DIARY '09
NOTES 2 0 0 9
19 December 09
today I was playing @ Don Mills subway station and a man came to me and asked me..
do you know Alexander Graham Bell..?
I said.. my girlfriend told me about him..
he asked.. where are you from..?
Italy was my answer.
so.. he asked again.. do you know Guglielmo Marconi..
yes, I said.. he was born very near to my city.. he invented the radio..
yes, he said.. and do you know how much he struggled to invent the radio..? do you know how many times he tried..?
I don’t know.. for sure, many many times.. I said..
exactly.. he said.. so what I’m telling you. is DON’T GIVE UP...! DON’T GIVE UP...! you are on your way...
and with a smile he went away...
27 November 09
after my show @ Hobby One in Bologna.. directly to the airport.. with Lorenzo and Prinz... destination.. Canada..
20 November 09
I played @ Piola Libri (Brussels - Belgium) Friday the 20th... it was very nice...!!!
and then.. a very good week end with my best friend Nick around Brussels..!
15 October 2009
everything happens for a reason.. everything happens for a reason.. I had these words stuck in my mind while I was walking slowly back to the hotel...
14 October 2009
London.. please mind the gap...
the English accent is so nice...
it seems to me as they fall from the clouds...
01 October 2009
back to Iitaly.....
23 September 2009
...I was charged and ready to play..
I go to turn on the speaker.. but it doesn’t work.. I tried again.. and again...
nothing.. Dam..!!!!!
as soon as I was still becoming disappointed a guy with a little book came near me.. an INSPECTOR... he asked my licence to busk.. (I hadn’t, I didn’t pay the 35 $.. I’m going to leave in less than one week).. and I said to him.. “actually I even haven’t started.. the speaker doesn’t work..”
.. we talked a little.. he was nice, he did nothing and I left, not so sorry for the “rented not working speaker”...
21 September 2009
weird stuff happened in these last days..
you meet strange people on the streets... and this is nice...
you talk with so many different persons.. with different lives....
some of them are angels.. for sure.. and you understand that since the beginning...
I wanted to help my girlfriend to raise money for Charity...
(she is going to be part of a walk to raise money for the cancer... in October 09)..
so I rented a powered battery speaker/amp with two channels (voice and guitar) and I tried to busk..
a question...
Have you ever tried to play near the Roger Center before a baseball game of Toronto Blue Jays..?
..my friend.. be ready to discuss with the scalpers and with all the other buskers who for years (they say) have played in that exactly spot in which you are... I moved three times before be able to start.. and the last one who went to complain for “his historical spot” I asked to him.. ”which instrument do you play?”.. and he showed me the spoons.. so I said back to him.. “I’m sorry but this time I came before you.. I won’t move...”
another question...
have you ever played under the rain..?
I was thinking, “it’s not raining so hard..” so I said to myself.. why not? and so I started..
after some minutes, a woman went close to me and said.. ”take care...” (she was shocked...!) and another one leaned on me and put a bag near my microphone stand... and she looked at me with worried eyes..
I couldn’t say anything, because I was playing.. and I didn’t realize immediately what she left..
but when I saw the bag with the food (a banana, an apple and 2 little Crackers packages).. I felt sorry for her.. ok that I didn’t shave myself.. but I’m absolutely fine.. I was only trying to help my girlfriend and to having fun playing on the street (a new experience...).. but be taken for a homeless.. it was weird..
...for sure she has a very big heart...!!!!!
15 September 2009
finally I understood what PWYC means...
I was seeing that acronym in many places.. but for the first time I was part of this..
@ Bread & Circus..
14 September 2009
a day to remember..
I was busking on Queen.. very beautiful day.. warm sunny..
and a guy came near me..
I asked him if he liked to listen some songs..
so I played.. he looked the list of my songs.. and after some songs.. he said to me..
“I want to make a surprise to my wife..! Would you play a serenade tonight..?”
wow..! a great idea..!
so we planned the right songs.. and the moment was planned under their window at mid night..
(it was important to find the right window...!!!.. so a lot of explanation.. etc...)
I can say I was a little nervous, I haven’t done anything like that before.. but however I felt very good, the goal was very nice...
so.. at midnight on time I started...
I was very good...!!!
she was so happy and surprise...!
I shared a very wonderful moment with them...
Ramiro had a very unique thought for Stephanie..
that’s stuff, man..!
18 August 2009
I had a very good time in the weed week..!
friday and saturday at the Semaine Italienne de Montreal.. and Sunday in Ottawa..
I little tired monday.. but very happy...!
good experience...
11 August 2009
Today for the first time in my life I've gone to an interview with the guitar... it was fun...!
passed..!
30 July 2009
today afternoon..
I was playing at home, in my apt in a condo..
and when I finished to play a song.. I heard a happy cheering from outside of the door..
it was funny...!
26 July 2009
for the first time.. today I played under the rain...!
I was at Kensington Market, on St Andrews st.. at MoonBean cafe. and I started to play even if it was raining..
it was fun.. many people took pictures of that..
for sure I'll remember that..
25 July 2009
Have you ever had an all bus only for you to bring you to the place in which you were going to play..?
I have had..!
this was weird..
I was waiting at the bus stop on Duffering to reach Dopount..
in front of me, of the other side of the street.. one, two, three, four buses stopped.. and than the fifth and the sixth..
I was smiling.. thinking how it would be if it happened in Italy.. the car drivers in the line had killed them..
instead in that situation.. nothing happened.. nobody did anything..
then the driver of the second bus made me sign to talk with him..
I went with my equipment.. and he said to me that there was a crash on the street so thay had to come back.. and he said.. if you want i can bring you up..
so I went.. and we started to talk.. and we talked during al the trip.. about music, about the strike of the garbage, etc..
at the end he left me exactly in front of "Rush Hour".. the place in which I was going to play..
I thought.. wow.. I'm nobody.. but a whole bus only for me.. not even if I were a star...!
20 July 2009
it has been one month since I came in Toronto.. I'm starting step by step to sell cds and to find gigs..
It sounds good...!
06 July 2009
I've been in Canada since 20 days.. I feel good..!
13 June 2009
yesterday, I played in the Theatre Marcello in Bologna.. for hundred babies..
wow.. how much ENERGY..!
it was very surprising..! yes.. they are the future..!!!!!
I'll keep in my memory this moment.. and their will to live..
18 April 2009
è stato veramente simpatico che diversi amici che era da un pò che non vedevo, siano venuti a trovarmi alla Dondina.. i mitici Cinque + 5.....! quante volte giù al Paradiso insieme... Grandi...!
9 April 2009
there are bed and good days...
this was for real a very good one...!
the new apartment in Toronto...!
we celebrate with an ice cream...
29 march 2009
..it happens that the people don't care about you are doing...
yesterday instead was very good...!
A big cheers to the guys at the Bar del Villaggio...!
22 February 2009
yesterday.. after dinner.. friendly jam at "The San Carlino "Restaurant in San Carlino Street.. Bologna...
a big cheers to the staff..!
08 February 2009
Thank you to everybody that came to the Sherlock Holmes pub.. for my birthday parties...!
I played with Matteo.. voice, guitar, piano.. Friday and Saturday we had very good parties.. !
I received 3 cakes.. I haven’t eaten any...
how is that possible...?
03 January 2009
tonight, I was part of the BMF semi-final contest..
it was supposed to be a 2 piece band...
but Matteo was sick... so I played by myself..
I arrived last in my category (unpublished solo)...
fuck...!
the volume of my guitar was incredibly high.. every time it sounded like it was exploding...
I don't remember what else I did wrong... but for sure there were other things...
I'm really pissed off...!
..but during the same night.. I found a very good sponsor for the 2009... ZUCA...!
business and children travel bags.... wow...!!!!!!
01 January 2009
nice party @ La Dondina on the New Year's Eve...
..and so we are in 2009...!
it's going to be an important year for me...
wow...!