Hey Gang, Got a nice email from Christine today. Â She said I could share it with all of you. Â Thanks Chris.
Christine Pegnato Today at 9:49 AM
Hi Marie.
There is a photo on a site called “Virtual Tour Bus”, it shows Ignazio on a plane to Boston and he is wearing the base ball cap I gave him (among other things as Christmas presents) at the Detroit Meet and Greet! I wrote a little note to him that said to wear it with his blue sunglasses, and in the photo, he’s got the blue sunglasses on and the cap, isn’t that a hoot!
Oh Marie, the show was to die for! PBS said this was the first event of this type such as an exclusive meet and greet and it seemed to be a resounding success. IL VOLO has strong ties with PBS, so maybe they will do something like this in another city next year, and if close enough we will go! I’d have to hock rings of mine to get the $1000 of course!
Doors didn’t open til 4:30 and we were there at about ten after four and there is a huge window to the restaurant and the fans were saying, “there’s Ignazio”, “there’s Piero”, they could be seen from the window. I just about died! Jo, who I was with, and Loves Ignazio as much as you do, if that is possible, was peering into the window with her nose on the glass, I wouldn’t have the nerve! Then since they knew the fans were coming in and the doors were opening, they disappeared in the back.
We waited til about 5 pm when they came back out to sing. I held my breath for that 1/2 hr til I turned blue. I am kidding! It was so wonderful! This was a four or possibly five star restaurant and the food “looked” so sumptuous but I was so nervous, I couldn’t eat. This lady across form me was from Alberta Canada, she was a Piero fan, in her early 70’s and she was so nervous at seeing them she couldn’t eat either! I got to ask Gianluca to sign my calendar (I made a big one for myself, with pics which are about 10″ x 12″). You can never have too big of pictures of IL VOLO)! I got to talk to him (GG) for maybe 10 seconds, they rushed them through each table.
I talked to Barb Vitali, She was real sweet. I asked her where she was from, she said Bologna, who else do we know from Bolognia, let me see….. She has an accent. I asked her about the future and she said  that they had to get together and plan their upcoming projects and they need new songs before they tour again. Hopefully they will miss us so much, they will insist on touring soon!!
When they got done singing (only sang 2 songs in the beginning and O Sole Mio right before they left) Ignazio says, “okay, when are we gonna eat?” How cute! They did NOT eat, but hopefully the restaruant fixed plates for them to take with them. They were only in our midst for 1 hour from 5 to 6, then they had to go do a live broadcast on Detroit PBS which some friends and I went back to our hotel and watched.
Ignazio was so funny on that show! He kept pinching Pieros face and Piero finally had enough and tried to hold down Ignazio’s hands on the table (this was live TV). Then Ignazio kept messing up Gianluca’s hair and Gian didn’t even get mad, he kept straightening it back, but Ignazio would mess it up again! The interviewer from PBS asked them who their musical influences are and of course Ignazio said “Stevie Wonder”, and when it was Gianluca’s turn he jumps up out of his chair and yells “THE VOICE Frank Sinatra!” He was so wired during that show, we laughed so hard, b/c he was making these faces too, you’d have to see it. They are also doing PBS shows in Boston and Wash D.C.
I can’t describe how exciting it was! They may do something like this again. Keep putting pennies or nickels in a jar to save up!!! Marie, it was a night I will NEVER forget.
Christine
