishing him the same in person.

Skipping back a few months to this past September, I had a friend say to me that she had seen and heard an Italian singer at the Los Angeles Italian Festival and that I had to interview him for our radio show.

I remember the exact word she used to describe him was "Dreamy." I was not I able to be at the Italian Festival because I was performing in concert in Long Island at the exact same time.

I remember she also called him "Fabrizio." Every few months she would ask me if I had contacted "Fabrizio" and if I was going to interview him soon. I was getting the hint that this was not about her thinking I should interview "Fabrizio," but that she wanted to meet him.

Well, all these stories come together when I found out that a singer named Patrizio Buanne was going to be singing in Los Angeles. The singer who's CD I bought and enjoyed and put on my web page.

I made contact with his management team and secured myself great tickets to the concert as well as a backstage pass and an interview that same night for both our show producer Laura and myself.

The show was great and Patrizio did a great job entertaining the audience mixed with Italians, Americans, Russians, Persians, Iranians, you name it, everyone was getting into it.

I even saw some friends there who came from as far as San Diego as well as Marcella Leonetti Tyler the Los Angeles Area Coordinator for NIAF with her whole family and some guests she had invited. It was a really fun evening of entertainment including the opening act, Patrizio's friend Matt Dusk.

When the show ended and we got backstage the first person I saw, even before seeing Patrizio was Tony Renis. Immediately afterwards, I saw the funniest thing happen right before my eyes.

Some of you may remember that I posted a picture of Tony Renis and I at an event about a year or so ago. In the post I mention how a friend of Tony's took my debut CD to him and asked him if he would be interested in working with me.

The story goes that Tony looked at all the popular Italian songs I sang covers for on the CD and said, "He sang the most popular Italian songs except my 'Quando, Quando, Quando.'" And that was that.

Well, right before my eyes, I watched Patrizio approach Tony and give him a hug and then apologize for not singing "Quando, Quando, Quando," on his debut CD. Right away, I knew I would like Patrizio as a person too, not just as a personality, because he was so sincere and that was a very sweet gesture.

I just had to get in on that moment because it was a moment we shared in common that I would later tell him about in the interview, but for now, I had to have a picture of the three of us which you will see as the first picture posted above.

While Patrizio continued entertaining his audience off stage, Laura and I stepped aside knowing we would have time with him later and mingled with some of Patrizio's other guests, like Doug DeLuca, Producer of ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Show, who Laura had not met yet, and so we took the above picture of them.

Part of entertaining his adoring fans backstage included a special moment wherein he sang Happy Birthday in Italian to a fan who was very young at heart. I had to capture that moment in the picture you see above.

When we finally got around to the interview, we tried to do it in the main room but we kept getting interrupted because people just couldn't get enough of him.

So we went to his dressing room and his Manager stood guard behind the door to make sure we were not disturbed. He came in a couple times when he heard us laughing like crazy, and then another time when he heard Patrizio break out into a song.

You will have to hear the interview on our show when it airs on the radio, and if you miss it, do go to www.FilippoandtheChef.com and visit our archives to hear it there after it airs in a few weeks.

In case you are curious, he sang "'O Marinariello," a traditional Neapolitan Song.

So, here we were having a good time talking as if we had known each other for years. Being a singer, and singing some of the same songs he does, we certainly had many levels we connected on and we could have gone on for hours. In fact we went on pretty long.

I felt bad afterwards because I knew how tight his schedule was, yet he was the one that kept up some of the bantering and some of the joking around, so I know he was having fun too.

Right in the middle of all of this I remembered my friend who kept telling me that I had to interview this Italian singer she referred to as "Dreamy." I hadn't made the connection up until then. Then all of a sudden he said something about having sung a song at the Italian Festival here in Los Angeles, and without skipping a beat I said, "'Fabrizio,' you're the guy."

He looked at me with surprise and said, "PATRIZIO." I said, "of course, I am so sorry, I mean Patrizio." And I went on to tell him the story. He laughed and didn't mind it one bit. Which lead us to a conversation about his name, especially his last name as to how many people mispronounce it and the many ways they do.

We concluded that part of the conversation with the correct pronunciation of Patrizio Buanne, but he went on to say that his fans better know him as simply, "Patrizio."

Patrizio it is, and Patrizio he was indeed!

I again reiterate how I think he will go far, I wish him the best and I look forward to seeing him again on his next trip to the States.

A presto,

Filippo

P.S. Here is a video cut off his debut CD "Patrizio - The Italian," that I found on Youtube.com of him singing "Il Mondo," (In English and Italian)