Alright, Summer is over! ((
I'm back from holidays and I'm back to work already. But here's a few sweet memories of Puglia, where i spent two weeks only having to worry about which beach i'd go swim at the following day. I ended up swimming and diving in some wonderful, wonderful places... here's a few pics of them, so i can come back to this page and look at them all at once, when winter will be here and i will have forgotten what a warm sea is...


Vieste



Peschici


Maiaccore


Monopoli


San Isidoro


Le quattro Torri


Punta Prosciutto


Gallipoli



Nardò (the clearest waters!)




My ride in this adventure...


I also managed to stay away from the beach for two minutes to see things such as:

Some wonderful caves

Alberobello and its unique lil buildings


But in the end, i'd also go back to the beach to relax. With a hookah... LOL.

I know, I've neglected this blog a bit, and now I am two hours away from going away on holiday in Puglia, southern italy beaches are awaiting for me!
But, you see, i've been busy... busy stuck with my job as a clerk, fine enough, but also with my alter-ego life as rock photographer... here's a little evidence of what i've been doing, i've been to a TON of concerts in the past two months, taken pics of real myths, idols, i still can't believe i took these pics.
I hope you like them, if you like to see more just click on the band's name and you'll open my photo-blog page for that show.

I wish you all a happy Summer, i'll talk to you in late August.

CIAO!
p.


KISS



METALLICA



DOWN



BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE


EPICA






DARK TRANQUILLITY


DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN


IRON MAIDEN





AVENGED SEVENFOLD


CARCASS


GALLOWS


RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

Primo Maggio: MayDay Parade in Milano

There's people who say that the Worker's Day parade of May 1st has become just another excuse for a big street party in Italy. Maybe it's true, but at least a lot of people came out to protest against precarity AND have a good time at the same time.
And the communist spirit still lives on in my friend Viga:



There were lots of floats, trucks prepared for the party:

Female Workers for Equal Rights


San Precario


And a few interesting people in the streets, like:



And we even stumbled into Dalila, who was taking better pics than me!



All in all, a very good day, first sunny day in ages, first time i got drunk in ages. Here's my devastated face at the end of the parade.


Good to see a ton of people in the streets for a good cause (and some partying).

Please allow me a little self-celebrating post... but i've recently celebrated my 50th cover story published on the magazine i write for! Hoooray!
Here's a few pics and a bit of trivia.

First cover: HARDCORE SUPERSTAR (October 2001)
Fiftieth cover: SERJ TANKIAN (January 2008)


Best cover story i wrote: there's many... but i'd go with IRON MAIDEN, just cause i was flown to their british countryside cottage to interivew them. And cause it's very prestigious

The cover story i am ashamed of: Crazy Town. EEEEEEEEEk. I so didn't want it to end up on the cover, but that's not stuff that i decide.

Bands interviewed twice for the cover: Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, Dark Tranquillity, Slipknot, Machine Head, Otep.

Photos that *I* took, and used for the cover story: 4 (Arch Enemy, Korn, 2 gods of metal festivals)

Craziest person interviewed for the cover: OZZY OSBOURNE. He set up a very exclusive meeting in London with a few journalists from all over Europe, we get there, listen to the new album... and then he doesn't show up, using his son's appendicitis as an excuse. LOL. We rescheduled it as a phoner interview, but clearly that's not the same thing...

Here's my covers laid out:



A pile of covers:


i am pretty fucking proud of this. cover # 51, 52, 53 and 54 have already been laid down and waiting to be printed. Looking forward to cover story # 100, then!

Is it too late to talk about my New Year Eve trip to Wien, Austria?
Hell no, since i have a ton of pics to share with you... i just apologize for not showing them sooner! I'll try to be a more active blogger in 2008, but you know, life gets in the way...

So, anyway. A lil art for you.


And this one too. Macabre statues in an amusement park.

And this artistic toilet. It had walzer music coming out of it, and it was so elegantly decorated. You felt like peeing on the stage of La Scala.

A literal representation of "Stairway to Heaven"?

This is an actual crown, worn by a king. The biggest king of Austria of ancient times. How cool is it, to be in the presence of such artifact?

Here's me consulting a city map. Gay city map
I picked it up at the hotel lobby, can you believe that you can do that in Austria? Amazing.



The Prater, IE Giant Ferris Wheel.


Drunkards in the streets, celebrating New Year's Eve.



And my last sight in Vienna: a big big eye overlooking the train station. Big Brothern anyone? Creepy.



We also saw a ton of cute animals like grosse pandas, koalas, butterflys. Pics in the next update. For now... Happy New Year!

Alright.
I'm in a rush now, gotta catch the train to Wien, and I realize I haven't been online that much lately, let alone updating my blog.
But here i am, after a very satisfying 2007, i wish you all an AMAZING 2008.

Be good while i'm way, see you on january 3rd, hopefully with ton of great party and landscape pics and stories.

CIAO!!!!

Last Sunday me and the crew went to Jungle Raider Park, in other words, a place where you climb on trees, throw yourself around branches, walk on tibetan bridges, walk on a thin line (of steel), and generally put yourself in body hazard at the height of 10 metres off the ground. It was bloody amazing i loved it!!!


Here's what the first part of the track looks like.



You need to get the proper equipment to climb on trees. This includes a male thong. Does it fit me?

And a penis-enhancer device.


My friends walking on the air?




Miss s. braving a tibetan bridge.


Ale swinging from one tree to another.


Me inside an hamster trap?


My turn to walk on this air. This was one of the most phisically difficult passages of the track. Ouch.


And here's a bonus... a small video i took my myself, of myself jumping from one tree to another, until i smash against the branch


What a great experience. I encourage everyone to climb on the next tree and have fun!

Well, well, well.
Another day, another birthday (mine!), so it's high time i updated my blog too.
This summer i returned for the third time to the Sziget Festival in Hungary. Simply because that festival has it all: 12 stages, tons of concerts, chocolate wrestling, foam parties, bongs, thongs, miss wet t-shirt, savage camping rules, ridiculously cheap prices on everything... So here's a pictorial summary of it all. It all happened at SZIGET!

(I won't write any explanation to the pics, just enjoy them and use your imagination to guess what was going on - if you squint your eyes, anyway, you may even recognize some travelmates like Miss S., Firdus, Eratostene, Pink, Gogol Bordello, Leningrad, and a few more...



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And to celebrate the birthday, i also shot a SB set. Have a look at it and have a big laugh at my decaying 31-yo body!

Have a nice day! CIAO!

Right... one last update before going off for holidays (going to Tuscany and then Hungary).

I think the main event of the past few weeks was the mud fight i joined at one of the wonderful Gaia360 nights organized by Reina.
Let's start with a pic of me and her, so you'll understand why she is so good and classy:


When she throws a party, she is always dressed for the occasion! She was the queen of the proom queens at that party, she was an 80s disco junk for the 80s party... wow!
I would have liked to wrestle her as a sign of respect... but i weigh three times more than her, it's more respectful not to crush her, i guess

So here are some of the matches:

Reina vs Firdus
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Reina vs some pretty girl



Hot shocker of the night: Firdus vs Erzsebet
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(in the last pic, check out Reina and Ayane doing referee duty!)

And male main event of the evening: me vs Mr. Firdus, the Son of Sion!
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Reports say that i was too rough and i may have slightly damaged one of his ribs - Firdus wants to sue me cause this affects her sex-life! Help!
(and i lost the match actually!)

Since it'll be a few more weeks before i update again (but leave commets, i'll read them all and reply!), here's two bonuses: a pic of other Sgs at the event (in plain clothes!)


And the video of Firdus/Reina, thanks to Dalila

Ahhh... isn't life ironic. In my previous journal (which was over a month ago - sorry!), i complained about Ozzy not showing up in London but finding goddess Manko instead. In this post, you'll see exactly the opposite (of sorts): i met Tony Iommi of Black sabbath (he's in better shape than Ozzy when he was half Tony's age! LOL!), but then i had one hour left in London, i went to Camden, but Dada Gods (Manko's shop) was closed for the day already!
Here's the two pics, perfect mirror for the ones in the previous post:

Me and Tony


Me without Manko


In other news, i decided to keep my cool by going to a glacier not far from home. Yes, within 2 hours drive i can be at the sea, and within a hour drive (+ a hour by a small mountain train), i can be on top of a mountain, at a perennial glacier on the Swiss border. Here's some of the landscapes.












Talk about ice-cold beer: i got close to the frozen lake and put my can in it for 3 minutes




All hail my travel-mates: ale, vale, silvia, fabietto, apocalypto, pastina.


I love day-trips. Keeps me a busy guy
But i promise i won't be too busy to update the journal more often!
See ya!