Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Gianluca at home without electricity (from his Instagram) The past few days we have read again by the terrible earthquakes that keep hammering central Italy since months. This week  four strong ones caused further damage to the zones that are also suffering these days also from the excessive cold and snowfall (most snow in 70 years) up to 1,5 meters, that has also caused the electricity be missing. The most tragic news came yesterday when a whole hotel has been distroyed by an avalanche caused by the earthquake. Hotel Rigopiano in Farindola is no more, and over 30 people are still missing; two has been found alive, two dead so far. The helpers have had to ski there for ten kms as there has been no other way to reach them. Il Volo's Gianluca Ginoble, who is living the tragedy closely being from the region, Roseto degli Abruzzi has told in social medias the owner of the hotel is a good friend of his, and he was ment to be in the hotel for some relax but never made it there a...

Never stopping Nina Zilli besides touring again has time to take up a new challenge as the presenter of Italian MTV Hip hop awards in Milan on 12.12.12.  Here is more information and the nominations. The king of of them is Emis Killa with seven nominations including best album, best new artist, best artist and best song! He has released his debut album this year and already five singles of it including Parole di ghiaccio , Cashwoman  and the title track L'erba cattiva . Club Dogo and Marracash both gained five nominations. Club Dogo is also featured in Eros Ramazzotti's new album in Testa o cuore . And all three have joined forces in  Se il mondo fosse , that is also one of the nominees for the song of the year and a charity track for the Emilia earthquake victims. 

Remember the earthquake in Italy this May? 190 towns and villages suffered in six different Italian provinces; Bologna, Modena, Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Mantova and Rovigo causing damage of 13,2 billion euros.  Today the big charity concert will be held to collect money for those in need and reconstruction of the area, especially the schools for 140.000 students who were left without proper school buildings. 150.000 tickets have been sold, eight special trains from all over Italy bring people to the venue in Reggio Emilia, SKY will broadcast the concert plus interviews with the artists on its channels and most every local radio station has united in collaboration to broadcast the concert live, too.  The gates opened at 9am and the concert is due to start at 8pm. The artists are: Biagio Antonacci, Claudio Baglioni, Elisa, Tiziano Ferro, Giorgia, Jovanotti, Ligabue, Liftiba, Fiorella Mannoia, Negramaro, Nomadi, Renato Zero and Zucchero . Unfortunately Laura Paus...

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...

As you may know, there was another strong earthquake in the northern-central Italy hitting the areas that were damaged already 9 days ago. Today we had at least 15 victims and serious material damage. Nina Zilli put this message to her official Facebook :  ogni tanto la natura ci ricorda chi è che comanda e a noi non resta che AIUTARCI. usate questa pagina per linkare aiuti, info e tutto quello che vi pare per far fronte alle disgrazie di tanti esseri umani. un abbraccio grande, sono con voi. stay soul z sometimes the nature shows us who's in charge and all we can do is HELP US. please use this page to link help and useful information and anything you want in this misfurtune of so many human beings. a big hung, i'm with you. stay soul. z And indeed there is a lot of information; which hotels are offering free accommodation for those in need, what to do to help people use Skype where phones are not working and so on. The initiative contin...

The biggest stars in Italy have united in to record a song called Domani (Tomorrow) . All profits go to save the culture in Abruzzo region through Salviamo la cultura in Abruzzo organisation, distroyed by the earthquake earlier this year. The song was recorded on April 21 in Milan. More charity events to support and help the people of Abruzzo are planned, including all female cast concert organized by Laura Pausini in San Siro stadium in Milan this summer. Here's the list of the artists taking part on this record: Afterhours, Niccolò Agliardi, Albano , Alioscia, Malika Ayane, Claudio Baglioni, Franco Battiato , Baustelle, Samuele Bersani, Bluvertigo, Caparezza, Luca Carboni, Caterina Caselli, Carmen Consoli, Cesare Cremonini, Vittorio Cosma, Dolcenera, Elio e le Storie Tese, Elisa, Niccolò Fabi, Fabri Fibra, Giusy Ferreri, Tiziano Ferro, Eugenio Finardi, Frankie Hi Energy, Giorgia, Gianluca Grignani, J.Ax, Jovanotti, Ligabue, Mango, Gianni Maroccolo, Marracash, Gianni Morandi , Mo...

Madonna, who's grandparents Gaetano and Michelina come from the earthquake zone in Abruzzo, has donated almost 400.000 euros to help the victims and reconstruction. Ciccone family, Madonna's cousins still live in and around Pacentro, a tiny village up the mountains. Madonna visited them for the first time during her Who's that girl tour back in 1987. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZdfKNPiib4

Help the victims of the terrible earthquake in Abruzzo region and the city of L'Aquila in particular. My thoughts go to those who lost their homes, loved ones or their own life. I know some of them personally. Forget Eurovision and all the nonsense for a moment and use your Paypal for something that really matters... Un caro saluto per tutti i miei amici e l ettori in Italia. Lasciate perdere l'Eurofestival per un momento e aiutate le vittime di L'Aquila e Abruzzo. Ogni euro conta. Sotto trovate due indirizzi x donazioni on line. The National Italian American Fund https:// www.niaf.org/relief/Relief_info.asp Italian Red Cross http:// www.cri.it/donazioni/index.php?mode=form&version=e&paypal=