Reminders of Beauty in a Time of War - The Career of Alberto Rabagliati

“The music of Alberto Rabagliati helped Italians dream at a very difficult time.” So stated Prof. Stefano Albertini, Director of Casa Italiana Zerrilli-Marimo’ at NYU, at the Casa’s Homage to Alberto Rabagliati. Swiss tenor Gilbert Rolle and pianist Frank Ponzio, under the direction of Maestro Alfredo Bonavera brought this music to life in song and story. Rolle seemed very much at home in Rabagliati’s repertoire.

Born in Milan in 1906, Rabagliati’s early career opportunity was tied to the death of Rudolph Valentino. Valentino’s untimely passing in 1926 created what has been described as mass hysteria in his female fans. Hollywood wanted to capitalize on Valentino’s immense success and sponsored a worldwide lookalike contest with the promise of roles in Hollywood films for the winner.

Rabagliati won the contest over about 2 million other men and found himself on a ship crossing the Atlantic. He later reflected, "For someone like me, who had seen no more than Lake Como or Monza Cathedral so far, finding myself on board a luxury steamer with three cases full of clothes, a few rolls of dollars, grand duchesses and countesses flirting with me, was something extraordinary". Upon reaching Hollywood, it seemed his benefactors had forgotten their promises of film roles and his acting career stalled before it began. However, he learned to enjoy the many gifts of America (including women) and danced to the ubiquitous swing and jazz music emanating from radio and nightclubs.

After about four years his money ran out and Rabagliati returned to Italy. He launched his singing career and in 1934 joined the Cuban band, Lecuona Cuban Boys, then touring in Italy. Rabagliati had a hit with Maria La O and, for reasons no one seems able to explain, performed with LCB in blackface.

In 1939 Rabagliati auditioned for the Italian state radio station, EIAR, and became the vocalist for the station’s orchestra. His voice was an instant success and soon his own show, Canta Rabagliati (Rabagliati Sings), was causing a sensation. His hits included Ma l'Amore No, Mattinata Fiorentina, Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina, Silenzioso Slow and Bambina Innamorata.


His signature style was Swing Made in Italy and he based it on the American swing and jazz singers of the day. Rabagliati toured Italy with a 100 piece orchestra in 1941 and started a trend of rhythmic symphony concerts. Touring made him even more popular with the Italian people and females tossed him red roses at every performance. A popular cartoon of the day showed Rabagliati dancing in the street while every person (and a horse and a statue!) mimicked his freewheeling style. Crowned the King of Swing, Rabagliati’s joyous music was a desperately needed counterpoint to the devastation and uncertainty of the war going on all around him.

All of this is even more amazing when we remember that at the time, Mussolini had banned all foreign influences from Italy, including music. Swing and jazz were distinctly American art forms. However, Rabagliati’s popularity was so overreaching that he was allowed to flout the ban and Il Duce even used one of his recordings as a campaign anthem.

With this much popularity, the Italian film industry wasn’t far behind. Beginning in 1940, his appeal translated easily to the screen and his film career spanned over 25 years. (Casa Italiana brought this aspect of Rabagliati’s career to life by showing delightful clips of some of his more popular works.)

One of his most iconic roles was 1943’s La Vita E’ Bella with Anna Magnani (not to be confused with Roberto Benigni’s film of the same name). Rabagliati played a young count who considers suicide when he loses his fortune. His friend, a doctor, convinces him to submit to a serum injection that will kill him in 10 days, but could save many lives. The doctor tells him, “You’ve wasted your life, don’t waste your death, too”. In the ensuing 10 days, the now destitute count becomes a farmer and falls in love. He returns to the doctor insisting that he is no longer seeking death and wants to live. The doctor assures him that the serum he administered was harmless, and that he “only wanted to give an injection of life. Life is beautiful, go live it!”

This story touched the deep suffering of many Italians at the time. It offered a way to move through the starvation, torture and death that was everywhere. It prompted the Corriere Della Sera to observe, in a 1998 retrospective of Rabagliati, that he “reminded Italians how beautiful life was in a time of war.”

And anyone who can do that deserves to be remembered.

Rhythm is the Cure Workshop in Tuscany this August!

From August 22-29, 2010, you have the chance to experience Tuscany in a unique and life-changing way. Join internationally renowned percussionist, singer, composer, arranger and performer Alessandra Belloni on her 10th annual, soul-enhancing healing journey called Rhythm is the Cure. A few years ago I attended this workshop and it remains one of the highlights of my life. If this experience calls to you, ANSWER! Register early as it is limited to 25 students.

The Workshop
Rhythm is the Cure is a transformative week filled with intensive study, play, and joy. It is a healing workshop featuring Southern Italian ritual dances used as music and dance therapy for centuries throughout the Mediterranean. You'll learn the unique style of tambourine playing and the ancient healing trance dance of the tarantella, used to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. (To learn more about this rich history, see my interview with Alessandra here.)

The sessions feature the ancient chants used as invocations to the healing energy of the sun, the Black Madonna (whose origins date back to Cybele, the ancient Mother Earth Goddess of female energy), the moon, and the Goddess of Water and Love (known in different parts of the world as Aphrodite, Yemanja and Madonna del Mare).

You will learn the history of this powerful percussion style which dates back to the rites of the Mother Earth Goddess Cybele. The instruments look like oversized tambourines and are more accurately called frame drums or tamburellos. These rites were originally performed mainly by women, and this experience returns us to our lost drumming tradition.

In addition to drumming, Alessandra teaches healing dance rituals:

Tammorriata - This is a beautiful, sensual dance from Naples performed with castanets to the rhythm of a large drum, called the Tammorra. The movements and rhythm are set to an African beat played in 4/4 time. This powerful dance is done during the summer rituals held in honor of the Black Madonna.

Pizzica Tarantata - The wild 6/8 rhythm of the Pizzica, played on medium size tambourines and accompanied by dance and song, was performed for centuries as an exorcism ritual that produced a trance-like state beneficial for healing many mental-health disorders and imbalances. As part of a re-enactment of this healing ritual, Alessandra will lead the participants in a circle dance where they'll create spider-like movements on the ground, releasing stress and blockages of sexual energy, as well as opening the heart and throat chakras.

Ritmo e Danza Di San Rocco (Spinning Dance) - This dance, originating in Calabria during the Middle Ages, was performed during the time of the plague to help people release the overpowering fear of death. Due to the trance-inducing movements and incessant spinning, many people enter ecstatic states during this dance, similar to the Whirling Dervish ceremonies.

Tarantella Alla Montemaranese - A fun Carnevale dance in honor of Baccus, god of wine and ecstasy, also known as Dionysius. The Tarantella alla Montemaranese is danced in a circle to a very syncopated 6/8 rhythm while wearing masks and playing castanets.

Special guest philosopher and writer Angelo Tonelli:
In addition to the intensive dance and percussion study you'll do with Alessandra each day, you'll practice meditation, visualization, and energy work with Italian writer, philosopher, theater director and shaman Angelo Tonelli during his residency. Angelo is a Jungian specialist who combines ancient Greek rituals with Tibetan traditions to conduct enlightening group interactions and exercises.

Cultural Excursion:
An excursion will take place to the stunning marble Duomo of nearby Siena to view a statue of the Black Madonna and multiple images depicting the ancient female drumming tradition. This will be followed by a pilgrimage to the Abbey of San Galgano, a spectacular ruin of a Cistercian gothic abbey, to hold a special drumming ceremony. (To see an image of the Abbey, click here.) At sunset, the group will drum while walking up the hill to the extraordinary Hermitage Montesiepi, which houses another powerful Black Madonna.


Alessandra Belloni
Alessandra Belloni is the author of Rhythm is the Cure, Southern Italian Tambourine, the result of 25 years of field research and the foremost book on the subject. She is a singer, percussionist, dancer, composer, Artist in Residence at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine and co-founder and director of the Italian theatre Group I Giullari Di Piazza.

She is the only woman in the U.S. and Italy specializing in Southern Italian percussion, ritual dances and singing. She has participated for over twenty years in authentic drumming festivals in remote areas of Southern Italy held in honor of the Black Madonna and rituals of purification. Often called a "Mediterranean Volcano", Alessandra was born in Italy and is committed to preserving the rich traditions of her culture.

She has been nominated among the Best Drummers of World Percussion by Drum Magazine along with Baba Olatunji, Mickey Hart and Arthur Hull. She can be found in feature stories in the New York Times, Modern Drummer and Rhythm & Drum Magazine.

Alessandra has performed in some of the world’s most prestigious spaces, including Alice Tully Hall & New York City Ballet, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Recital Hall (New York) & Carnegie Hall in Pittsburgh, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Caramoor Center for Music and Arts, Madison Square Garden Felt Forum, New York’s Symphony Space, Metropolitan Museum, The Cloisters, St. Mark's Church, Theatre of the United Nations (NY), World Music festival in Hawaii (Leehman Arts Center) Teatro Castro Alves, Bahia, Brazil - Teatro SESC Ipiranga in San Paolo, Cultural Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, Cleveland Palace Theatre & Cleveland Museum of Art with Dancing Wheels Monterey World Music festival, World Festival of Sacred Music (Los Angeles) Epcot Center (Walt Disney World), Universal Studios and UCLA in Los Angeles, YALE University, Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., Kennedy Center (Washington DC) Field Museum Park in Chicago.

The Villa
The workshop is held at La Chiara di Prumiano, six centuries old in the Chianti region of Tuscany, near Siena. Even if you can’t translate the villa’s website, prumiano.it, from Italian, I recommend looking at the photographs. I have stayed at this villa, and it is wonderful! Spacious and decorated with tile floors and dark, polished wood, I entered the villa and felt the pressures of my regular life slide off my shoulders. Each bedroom, whether single, double or triple, has modern bathrooms and is beautifully appointed.

The food at Prumiano can only be described as spectacular. Breakfasts are continental and completely satisfying (which is not true everywhere you go). Lunches and dinners are feasts that the kitchen staff creates from fresh ingredients grown on the villa property. They pride themselves on serving cuisine that is beneficial to the body and mind and tastes like heaven. These wonderful meals are eaten at long tables under a large, vine-covered pergola on the patio.

Prumiano offers a swimming pool and stables on the grounds. Imagine horseback riding in the Tuscan hills….I’ve done it, and it’s unforgettable. The villa also offers shiatsu and ayurvedic massage. In addition, you’ll find spas, mudbaths and a lake nearby.

For additional information, contact tuscanyworkshop@aol.com.

Learn more about this special workshop, including prices and registration by downloading this brochure. Just click on the orange Menu button and select Download Doc. Be sure to download all 4 pages:

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Puppets From Bergamo Bring Out the Child In All of Us

If you think you’re too sophisticated to enjoy an old fashioned puppet show, I invite you to think again.

Isn’t it wonderful to get lost in a story? To escape the everyday, to be focused so entirely on the actions happening before your eyes that all else is temporarily forgotten? This is how it was when we were children, our eyes wide with wonder, enraptured in the moment. And this is how it was for all of us watching the puppet show Arlecchino Malato d’Amore (Arlecchino Lovesick) at NYU’s Casa Italiana on March 31, 2010.


Maria Teresa Zenoni poses with Smeraldina. Photo by Rosanne Masone.

The plot goes like this: Arlecchino loves Smeraldina but her father Pantalone rejects Arlecchino in favor of the apparently rich Marquis, whose wealth is a sham and who schemes with his deceitful servant, Brigella, to pay off his debts with Smeraldina’s dowry. Arlecchino and his faithful friend, Gioppino, expose the truth and win Pantalone’s approval and thereby, Smeraldina’s hand in marriage. Does the plot seem familiar? Of course it does. It’s just one of a host of centuries-old morality plays drawn from Italy’s rich tradition of Commedia dell’Arte.

Commedia dell’Arte developed in the mid-15th century as a form of professional improvised theater tradition incorporating characters throughout Italy. The characters are drawn from Italy’s distinct regions, towns, and dialects and over time, became stock characters such as Arlecchino, the Doctor and Pulcinella. The art of pantomime, Harlequin and England’s favorite puppet characters, Punch and Judy, all owe their beginnings to Commedia dell’Arte. Some of its plot lines found their way into opera buffa by such composers as Verdi, Rossini and Puccini.

What began as actors on a stage later branched into puppet shows on rolling carts that entertained people in virtually every Italian town. This tradition was brought to America during the great migration of the last century, and many people still recall these shows with delight, held in the streets of Brooklyn and Little Italy.


Today, master puppet maker Daniele Cortesi continues this tradition. Straight from Caravaggio in the province of Bergamo, near Milan, Italy, Cortesi and his small band of dedicated artisans traveled to New York City for a rare appearance. The colorful costumes, endearing characters, beautiful sets and universal themes captured the attention of all the children in the room, aged 1 to 100.


Brigella, Smeraldina and Arlecchino.

The sheer mechanics of the show are daunting. The stage itself had to be constructed in New York, as it was impossible to bring the Bergamo stage abroad. Each puppeteer plays multiple characters, each with different voices and mannerisms. The puppeteers are hidden, standing behind and under the stage with their arms stretched overhead with puppets on each hand. The signature slapstick of the show required precise movement and timing for comedic effect and these experts made it look effortless. To watch a short video of a performance, click here.

Daniele Cortesi describes his mastery of puppet making and performing as a mysterious calling that is difficult to explain. After studying puppet making at La Yorik di Milano, he later studied with master sculptor Natale Panaro at Il Teatro Verdi, also in Milan and Velia Mantegazza. With them, he worked on the children’s television show L’Albero Azzurro.


Carolyn Masone poses with Gioppino. Photo by Rosanne Masone.

Cortesi’s puppets exemplify distinct characters from Bergamo, and he credits his mentor maestro Benedetto Ravasio with teaching him the very best in Bergamo’s puppeteer tradition, from conception to woodworking to performing. For example, Gioppino Zuccalunga, Arlecchino’s faithful friend, is made with goiters on his neck. This is because centuries ago the citizens of Bergamo lacked sufficient amounts of the mineral iodine, causing many of them to suffer from goiters. This trait of Gioppino has remained unchanged through the centuries, as with all the Commedia dell’Arte characters.

The rich history, tradition, heart-tugging stories and hilarious comedy are what makes Commedia dell’Arte as relevant today as ever. And all of these elements are lovingly preserved by Daniele Cortesi and his troupe.

To learn more about Daniele Cortesi, including his DVD, Fuori e Dentro La Baracca, and his book, Dare l’Anima, click here.

To learn about future events at NYU’s Casa Italiana, click here.

Learning From a Virtuoso; Carlo Aonzo in New York City

From March 18-21, 2010, Carlo Aonzo presented a mandolin workshop at Chelsea Studios in New York City. Aonzo is one of the finest classical mandolinists in the world, and his highly anticipated workshop is in its 10th year.

According to Chiam Caron, who has organized the workshops from the beginning, “One day in 2001 I was driving around New York with Carlo, and he said, ‘I think I’d like to have a mandolin workshop in New York.’ That first workshop was about 9 people in my apartment.” Since that time, both the notoriety and attendance have steadily grown. Now, mandolin players join together from all over the US and Canada for the opportunity to experience the mandolin through the heart and soul of Carlo Aonzo.

One such student is Kristine Massari, owner of Trumpets Jazz Club and Restaurant in Montclair, NJ. Massari plays a classical, bowl back mandolin as second chair in the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra, and even she found the material challenging. “These are serious musicians who play at a high level.” Although the music is distributed to students months before the workshop, she observed that since the demands of each person’s life are different, not everyone could prepare to the same extent.

During the workshop, Aonzo teaches the finer points of nuance, style, dynamics and ensemble playing. “I learned how to be conducted and he made us aware of how certain passages should be played. He also exposed us to pieces by classical and contemporary composers, and taught us to listen more critically,” says Massari. “Carlo has a nice way of dealing with people and his interpretation of the music is very special because he is such a sensitive player.”

The workshop provided not only the opportunity to grow as a musician, but also to share the love of this music. Depending upon where you live, playing the mandolin can be isolating if there is little community support for the instrument in orchestras or ensembles. By bringing players together from all over North America, the workshop experience created camaraderie, solidarity and the opportunity to reinvigorate the players’ passion for the instrument.



To learn more about Carlo Aonzo and future workshops, click here. Carlo’s newest CD, Fantasia Poetica, with Elena Buttiero, explores repertory for mandolin and piano and can be purchased through his website.

The Evolution of Italian Cuisine in the American Psyche

John Mariani is a journalist and author of over 10 books on food, wine and gastronomy. The Philadelphia Enquirer called him “the most influential food-wine critic in the popular press.” He has been nominated three times for a James Beard Journalism Award. On March 24, 2010, NYU’s Casa Italiana hosted his presentation of The History of Italian Cuisine in New York City.


Joining Mariani in the discussion was Tony May, owner of SD26 Restaurant & Wine Bar in NYC and Chairman of Gruppo Ristoratori Italiani. Prior to SD26, May owned one of Manhattan’s most celebrated restaurants, San Domenico’s, and before that, Il Palio.

Mariani began his presentation in Italy’s distant past, summarizing its culinary development from Pre-Roman times through the Middle Ages, the revelations of Christoper Columbus to the Great Migration from Italy to America. One of the highlights was the work of Pelligrino Artusi who published a cookbook, L’Arte di Mangiar Bene (The Art of Eating Well), in Italy in 1891. According to Mariani, this was a book whose time had come. Italy had a literate middle class for the first time in its history and Artusi’s book was written for them. Written in Tuscan Italian, it sold 283,000 copies by 1910 and its popularity had a tremendous effect on not only the development of Italian kitchens but also on the Italian language.

Any conversation of Italian American cuisine has to include pizza and spaghetti, and Mariani did not disappoint. The Pizza Margarita we all know and love was named for Italy’s 19th century, very popular queen. The dominance of tomato, basil and mozzarella was in homage to the Italian flag. Pizza was unknown outside of Naples until America’s first pizzeria, Lombardi’s, opened on Spring Street in NYC in 1910. As an indication of Neapolitan pizza’s continuing influence, in November 2009 the European Union protected it with its Traditional Specialty Guarantee (TSG) label.


Spaghetti was known in Italy as macaroni in the 13th century and as vermicelli in the 14th. The word ‘spaghetti’ wasn’t used until 1837. But the real question surrounding spaghetti is, why did Italian Americans invent spaghetti and meatballs? Even today, our relatives in Italy disavow any contribution to this ubiquitous American dish. Sometimes they just shrug their shoulders, and other times are almost horrified at the idea. Mariani provided the best explanation I’ve heard so far about the creation and popularity of a big bowl of steaming spaghetti topped with meatballs the size of tennis balls. According to Mariani, a side dish of small rounds of meat, known as polpetta, was known in Southern Italy. However, Italian immigrants left behind a country that could barely feed them anything, much less meat, with any regularity. After experiencing the relative abundance of America, these same immigrants infused their kitchens with the symbolism of their new lives. They took polpetta and made them much larger and placed them atop the steaming platter of spaghetti as if to say, ‘meat is so plentiful in America we can have as much as we want, with whatever we want.’

The importance of Italians in America’s food industry continued to grow, from shops to restaurants, wine and canning factories. When Delmonico’s Restaurant opened its doors in New York in 1837, it was the first restaurant in the world outside of Paris. Just take a moment and think about that. We take this kind of dining experience so much for granted, but there was a time when the thought of being seated at a table, presented with a menu and being served exactly what you ordered was a very strange idea. Italians were on the leading edge.

Mariani believes that 3 major events advanced the American palette regarding Italian food: 1) modern access to authentic Italian ingredients in restaurants and so many boutique and grocery stores; 2) cultural cues such as the popularity of Italian fashion and the eating habits of its icons as well as popular films depicting Italian characters’ emphasis on cooking and eating (The Godfather, Big Night); 3) the recognition of the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet.

Tony May joined the discussion by emphazing that authentic Italian cuisine is based on products; the better the quality of ingredients, the better the product. Like Mariani, he credited the invention of the jet plane with allowing American chefs to access genuine Italian ingredients in a way never known before. Services like FedEx and DHL rush prized constituents from the hills of Parma or the Bay of Naples to American tables. Although he believes “we still have a long way to go”, he credited food journalists with pushing American taste forward, beyond garlic and tomato sauce (not there’s anything wrong with that!).

To learn about future events at NYU's Casa Italiana, click here.

Daughters of Cybele Celebrate the Spring Equinox at St. John the Divine in NYC

Women’s voices, drums, sweat and passion rang in the 2010 Spring Equinox on March 20 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The Daughters of Cybele are billed as “a unique ensemble of women honoring the healing power of the female energy”, and they live up to every word of it. The Daughters are the result of a long-held dream by Alessandra Belloni, recognized as one of the world’s finest percussionists and an expert on Southern Italian dance and drum rituals.


Cybele is the Mother Earth Goddess from Turkey after whom Belloni chose to name her troupe. She thrives on the physical and spiritual strength conveyed by women over the centuries in chants and dance. This strength, says Belloni, is what women today need to rediscover and make their own. This strength can be drawn from a vital connection with the Earth and Nature’s forces.

Saturday’s performance took place on the altar of St. James Chapel, with its ceiling-high stone carved marble figures as a breathtaking backdrop. The seven women dressed in flowing red and white costumes raised their voices and drums, performing centuries old healing and work chants from Italy, France, Spain and Brazil. Also included were compositions by Belloni, drawing from her profound life experiences and global musical influences.



The songs themselves spoke deeply to the whole spectrum of feminine experience, whether honoring powerful Goddesses or laying low in the desolation of betrayal. One of Belloni’s works, Requiem Per Mamma Elvira, is a memorial of her mother’s passing and honors the unconditional love of the Universal Mother and rebirth of all things. Another of Belloni’s compositions, Figlia Di Oxun, portrays the Brazilian shamanic journey in honor of the Goddess Oxun and the Black Madonna. In a more lighthearted vein, the Brazilian chant, Canto Da Sereja, is sung to coax the mermaids out of the sea to play in the sand.

Besides Belloni, the members of the ensemble include Susan Aquila on the acoustic and electric Viper 6-string violin, dance, shakers and vocals; Olympia Avignone on African percussion, frame drums, bells and chekere; Lorraine Calculli on frame drums, tambourine and shakers; Allison Scola vocals, clarinet, tambourine, shakers and ritual dance; Eve Sicular on drumset, dumbeck, frame drums, shakers; Cynthia Enfield provided narration, vocals, shakers and ritual dance.


Members of the ensemble performed traditional dances and sometimes encouraged the audience to join them. It was especially in those moments, dancing and whirling in the Chapel aisle amid the chants and beats of frame drums, shakers and tamburello that the evening hit its emotional highpoints. Dancing the steps, hearing the words and feeling the connection to every woman who ever lived and will live was the rare gift of the Daughters of Cybele.

Alessandra Belloni conducts workshops throughout the world on the feminine power of drumming and dancing. Every August, you can journey with her to Tuscany for her signature workshop, Rhythm is the Cure. This year, the dates are August 22 – 29. To learn more, visit alessandrabelloni.com.

From Images to Music and Back Again - An Evening with Vinicio Capossela and Gianfranco Firriolo

Vinicio Capossela.

On March 4, 2010 Manhattan’s Italian Cultural Institute played host to Vinicio Capossela and Gianfranco Firriolo as they showcased their film, La Faccia Della Terra (The Face of the Land). As a creative force, enigmatic storyteller and vagabond Capossela defies easy categorization. He is a musician, composer, author, performance artist, actor and screenwriter (so far). Firriolo is a film director, photographer and host for the Italian TV magazine, Nonsolomoda.

Capossela and Firriolo collaborated on the film to illustrate the creative process of Capossela’s latest CD, Da Solo, and to document part of the U.S tour. The storyline turns in on itself, weaving circles and figure-eight’s, blending beginnings and endings. Rather than shoot another ‘behind the scenes’ style documentary, Firriolo shot La Faccia Della Terra more as an impressionist painting emerging in a sea of realism. It’s not necessarily the journey you expect, but if agree to go along for the ride, your world will expand.


Gianfranco Firriolo.

The film opens and closes in a very similar way; the same snow-covered tram glides on the tracks of the Milanese street and the same song is heard. The same man in the same flannel shirt carries wood in the falling snow. According to Firriolo, this tram is significant because “it passes by Vinicio’s house and it carried me when I was a boy.” The film itself lies between these repeated images. Vinicio is seen in his home writing the film on a typewriter. From there, certain images reference the songs he had already written for Da Solo, and other images gave birth to songs that would later appear on the CD. Circles within circles.

Throughout, the film plays with sounds, images and expectations. Capossela coaxes music out of a toy piano and unevenly-filled water glasses. In Texas he and his band play at the Broken Spoke Bar. Capossela says it made him feel “very exotic. Usually you find some Italians in every place, but not at the Broken Spoke.” The audience, dressed in cowboy boots and hats, were ready for their usual night of line dancing. Despite his unexpected appearance, Capossela says he was received warmly by the crowd.

Jump to New York City where a cabdriver re-tells the day he saw Sophia Loren on the sidewalk. He called her name, she smiled and nodded as if to say, “Yes, it’s me.”

A Midwestern carnival and sideshow provided a somewhat disturbing segment, where passersby were encourage to step inside the trailer to see assorted oddities of Nature, including a stuffed 2-headed animal. According to Caposella, the sideshow provides a metaphor for, among other things, the way we invite people into our lives to see how beautiful we are, but “underneath we are so flawed; we are circus freaks.”

Another segment introduces us to Christopher Magic Wonder, a magician who Capossela says “can hypnotize himself and a chicken at the same time.” When the film was over and Capossela played the piano for us, Magic Wonder appeared from the audience and performed some magic tricks. When he was finished, he lifted up his shirt to show “TA DA” tattooed large on his stomach.


Vinicio Capossela and Christopher Magic Wonder.

Capossela and Firriolo answered questions from the audience about the film, the music and their impressions of America. It was an evening of surprises as they gamely tried to explain what is ultimately unexplainable; how they blended images and music to tease the intellect and stir the emotions.