....... We couldn't miss FRANK TENAGLIA'S show this year at the Festa. Last year we missed it because of the extreme heat - nearly 100 degrees! I don't know how anyone can perform in that heat, but thank goodness this year was a lot cooler! I don't do well in extremely hot weather, as you can see by our Florida photos. We were lucky also, as was Frank, that just as he FINISHED his show, it started to rain with dark clouds all around, and an announcement over the loud speaker to take cover as a "fast-approaching severe thunderstorm" was on its way. Well, it just got real windy, but didn't rain much so we stayed outdoors, though the photo we took with Frank was a bit dark and didn't turn out well in other ways, so that one's not here. The BEST part was our enjoyable and VERY interesting long chat with Frank. Frank is the nicest guy, and talked to us as if he'd known us forever. Both Settimio and I were thrilled to hear his views on various singers, singing, and his own life and career! It was a great pleasure meeting Frank finally, and we plan on seeing him again next year when I'm sure he'll be back at our Milwaukee Italian festa. This was his 6th or 7th year performing here, and the audience loves him!

.....I can't forget to mention that FRANK TENAGLIA presented to us a copy of his new CD, as a gift, with 10 beautiful songs on it!! That was SO nice and generous of him, and we love all the songs already! He has such a beautiful, powerful voice, at both full and mezza-voce, and really should be an opera star! "M'appari and "Una Furtiva Lagrima" were especially fantastic on the CD, and on #10 he even sings an English pop song called, "Take My Hand" - quite a departure from what he normally sings. He sang a couple songs from this CD as well as others not on it at this concert, and had a 5-piece band with him. We felt his voice really deserved to be heard with a much larger band or orchestra. He spoke about and praised Mario Lanza before singing songs like "Be My Love", and "Because". In addition to his singing, we really enjoyed his many jokes and funny stories ---and told him he could be a comedian too! This added to the success of his very personable and entertaining show.