Lyrics: When a moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie/ That’s amore/ When the world seems to shine like you’ve had too much wine/ That’s amore.
Let me tell you about “my boys.” Not my three biological sons but rather three young Italian men I discovered on a PBS Special and whom I delighted in seeing last month in Las Vegas. I mentioned them in the previous blog post. You may already know them or of them: Piero Barone, Ignazio Boschetto, and Gianluca Ginoble, each with their own marvelous voice but together they are Il Volo and beyond fabulous. Gianluca, of the sexy lips, has a rich baritone and a delivery that would make a Sunday hymn steamy and seductive. Ignazio, of the beautiful brown bedroom eyes and ridiculously adorable mustache, is a Lyric Tenor and hearing him sing the aria from L’Elisir d’ Amore brought me to tears like Cher at the opera in Moonstruck. Piero, of the Pavarotti voice and beguiling smile, captures and holds notes so long that you marvel in disbelief at what you’re hearing. You could ride to Boston, coast-to-coast, on the last notes of No Puede Ser. Their Notte Magica album is currently #1 on the Classical Albums chart.
Did I mention that they are excitingly handsome? Italian girls adore them like rock stars. But so do their mothers and grandmothers. The younger crowd in the USA hasn’t really discovered them yet, not being regular PBS viewers, so the audience in Vegas was, I would guess, mostly an over fifty crowd, men and women. We sat between a woman from Japan attending her 18th Il Volo concert, and a lovely middle-age couple from Los Angeles attending their third, with plans to see them again in Verona in May.
The guys first got together as a group eight years ago when they were ages 14, 15, and 16 after competing as singles in a big voice contest in Italy. It’s lovely to watch them work together, giving one another affectionate support. They have bonded as close friends, know how to be silly, have fun, and yet grow as artists. The grandfathers of two of them were responsible for discovering and nurturing their very young talent. Ignazio was heard singing arias in his room at age three. Now they are mentored by one of the great voices of our time and one of their idols, Placido Domingo. Mentoring, after all, is a sacred trust given to most elders.
We almost didn’t make it to the concert. A mentally ill man shot and killed an innocent tourist from Montana and wounded another and then escaped into a bus in front of our hotel. We were on lock-down all of Saturday. No one could go out or come in. I spent time resting on the bed watching the SWAT team out front on TV. The Strip was shut down and traffic was backed up for miles. They eventually captured the man late afternoon and we got a taxi to take us to the theater via a circuitous back route. Whew!
In February the House and Senate passed a new bill, signed by Trump, revoking Obama-era regulation which required gun checks for people with mental illness.
Lyrics: When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool/ That’s amore/ When you dance down the street with a cloud at your feet/ That’s amore. (Music and lyrics by Harry Warren and Jack Brown, 1953. Signature song for Italian/American, Dean Martin.)
rosesinjanuarydotcom 