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Back Home at COX 18
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(Bloom, outside Milano, November 17, 2006)-Mark Ritsema and Vito Laterza and I are here tonight at the Bloom complex outside of Milano, a cooperative music venue, community center and cultural focal point for the young people of this suburban enclave.
Bloom is in the middle of its annual Women of Jenin festival, a multi-faceted series of events that benefits the women's community of Jenin in Lebanon, raising funds for educational programs, loans to small women-owned businesses and other noble purposes.
There are film screenings, a Middle-Eastern communal dining experience, deejays and performers scheduled until December 2nd, and tonight Mark Ritsema and I are providing the entertainment.
Last night we celebrated my return to c.s.o.a. COX 18, the venerable arts commune in Milano that's been a Centro Sociale Occupato ed Autogestito for more than 30 years. I was first there a year ago with Steve Gebhardt to screen our film 20 TO LIFE at the opening of the BEAT HIPPY AUTONOMI PUNK exhibit created by GianCarlo Mattia and Philopat.
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John Sinclair Radio Show 59
COX 18, Milano, Italy
Sunday, November 6, 2005 @ 7:00 - 8:00 pm [20-0543]
I was invited to spend the weekend in Milano, Italy, as a featured participant in a massive 3-week art event called BEAT HIPPY AUTONOMI PUNK held at a venerable art squat in Milano called COX 18. Steve Gebhardt, director of 20 TO LIFE: The Life & Times of John Sinclair, came over from the States to screen the film and we talked to the audience on Friday night. I hung around COX 18 all day Saturday and Sunday with the characters in charge: Guiseppe, Stefano, GianCarlo et al. On Sunday evening they scrambled their little equipment together and we all sat around a big table at COX 18 and did a radio show. Gary Barton-not the host of the Classical Gourmet program on Radio Free Amsterdam but the one from San Francisco-joined us, and we had recorded music by Yusef Lateef, Martha & The Vandellas, The Treniers, John Sinclair & Mark Ritsema, Muddy Waters, Ornette Coleman, Jimmy Reed, and the Blues Scholars "live" on WDET in Detroit last July.
Listen to the John Sinclair Show from COX 18 in Milano in November 2005 (.mp3)
Playlist #59
[01] Opening Music: Yusef Lateef: Blues In Space with Intro & Opening Tokes
[02] Martha & The Vandellas: Dancing in the Street
[03] The Treniers: Rock This Joint
[04] Comments & Conversation with Guiseppe & Intro of COX 18 Guests
& BEAT HIPPY AUTONOMI PUNK Exhibition @ COX 18
[05] John Sinclair & Mark Ritsema: brilliant corners
[06] Comments with Guiseppe & Giancarlo & Paolo re: COX 18
[07] Muddy Waters: Train Fare Home
[08] Ornette Coleman: Blues Connotation
[09] Jimmy Reed: Take Out Some Insurance
[10] Comments with Gary Barton of San Francisco re: BEAT HIPPY AUTONOMI PUNK Exhibition at COX 18
[11] Closing Comments & Closing Music:
[12] John Sinclair & His Blues Scholars: Fat Boy @ WDET
Produced & Hosted by John Sinclair for Radio Free Amsterdam
Co-Produced, Co-Hosted & Translated by Guiseppe for COX 18
Engineered by Stefano
Executive Producer: John Sinclair
Special thanks to Caterina, Monica, Guiseppe, Stefano, Giancarlo, Paolo & Gary Barton
©(P) 2005 John Sinclair. All Rights Reserved.
Podcasted by www.RadioFreeAmsterdam.com @ November 7, 2005
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This year I'm back with Mark Ritsema to perform at Dr. Bad Trips' Greetings From Hell exhibit at COX 18 and introduce my book Va Tutto Bene /It's All Good at the City Lights Bookstore in the COX 18 building. All my favorite characters are on hand, including Matteo Guarnaccia, Toto from the bookstore, GianCarlo Mattia and Philopat, my man Stefano from the COX 18 Press, and Dr. Bad Trips himself.
I have a little meeting with Stefano after our show and we agree to make a book for COX 18 Press for which Vanna de Angelis will translate the first section of Fattening Frogs For Snakes into Italian and present the two texts on facing pages, with the CD of The Delta Sound to be tucked into a pocket inside the back cover.This a wonderful thing for me, and it will be my second Italian/American book in Italy/
I also met with Maurizio Principato of Populare Network for a radio interview that, like all interviews here in Italy, is very intelligently conducted by a well-informed interrogator. It's always such a relief from the usual gang of idiots in the United States who have no idea of whom they're talking to and even less of a clue about what to discuss.
After the show Toto takes us across town to his place and puts us up for the night. It's terrific having Vito along because he's such a great little cat who's always ready for an interesting conversation, plus he can translate for Mark & me with the rest of the Italians. The three of us pass a relaxed morning at Toto's until Andrea picks us up to take us out to Bloom.
Bloom proves to be quite a cultural oasis in the post-modern wasteland outside the metropolis, and we have a great time with the young people who put on concerts and dances here, conduct workshops, display art works, make recordings and other media, and raise funds for worthy causes like the Women of Jenin. They feed us a tasty little Italian meal, provide world-class sound & staging support, pay promptly and deliver us to a nearby hotel for the night. Thanks, fellas!
-420 Cafe, Amsterdam
November 28, 2006
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