Noelle’s blog

Sabra and Neil dancing to Annie Lennox

Rama Lama Bang Bang (Roisin Murphy)




Roisin Murphy (formerly of Moloko) made a huge break into the US music market with this song.  It has a great beat.  This group dance performance was choreographed by the great Wade Robson.  This is a modern spin on the "Zombie" dance, made famous by Micheal Jackson 25 years ago.  This dance has a very heavy pop influence but has to be classified as hip - hop.  There are notes of Michael Jacksonesque dances movies (like the Zombie) and head ticks.  I haven't seen a better group dance since this one.

Erik Mongrain's Air Tap.  This solo guitarist is one of the best of modern times.  He is very different than greats like Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, and even Jimi Hendrix.  He mixes multiple fingering techniques with percussive hits, straing strikes and dampening.  I absolutely love this and I'm sure this man is uber famous in Europe.  Americans tend to have no real sense of good music.

Dominic Frasca and the impossible guitar.  This is very reminisce of the sitar. I love it.

sognando l'Italia


I am dreaming of Italy.  I spent many days in Italia in October and I keep telling myself I need to write something about it.  I have so much to say and most of it is recalled in my mind as private, privileged information so here goes "something"

The photo to the left displays the mountain view from the Kitchen terrace in L'Aquila (The Eagle), capital of Abruzzo (the region).  Fucking beautiful stuff here.


This photo (right) was taken in Bari (in Puglia) - Southern Italia.  Pictured from left to right are Giovanna, Noelle and Salvatore.  The people of Italy are so beautiful.  Their hair is dark, like coal.  Their eyes are big and shining and always looking.  These two are siblings.  Amazing, to me, how these two people can be so much like me, yet raised SO differently.  Their lives are nothing like my life, their childhoods, nothing like mine.  They don't know the pressures of American culture.  I hate the pressures of American culture.

The Italians have it figured out.  Their roots live in the family and spread forward like great wings to embrace social interaction and love of life.  The proverbial "MANGIA".

We walked in Bari for many hours.  I saw many beautiful things.  I sit and think about those things which I should be writing about, but I find those things to be too private and inflective to share with others. 

The truth is, I'm still living in the whirlwind of Italia.  My thoughts are often there and I often find myself standing still, smiling dumbly at a memory of something that only I (and my Italian friends) would laugh at.

So let's talk traditions... 

"The corna (Italian for horns, also mano cornuta, horned hand and fare le corna, to make the horns) is a gesture with a vulgar meaning in Mediterranean countries and a variety of meanings and uses in other cultures...In contemporary Italy, the "horns" are surreptitiously placed behind someone's head, or explicitly pointed at a person (in Italian, fare le corna, to make the horns). The conveyed meaning is that this person is being cheated on by his wife or (more rarely) her husband. Hence the Italian cornuto, that translates literally to having horns, but figuratively means cuckold."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corna

Cuckold is like "chulo" in Spanish slang.  It means you are so stupid that you don't realize it when your significant other is cheating on you, yet the whole of your neighborhood knows it.  Not to be confused with culo, which means ass, nor papi chulo, which means... NEVERMIND.

This is my ultimo revenge on my friends since in most photos they are doing the corna behind MY head.  Note:  The man behind us was smoking a hash joint and laughing at me.  He knew I was an American (sono Americana).  He was laughing because I had been there 3 days and I was using the corna liberally.

Here I am both the victim and the giver of the corna.















and here, I like to sing-ah :)




















Ahhhh and here is my favorite hand signal "ma che caz" aka "WTF!?"  This is rude, don't do it.  The fact that it's rude makes me do it all the time, of course.  This, coupled with "mi tocco le palle" - said by men only, are my favorite hand signals.










All in all, Italia changed my life and the lives of those who endured the journey with me.  For better or worse, I cannot bring myself back here to Ohio.  I am living and working here, but I am missing Italy like it's my home.