In April 2003, I went on a trip across Italy. I was just about to start a new full time job and I thought this was the best time to go on a trip. In the past few years, I have met some really nifty people in travels across Italy and some of them while in London. In fact, I had lived in Italy for a spell before I touched down in London; that is a story for another time. On this trip, My plan was to travel across Italy and visit as many of them as possible. The plan was to start off near Bologna in Northern Italy then go to Rome and eventually get down to Bari in the South.
A trip through Italy, April 2003
Forli
I was first going to meet two brother Francesco (Kekko) and Federico (Kikko). Together they are in a band called Montefiori Cocktail. A Dj friend in Vancouver, Clarence, first turned me on to their music; I picked up their first album on RACCOLTA N. 1 and came to really like their music. I also had the fortune to see them play in London at Club Indigo at Madam Jojo's in Soho a few years ago. What a fabulous night that was. I went up to the brothers after the gig and introduced myself and I was evening speaking some Italian. I am always looking for a chance to speak my broken Italian; attitude and a bit of melodrama are key I find when speaking Italiano. I have known these two gents for a few years now. We have stayed in touch with each other via the intraweb. It has been a few years now since they have played London - times flies can it be over four years already since I first met them?
April 7th, I fly out of London to Bologna. It was a fairly easy going flight. As the flight was coming to an end; I looked out the window and thought is that snow I see on the hills? Sure enough, Italy had been hit by the coldest April in years. There was patches of snow on the ground. My destination was Forli a town near Bologna. I disembarked the plane and bus and train made my way to Forli. I was met at the train station by Federico. We went on a little tour of Forli. One thing that struck me was all these rainbow flags with the "Pace" on them. Pace means peace. This was during the time of the conflict in Iraq.
We drove up to a hotel. And I have to say it was very comfortable charming little place. It was old enough that it had an old style elevator that goes up through the centre of the building with iron doors that you pull shut. Federico commented on the elevator as you don't see ones like these so much. He wanted to go on ride in the elevator with me. We both grinning like we were on a ride at an amusement park as we ascended in the elevator.
We went for a drink in central Forli and had some really fine local red wine. That is one thing about Italy and places like Spain. They will have all kinds of finger food lined up on the bar for you to eat. Suffice to say I nibbled on a few savory pastries and ate some olives as I sipped a glass of wine. It felt good to be in Italy just chilling out.
Kikko took me on a short tour of Forli. We drove me around town and he told about me the peculiarities of the architecture dating back to a recent period of Italian history. Buildings that viewed from above would look like a large M.
We went to then went to the studio. Francesco was there working on the album. The two of them have been working intensely on the album for months and months. This was the moment that I was waiting for a chance to hear some of the new music. Their music is not just kitsch but uber-kitsch. At that time as they were creating an albums worth of material, they were looking for a record label to release the album on. The album has since been released. On every album there has been a lounge music version of a well known TV show or movie theme. They have done Star Trek and they have done a Spaghetti western version of the Star Wars Theme. On this album they have done an adaptation of the theme from the sixties TV show U.F.O.; it is a punchy and taut version that grooves.
We left Francesco in the studio; he has been slaving away on the album; you know how people get in the zone and deeply into their work. I think Francesco was past the zone and somewhere else like the twilight zone (just kidding); he was a man driven; crafting the songs and getting them just right. I know a few songwriters who take a good amount of time crafting their music; like anything creative you want to get it perfect; the creative process... it can drive us a bit crazy but it is worth it. Some of these guys have trouble letting go; they will just keep working on the music without ever releasing it. Not in this case, the Montefiori Cocktail album did come out in 2004.
Clan Destino
Later, Federico took me out to a place that he knows very well; a restaurant space called "Clan Destino" in a town called Faenza. Clan Destino is run by a woman named Marina. Her and Federico go back; he had been quite involved in the goings on at the place; they had done a version of the Full Monty there; Federico got to take his clothes off in the show. The venue has a cinema club; a small stage and a vegetarian restaurant; opening a vegetarian restaurant in this part of Italy when they did was unheard of.
There was a patron in the bar of who had a little parrot sitting on his shoulder I got the parrot to sit on my hand and I held it up and started talking to it; so the parrot and I were getting along fine and then the little bird become obsessed with my mouth. He insisted on sticking his head almost in my mouth and having a good look around. I don't know what he found so riveting in there; was it the fine dental work? I tried to discourage him but then he squawked back saying "watch it bub, can't you see I am busy here". There is only so much standing around with your mouth open and a parrot inspecting your gum line you can do; the parrot was returned to his amused owner. There was a band performing that night called ISO 68 from Germany performing some mellow electronic music; they created a rather chilled out vibe. Federico and I sat down and had a fine three course meal; I did not know the place was Vegetarian a this time. I was thinking where is the meat course as this was Italy after all. Marina was serving us and exchanging words with Federico at times; I don't know if I ever saw her smile once that evening. She had this rather affected frown that said I am very busy so don't mess with me.
The next day Federico showed me around a bit more and we went to the studio and he played some more of the tracks on the album for me. We discussed the album. And later that day Federico took me to the train station and I then took the train to Rome. I shot some video on my visit to the studio.
Roma - part 1
It is a few hours and some by train from Bologna to Rome. I was sitting across from a well dressed man and I noticed that he an book on learning English. I struck up a conversation with him. He told me how he worked for a tie company and that he spent a good part of the last few years visiting countries in South America and he was about to spend more time in English speaking countries and he wanted to improve his English. His English was quite good I thought. He was a good looking guy with longish brown hair; kind of a Italian version of Hugh Grant dare I say. He went on to tell me how when he was traveling abroad on business he would visit the local libraries and read newspapers. His main business was selling ties but he had an interest in writing about economies in dictatorships in the developing world; he had published a few books in this area. He was going to Rome to have a meeting with his publisher and that he had an audience with the pope on the next day. He said, "No really I am meeting the pope". I did not doubt him why wouldn't he have an audience with the pope; anything is possible. The funny thing is I don't remember his name. We arrived in Rome and we said our goodbyes.
I was met at the station by Gun Kawamura; I met him the previous year at a music festival in Italy called Il Giaguaro. He is a Japanese man living in Rome making music and painting (I have since not heard from him in some time). He had very long straight hair that went down to his waist practically and he was about six feet tall; He would get very annoyed with young Italian kids calling him Jackie Chan. What could he do he was rather conspicuous looking. While I was waiting for him I was watching all the people going by. I was a bit saddened; I was thinking about someone who I was smitten with at the time from London. She was Italian; so watching all these other attractive Italian women in Rome was reminding me of her. It did not work out with her and I. That is one of things when you travel; we may want to get away from things. But you cannot get away from yourself.
I was staying with him and his room mate Roberta while I was in Rome. It was great of them to put me up; the only thing was they had no hot water; the owner of the apartment was not being very responsive in getting it fixed. They had been without hot water for a week already. Everyday I would be heating pots of water and then carrying them to the bathroom and filling up the bath. This was just a bit time consuming. The first night I was in Rome, Gun took me a sight seeing tour; we want to Piazza Navano and the Panthenon well after midnight. It was quite nice to visit them at this time; it was still a bit unseasonably cold and there was only a few people about. I would return to these places during the day time and there was such a contrast between night and day with all the crowds of people. So here I was in Rome the eternal city. There is a certainly a whole lot of old stuff around. I did a guided tour of Rome by guide bus. I was talking with the tour guide about architecture. I was fascinated to know more about how all these old buildings were built. There was a period of Italian history where Rome was not actually occupied and fell into decay. Some of my Italian friends in London would say how special Rome was for them and how it was fantastics to spend some time there. They say the food in Rome is good; but I would just pick restaurants at random and I have to say I had some mediocre meals. Like in London you need to know where to eat. Next time, I am getting some recommendations.
Bari
In the middle of my trip to Italy, I went down to Bari in Puglia to visit Fabio and Vivienne. I had met Fabs and Viv the previous year at the Giaguaro festival where I met Gun and Alessandro Casella; I was going to meet up with Ale when I went back to Rome. Fabs is a local boy from the Bari area and an excellent graphic designer. Viv is originally from Cornwall. Viv was enjoying the chance to speak some English with me. Not that Fabs English is bad by any means. One night we went on a tour of the old town in Bari. A few people said watch out the old town is very dangerous and has a bad reputation; it is funny what people will say about a place without having been there. I was recently talking with someone from Australia who is living in London. Someone told whatever her you do don't make eye contact with people on the London Underground because something bad could happen to you! It is not true and I can say that first hand. Why just the other day, I had a conversation on the tube with someone. He was a bit drunk but he was genuinely interested in having a conversation. Anyway I digress; I did not see anything bad but a lot of people wearing their finest designer clothing going for a walk about town on a Saturday night. In Italy people would go for casual strolls through the town centre in the evening. Everyone would be out; it is part of the social fabric. The old town also looked like it has spruced up a bit; it was quite tidy and the buildings were in good nick. We went to a trattoria for dinner and had a really good meal. This time I was with people who knew where to eat.
The next day Fabs, Viv and I went to Psychedelic Shop in Bari. This shop was run by Davide; a great guy who was really passionate about sixties pop culture. Davide worked in the post office by by day but and the shop was he did the rest of the time. He was another guy I had met the previous year at the lounge music festival. One time I was walking in London with Davide and we just turned a corner and this women saw him and set , "Its Wolverine"; it must have been his sideburns; he was oblivious to what the woman said. The shop is a riot of bright colours and retro merchandise. I was tempted to buy a long overcoat but I just did not look the part in it. We also met Fabio's parents; there was a lot of eating going on when I was in Puglia; this made up for the so so restaurants meals I had in Rome. I will readily admit I am bit on the heavy side; Fabio's mom commented oh you like to eat as she pointed out my stomach; she did mean it as a complement. She was encouraging me to eat and kept offering me seconds. She looked rather disappointed when I declined.
We went to a little village called Alberobello that is famous for it's unusual buildings; the buildings are called Trulli. The buildings have conical roofs made of stone; this style of building was particular to this area. Some of the rooftops would have symbols on them; the symbols were religious and also supposed to be magic my friends were telling me. Fabs and Viv where staying in a rather funky apartment in a town outside of Bari called Mola di Bari. it was right on the water. One day we went for a stroll in the area. We walked past some shop fronts etc and there were many people about. Viv said to me after a few minutes, "Did you notice the door that had a black eagle on it?" I did recollect seeing something. She went on to say that was the office for local chapter of the Black Eagles a fascist group. She went on to say, "They would have loved you as we walked past them". There was a few men standing outside the office watching us go by when we did. I thought nothing of at the time. I was quite disturbed by what Viv said. I though to myself why did she have to say that to me; I would have rather not known but there was getting away from what had been done. Later on she was telling me how her doctor was a member of the fascist group; she was having trouble reconciling the fact that he was such a good doctor to her and also a fascist. She was bringing me into her dilemma and wanted to get something off of her chest. 
One of the last things I did was go visit a castle with them. It is called Castel Del Monte. It's very famous because a the legends say that has got something to do with the Holy Grail search or it could even be the Grail itself. We know for sure it was a meeting point for the Templar order.
Roma - part 2
I returned back to Rome and stayed again with Gun and Roberta. Roberta was quite busy with her job; she worked as an art restorer and she was also studying at the same time. She was doing a class in illustration and was doing a lot of drawing when she was not working. One night, Gun and I went a live music venue called Init. We went to check out some bands and hang out. There was some American band playing that night; there was a good vibe in the space; there was a Dj Tina Valentina playing 45's of punk rock and garage music. It was a decent size and could hold a few people and then some. I would go back the next night to meet Alessandro Cassella there. There was a Italian mod band called the Victorians playing that night and Ale was involved putting the night on. The only thing was the power went out during the gig. They could not get the power restored; the evening was cut short Ale is the publisher of Giaguaro magazine and he puts on a lounge music festival usually every year.
The next day I went to meet Ale at his office/apartment and have a chat. I was curious to talk to him about the music scene in Rome. I was kind of surprised to hear that is not really much of a live music scene in Rome. People are not really into live music like they would be in London in comparison. It is hard work to be on the music scene in Rome. I would return later return to Rome for the Giaguaro festival that summer. I also met up a friend, who I knew from London, Alex Zinzi. Alex was also a DJ; he had been living outside Rome in a town Spoleto for a few years; Alex and I met up with his friend Chiara in a cocktail bar. Alex and I also talked about the music scene; he was saying things like Ale was. People are more interested in going out for a meal than live music. Later that night, Alex and I went for stroll through Rome and walked through some really picturesque streets. I think we walked through the Trastevere area in Rome. There must be so many stories in this place; it is reflected in the buildings. If you are in Rome go for a walk in this neighbourhood and enjoy. It would have been about 1 AM now and it was quite mild. Alex and I were joined by a friend of his and we walked around looking in the shop windows selling antiques.
Over the last few days of my trip the weather was finally starting to get back to normal and getting quite warm after the shock of the cold spell that happened at the beginning of my journey. I had spent about ten days traveling by train and plane and visiting friends and having all in all a pretty good time. And I got to practice my Italian; no arguments or melodrama this time. Perhaps on my next trip.