One More Month..

We've been happily busy lately and REALLY enjoying doing shows in many venues that are new to us.
 From New Port Richey, to Fort Myers Beach, to Margate, to Palmetto and on and on.   Thank you , thank you one and all.


Now we're looking forward to our trip to Western New York in one month.  We'll be heading for my home town and doing two weeks of matinee shows and two evening shows at Tillman's Village Inn in Albion.  I just talked to my Dad up there and he said they had a morning BLIZZARD yesterday (!!!) so I'm really hoping that one month from now they'll be done with all that.

Meantime, we're doing one more encore show at Visani Dinner Theater in Port Charlotte on May 10.  (Details on the schedule page of our web site www.divaandtheitalianguy.com ) before we head North.  We have two travel groups from the East Coast of FL coming over on motor coaches to see the show, so it should be a great crowd.

Till we see ya,  stay well.
We'll keep you posted.

The Diva sings for SPARCC

Yes, I'm supposed to look like a bag lady!

____

Yesterday I had the honor of opening the SPARCC Second Hand Rose fashion show at the Sarasota Ritz Carlton with my very own version of the famous song, Second Hand Rose. 

So picture this - and I kid you not - 600 women, all smartly dressed, who have each paid $95 a ticket, are seated in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton, having lunch and  and watching a fashion show of.....used clothing.


Let me explain.   SPARCC stands for Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center .  It's a non-profit organization in Sarasota county that, among other things, provides shelter and counseling for victims of domestic violence.   They also provide rape counseling and many educational programs.  According to their web site, "SPARCC’s mission is to provide services to victims of domestic and sexual violence, and to promote a violence-free community through awareness and education."

Okay, so they raise funds in a number of ways, one of them being their resale store called The Treasure Chest on Fruitville Rd in Sarasota.  Now you notice I called it a "resale store".  Translated, that usually means 'thrift shop'.  But with the quality of the clothing donations involved in this place, you really can't think it that way.  I'm talking FABULOUS clothing and jewelry, household items, etc.  Thus, the full-blown, big production fashion show featuring all these fabulous clothes.  At the RITZ no less!

But wait, there's more.  The Treasure Chest staff brings the finest of the store's fare and sets it up for sale in the Ritz lobby for patrons to shop, before and after the fashion show.  And they do!  So here are hundreds of women (who can all afford $95 a ticket) buying 'resale' fashions.   I LOVE IT!!

I can't wait to find out how much money was raised for SPARCC yesterday. 

I am so proud to have been a part of it.

___

It's Good to be in Florida!

As we perform our shows in beautiful, tropical locales here in Florida, we send our most sincere sympathy  to all our friends and family UP NORTH IN THE SNOW.  Please stay warm and safe. 

Meanwhile....back in Sunny Florida,

We want to thank the members of the Captiva Island Yacht Club for their rousing response to our return engagement there last week.  Great people and great fun.



River Isles, Bradenton, FL

And also many thanks to the really fun people of River Isles community in Bradenton where we did our show
this last Saturday.  We hadn't been there since 2007 and had lots of new material for them to listen to and laugh with!

Of course we always have a great time and great crowd at Visani Dinner Theater where we just did two shows, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Quite a busy week.  And we couldn't be happier about it.

Well, I hope our Northern friends enjoyed these photos.  (Am I a mean girl?) 

We'll keep you posted!

Big Fun

Man oh man, we had some big fun at last night's dinner show for the Italian American Club of Venice.  First of all, it was a sold out crowd, with a waiting list, so we WILL be doing an encore performance sometime in the near future.

It was a great audience, with lots of friends in attendance INCLUDING our FAN CLUB!!  We are humbled by the support and dedication of our friends Del and Pat and Star and the rest of the gang who show up wearing T-shirts with our photos on them.  They brought two new members, also wearing the shirts, last night.  God bless you.  You have no idea how great it makes us feel.

It was really fun to have an audience with SO MANY ITALIANS who "got" all of Buddy's Italian dialect jokes and references.  (There are still things he says that I don't understand, but I'm quite certain they're dirty in some way.)

So we want to say a big THANK YOU to all the folks at the Italian American Club of Venice who worked so hard to make it happen, and then pulled it off with penache.  The place looked great, the volunteers all did a fantastic job, including the food servers decked out in Italian style scarves around their necks and nifty aprons.  Just a great night. 

Since I last wrote, we also have performed at Vista Del Lago in Winter Garden, where we were greeted with the same warm fuzzy friendliness and enthusiasm as the first time.  Just a great audience.

And a big thank you to Harbor Cove where we performed for the first time to ANOTHER sell-out crowd, who treated us like real celebrities. 

We are BLESSED and we know it. 

And we'll keep doing this as long as we can still climb up onto a stage!

Thank you to all. 

We'll keep you posted.

Still Groovin' After All These Years

Here we are after 35 years performing together, still out there doing it and loving it.  As we look back on another great year, we are eternally grateful for the gift of entertaining people.

This month we did Holiday shows at Visani Dinner Theater in Port Charlotte, Tropical Palms RV Resort in Kissimmee, and Lemon Bay Playhouse in Englewood.  We had a chance to sing all our favorite Christmas and seasonal songs.  Of course, Buddy can't resist "embellishing"  a few of them.  Like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with antlers on his head and flashing red lights up his nose.  And our own version of the famous Twelve Days of Christmas.   Instead, we sing "The Twelve Meals of Christmas"  reliving the time-honored Italian tradition of consuming more food than the human body was ever designed to hold.  (By the end of the song I actually feel bloated.)

And once again we want to thank Del and Pat and the rest of our "FAN CLUB"  (see our December 14, 2009 blog post) who came to our show on Saturday at Lemon Bay Playhouse in their official "Diva and the Italian Guy" t-shirts.  God bless them all!  You really make us feel loved!

Thank you to everyone who comes to our shows.  Our sincere wish is that you have a few laughs, feel good, and come again!

We'll keep you posted.

In the Beginning...

Just a couple of EARLY photos from the way-back machine. 
.



My first gig.  Mascot for the Albion volunteer Fire Dept color guard.
Marched in all the Firemen's parades summer of 1957

  And now for a real "Awwww" moment... HERE'S BUDDY!....


Is he just TOO CUTE or what!

 HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT THANKSGIVING. 
We'll keep you posted!

Visual Arts Center

"Caesar's Palace" at Visual Arts Center

We thoroughly enjoyed performing for the Visual Arts Center in Punta Gorda last Saturday.  It was the final event in a month-long celebration of their 50th anniversary.  The theme of the gala party was "Big Italian Wedding Reception." and a gala it was!  Our show was presented in "Caesar's Palace", which was their Goff Gallery magically transformed into a really cool show room.  There was dancing on the patio to the music of Sammy J., and an actual "wedding" in the other gallery where a couple renewed their vows.  Kudos to the entire gang at VAC for a great evening.



Funny, I don't remember them being at the Last Supper !?

 The member artists at the Visual Arts Center are amazing.  Various artists' work is always on display, and you know the old saying, "I don't know art, but I know what I like!"  Well, that's me.  And there was a lot to like.  (The gift shop is full of wonderful and unique items created by members too, incuding jewelry, novelty items and fun stuff.) 

The artists' theme this month was 'Leo vs. Mike' and several member artists re-created the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, including a HUGE wall-size reproduction of "The Last Supper".

You should visit there.  Click this link and find out more.

So next up...Holiday Shows at Visani Dinner Theater and Lemon Bay Playhouse in December.
See our schedule page for details.

We'll keep you posted!