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WorksDances with Spiders: Italian Roots Music With Bite
From PopMatters, my feature on the Italian roots band Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino on the eve of their successful North American tour, Fall 2011. Thoughts Without Cigarettes
In "Thoughts Without Cigarettes," Oscar Hijuelos recreates his childhood as the son of Cuban immigrants in New York, his development as a writer, and how he wrote the novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," that made him the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for literature.  Thoughts Without Cigarettes (204.3KB) Review of Oscar Hijuelos' memoir, from the New York Journal of Books The Potter's Field
My review of "The Potter's Field" by Andrea Camilleri. This installment in the internationally popular Inspector Montalbano series was published in Italy in 2008 and in English translation by Stephen Sartarelli in 2011. "A Finook in the Crew"
"A Finook in the Crew: Vito Spatafore, The Sopranos, and the Queering of the Mafia Genre" looks at one of the most controversial and compelling Sopranos narratives -- that of the gay gangster Vito Spatafore. "A Finook in the Crew"
Google Books Rocking Chair Blues
For 12 consecutive weeks PopMatters ran my track-by-track analysis of Howlin' Wolf's "Rocking Chair" album, one of the most influential recordings in the history of the blues and an ur-text for many rock artists -- The Rolling Stones, The Doors,Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, Lucinda Williams, and many more. Whose Family Values? The Cinema of Ferzan Ozpetek
Ferzan Ozpetek, the Turkish-born Italian film director, has made a mark on Italian and world cinema since his debut feature "Bagno Turco (Steam)", in 1997. He's the only director in Italy to consistently challenge homophobia and to create credible, non-stereotyped gay characters. My paper focuses on his most recent film, 2010's "Mine vaganti" (Loose Cannons). 
Mafia Movies
Mafia Movies, edited by Dana Renga and published by University of Toronto, is a groundbreaking volume that offers fascinating, in-depth and often surprising commentary on one of the most popular film genres, from its inception to recent entries like "The Sopranos." It includes my essays on two Italian films, "The 100 Steps" and "Forever Mary." Bread, Wine, and Soul
In 1995,I interviewed the great saxophonist Joe Lovano for the journal Voices in Italian Americana (VIA)about his career in jazz, and how his Sicilian background has influenced his music. 
Mediated Ethnicity, a new collection of critical essays, includes my "Identity Crises: Race, Sex, and Ethnicity in Italian American Cinema"
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition
From 1920 to December 1933, Americans were forbidden by law to manufacture, possess, or distribute alcoholic beverages. Daniel Okrent explains how and why it happened in "Last Call." The Pope is Not Gay!
The late Italian journalist Angelo Quattrocchi raised the hackles of some -- and delighted many - with his irreverent take on Benedict XVI's homophobia. Here's my review, from the New York Journal of Books Mara La Fatia ("Work is Hard")
Antonio Castrignanó's "Mara La Fatia" evokes a bygone world with voice and rhythm, but without nostalgia Mara La Fatia by Antonio Castrignanó (69.3KB)
The Poetry of Politics
Italian politician Nicola "Nichi" Vendola speaks about a "better Italy" Mambo Siciliano
From PopMatters: 'Latinista' Roy Paci, the Sicilian trumpeter, bandleader, and vocalist, brings his band Aretuska and their global sound to America Keef's 'Life'
From the New York Journal of Books, my review of "Life," Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' memoir -- one of the top nonfiction books of 2010. "All I Ever Wanted to Do Was to Open an Italian Restaurant"
Music video pioneer ("Beat It"), film director ("Dinner Rush")and New York restaurateur Bob Giraldi talks about 9/11, wiseguys, and his abiding love for cucina italiana. A Profile of Bob Giraldi (112.0KB)
Very Cellular Songs
The ISB embodied hippie counterculture values and were forerunners of world music. Fledg'ling Records has re-released their late 60s albums and they hold up surprisingly well. The 'Lion' of Salsa
From Descarga: An Appreciation of the great Venezuelan salsa singer Oscar D'Leon An Appreciation of Oscar D'Leon (133.5KB)
New Italian Routes
Sicily's Carmen Consoli, Calabria's Massimo Ferrante, and Naples' Enzo Avitabile offer an alternative italianita' in their new albums The Massa Meltdown
Why the fall of New York Congressman Eric Massa isn't (just) a laughing matter The (Eric) Massa Meltdown (133.1KB)
Levon Helm's Electric Dirt
Many years after the acrimonious breakup of The Band, drummer/singer/mandolinist Levon Helm returns with the best record of his career Personal Choice, Political Act
Not only a loss of faith motivates former Catholics to choose "de-baptism" An Offer We Can’t Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America
(Faber and Faber/Farrar, Straus, Giroux) "For years, Italian antidefamation groups have denounced "The Sopranos," as well as such films as "The Godfather" and "GoodFellas," for reinforcing stereotypes ... De Stefano elevates this argument beyond a routine diatribe into a thoughtful, thorough analysis tracing the evolution of these vexing pop-culture icons, why their "dangerous allure" remains an enduring attraction, and how they impact perceptions about Italian-Americans." --Boston Globe
"It's All 'Too Much'"
Labor journalist Sam Pizzigati on American inequality, corporate malfeasance, and Obama's economics “A Burning Hatred for the Ruling Class”: Frank Barbaro’s Radical Life, from the (Brooklyn) Docks to the (New York) Supreme Court
Former New York State Assembly member and State Supreme Court Justice Frank Barbaro, born in 1927 in Brooklyn, New York to immigrant parents from Sicily and Calabria, is one of the last living links to a milieu that has been called “the lost world of Italian American radicalism.” Barbaro achieved success in electoral politics without diluting his radicalism. The Hugh Tracey Recordings:
Colonial Dance Bands and Bulawayo Jazz Bulawayo Jazz and Colonial Dance Bands comprise some 50 tracks that Hugh Tracey, the noted English collector of African music, recorded between 1950 and 1952, before liberation movements transfered power from Europeans to Africans. |
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