Translation by Davide Andreis
9:53 am
We hit the road since a while… It’s not a beautiful day, at least for me. Dark thoughts, fears, devastating loneliness … On days like this I would listen for hours to L’Ombra della Luce, Carla’s version.
I know that I must recover because this will be a special evening, a unique opportunity to say thank you to Carla. Carla who, I’m sure, with her voice will instill in me all the warmth that today I specially need…
Marco and Flavio, they chat and I write… Their words feel like distant sounds … I’m projected into this evening … the thought that makes me feel good, the expectation of a strong emotion that makes my heart beat with joy!
It is almost time for our first stop for breakfast … And then I think we’ll just listen to God is my dj…
10.37 am
A generous breakfast composed of coffee and pastry with almonds and chocolate … just this morning I expressed the desire to start a diet today. What can I say… The important thing is to be consistent in life!
I listen to Kyrie and all is silent … Only Carla’s voice breaks the silence … This song is beautifully sublime… It fills my soul, for a while it moves and reconciles me with the world…
11.06 am
Some timid snowflake begins to make their appearance … Well, we’ve got snow-chains and I think that what we’ve already done our bit: gas stations’s strike, wheel-rim damaged and a hole in the windshield that I found this morning as Christmas present … It’s enough!
1:45 pm
We’re in Florence … A short and light lunch at Silvia’s and then we’ll start preparing a special evening. Carla is still not very well … but we would like to give her a great night, though it will never be comparable to those nights gives us…
7.09 pm
Two hours to the beginning of the concert … Everything is ready for a special evening, we’re ready to say thank you, Carla … We’re excited, elated, happy … And we drink up, bluffing on a few alcohol degrees of a wine that actually makes us all a bit tipsy…
We wonder how to get to Como tomorrow… They forecast 5 inches of snow this doesn’t excite us… But we’re gonna make it!! We’ve got snow-chains and, believe it or not, I can install it… All we need is at our fingertips! My head spins… Maybe I begin to feel the wine!
9.20 pm
Although Carla is still not so fine, the show gives us great emotions …
Soon as she appears on stage we perceive her own trepidation, the concentration with which she prepares to sing Tempo senza Tempo…
So the concert begins tonight, and we seem to see Carla as she used to be back at “Il Sole nella Pioggia” (the album), long white shirt and tight black pants… Time does not exist, after all…
The audience is hot and this heat warms the atmosphere; the applause wraps Carla right now. Fears vanish and her voice, though tried by the illness of bygone days, fills the theater with its warm tones.
The images projected on the background of the stage beautifully blend with the songs, which are therefore dressed with magical atmosphere… A magnificent concert… A triumph…
During the last song I walk away with Cosetta, Lucia and Sandro. From a distance we hear the huge applause which makes the theater tremble. We get ready to deliver our thanks to Carla on stage… Thanks from all members of the Azimut Club Firenze, founded in the 80’s and then closed down, but still present in the hearts of all of us. Behind the stage I’m scared to death. I feel the importance of the moment … The moment when we will finally say thank you to the artist and the person who, for more than 30 years, filled our lives with music and warmth.
Sandro and Lucia go on stage and start with the introduction. Great! Sandro is a true professional and Lucia then reads the motivation of the prize we are going to give to Carla…
Yes, those words written that day, sitting in a bar… those words that seemed so little compared to what Carla is for us … It’s my turn and Cosetta’s to go on stage and we hand out the Golden Disc and a hardcover fanzine of the 80s, written these days with all our stories. Silvia and Antonella give her a beautiful bouquet. The other Cristina has a plaque for Marco Guarnerio, who appreciated very much; a tribute to 25 years of collaboration with Carla.
Well, perhaps we were able to say thank you as she deserves… Meanwhile Sandro has also received a proposition to present the Festival of Sanremo, but it seems he had to refuse: his stage-assisant girls do not live up to the expected standards…
A party with snacks and champagne followed… and two mega balloons shaped with numbers 4 and 0 to indicate the 40-year career of a timeless artist…
Only one regret… this party was was intended to be a small one for the Azimut Club’s former members… I will not comment about who took advantage of the situation and sneaked in, but I have a lot to say about those people (who are the same) that formed a circle around Carla, who still wasn’t well, not leaving her with a minimum living space …
Nonetheless, Carla was wonderful … She gave us a dream concert and stayed with us during the party, extremely available to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
Tempo senza Tempo 