60th anniversary of the Julia

On September 30th Udine saw the 60th anniversary parade of the glorious “Julia” regiment which with its 30,000 participants meandered through the main streets of the town.

The “Julia” is part of the “Alpini”, the elite mountain division of the Italian Army (formed in 1872, the “Alpini” are the oldest active mountain infantry in the world. Currently, as being some of the best trained and best equipped mountain troops in the world, the “Alpini” are permanently engaged in Afghanistan.). The “Julia” itself was formed way back in 1926 and was given the name “Julia” in 1935. Its soldiers fought and had heavy losses in Greece (1940) and Russia (1942-43) and also Albania. The “Julia” would be used many years later in 1976 during the devastating earthquakes in the Udine area.

The festive occasion was also rather moving as old “Alpini” soldiers, too frail and old to walk alone, were paraded around on military jeeps. The female contingent also got a roaring round of applause by female spectators who lined the streets of Udine!

One of Udine`s main squares also hosted the “Alpini`s” latest military hardware, including anti-mine devices (on in particular, that got blown up in Afghanistan recently, costs 300,000 euros!). And naturally, given that this region of Italy ADORES (more than) one fine glass of vino and great food, it was also a wonderful occasion for many to eat and drink their merry hearts away in the company of old war-time comrades!

Oliviero Toscani in Udine

Benetton`s highly controversial photographer, Oliviero Toscani, was in Udine the other day talking about his 45-year career as a photographer. The town, especially the small San Giacomo square, was decked out in large black and white balloons for the occasion.

Hot summer nights in Udine!

Another great spring/summer of concerts in the Udine area, thanks to local promoters such as www.azalea.it, www.euritmica.it, www.nobordersmusicfestival.com, www.folkest.com and www.fieradellamusica.it (I would have also included the Rototom Sunsplash folks, the ones that bring us the yearly reggae music festival in the town of Osoppo, near Udine, but they`re the only ones who didn`t grant me the photo accreditation).

Here are just a few of the great artists that rolled into Udine and its neighbouring towns: Fiorella Mannoia, Nightwish, PFM, Nek, Laura Pausini, Joe Jackson, UB40, Ray Wilson, Jethro Tull, Chickenfoot (absolutely one fun concert!), Stevie Winwood, Carlos Santana (supreme!), Madonna (not bad!), David Byrne, Goran Bregovic (interesting!), Bruce Springsteen (simply awesome!), Lenny Kravitz (a bit of a self-centered so-and-so) and the “divine” Roberto Bolle!

But the fun doesn`t end there as at the end of August Udine`s Stadio Friuli will be hosting Coldplay, their only gig in all of Italy. And this should be one other “hot” show as the other day, the NY Times said that just in the U.S. there were 1.3 million digital downloads of their latest album, “Viva La Vida”! No doubt their Udine performance will pack in people from as far away as southern Italy and eastern Europe.

Finally, my heartfelt thanks to ALL those promoters that I`ve been in touch in these last few months who graciously granted me the photo accreditations for these outstanding and fantastic artists, not to mention the beautiful settings where these same promoters organized their concerts (Ray Wilson said the following before playing in Udine`s quaint, small castle: “You really have some wonderful places in Italy for concerts”!).

Some HOT concert news update for you from the Udine/Friuli area

The local tourism agency in Friuli (www.turismofvg.it) has put together a rather interesting marketing package for those who want to do a bit of tourism mixed in with great music. If you book a three-night stay in a partner hotel you`ll get a free end zone ticket or a 50% discount on a sideline box ticket. This applies to the Madonna (July 16th), Bruce Springsteen (July 23rd) and the Coldplay (August 31st) Udine concerts.

Other great shows in the Udine area also include the double Joe Jackson/UB40 in Azzano Decimo (located near Pordenone) on June 28th at the Palaverde area. In the same town we`ll have some other fine concerts, such the “Muse” of Italian music, Patty Pravo, on June 26th and Negrita/Damned on June 27th. Ticket information at www.fieradellamusica.it.

In the meantime, the No Borders Music Festival, which brings us the Madonna, Springsteen and Coldplay concerts together with www.azalea.it, will also bring us some great little concerts, such as Sarajevo`s Goran Bregovic and his “Orchestra for Weddings and Funerals” in Tarvisio (located near the border with Austria) on July 19th, Lenny Kravitz on July 29th (his cover version of the 1960s controversial song “American Woman”—it had been banned by American radio stations—belongs to a group, the Guess Who, which hailed from my home town of Winnipeg! They were in the 1960s and 70s Canada`s most famous band), the suave and sophisticated piano player Paolo Conte on August 2nd and Vinicio Capossela on August 9th (all information at www.nobordersmusicfestival.com). Your truly has fond memories of Tarvisio as years ago I got to see live Solomon “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” Burke (some may recall how this song was raised famous by the Blues Brothers), perhaps one of the most entertaining concerts of the 185 that I`ve so far seen (Burke played the same song together with the Rolling Stones on one of their more recent world tours. Seeing that he weighs well over 150 kilos, the stage started literally bouncing up and down as he joined Jagger and Co. on stage!).

But the fun doesn’t` certainly stop there musically-speaking. On June 27th we`ve got Grammy-award winner Laura Pausini (the first woman to have played at Milan`s San Siro stadium) at the splendid Villa Manin setting located just 15 kms from Udine in the town of Codroipo. Ballet great Roberto Bolle and Friends (remember his outstanding performance at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Turin Winter Olympics?) will be in the same venue on August 1st as will be the Momix dance company (July 14th). Rome`s Claudio Baglioni will also be performing at Villa Manin on September 4th. Former Talking Heads leader singer David Byrne will be at the Grado beach resort on July 17th whereas Fatboy Slim`s only Italian concert will be at the Lignano Riviera beach resort on July 25th (all info at www.azalea.it).

One interesting group (its name certainly is), Chickenfoot, will be at Lignano Sabbiadoro (the Lignano beach resort area, located some 60 kms east of Udine, was once deemed the “Florida” of Italy by Ernest Hemingway when he had visited the area in the 1950s). The super band is made up of guitar sensation Joe Satriani, drummer Chad Smith (the same of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame) and bass guitarist Michael Anthony and singer Sammy Hagar (anyone remember Van Halen? Hagar had filled in on vocals for David Lee Roth). Ticket information for this great act can be found at www.azalea.it.

The folks over at Folkest instead plan to bring us on July 3rd in Udine`s quaint little castle both Ray Wilson and Jethro Tull. That will follow on July 4th with the Ed Schnable Band and Roger McGuinn. One artist though who no doubt fans will anxiously want to see again on July 8th in the same venue is a great musician who once played together with two fellows by the name of Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker (anyone remember Cream?) in a rather short-lived super band of the 1960s (their inaugural concert at London`s Hyde Park attracted 100,000 fans), Blind Faith! The musician? None other than a man whom Clapton still today greatly admires, Stevie Winwood (I saw him years ago in Rome together with Tito Puente)!

Folkest will also bring other artists to the Udine area, more specifically to the town Spilimbergo (located about 30 kms west of Udine), such as John Trudell, Hot Tuna and Italy`s Roberto Vecchioni (a former school teacher) who will close the festival on July 27th (all info at www.folkest.com). And if all these great concerts STILL aren`t enough for you, well, do come up to Trieste as the great Carlos Santana will be playing there on July 14th at the Piazza dell`Unita`. Again, all info at www.azalea.it.

The folks over at Euritmica will instead be bringing to Udine during Udine and Jazz (from June 19th to July 18th) the great Ornette Coleman. All information on that and other great concerts at www.euritmica.it

Udinebike, 2009

Another good reason to come to Udine is its yearly and leisurely bike promenade. Formerly called “Udine Pedala”, which once attracted a Guinness-record crowd of 25,000 cyclists, the ride travels some 24 kms thru the small adjoining towns and villages of Udine. It`s not a race but rather a pleasant bike ride.

The mayor, Furio Honsell, also took part as did cyclists of all ages, from the young to the old (all pics by M. Rimati).

Giro d’Italia 2009

Yes, even the world’s 2nd longest cyclying race (after the Tour de France), the Giro d’Italia, whizzed through the streets of downtown Udine on May 11th, 2009! In one picture with the rose t-shirt you can actually see Cavendish. And somewhere in the pack there's also a fellow by the name of Lance Armstrong (all pics by M.Rimati)!

Vicini/Lontano, May 7-10, 2009

Another good reason to come to Udine? Well, there`s the yearly “Premio Tiziano Terzani”, otherwise known also as “Vicino/Lontano”, a literary encounter now in its 5th year (two years ago one of the illustrious guests was the former president of Iran, the Ayatollah Khatami).

This year`s honoured guest was a real treat for me: Bill Emmott, the former editor of my “Bible”, The Economist (I`ve been subscribing to it for almost 20 years now). Emmott comes right after my other “God”, MIT`s Noam Chomsky (the so-called “greatest living intellectual”).

The great thing about Emmott`s presentation (he`s the man with glasses and a goatee beard) is that I got to ask him the very first question: I wanted to know, seeing that when he was editor of The Economist he had blasted our “Great Leader” (Silvio Berlusconi) with the now-famous picture and title, “Why this man is unfit to govern Italy”. His response? “Yes, I still think that he is unfit to govern Italy”! At which point some of us in the audience let out a wild cheer (me being THE loudest!) and clapped rather loudly at his response (again, I clapped THE loudest!).

The other guests were Sergio Canciani, RAI`s foreign correspondent from Moscow for more than 10 years now. He was in the company of Russian lawyer Lidija Yusupova. The two were discussing the memory of Russia`s assassinated female journalist, Anna Politkovskaja. Canciani and Yusupova also discussed the current political situation in the former Soviet Union. All-in-all, the four-day event (the prize this year went to Pakistan`s journalist, Ahmed Rashid, the man with the glasses and beard) is very pleasant because UNLIKE Italian political tv talk shows (which have 4-5 people ALL talking and yelling at once), this event takes place in an old church and only ONE person at a time speaks (and calmly too!). All pics by M.Rimati.