Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Amadeus keeps delivering: Last night's share was 54,1% aka 9,36 million viewers and yes, again the best showing for the third night since 1997! Also Mahmood & Blanco keep brreaking records and took over again the first place in the ranking when the scores from the first three nights were combined dropping Elisa to the second place. Drusilla Foer was divine. Cesare Cremonini fantastic! His show made me once again think the Ariston's stage is heavily underused for staging when the competiiton is on. Laura Pausini's performance was great, Cremonini's stunning with the scenography and even pyros! Why don't they use it more for the artists, too?  That Cremonini made me think I must re-listen his catalogue as I have a bit forgotten about him, and also reminded me about the fact a long, long time ago when I was doing night portier in a three star hotel in Rome. A group of five teenagers showed up and wanted the cheapest room so they could just rest a bit and hang aroun...

Marco Mengoni released Guerriero in mid-November and becomes one of the only four double-platinum selling album in Italy in 2014. The other three are Cesare Cremonini's Logico #1 , Francesco Renga's Il mio giorno piú bello nel mondo and Fedez ft Francesco Michielin in Magnifico . I don't have the exact numbers but one thing is sure: he sold the double platinum fastest and the expectations for the release of his new album next week are very high..... Get ready for some Mengonimania in coming weeks :-) Cremonini's success continues when GreyGoose sells platinum, as well as Renga's Vivendo adesso making them the big sellers of the year. Sanremo winner Arisa also sold platinum with Controvento but is also featured in another, Club Dogo's Fragili . Other platinum singles are Biagio Antonacci's Ti penso raramente , Emis Killa's Maracanà , Giorgia's Non mi ami , The Voice winner Lorenzo Fragola's The reason why as well as runner up Madh...

Luca Carboni released his new album Fisico & Politico earlier this year featuring duets with likes of Alice, Franco Battiato, Cesare Cremonini, Tiziano Ferro, Jovanotti, Elisa and others. He's about to start his tour and the kick off is tomorrow in Bologna's Paladozza celebrating 30 years of career. He will have special guests in this concert including Alice . It's the first time ever they perform together. He recalls he met her briefly in 1983 in a music festival He was just beginning his career but she was alredy a Star he also admired and followed. She tells she heard Carboni for the first time in radio and liked what she heard and kept eye (and ear) on the guy. Now 30 years later they finally met again thanks to Tiziano Ferro and recorded Farfallina that according Carboni symbolize the 1980's, the period Alice was one of the music queens.  The other guests that will join Carboni on stage in this occasion are Tiziano Ferro, Biagio Antonacci, Jovanotti an...

I have never been a huge fan of duet albums, and/or albums with remakes of old songs, something rather typical for Italian artists but now there's coming an album I can hardly wait! It seems like a real piss-your-pants material! Luca Carboni celebrates his 30th anniversary in business with an album with a few new songs and reworked versions of his old hits with guest stars. Nothing special here, is it? But then when you look at the guests, it turns into a wet dream: Alice, Franco Battiato, Tiziano Ferro, Elisa, Cesare Cremonini, Biagio Antonacci. .. it's like a reunion of my favorite singers! Add Miguel Bosé, Jovanotti, Samuel Bersani and Fabri Fibra and that's the album I can hardly wait for! It is released October 1, 2013 and will feature these songs (click for the originals, *new tracks): Fisico e politico (Fabri Fibra)* C'è sempre una canzone* Dimentica* Persone silenziose (Tiziano Ferro) Vieni a vivere con me (Elisa) Ci vuole un fisico bestiale ...

This week's videos come a day late as your blogger's been walking the streets of  Rome. And the song I heard the most was Ola 's I'm in love , that was literally playing everywhere. All the time. I also heard Marco Mengoni 's Pronto a correre a few times on radio. Then two older songs as they are among those albums I bought. Roberto Amadé 's Come pioggia (Sanremo 2011) is still a fantastic song I don't get tired of. I did get wet in Rome as well, but summer rain never hurt anyone, especially if it lasts 5 minutes and it's +35! Last but not least Cesare Cremonini . I got his greatest hits and boy, has this guy gone far in his career. I met him and his then band Lunapop in 1998 when they were having their very first TV-appearance in some local TV station in Rome. Poor guys, five of them, could only afford one room in a hotel. The rest is history ! Latin lover is one of my favorites from his solo stuff. Maybe it's time he does Sanremo, or writes...

Emilia: i cantanti italiani si mobilitano per il sisma Bologna stadio dall'Ara 25 giugno Si chiama“Emilia: live” il mega concerto che si terrà il prossimo 25 giugno allo stadio dall'Ara di Bologna in favore dei terremotati dell’Emilia. Per l’iniziativa si sono mobilitati tantissimi artisti, soprattutto del posto, che ben volentieri hanno accettato di cantare per la loro terra senza alcun compenso. L’idea è nata dai Nomadi , in particolare dal leader Beppe Carletti che ha colto la palla al balzo dall’appello lanciato dal consigliere regionale Marco Barbieri, che ha postato su Facebook: “Sono molti gli artisti figli di questa terra o che devono qualcosa all'Emilia. Se li conosco, sono anche loro persone che sanno rimboccarsi le maniche”. Detto, fatto! Il concerto allo stadio dell’Ara ospiterà circa 40mila persone. Il costo del biglietto si aggira tra i 30 e i 35 euro e porterebbe ad una raccolta di quasi 800 mila euro che saranno destinati all’Emilia t...

Cesare Cremonini has released his greatest hits that also includes obviously his hits with Lunapop. Mondo is one of the two new tracks on it featuring Jovanotti and charting high in Italy this summer. I have fond memories of meeting Cesare and the other Lunapop guys back in winter 1998-99 when they were doing their very first TV-appearance in Rome in some night show on a local TV channel.... they were so adorable and excited! The rest is history; 50 special , Un giorno migliore , Qualcosa di grande and more followed with mesasuccess but the band was finished in short years and Cesare went solo starting to score hits on his own name.....  Oh and now he's dating Malika Ayane .