Links
Ok, one thing you will notice as you read the links below is that I am just oozing (yuck.) with compliments for all whom I have listed. But that’s exactly my point. If I didn’t have something really great to say about someone, then I didn’t include that person here. What you will find below are great, quality people who are really, really good at what they do.

Recording Studios & Live Sound

Maxim Entertainment Group   www.maximentertainmentgroup.com
The site of another extremely talented friend, Joe Dillilo. Joe plays some awesome guitar and great Bacharach-esque piano which are very useful in his composing and producing. I wrote ‘True Love’ and ‘I Am Alone’ with Joe. Also, another guy to contact if you are looking to record demos, a CD or master in the Chicago area. Also does a fair amount of jingle composition and web audio.

Soundz AVL   www.soundzavl.com
This is the site/company of ‘C’ Etian, an all-around great guy. Helped me out many a time with gear, work and a place to stay. Great with servicing his customers and very knowledgeable—he’s been in the biz for 32 years! Soundz is located in the Chicago area (oh yeah, also in Atlanta, GA) and does sound and lighting for concerts, parties, conventions and fashion shows. Plus, ‘C’ also operates a DJ company called The Dance Machine that does really great presentations for weddings, parties, conferences and the like.

Photography, Graphic and Web Design
Elizabeth Stroll   www.elizabethstroll.com
I can explain Elizabeth Stroll and her work in one word – WOW! She’s an incredibly talented and creative graphic designer, and man, what a photographer. She’s awesome and has a great mind for design, mood, emotion. She’s in Chicago. If you can work with her—do it!

Andrea   www.andreadegrada.com
the site of kick-butt photographer and web-designer named, Paglia (shhhh, his real name is Andrea). He’s from the Milan area and great guy who’s always snappin’ cool pics. He comes to many of my gigs and other musician’s, and is always very supportive of many groups on the Milan music scene.

True Artists and Bands
Len Mormino   www.broadjam.com/artists/artist.asp?artistID=11136
The site of my cousin and best friend, Len Mormino. Ok, so that’s one reason why he’s here on the link page. However, it’s also because he is a great songwriter. Len is a very positive person; everyone wants to hang with him because he is so genuine and sincere, and it totally shows in his writing. He is a firm believer in personal growth and striving for one’s best. I dig his messages, and they are presented in a formats ranging from light-pop, dance and sometimes a bit folky. Check him out, coo stuff!

Vincent Truman   www.vincenttruman.net
This is the site of artistic madman, Vincent Truman. I met Vincent through a songwriter group to which we belonged. Later he put together a showcase at which I played and we became friends from that point on. You may notice his name, as he wrote my bio. His site is a must see. He’s brilliantly artistic—a songwriter, actor, writer, comic and most of all—professional goofball. He is hilarious and waaaaaaaaaaay out there! I love his mind and he is just a great person. Every so year now (yes, I intended that) when Vincent and I get together in Chicago, it is great night of laughing, drinking too much beer, and then too much coffee at the Golden Corral on, I want to say, Lincoln Avenue? Just think kinda gross, greasy spoon and you’ll get the picture.

Giampaolo Pasquile (GiamPianoMan)  http://www.giampaolopasquile.com/
Where to start with Giampaolo...?  Where to start...?  First of all he's from Salerno, which is in the south of Italy in the province of Campania (about 60km or 40 miles southeast of Napoli).  Now he lives in Milan.  Second, he's just a great, straight-forward, no-bullshit, honest guy.  The type of person I really jive with.  Third, WOW!  He's a really, really awesome piano/keyboard player, songwriter and producer.  Fourth, to tie it all together, he's a really good friend.     That's why it's so cool he's now a part of my band, as well.  But go check out his site and you'll see what I mean.

Coma   www.comalive.it
Coma is a Guns ‘n’ Roses tribute band from Milan and they ROCK! (Coma is a G’n’R song from the Use your Illusion 1 album) They are a group of great guys with whom I always have a good time. From the time I met these guys, they have been very supportive of what I do. In fact, they were the first group to ask me to do a tune with them at a show. (Thanks again, Christian and Simone!) Oh, and if you want to learn Lombard dialect slang and vulgarities, then talk with the bassist, Natale. I’ve tried, however, I’m a bad student, as I’ve only learned (or can remember ) one phrase which means to f--- off!

Kick Start   www.kick-start.it
Kick Start is another cool Milanese group. They are a power trio fronted by a very talented singer and lead guitarist, Joey Salati. Along with Marco on bass and Michele on drums they play their own tunes that lean toward more of a 70’s AOR sound. Really good.

Fuori Uso   www.fuoriusoweb.com
Fuori Uso (Out of Order) is a glam-rock band from a suburb outside of Bergamo. These guys are just plain cool. Very fun to hang out with, very sincere, honest dudes who have played together since they all started playing music as teen-agers. The awesome thing to see about these guys is that they are all buddies, they grew up together. Plus, the bassist, Lucky and the guitarist, Evan (Van Toxic) are brothers. So, yeah, these guys are tight as buds, and as a band.

Web ‘Zines

I feel the need to get on my soap box here and express some thoughts. As I have written in the past, the present state of the music industry—Sucks. Did I say Sucks? Oh, yeah, it Sucks! The big 4 (yeah, only 4 major labels left in the world!) don’t want to hear from artists like me or the songwriters and bands above. The reasons why are numerous, and I could write text book about it all. A discourse for another time, as my real point is this: one of the reasons why I have fans on the globe is because of the people below. Like me, they do what they do because they love the music. They all have day jobs, and then do what they really love for little nothing. It’s a ton of work! Take a look at each site below and you will see what I mean. For an independent artist like myself, these people are an extremely integral part of the industry. We are helping each other do what we want to do—music. Together we are keeping REAL music alive. I’m getting down now…#!@%, Blast! I fell.

SLAM!   www.slamrocks.com
SLAM! is the site of the awesome web designer and journalist from Milan, Italy, Moreno Lissoni. Go to his site and you’ll see what I mean. Yes, it caters to more of the 80’s Rock/Glam rock crowd (not me), which still has a very large following in Europe. This is, of course, unlike the States where this whole genre is pretty much dead and its fans are very in the closet. At the same time, Moreno strives to expose artists of other genres as well (yup, like me). So you will see artists of commercial pop-rock, hard-rock and metal. This site is way pro and FULL of very informative content in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Slowly, Moreno’s work is becoming noticed as Glam acts from the U.S. that want to tour again constantly contact him for help. My hope is that he can soon quit his day job and do SLAM! full-time because he is that good.

Glory Daze   www.glory-daze.com
Glory Daze is based in Aukland, New Zealand and is dedicated mostly to hard rock from the 70’s and 80’s. At the same time, like Moreno of SLAM!, they look to expose the world to what is cool and new. George Thatcher heads up Glory Daze and does a great job with the site. Luigi Cisaria gave me quite the sparkling review, and we also did a really cool interview. Great site, great people!

ROCKUM   www.rockumweb.com
ROCKUM is the baby of Gino Alaches from Lima, Peru. Although my contact with Gino has been strictly via email, he has always been very up-front and honest with me. No B.S. here. If my record sucked he would have reported just that in the review he did. (Whew! Glad he didn’t think it sucked.) He is, yet, another music aficionado who started by reporting and reviewing about hard rock/metal/glam. But now tries to present what is cool, happenin’ and new, like me-yippeee! (Ok, so sometimes I like to be dork.)

Melodic.Net   www.melodic.net
Melodic.Net is in Stockholm, Sweden and is run by Par Winberg.
Cool guy who runs a very cool site.

Bars – Cool places to hang out
Busker   www.busker.it
Busker (pronounced “Bah-sker”) is very cool bar and place to play. It’s tucked away in a suburb (Vimodrone) near the metro just outside the northeast part of Milan. The owner, Elio , who is a great musician in his own right, is just a down-right, awesome guy.
Whether I am playing or just hangin’, Elio and his head waiter, Marco (good guitarist) are always extremely accommodating.

Cathouse   www.cathouse.it
Cathouse is the brainchild of Rock ‘n’ Roll Madman, rock journalist and goofball---
Roby Comanducci. Cathouse is an 80’s Glam/Metal themed night that Roby does at various clubs around Milan every Friday and Saturday night. Everything that was Glam/Rock/Metal hip in the 80’s can be seen and heard here—guys and girls with big hair, big boobs (just the women), scantily clad, make-up, cool boots and, of course, all the popular and obscure music of the 80’s. For me, it’s like taking a walk into the past around 1985. Kinda cool, kinda fun. For everyone else, it’s what is hip now. For example, my chickie-chick is in love with the Girls, Girls, Girls CD from Motley Crue. When I asked her if nineteen years or so of that album was enough since the time it was released, she gave me this puzzled look that said, “What the hell are you talking about?” Then it occurred to me, “Hmmmnnn, when did you first hear this record?” Her response (translated, of course): “Oh, I don’t know…maybe a little more than a year ago.” It’s that way here for much of the music from the 80’s. Well, actually a lot of American music, it just didn’t arrive in certain parts of Italy. Kinda funny.