I am trying, through my niece, Lea
Ann Straight Barnes, as the intermediary, to get the Amici band led by keyboardist
Stephen Pishner, brother of author Diane Pishner Walker, for the Saturday, July
17 J&J&Lions Get-Together in the Monongah Town Hall!
As a bonus I hope to persuade Stephen
to let Denise Roncone, who has a beautiful voice, to sing “God Bless America”
at the July 17 gathering to evoke echoes of Kate Smith’s version in my mind.
Denise has made some recordings with
Stephen and Amici so that might not be a problem. And promised to put in a good
word for me. Now if Amici is available (some members live 2 hours apart) and my
checking account doesn’t get overdrawn we’ll be golden . . .
I Googled and listened to some of
Amici’s songs and they provide soothing, quality music, something that those of
us in our 70s, 80s (like me at 88) and 90s would appreciate when we’re trying
to chat with friends during the 7-9 p.m. music.
The dinner will begin at 6 p.m.
EVERYONE in the building, those at dinner and the band, must have their COVID vaccine shots to be allowed in the
building.
Amici has performed at the Italian
Festival in Clarksburg, the most Italian city in West Virginia. Amici is
Italian for “friends” and that’s exactly who will be at the July 17 gathering,
friends – and family and Monongah High alumni, also qualifying as friends.
There’s not much hair on the Amici heads
which is encouraging for those who don’t want loud music by male musicians
whose hair comes down to their waists.
I see only 4 band members performing
in the Italian Festival in Clarksburg.
Print the Reservation form just below this article, fill it out, put it in an envelope with your check for $20 per person and
mail it to me. It MUST BE IN MY HANDS by June 26 so that I can tell Say-Boy how
many people to cater the food for and how many of the available dinner choices
each selection drew.
Don’t procrastinate. Celebrate with
family, friends, my Fazio cousins, Monongah High alumni and Monongan townsfolk!
Do it NOW! Or be left out of the fun. There will be NO admittance at the door for last-minute showups without a prior Registration so that we can make sure the check doesn’t bounce and that everyone in the Town Hall has had the COVID vaccine!
The J&J stands for John Olesky
and Jackie Olesky Straight, my sister who lives in Rivesville.
MANDATORY songs:
National Anthem
"Country Roads"
"West Virginia Hills"
"God Bless America"
"Mona Lisa"
Not mandatory, but "Merry Widow Waltz"' would be
appreciated, too.
And, since it’s Amici, “Oh, solomeo”
would be nice, too.
My mother grew up in Italy –
Pellizano, birthplace of my grandfather Severino Futten and 5 generations that
preceded him – and my Nona (Mom’s mom) was born in Mione, a 2 block by 3 block “town”
northeast of Pellizano in the foothills of the Alps, which Paula and I saw in
2005 when we entered the 1848 stone home that Nona grew up in with one bedroom that slept all EIGHT family
members.
We went there for a few days after
our 15-day bus trip that included Venice and the Isle of Capri and Rome and
Florence (nighttime in Florence with street performers was among my favorite
memories of that trip).
It’s obvious why I want Amici, or the band I get if Amici can’t
make it or I can’t afford them, for the National Anthem, "Country
Roads," "West Virginia Hills" and "God Bless America."
Those tunes give me goosebumps every time I hear them, stiring
pride of America and West Virginia.
“Mona Lisa” is personal with me. That’s what I called my late
wife as a play on her birth name of Monia Elizabeth Turkette during our
half-century together.
When I pass away I will be buried next to My Mona Lisa in
Northlawn Memorial Gardens in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio under a double grave marker
with “WV” under her name and my name so that any visitors a century from now
will know that we were WVU fans. WVU allows the “WV” on grave markers without
charge for WVU alumni.
As I tell everyone repeatedly, “I will be the happiest man in
the cemetery” alongside the woman who made me the luckiest man on earth, gave
me 3 children, 7 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Well, we had help achieving that
number from the 10 children and grandchildren.
For a coal miner’s son from Monongah I feel like I’ve dodged 88
years of bullets, particularly during my teen stupidity years when the town
kept busy being surrogate parents when I roamed the streets to keep me from
harming myself and their crops.
And during my 25 years of retirement that resulted in trips to
56 countries, 44 states and 30 winters in Florida of up to 4 months with My
Mona Lisa and, for another 15 years, with Paula.
This is NOT the annual Monongah High
Alumni banquet but a John Olesky attempt to get family and classmates together
during the summer as a break from the COVID restrictions.
The annual Monongah High Alumni Banquet will be on Labor
Day weekend at the Knights of Columbus in Fairmont. If you have any questions call
Donna Davis at 304-534-5636.
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