Italians love R&B

Date: 12 Jul 2003 13:22:59 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.gossip.celebrities
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By Roger Friedman/FOX NEWS
The Italian ad man Graziano Uliani is so nuts about Memphis soul music that he
made the town fathers in Porretta, Italy change his street name to Via Otis
Redding. I kid you not.
Last weekend, for the 16th year in a row, Uliani brought American soul music to
the charming village of Porretta in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Soul
music has put Porretta on the map, even more than the local spa and healing
waters that attract elderly Italian ladies from as far away as Puglia, in
what's known as the "boot" of the country.
What makes the Porretta Soul Festival so interesting is that the people of
Porretta have little interest in it. Even though a bunch of black musicians
from Memphis, Tenn. pour into their village every year around July 3, the
Porrettans go about their business with blissful ignorance. Soul music is
Uliani's peculiar obsession. The rest of the town puts up with it.
So they came this year as always, and I went to watch the proceedings because
the great Carla Thomas was scheduled to perform with her brother, Marvell and
sister Vaneese. They were backed by the Memphis All-Stars.
The other performers on the weekend bill were novelty act Solomon Burke, up and
comer Ellis Hooks, Memphis singer Jackie Johnson and ex-pat soul man Charles
Walker who lives in Italy and performs with a band out of Britian.
On Saturday night July 5, the Thomas family indeed put on a little show in
Rufus Thomas Park, a new amphitheatre built behind the Hotel Roma and named for
their dad, the R&B legend who passed away in December 2001.
Uliani, you see, is also obsessed with the Thomases and with Memphis soul. He
gave each of the Thomas children plaques and made them Porretta's stars of the
year. The show's emcee was a Brit who spoke in halting Italian.
Carla, who does not perform that often anymore, did spine tingling versions of
her own hits "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)" and "B-A-B-Y." She knocked out
similar renditions of "What the World Needs Now is Love" and performed a
shout-out duet with her sister Vaneese on her old hit, "A Love of My Own." She
even started her set with "Lovey Dovey," the big hit she had with Otis Redding
right before he died in 1967.
The crowd gave Carla a long standing ovation, so Carla encored with Ann
Peebles' "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home." Later Carla, who laid down
a hot groove despite her innate sweetness, said, "I feel bad when I sing that
song. But I like doing it."
The show would have been enough, but on Sunday morning Carla, Vaneese, their
backup singers and Jackie Johnson took the stage at the Frati Cappuccini church
in Porretta. This was something to see, considering the church, of course, is
Roman Catholic and the ladies are Southern Baptists.
Gospel music is heard once a year in the church, and it's the single biggest
day of the year for them. The stone building filled up right into the aisles.
Marvell Thomas took over the organ and Jackie Johnson came forward to sing
"Amazing Grace." There was just enough clapping to make it feel like home, but
not so much that communion wasn't delivered in a timely manner.
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