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Meanwhile, behind the Sunfest curtains…

In the end our Sunfest main stage show went really well. We got absolutely everyone up and dancing, and CD sales went down very well too (apparently we were the second best selling artist at the Sunfest Cd tent). I liked the Roberta-crowd choreography on “Balla”, with people raising their arms, we need to make video of it next time! Meanwhile Paolo continues to take pictures off the audience…

We are in London, Ontario, to play Sunfest. There is a clear scent of England around here: every town near here has super-English names (Exeter, Chatham, Essex County and so on); in front of the Hilton a gentleman dressed as a Beefeater is permanently on duty, and there is even a bridge tournament going on! We got in yesterday and played the tour’s first two performances: the new lineup with drums seems to do well, people dance to us and have fun. Also, we have recovered almost all our instruments (almost - Medhin’s dj gear did not come in, hopefully they’ll deliver it to us later on today and we had to borrow replacements from the crew). Later on today we’ll play main stage - I can’t wait.

Consular interview today for obtaining visas for the FF summer tour. Everything OK, except for me: no problem getting a visa, but my passport is no good. Expired? No way, it expires in 2011. So what’s the matter? The binding of the back cover is wearing out, which apparently makes it unthinkable to issue a visa on that passport. I suppose it is a threat to national security! So I need to get a new passport, then go back to the consulate to get a visa. Will I make it in time for departure? I have only one week, and that includes 4th of July. In the photo I am showing the scandalous passport.

UPD 29/6 14:32 - Woke up at 6 this morning and joined the queue at the Passports Office in Questura of Milano. It’s summertime and they are overloaded, but they’ve been impeccable: they understood the problem and issued me a new passport in less than 2 hours (+2 queue). They’ve even been kind through the madness! At 1 o’clock I was at the US Consulate to deliver my brand new passport. The consul: “See? It was possible after all!” Yeah, great. I: “Are you sre you have time enough to mail me my passport back? Would it not be better for me to pick it up?” Consul: “Nothing is certain in this life, but this is our system, and it works well.” Yeah, it works great for bureaucrats. For citizens not so much. Wish us good luck…

Toccando tutto il ferro del caso (dopo la delusione del Messico…), sembra che questa volta ce l’abbiamo fatta: i Fiamma Fumana e il Coro delle Mondine di Novi porteranno lo spettacolo “Di madre in figlia” in America, al Concert of Colors di Detroit. Il concerto si terrà il 21 luglio; sarà l’ultima data del nostro tour americano 2007, e l’unica apparizione americana del coro di Novi. Ovviamente sarà presente Andrea Zambelli con un mini-crew per incorporare l’esperienza nel suo film. E viene anche la Diva (83 anni di super-contralto)!

Knocking on wood (after the Mexican disappointment…) it seems that this time we’ve made it: Fiamma Fumana and the Novi Rice Weeders Choir are gling to bring their “From mother to daughter” show to America, more precisely to Detroit’s Concert of Colors. The performance is scheduled by July 21st; it will be the last show of our 2007 American tour, and the only American gig for the Novi choir. Andrea Zambelli will obviously be there with a mini-crew to incorporate the experience in his film. And Diva is coming too (83 year-old super-contralto)!