Mark Di Giuseppe's Stranierofono

Since 1986, Mark Di Giuseppe-"The Legendary Straniero", has been thrilling audiences around the world with his unusual inventions and music. Born in Chicago and now based in Italy, Mark has travelled to many countries and borrowed from many cultures. His musical styles range from Jazz to Rock to Classical to Folk to Reggae to Punk. He sings in English, Italian, Neapolitan, Spanish, Japanese, Swedish, Russian, Portuguese and Rom (Gypsy). In the show Mark sometimes not only changes musical styles, but his physical appearance thanks to a large selection of comical masks, wigs and props

In this video, he is performing "Dancing With the Bride" on his legendary invention.

The Demon Automaton From Milano And The Cabinets Of Curiosity

The demon Automaton potentially created by the Milanese collector, Manfredo Settala

What exactly is a collector? Can the term be defined by an individual that gathers up items around a central idea or construct or is it more related to an individual that amasses a plethora of objects of any sort? This is the fine line between someone such as Fred Sanford and in this particular story, Manfredo Settala.

Without collectors and those that want the past to live on, we would be doomed to repeat history at the cost of losing our sense of identity. Objects from the past, especially those in a historical reference always tether humanity, to the roots of where stories emanate. 

At no other time in recorded history was there such a boom in curiosity and progression of knowledge. The Renaissance was the age of enlightenment and gave rise to critical thinking, a rebirth in artistry and architecture and most of all helped to shift the general populace mindset to a more earth bound perspective. 

Luckily for us, an individual such as Manfredo Settala was there as a craftsman and collector. His collection inspired awe and wonder and the "Wunderkammer" would build the foundations of today's concept of a museum.

Wunderkammer or "Cabinets of Curiosity"

"...a goodly, huge cabinet, wherein whatsoever the hand of man by exquisite art or engine has made rare in stuff, form or motion; whatsoever singularity, chance, and the shuffle of things hath produced; whatsoever Nature has wrought in things that want life and may be kept; shall be sorted and included." 

[Sir Francis Bacon]

Mechanical instrument that was part of Manfredo Settala's collection

Mechanical instrument that was part of Manfredo Settala's collection

Section below copied from Bibliodyssey

"It's little wonder that the drama and embellishment of the baroque aesthetic gave rise to a 17th century enthusiasm for the wunderkammer or 'cabinets of curiosity' that would eventually beget our modern museums. I was a little surprised in reading around at just how popular they were across Europe. Increased world travel and trade brought a variety of oddities back to the monied elite who would display them in order to demonstrate a deeper understanding of their changing world.

One such famous collector was Manfredo Settala (1600-1680) of Milan who Filippo Picinelli described as "the Archimedes of our century". Settala was from a noble family and had an opportunity to travel abroad early in life when his fascination for collecting all manner of unusual naturalistic, ethnological and artistic specimens began. He was also interested in science and became proficient in metalwork and the instruments he crafted on a lathe were added to his collection; which also included a huge library.

During the 1660s a catalogue of his 3000-odd specimens was commissioned and artistic contributions to the inventory were made by Domenico Tencala, Francisco Porro, Giovanni Battista, Francisco Volpino, Alfonso Coast, Carolo a Sole and Carolo Galluzio. The images here are from the 3rd volume (the first 2 are housed in the library at Modena) and depict vases, clocks, animals, skulls, jewellery, crockery, precious stones and crystals and the instruments made by Settala himself. Some of these latter objects were modified with for instance magnets (eg. the fish in the image above would spin) so as to increase their novelty value."

Sketch of Manfredo Settala in his library or Wunderkammer

Oil painting of Manfredo Settala

Sketch of Manfredo Settala's Wunderkammer, translated to Collection of Curiosities

Reno Divorce - European Tour 2012

The fellas are playing stages far and wide for their three week trek across the pond. One of the big highlights was playing to over 2000 folks in downtown Berlin. Here is some info coming in from the fellas over on their news section of RenoDivorceBand.com

5.3.12

"It's hard at times to truly be able to give fans and family a good perspective of life on the road unless you have been out here with us.  I know that most of you live from a perspective of, those guys are just on one big long vacation of endless parties countless adoring fans and an imaginary road crew that travels with us so that we just walk out on to the stage.....as good as that sounds it is very far from the norm...we work extremely hard out here with no days off most of the time, all in the hope that more than 25 people will show up to the club that night to enjoy the show along with buying up some merch so that we will have enough gas to get down the road to the next city.  The shows in the Czech Republic were ones that I thought would be some of the biggest, but in the end turned out a little light, which manly has to do with promotion and the fact that we played on the same night as one of their favorite holidays, but a HUGE thanks goes out to all the adoring CZ fans that came out those nights to watch us.  Now please, do not take from this that i'm complaining at all, as a band we have done things that most bands back home would beg to do, but at times I fill my head with doubt and wonder if the hours and hours that I have spent away from my, our, families and friends is paying off.....then we are treated to the show we had in BERLIN!!!

Reno Divorce at Kuz Kreuz in Germany

Strolling through Dresden, Germany

We did not expect this show to be as big as it was.  A few years ago we were fortunate enough to be asked to play at the With Full Force Festival, which a band at our level was very lucky to play, we performed in front of more than 3000 out of control german fans, which thus far has been the highlight of our careers.  Now the show in Berlin I predicted at best would be a small festival where we played on the grass underneath a tent....I couldn't have been more wrong.  We were set up on a mobile stage right in the middle of downtown Berlin where I'm guessing at least 2000 watched and more than 6 to 8000 people passed by as we played.  "Mayday" in Berlin in like nothing I have experienced.  We saw at least 60 to 80 police vans and 500 or more cops dressed in full riot gear....it was fucking insane.  See what I mean....the turn around.

The gig that was played here in Zlotow, PL at the Generator club was rad!!  This is a town that we have never played before and had no idea how it would turn out....Thank you to all the new fans that came out and to the hospitality of the promoter and his crew. I can only hope that the pictures come out showing the crowd at different times during the show lifting Brent and I up to crowd surf while we were still playing come out, that was a first for both of us.  Now, I'm not saying that while this was happening my guitar playing was any good but I did give it my all and was praying that they weren't going to drop me on my head.  This is an area without a doubt that we want and will come back to.

So tonight we are off to Warsaw and without jinxing anything I only see blue skies ahead"

Timmy giving the horns on some downtime backstage on the road in Europe

Reno Divorce catching up on all things promotions and email on the road in Europe

Timmy, Brent, Reuben and Tye of Reno Divorce

4.27.12

"So the first time we were in Italy was over 2 1/2 years ago, when we played only one date while on tour with the US Bombs...So the first 5 dates of the tour (aside from the first one in Timelkam) started in Italy.  

The first question I had was answered extremely quickly, "Will the Italian's coffee reputation hold up?"  Oh my GOD, it surpassed all my expectations and the best part was the price.  It was much cheaper than we normally pay at home.  Now the bad news is that I'm going to have to go back on regular coffee which before was very enjoyable but now fails in comparison to it's Italian counterpart.

Reuben, Timmy and Tye of Reno Divorce at the Coliseum in ancient Rome

Tye, Reuben and Timmy of Reno Divorce at the Coliseum in ancient Rome

We want to give a huge thank you to all the fans that came out to these first 5 shows.  Playing during the week is usually hit and miss anyway, but everything ran very smooth and being able to have a little bit of time to visit the Colosseum in Rome was also a huge treat.  There are so many things that the band would like to have time to stop and check out but when you have 5 and 6 hour drives everyday it normally just isn't possible.  

The first gig was in Kaltern which is actually a german speaking region, day 2 in Massa, day 3 in Rome, day 4 in Montecchio, and the final day in Rho/ Milan.  All of the promoters treated us with tons of respect and are looking forward to the next time we come back.  We also were very fortunate to make friends with a band that has been touring Europe for a while....THE MAHONES!!  This is a great band and just a wonderful group of people to hang out with.  At last years Sjock festival in Holland we only talked with them briefly before they hit the stage, so this was a cool opportunity to be able to play a few shows with them.  I know that from our end, we would be more than happy to be able to do more shows with Finny, his wife Katie and the rest of the boys!!!  Thanks guys

Food to go in Italy, small salad of Mozzarella and tomatoes

Fans in Italy were stoked to see the band

Italy brought an amazing welcome reception to Reno Divorce

Another great highlight of these shows was the gig in Montecchio in which we played a show with the legendary punk band 7 Seconds.  Kevin and the guys could not have been nicer to us and we are really looking forward to our gig with them tomorrow in Fulda.  Most of their set consists of their earlier music from the first two albums....Lots of energy and a pleasure to watch..

To close out, our close friend Doug who is here with us to help out with the merch is still here and the good news is that he made it past the first week without taking the first plane back to the States.  We win....anyway look for another tour update in a few days...... L8R

Reno Divorce at Kutna Hora

Reno Divorce after their show in the Czech republic

 

Bimota Concept Bikes Powered By S and S XWedge VTwin

Bimota has come out with some very sleek designs in their concept drawings for a new cafe racer style bike aiming towards the US Audience and those wanting a performance driven v-twin powerplant. Personally I think these are amazing looking and from looks alone appear to be well thought out when it comes to performance and handling. No lines seem to crazy to adjust to and look to be a rider right off the showroom floor. Ok, when are they available?

Link to Bimota Motorcycles USA

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Find more concept motorcycles on BikeGlam.com

"The Italian designer Oberdan Bezzi is always very prolific of interesting ideas and fascinating projects. The latest offering from Oberdan Bezzi is known as Bimota XXX Concept. This mighty Drag-cruiser is more than a nod to the American audience than the Europeans.

 

The chassis is made of high quality items and best brands, as always in Bimota. According Oberdan: “The driving position is quite absurd for the pilot of the Old Continent, but it seems like the American biker.” The engine uses Power Cruiser Custom typical American with a look that will delight the most of the cafe -racers."

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi

Bimota Concept cafe racer style developed by Oberdan Bezzi