Saturday, May 17, 2014

Italy still Denying that Women can Rock

Touting itself as, "The best major festival in Italy" [I know, I know, damn that GoogleTranslate!!] every summer our Italian Post Office sponsors a total man-fest Rock in Roma concert series, blatantly keeping women out of the program, six years running. Clearly, Italy, despite gifting us a string of hugely talented and successful women rockers, including awesome voices like Gerardina Trovato - the Tracy Chapman of Sicily - Georgia and Fiorella Mannoia, still prefers the comfort of a caveman existence, highlighted by the playlist coming out of the Rock & Roll show.
Organizers state, "Well, we need to keep up with Mali and Saudi Arabia. Their concert series attract thousands."  Before adding, "With this new Pope, even Vatican concerts are more inclusive. Someone's gotta keep women out of the picture. And besides, Madonna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga act too much like divas. They want to sing, let 'em go to Perugia Jazz Festival.
Once you get your head around the fact that the bankrupt Post Office should be sponsoring anything, (clearly taking a cue from the U.S. Post Office sponsoring the Tour de France bicycle race, an event that went out of the American public's consciousness about when letter-sending did), you wonder what form of machismo is their artistic director made of.  Heck, with photos like this, they could even take the daring step and invite Conchita Wurst, the Eurovision contest winner, and keep to their XY chromosome entry bar.
Here are the 2013 and 2014 Rosters - You can go back even further here -- and try to find the girl groups (in bold below). Of course, with names like Smack my bitch up and Symphony of Destruction, obviously it's a guy-thang.

2014 ROCK IN ROMA LINEUP
GIUDA + THE CYBORGS                                                                 
QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE + WE ARE SCIENTISTS             
BILLY IDOL + JESUS WAS HOMELESS                
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS
PRODIGY /  DIE ANTWOORD    
ARCADE FIRE
ROB ZOMBIE / MEGADETH 
DAVID GUETTA
METTALICA + ALICE IN CHAINS
THE BLACK KEYS
THE LUMINEERS + PASSENGER
PAOLO NUTINI + THE RAINBAND
EDITORS
CAPAREZZA
PLACEBO - well, they have one woman on stage
BASTILLE + GEORGE EZRA
AFTERHOURS 
FRANZ FERDINAND + THE CRIBS

————————————————————— 
201E ROCK IN ROMA LINEUP
MY BLOODY VALENTINE
GREEN DAY
THE KILLERS 
STEREOPHONICS
TOTO
KORN
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
IGGY & THE STOOGES
MAX GAZE’
RAMMSTEIN
ARCTIC MONKEYS
MILES KANE
SPRINGSTEEN
MARK KNOPFLER & BAND
SMASHING PUMPKINS
MARK LANEGAN BAND
ATOMS FOR PEACE
SKA-P
DEEP PURPLE
ZUCCHERO 
DANIELE SILVESTRI
NEIL YOUNG
DEVENDRA BANHART
SIGUR ROS
BLUR NEGRITA
THE CURE 
GARBAGE
NINA ZILLI 

And, lest you think it's because women don't rock hard, even names like Neil Young and The Beach Boys are listed. So where's Blondie, Pat Benatar or even, Tracy Chapman?  And, just to fool you into thinking there are women groups, they've added groups like Nigrita or Devendra (pictured above) - but, no, if you're a woman rocker, better to be out of sight, out of ear shot for PostePay,  Live Nation and co-sponsors City of Rome, Corriere della Sera, and others.
"Look, we're sponsored by the Post Office. All those women tellers stand behind thick glass windows so you can't hear a word they're saying. And in Italy, we still call them PostMen - il Postino - just like the movie. And besides, have you ever seen a woman delivering mail?  We're just upholding a long-standing tradition."

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Buon Giorno, Putin! Have we gotta deal for you!

Photo from Il Fatto Quotidiano
In the middle of Italy's prolonged economic crisis, which is still ongoing, Berlusconi's Defense Minister La Russo decided to throw motor oil atop the festering flames of a population forced to hear "we don't have the money" for nursery schools or hospital toilet paper or school repairs. He did what any despotic dictator would do, and purchased 19 Maserati's for his cronies errr...commanders to the tune of 2.2 M euro. Saying they were low budget items, like no-name brand toothpaste, he said that he not only saved the country money vis-a-vis Audi's, but that it helped create jobs for those poor folks slaving away on the Maserati assembly line. After all, it was a world economic crisis and those cars just weren't in high demand.
This year, many of these infamous auto blu - dark blue sedans for politicians - went up for auction, as part of an austerity program instigated by, I believe, former short-term Prime Minister, Monti. And while most of the standard cars (about 200) went for sale, it seems no one - not even the idly rich political class wants to pay the VAT (Value Added Tax) on a used vehicle.
So, the government went to ebay.
Unfortunately, it appears that the dark windows and bullet-proof doors aren't for everyone. Not even the mafia nor the camorra.  
So, Silvio?  You're good friends with Putin...why don't you play the middleman? I'm sure these kinds of cars are in big demand over there.  And maybe the Italian government would even give you a percentage on the deal.