Ciao Groovers,
After our day of learning the history of Positano and before enjoying her beaches, we headed to a beachside ristorante where we enjoyed our first pizza in Italy. Fortunately for us the pizza was to be made by Antonio from Naples, which served two purposes. Naples as you are probably aware is the original home of the Marguerite pizza, so we had a napolIan making the pizza and ensured we didn't have to visit Naples - see later log for reasons why.......it was magnifico. Thin crusted with just a hint of tomato, all goohey cheese and basil..... Molto yum! After a day on our little side beach of Fornillo, we meet up with the lovely ladies from Mama Agata's Cooking School - Jane, Kristen and Trish at this Garden Bar by Day and Piano Bar by Night..... Expecting it to be chees-o-rama which as you know I am quite partial to, we get there early to get a good seat - thanks Jane. The ladies arrived fashionably late, some nonsense about missing a bus allegedly!!
The ladies arrived looking resplendent in their new purchases of Moda Positano ( whereby the fabric is made specifically for the local store, is designed, made and sold in Positano) for without these elements it is NOT Moda Positano. Sidebar; this little black duck intends to get some Moda Positano gear as well before departure so that Siobhan is not the only one swanning around Thornbury in new gear!!
We settle in for a pre- entertainment bevvie of caprioska's and caprihini's....... And await the night's entertainment. Let me say it starts well- a two piece ensemble of keyboards/singer accompanied by saxophonist/ flautist. They start with gear like "Feelings" so I am looking forward to extra cheese. After some more dodgy numbers they then move into "Si Americano" which I love. On the strength of this I said that I wanted them to play my favorite Italian song of all time "Tinterella de Luna". Kristen kindly took up this mantle and requested it of the band.
For those of you who have seen the film "Looking for Alibrandi" it's the song that the grandma plays at the beginning of the movie that the young girl loathes, then dances at the end of the movie with her grandmother having embraced her heritage. But for those who knew me during the days our double decker bus trips to Waverley for the footy or the countless cocktail parties held during the eighties, it was my favorite song that had been recorded by The Globos - featuring a certain band member Bob Down- YouTube it- it's brilliant. Uncle Tone, you would be very proud as I remembered every word of it!!! And it brought back great memories of Domenic.
Well, music lovers, let me just say, the band readily jumped on the chance, started playing it and before you knew it, the place was rocking!!!!!! Everyone, self included, hit the dance floor pronto and the place went off! It was magical! After slaying the place with some serious sixties inspired moves, Kristen, Trish and I returned to our table- Siobhan and Jane having piked it! We ordered, as one does, a pitcher of wine (in a Positano ceramic jug natch) and settled in for some serious crowd watching and commentary.
The band found their groove.........and then, if you believe our table at least, they lost their groove. ('cept for Jane who believed it was a set up) And all because of a wee tiny black woman with a powerhouse for a voice! Her name is Lily Botte and she hails from New Orleans. She was in town celebrating her sister's birthday with friends and family - all who were in a party mood.
She jumps on stage, has a quiet word with the boys and before you know it, is introducing herself and starts singing. She blew the room away! Out of this tiny wee woman came a voice that was hooooooooooge. She sang Georgia, Summertime and when she really took over the stage with her own friend on keyboard and her sister doing accompanying vocals she sang Carole King's "You gotta friend"
To say that the boys in the band were a tad pissed orf - particularly the sax player, is probably understating it somewhat. But try as they might to recapture the crowd with their own endeavors , just wasn't working for them. She literally stole the limelight from them.
After she and her crew finally left the building the only offering the boys had in their corner was to play bloody dreadful salsa music so the Arthur Murray graduates in the crowd could swaaaaaaaaay across the dance floor. There is something very "Dancing with the Stars" for me about couples doing the salsa. It's very contrived and rehearsed and doesn't look, for mine, like the two people are enjoying the moment of dancing with each other, but are poncing around like Britt Edelstein and some buff Latin dude with too much fake tan and bling going on trying to show the watching crowd how sharp their moves are! Bleuck!!!!!
It was a blast of an evening that offered so many surprises and enjoyment on a raft of different levels. We wandered on home with the memories of how a great voice can make you feel and how a brilliantly camp song can bring a house down.
Dance on, good people
Kelly & Siobhan xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment