02/07/2025
First we had to pick up the Mellotron at Claudio Simonetti's house. When we arrived Claudio's dogs had just escaped into a valley. He let us inside and disappeared for half an hour.
Then the day of Fabio Frizzi's interview, Fabio had magically arranged to film on the roof of Palazzo Senatorio, Rome's City Hall. We drove to central Rome in a procession of two Fiats, us and a gracious friend following Fabio and Claudio Simonetti's Mellotron in the first car.
At the first traffic circle over the bridge, a policeman sent us back, because this morning happened to be a breast cancer walk. 50,000 people w/ balloons were marching between us and our destination. We saw Fabio get out of his car and gesticulate wildly to the cop. Arms were flying, shoulders were hunching, hands were demonstrating the reality of the situation. It was a sonata of body language. Magically, Fabio convinced the Roman cop to quickly stop this major parade and let us through.
At 11:59 we arrived on the rooftop of the Palazzo, an incredible building surrounded by monuments, gardens, and ruins. The camera was set, the sky was blue, Rome was gorgeous, Fabio was wired for sound, Claudio Simonetti's Mellotron was humming. And exactly at noon.... every single church in Rome began ringing its bells in joyous nonstop exultation for at least a quarter-hour. It must have been a Sunday.
By the time the bells stopped, we were short on time, as the rooftop was needed for a wedding. But it didn't matter. Fabio Frizzi was eloquent, passionate, hilarious, and charming. Besides warmly discussing his relationship to the Mellotron, and his compositions for the finest Italian horror films, he described this day perfectly: "It's like something from a Fellini movie!"
The MELLODRAMA book is underway, and we have a few copies of the documentary DVD & soundtrack CD. The movie came to streaming services last year, and remains the only known film to bring together Fabio Frizzi, Brian Wilson, Rod Argent, Rick Nielsen, and Opeth
https://www.bazillionpoints.com/.../mellodrama-the.../
https://www.bazillionpoints.com/.../mellodrama-the.../
