Ramblings From The Road
"The website Abruzzo2000 states that your Lupone ancestors originated from the town of Pratola Peligna, Province L'Aquila, Italy. Are you the granddaughter of Pasquale Lupone & Felicia Petrella? Do you know the names of their parents? Please post answer on your website. Thank you, Tom"
Dolls,
This is where the Ramblings start this month. Yes, Tom. I am the granddaughter
of Pasquale Lupone & Felicia Petrella. Felicia Petrella's parents' names
are Gaetano Petrella and Maria Guiseppa. I do not know my grandfather's
parents' names. Now what?
So, I'm still in search of my ancestors. We cannot find Grandpa Patti. Man, he must have been a hustler. He is nowhere to be found in Italy. I've had two different geneologists working on it and I still don't know where he was born in Sicily. I'd love to know what he was hiding. So now my desire for an Italian passport has to come through Grandpa LuPone... Pasquale. Let's hope he's got nothing to hide. Somebody out there help me.
I hear the Abruzzi region is fabulous. My friend Reg Rogers loves it there. And that's where the LuPone's come from. Oy, the search for my family is incredibly hard.
Now... on to California. I had the best time I've ever had in California since I started going there in 1976, and that's saying a lot. When I was younger and going out there to audition, I would get incredibly depressed because I wasn't pretty enough, wasn't thin enough, just wasn't enough. Once at an audition, the prototype was me, Patti LuPone. Then, at the audition, in the room, I was actually wrong for the prototype. I mean it's just been a disaster for me in LA. On the other hand, LA has always been good to me. I've always been fortunate there. So, go figure what I'm talking about.
This time around, I made my third appearance on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in "Mahagonny" with the LA Opera. I was intimidated for sure because I'm not an opera singer but I was blessed with a phenomenal company who thrived under the direction of John Doyle. So rehearsals were always interesting, always creative, even though I find the piece dense and confusing at times. The cast was fun, talented, had a sense of humor, and of course, as always, I formed a bond with some very wonderful people. The sun was shining in California on a great experience... in the rehearsal and playing of "Mahagonny"... in friendships that were formed... in meeting up with old friends that I hadn't seen in over twenty years... reuniting and being conducted by a classmate from Juilliard I hadn't seen in over 35 years... in meeting a dear friend's new baby... it's as if it was a karmic payback that I'm just not used to. I must have done something right at some point and this time the universe was supporting me... except for the damn traffic. I swear to God, the people driving the cars in LA are from another planet. However, I'm home and so glad to be, but I miss my California experience. Oh well, "That is show business."
It's cold here in Connecticut. My beloved son Joshua and I tried to flood our pond. But I failed him miserably. Here's what I did. We got the snow off and then I took a garden hose and started flooding the pond. Josh took a brush and started to sweep off the slush because the house water was warmer than the ice. It looked beautiful and looked like a sheet of glass until he skated on it the next day and said it was the worst ice ever. So somebody out there tell me how to flood a natural pond. Who knows how and who's done it? I'm afraid of siphoning because I'm afraid of weakening the ice.
I'm going to close with Katrin's suggestion for a California hike. Find Crystal Cove just north of Laguna. It's a state park with trails, a funky collection of 1920's cabins on the water, a nice little restaurant, the beautiful Pacific ocean, and history. Yea!
California Dreaming!!!!!! All the leaves are brown... and the sky is grey... yah yah yahhhhhhhh. (Did she really choke on a ham sandwich, or was that Jimi Hendrix?)
Love,
Patti