It is once again time for Daylight Savings Time to end and we get that extra hour back we gave up in the spring! How we hate losing an hour back in March, but we love getting it back even more in November! Italy actually already changed back on Sunday, October 25! Since we have this once a year opportunity, how will YOU spend it?
All posts by Jana
If you are desperate for their new book….
Ciao a tutti!!
Ok, if you have a Kindle and/or a Smart phone with the Amazon Kindle app; here is what you can do….just fyi, if you dare:
After I ordered it from Amazon.com (US), I found it was $4.00 cheaper on Amazon.it – strange, I know? Yes, the site is all in Italian, but I’m sure you can figure it out and if you have a regular Amazon account, it’s your same ID/Password!
Link to Il Volo new book on amazon.it Hope it works. For me it comes up 7.99 euros, which is just about $8.80 or so. When you place your order, it should be delivered automatically. If, for some reason, it doesn’t work, you can always order from regular US Amazon site.
When you do get it, open it up. I will admit to not being a very techy person, so if I can figure this out, you can too! That being said, here is how you can translate it paragraph by paragraph. First, I just put my finger on a word, not really knowing what I was hoping for, but a box popped up to download the Italian dictionary – so, I did that. Ok, now what? Pick a word and hold it down with your finger. It will “highlight.” Then, if you are lucky, a few things will “scroll” like a banner at the bottom, or top. Scroll across and you will come to something that says “translate.” You will see your word defined in English!
Yes, there is a way to do more than one word. It does take some practice though – just do a few words at a time and work up to one paragraph. I would not do more than one paragraph at a time, but you can try. Yes, this will take you a while, but it will be worth it!
To do more than one word, you will see the little “margin blockers?” that enclose the word you have chosen, or held down with your finger. If you take your finger and gently “move” the one on the right, you will see more than one word or sentence get highlighted. You can also drag your finger down to do the whole paragraph. Also on mine, in the translation box, you may see a little “speaker” symbol. If you click on that, it will TALK to you!!
If none of this works for you, you may need to find someone from the younger generation to show you. I’m sure they will be happy to do it! 🙂
Here are just a few of the first sentences of the intro, that I grabbed from the Amazon site, translated from Google Translate….
“Piero was sure to become a music teacher, Ignazio sang with passion but certainly not thought of success, Gianluca sang only for himself, because it made him feel good. In short, the music was in everyone’s future but none of them could have imagined that 25 April 2009, the fate would knock on the door and Il Volo was “born,” which in a few years has achieved international fame and the first places in the standings and in Italy in the world.”
I will tell you this – when I did the whole paragraph, then looked down into the little box with the translation, my heart literally skipped a little beat and it felt like I was opening this little treasure chest and they were speaking right to me as the words jumped off the page to my heart…
(my phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5 – not sure if things might be different for different models of phones…might also be easier for those of you with a tablet, since they are much bigger than a smart phone!)
Buona fortuna!
Ciao!
Jana
Tanti Auguri, Ignazio!
Dear Ignazio –
We have waited and waited for 21 years to celebrate this special day, even though we’ve only known you for a little over six of those years, it seems like we’ve known you forever. We didn’t know what a special day it was, back in 1994 on October 4th, when this beautiful boy came into the world, how he would transform our very being into the most joyous reason for living that there could possibly be!?
To paraphrase your new song “The Best Day of My Life…,” we did not know that it was the best day of our lives when you were born. But after seeing you; how our lives have changed. We see the world from your eyes now, and want to share it with you.
So, while you were off in Spain, enjoying your birthday paella, we celebrated your special day, here in Detroit, with a special birthday menu! To start off we honored the city of your birth, Bologna, with special Bologna
appetizers, brought by dear Virginia, hand-rolled herself, consisting of bologna, cheese, cream cheese, and olives! The next course was a beautiful Caprese salad,
garnished with garden fresh basil from Sharon, with tomatoes and mozzarella brought by Magdalena. The main course, was, of course, Chicken Scallopine
Marsala, ala Ignazio (“just a little bit of cinnamon” – I added about two shakes!) and with a special added surprise ingredient by Jana! The Marsala with baby portabellas, was served with ca
sarecce (homemade in Italian) pasta – Sicily inspired, by Barilla, along with fresh broccoli and carrots from Emilia. To wash everything down, we had plenty of wine and special Villa Pozzi Moscato from Donna, right from Sicily! For dessert, we had a very special chocolate cake with one of your favorite pictures of you on it, brought by Chris. We couldn’t forget the gelato! We had salted caramel, raspberry, and chocolate mint; from Sharon and Donna. Everything was delicious – if I don’t say so myself! Lol! And was enjoyed by all!
Although the weather was typical for a fall weekend in Michigan, with a gray, cool, and drizzly day, the atmosphere inside was filled with warmth, laughter, friends, fun, and food!
While waiting for dinner we listened to the concert from Verona, took some pictures, and of course, sang Happy Birthday to our dearest Ignazio!
Tanti Auguri, Ignazio – hope this link works, having tech difficulties with converting video…
After dinner, we enjoyed dessert and listened and watched the Pompeii video, which I finally got after 3 months – ok, long story, but it was definitely worth the wait!
My favorite one-liner of the evening, was “Jana, you have to hit play…” Ok, our special inside joke, but, seriously, we all burst out laughing!
I actually did have some red, green, and white star balloons brought by Chris, that I had tied outside to a bush so the newcomers could find the place. However, since it was rainy out, I did not take a picture and ended up leaving them overnight outside. I went out for several hours the next day and when I came back, they were still tied to the bush and I was going to take them down. However, by the time I pulled into the parking lot and got out of my car, a few teenagers had already grabbed them, were sitting on the curb across the street, and you could hear the “helium” voices!!! At first I was upset, but then thought about it… it’s just what Ignazio would have done! In fact, we have video of him doing just that last year! Lol!
Ignazio, many people tell you how special you are. All of you guys are special in your own ways… But, Ignazio, even with your jetlagged eyes and pouty lips; your eyes still twinkle, your lips still smile, and your cheeks cannot hide the dimples beneath them. Your face radiates joy each time you open your mouth to sing. With each tender note, you open your soul for all of us to see; you touch our hearts like raindrops falling to the parched earth.
“Per Te Ci Sarò”
“Vi proteggerà Noi saremo lì per voi Non lasciate che il mondo ti cambia Lotteremo per voi ci Noi saremo lì per voi”
Per sempre!
Birthday Blessings,
Jana
Tanti Auguri, Piero! (somewhat belated….)
It was June 24, 2015, and everything was a buzz of excitement as we waited in anticipation to celebrate Piero’s birthday in Detroit! Most of the same group that celebrated Gianluca’s back in February, was once again, joined in Il Volo love, to celebrate the “real” opera singer of the group!
The balloons were in place outside to make sure no one missed where the party was. Red, green, and silver star balloons were waving in the wind to announce his special day. Along with a happy birthday one, of course!
Sharon and her lovely house were the hosts of this event. Everyone started arriving around 6p. Our theme was “make your own pizza” and we had salad from Buddy’s and angel hair pasta to go with it with a very creative tomato sauce! And, how could we forget all the wine! Oh, did I mention cake???
About 6:30p, we decided we better quickly make our “tanti auguri” video for Piero. So, we all gathered around Emilia’s phone and we sang “Tanti Auguri” to Piero and even added some harmony in at the end! Emilia sent it off into Ivolosphereland and it was quickly picked up on a few Facebook pages.
After some more chatting, it was time to prepare the toppings for the pizzas! I put on the Italian apron that Sharon had won at the Gianluca party, and I went to work chopping and prepping the toppings. We fired up the grill – yes, we had pizza cooked on the grill! They actually turned out wonderful and we all enjoyed our individual pizzas, angel hair pasta, salad, and wine. We ate outside in Sharon’s lovely backyard, surrounded by beautiful trees, a few Koi ponds, and a lovely breeze. It was a very beautiful evening for Piero’s birthday.
Of course, earlier in Italy, he was having his own fun at their last concert in Roma, where they gave him a cake, and flowers, and he had his fun with Ignazio!
Later, it was time to cut the cake and it was delicious. We also had some M&Ms custom made with Piero’s picture on them, along with Tanti Auguri, his birthdate, and stars. The M&Ms were in red, white, and green. We also had lots of other Italian themed decorations to go along with the other festivities of the evening.
We were stuffed full of pizza, pasta, wine, and cake, but we finished off the evening watching one of our favorite videos of them – “Il Volo Takes Flight – from the Detroit Opera House!” We never tire of their first performance taped live from Detroit!
By then it was nearing 11p and the party started to break up. Emilia had a really long drive home and a few of us had to go to work the next day. We helped Sharon clean up and Emilia, Ginny, and Donna had gone home. Chris, Sharon, and I were just about to leave when we got a Facebook instant message from Emilia! She was very excited and said that she thinks Piero saw our video on Facebook and gave it a “like!” Well, that just made the perfect ending to a perfect evening for us! All of our hard work and efforts did not go unnoticed by our guest of honor for the evening. Even though he was thousands of miles away, he was as close as our fingertips!
Chris and I finally left about 12:30am! We were exhausted, but sated, and are looking forward to Ignazio’s celebration in October!
Part II
Since I did not write this story as soon as I had wanted, and as often happens, procrastination pays off, I have some personal accounts from Piero that I can share here to go with his birthday celebration!
As everyone now knows, the guys were here on July 6 at PBS and all of us at the party were fortunate to have also been at the PBS evening with them. A few of the girls, Donna and Sharon, from the party, were also lucky enough to meet them at the airport when they finally arrived. They brought some of the decorations from the party, and they also told Piero about the M&Ms that were made special for his party. He was very excited about seeing the M&Ms and lucky for him, we had each saved one package of them! They told him about the cake and showed him the pictures of our evening. I do have a direct quote from Piero…. he asked, “Who ate the part of the cake with my glasses?” Sorry, I don’t have a answer though – I don’t remember! Lol!
So, at the meet and greet, Donna, Sharon, and I all brought him our saved package of the M&Ms with his picture, etc. on it. I later found out that he was very excited to receive each package and even though when I gave him my package, and it was the 3rd one he had gotten, he was still very happy, as he showed it to Gianluca! I wonder if they ate them and if he shared? I guess we will never know the answer to that one….
A Night to Remember – July 6, 2015
Finally DETROIT! Let’s START with Jana. ~M
♣♣♣
You see, I just knew they’d come back!! Ok, maybe not for everyone, but they did come back for 50 lucky persons in Detroit!
My story…
It all started with a phone call from Marie. We found out there was going to be a meet/greet at PBS in Detroit. We somehow got on the mailing list and voila, we got 2 lucky tickets. I feel like we were the lucky winners of the golden ticket like in Willy Wonka!
I did not know it, but I had been planning for this night since last June after I saw them at Freedom Hill. I was thinking of what I could give them; what would I say? What would I wear; how thin would I be? As the song goes, “que sera’, sera’ – whatever will be, will be; the future’s not ours to see…que sera’, sera’!” The future may not be ours to see, but it doesn’t mean we can’t plan for it and plan, I did!
When we realized they might be coming, I had to speed up the end of my plan…I had made each of them three special rosaries (last September), each with different beads, using their “name saints” as the centers and having the “Our Father” beads – exactly 6 of them, spell out “IL VOLO!” They were beautiful. I also had little silk brocade bags made for the rosaries and had their initials on the front. When I sped up my plan, at that point, I did not know for sure they would be here, but I was glad I planned ahead – just in case!! However, with careful planning, everything literally fell into place, like the perfect jigsaw puzzle, with at LEAST a thousand pieces, or so it seemed!
First, just Marie was going to join me in Detroit. Then the ladies from MN were going to fly in, as well! It was starting to be a big party now. Our little group of 5 – 6, plus the MN girls; it was growing.
All of the planning and anticipation was growing by leaps and bounds. It was shutdown week where I work, so for the whole week before, I was off work, but so, so busy, every day. It was good, I did not have time to get nervous, but had to keep planning…I found my outfit, bought a new purse, made an appointment to have my hair done at a special place (it looked fabulous thanks to Sharon and Sal!), made arrangements to pick up the girls at the airport, wash the car, and pack. Before I knew it, it was Sunday afternoon, and I was nervously awaiting for the arrival of our “editor-in-chief” – Marie, to arrive at my house with her sister!
They arrived, and we chatted for a little while until we had to pick up the MN girls. We flew off to the airport and then off to the hotel for their check-in. We chatted a bit until it was time to go to dinner. We dined at Antonio’s in Farmington Hills. We had figured, by then, that the guys were safely here and resting….
We had a lovely dinner at Antonio’s, complete with dessert! Then it was back to the hotel for some more chatting. We decided to break up the party around 10p or so. We went to Ginny’s house and shortly thereafter, I got a text from one of the other gals, that they had gone to the airport to meet the guys!! (ok, not my story, but we were so jealous, as they were the only 5 there to meet them, because their flight had kept getting delayed and they did not get in until around 10:30p or so!) Alas, it was not meant to be, but was not part of my plan to greet them at the airport, so all was still good.
I made it for my 10a haircut appointment in Birmingham. Sal, a friend of Sharon’s, did the most fabulous job on my hair! I think I talked more about my hair, then I did about the guys! He even came in special on a Monday, just for me.
It was the big day, I was starting to be a wreck and could not think clearly – this was not me, I did not get nervous!
We got to the hotel and we checked in. We had to run a few errands, then it was back to the hotel to change and get ready. We left about 4:30p. We were supposed to be there by 6:00p. Ok, so we were over an hour early, but we weren’t the first ones there!
At approximately 6:05p, they led us into our “dining” room for the evening. It was beautifully arranged, with 4 bottles of wine at each table. We had assigned seats for dinner and we later found out they were going to call us by table. Unfortunately, or fortunately, we were the LAST table!
Dinner was delicious with prime rib, baked chicken, salad, veggies, and bread. We were looking at the clock. We were supposed to greet our guys from 7:00p – 7:30p. We were wondering how they were going to get 50 people through in just half an hour? It was almost 10 after 7 and they hadn’t started yet! Finally, they opened the other door and there were the guys. We could not see them, but they were there. They let the first table in. Apparently, they were letting everyone have as much time as they needed. Many were giving them gifts and we were allowed to bring one item to have them sign it. Finally, about 7:35p or so, we were allowed to get in line. When we finally got in there, they said we had to hurry, as the others took too long. That did not seem fair, but then they realized we were the last table and they backed off a bit.
At last, it was my turn! I was a bit nervous and not sure what to do. The guys were just standing up at the front with a big PBS backdrop on this bright red carpeting. There was no real direction, so I just walked up and hugged Gianluca and said he “was so sweet.” He was in the middle and Ignazio was to the right, so I hugged him next and spoke softly into his ear, that he was my favorite. He said, “Aw….” in this soft, sweet voice, with a big smile on his face. I will remember it forever!
I quickly fumbled for the rosaries in my purse. But first I gave Piero his M&Ms that I had custom made for his birthday (yes, another story yet to come). I think he really liked the M&Ms as he smiled and laughed and showed them to Gianluca! I then gave Ignazio his rosary and told him I had made it special. I gave the other two theirs…. I turned back to Ignazio, and he had taken it out of the bag and was looking at it. The next thing I knew, he was looking at me and started speaking in Italian and holding the rosary in his hand. I’m looking up at him, into his eyes and thinking “why is he speaking Italian??” I don’t know what he is saying? (Yeah, so much for my Italian lessons – lol!) All I could catch was “Ave Maria” and “gracia,” but that was about it. Unfortunately, my brain was having a hard time trying to figure out why he wasn’t speaking English and what he was saying in Italian, that I kind of got lost in the moment. I think I remember looking into his eyes and hearing his soft voice. Then, all of a sudden, he puts his hand over my head and then he starts to bless me, like he is anointing me. He touches my forehead, lightly brushes my chin, back to touching my nose with his thumb. He has a very soft thumb! He then raised his hand over my head and gently touched my head again. I just stood there, smiling, and said “grazie.” I’m still trying to figure out what he said to me, but I needed them to sign my frame.
Yes, you remember my empty picture frame that would be forever empty around my heart until I had a picture of them and me? Well, as we know, it would not be empty forever now! I brought out my frame and gave it to Ignazio to sign. I 
gave him the back of it, as I wanted them to sign the back of it and our picture would be on the front. Ignazio takes the frame in his hands and turns it back over, seeing that it says “IL VOLO” on the front. He turns to me and with his hand, he gestures that their name is on the front and shouldn’t he sign it there? I said no, on the back, because our picture will be on the front. He kind of says, ok, and signs the back….then Piero and Gian come back and they sign it, too. Gian made sure he put a little heart on the end of his signature for me! I did feel kind of bad I didn’t hug Piero, but I was a bit nervous and wanted to hurry, even though they weren’t really rushing us…it felt like I was up there a long time. Somewhere in there, they took our picture and then it was over! Over a year in the making and over in less than 5 minutes!
As I walked back to the side, I kept thinking about what he said. It finally hit me that he was reciting the “Hail Mary” or “Ave Maria” prayer in Italian!! At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it was? The next day, I looked it up on the Internet and found the words and audio on a You Tube video, and from what I could remember him saying, I think it was pretty close.
For those of you not familiar with the Catholic practice of saying the rosary, in the Roman Catholic faith, the Rosary is one of the most beautiful, powerful, and sacred prayers. The Rosary is a devotion to God through a devotion to the Virgin Mary. There are other prayers that are said with it, but you say 53 Hail Mary’s!
I’m not really sure if Piero and Gian liked their rosaries, but I hoped they did. I have to say, that I really truly believe that Ignazio liked his!
I’d also like to thank everyone that were able to get pictures and videos of me up there with the guys! It’s funny, you just don’t remember most of what happens in that five minutes. Like, I don’t really remember putting my arm around Gianluca’s shoulder? And why DIDN’T I have my arm around Ignazio?? But it was nice to know he had his hand on my shoulder!
Yes, I saw their smiles and I felt their touch –
The long wait and anticipation was over…my dream had become a reality and the frame around my heart was no longer empty! It was filled with the joy, the smiles, the memory, and the tenderness, of Ignazio’s touch – it was happiness!
For now, my heart is full, until the next time…