aof spartico

Art of FLYing ~ Udine Italy

CAS"AUPA

UDINE--Friday (JUNE 11th). We arrive in time to catch some world cup action. I think this is South Africa vs. Mexico; don't quote me on that. I continue my search for a soccer kit (shirt & shorts) for my daughter Lucia. Udine has a club in the premier division & one of the guys setting up the show makes a few phone calls to see if any stores are open so that we might take a little last-minute shopping trip for soccer stuff, but, as Tizio points out, Udine wear jerseys with black & white vertical stripes, just like Juventus (a famous team even back in the US) & the mission here is to get a jersey that 'NO ONE ELSE HAS!' It turns out Tizio is a big fan of soccer, (calcio here in Italy) & that's good news as we can now 'shoot the shit' so to speak & catch the games as they appear throughout the rest of the tour.

D arrives on stage.
We have an impromptu jam with one of the members of the squat when he drags out
a big upright bass.

This is the bar.

a gas-station & a bill-board

Friday (JUNE 11th) on our way to Udine & Francesco's gig. In 2005 we played a show with Francesco at HYBRIDA, a beautiful squat, club & hostel in Tarcento in the far north-east of Italy. Bruno, our beloved driver & road-manager at the time wouldn't let us eat for the whole day as the food would be the 'most amazing ever.' He was right, too: course after course of soups & stews & giant loaves of bread, some wine (lots of wine) in un-marked bottles made by a local wine-maker/musician who opened up the show singing blues in the local dialect. Unfortunately, in 2010, HYBRIDA has been shoved out of town by the local government. The cook moved to Padova or Milan, but Francesco & Giulietta remain. The new squat is called Cas Aupa & that's
where we are headed today. On the way, a stop for some diesel. I took this picture to show what the inside of a gas-station looks like on the auto-strada.

L'autista, 'corrected' & ready for some more driving.

a bill-board out in front of the station. What could this be an advertisement for??

(pet food).
growwwwlllll!!

CIAO Sonya!!!

Thursday Morning (JUNE 10th) we take Sonya to the train station in Padova. Ciao Sonya, it was good times & most lovely having you on tour (& much help too, with merch & muscle with the equipment...& o so many other things, too). The rest of the merry band drive to Arrezzo for an outdoor festival. Not the American-style mega-band-captive-audience-food & beer fest (though there's plenty of food & beer) here in Italia a festival can mean a few bands playing outside.
Pictured above, with Sonya, is a guy (I forget your name, sorry) who played in Tizio's old band FOOLTRIBE.

Art of Flying arrives in Arrezzo. Set-up on the big stage. Another town & another gig with 'noise complaints' from the neighbors. "We better keep it down," they say as a woman across the street has some type of fancy decibel meter & if it goes above a certain number
she's going to call the cops.

I took this picture, among a few others, for the clubs back at home. This is just a little snack
with some birra & vino to chill out with before we set up.

Peter all happy from the excellent grub.

The crowd sits down & listens to Bob Corn.

Bob Corn - Reds Between Blacks - Live @ Musica Nelle Valli 2010

Back to San Martino Spino

We left SPARTACO & our friend Aldo Becca, tearfully, late-at-night, & with me, our designated driver, back at the wheel, & drove back to San Martino Spino & Tizio's cozy casa. I noticed that there are no shoulders on the road in Italy--this 'no-room-for-errors' approach is cool & dangerous & kept me 'extra-alert.' Around 2 am I was calling out for some snacks, the focaccia from Santo Spirito, & some company. D, for 'driver extraordinaire, took over when the the wheat wore off, so to speak, & the lack of shoulders & those bumpy treads we have in the US became a problem. Safely back at Tizio's we got a good night's rest & some showers & a walk to our favorite bar the next morning for some cappucinos. mmmmmm. Pictured above is our tech team. Theresa filmed a song or two at every bar, club or back-yard & loaded the videos up the next day. Peter took 1000's of pictures which I want to take a look at when he gets back from Michigan.

We played at a new pizza place not far from Tizio's house. A bunch of his friends came by & we played a few sets.

Afterwards, the waiter told us his passion was photography & he wanted to take our picture.
Peter & I posed. We have a pretty scary duo that we break out when
Anne is not available, like that amazing trip to Hollywood, baby, where we
played the SilverLake Film Festival & performed in the lobby
to a room full of people talking on cell-phones; this picture will
be our press photo for the next big show.

and NOW: a WORD from our SPONSOR

We came back from Italy with a few t-shirts left over--as well as some of the hand-made cd's.

For CD's--click HERE.

The "ART of FLYING" t-shirt (shown--women's small) is a flower design by Cella Costanza & some new circular type by Sarah Hart at HartPrintShop in Taos, NM.

What I have left are: 4 women's small; 2 women's medium; 4 women's large;
2 PINK (Larry Yes edish) X-TRA LARGE men's; & onefor a little baby. All shirts are $15/ppd.
Get them HERE.

Allorra...back to the story...

ART of FLYing ~ Sailor's Song with Aldo Becca

SPARTACO!

Tuesday (JUNE 8th) after a MASSIVE! 10 hour drive NORTH up Italy's winding AUTOSTRADA to Ravenna, we arrive at SPARTACO--a punk-rock collective with a great love for grafitti that our Italian friend Aldo Becca is a part of. Art of Flying played here in 2005 while on tour with Larry Yes & Six-Foot Sloth; Spartaco was a high-light of the last tour & we wanted to return,
& besides: TOUR ITALIA 2010 was Aldo's idea in the first place; "when are you guys coming back to Italy?" he wrote not knowing it could take so little to get us to pack our things & hop a plane across the Atlantic!

This wine bottle says:
"grown on land taken from the mafia."

Tizio pours a round. In front of the squat there was a really nice farmer's market going on. We found spinach & cheese & olives. Last time I was here I got my 'favorite t-shirt of the tour' shirt, but, no luck today.

D had scored some focaccia in Santo Spirito at a place that is a family favorite. Being 'wheat-free'
or 'dairy-free' is not a phrase heard very often in Italy, thank goodness!

Santo Spirito.

MONDAY- (JUNE 7th) il Fricchetoni Fighi have a day of rest! On the way to Aldo Becca's gig is a little town north of Bari called Santo Spirito which happens to be the Italian stomping grounds of Dylan's wife Vicky. Still in the family, her grandparent's who owned the place are now passed away, we take up the offer of a night's stay. A swanky little crib with a short walk to a stony beach, here Tizio explains life in Italy from a red leather chair.

D's wife Vicky as a teenager with her parents.

Afternoon on the coast. We found a bar & had a Spritz,
(spritz means 'half' in German or so i am told)
& in this case it means half red wine
& the other half aqua-frizzante, with a splash of Compari to keep it interesting.

PARTY at GianniMaria's!

D, still in aquatic-mode, setting up in the back-yard. We gather the gear around a tree, not always the best for the listening & the feng-shui, but this tour has a lot of different set-ups & sound-systems to contend with. From big-stages & big P.A.s (with sound-men that look as sweet as pie but have absolutely NO IDEA what they are doing) to little back-yards & pizza-joints with a mic or two. Everywhere we go we have to find a way in to play & make music & hear the room & the songs & the crowd.

Tizio taking a little rest. GianniMaria & friends are having trouble with fuses blowing every time we play. A problem made a little more problemissimo by the fact that we are not "really supposed to be here!" The house is in the family, but has been vacant for a while. No problem, once the beer & wine start flowing & the bands starts playing & the people come. Another great night.

VIVA LA PLAYA!

MAR IONIO...the Ionion Sea. SUN*DAY (JUNE 6th) & a short drive to GianniMaria's house so we have time for a dip in the sweet green mother the SEA. Everyone's got some jams packed away so we say a prayer for the little white van (gear sizzling & hiding in the parking-lot) & off we go to the beach.

TURQUOISE, that word that haunts the SouthWest, lends itself to the waters nicely here. What else to call them? I run down & jump in, nice & cool, the temp where you have to keep swimming to put up with. I cut short my swim out to the far buoys, save that for another day, today is for chilling & shedding the stress piled on by the long drives.

Anne & Marty soaking in the sun.