What Really, Really Happened to the Realy Real Iva Zanicchi

Evidently a paraquel (please read the previous blog post)

Antonio came home and found the house empty and when he saw Iva's jewellery and money gone, he flew into a rage: broke dishes, smashed and threw furniture around. Eventually he settled down and phoned Giorgio, the head of Iva's record label. There was a standing order that if anything happens only Giorgio is to be called and nobody else. Giorgio listened and said "Be in front of the house in half an hour". 

Giorgio picked him up in his car and they headed South. Antonio was talking and swearing incessantly, Giorgio was quiet. They reached Naples just in time to catch the ferry to Palermo. Eight hours later they go off the boat. Giorgio drove to a leafy suburb and turned into the alley of a large villa. Giorgio said "You'll meet the real owner of the record label. Don't say a word!". Two men with shotguns opened the gate, they took them to the huge garden in the back where an old guy sat on a chair and a young woman stood next to him. They noticed that the woman bore an very strong resemblance to Iva. Giorgio said: "Baciamo le mani, Don Ciccio". Don Ciccio looked at them and said quietly "Use her, protect the investment. Va via!" Antonio, Giorgio and the woman they were told to call Iva, drove back home. They were to turn this Iva into that Iva. The next day the news papers wrote that Iva Zanicchi must take a break due to exhaustion and may need an operation to repair vocal cord damage. Her record sales hit a new high. They worked around the clock in Giorgio's countryside mansion teaching Iva her to sing, to walk, to speak, about family history and everything else she needed to know. Iva was clever and quick and a great cook. Antonio, eager for the concert money, kept pressing saying she's ready, Giorgio was cautious saying it is his decision and Don Ciccio put him in charge. One evening they fought again and Antonio furiously said that he sits on a sensational story that he can sell for millions to newspapers. Giorgio got very quiet and told him that they will decide the next evening, after that he went to his study and made a short long distance call. At breakfast Giorgio said that they'll take the afternoon off as he has to work on some contracts. Iva said she'll read more magazines and Antonio said he'll drive into town to see friends. That evening, waiting for Antonio, they heard the news on the radio that the husband of Iva Zanicchi has died in a car crash. Three weeks later Iva Zanicchi had a colossal success in her come-back tour (nobody could tell that she was lip-syncing). Record sales hit a new high (nobody knew that all new albums came from tapes recorded earlier). Two years later Iva had a colossal success with her farewell tour. Record sales hit a new high. A week later she announced her retirement and Giorgio, capitalizing on her popularity, told her that she'll go into politics. He phoned Don Ciccio who called his friend Silvio and told him to put Iva in his "Forza Italia" party. Today Iva, after serving seven terms in the European Parliament, lives a quiet retirement and sometimes makes arancini or caponata, the dishes of her youth.

Anam's Story of What Really Happened to Iva Zanicchi

I've met Anam at the check-out counter of my supermarket. In her basket were two stakes, a large bag of raisins and a small bottle of Gin. We went for coffee and she told me she is the grand-daughter of Iva Zanicchi and was very surprised when I said I knew who that is: she won the San Remo three times.

But do I know the real true story of Iva she asked. Here it goes: Iva's husband, Antonio, was abusive and when she couldn't take it anymore, on a Sunday when he and the entire male population of the country  were at the soccer stadium, she packed a suitcase, took her jewellery, all the money in the house and her daughter Rita (3) and went to the buss terminal. They boarded the bus to Cortina d'Ampezzo. Upon arrival, a kind young man whom they asked for directions to the church San Nicolò ad Ospitale, offered to take them there and even carried their suitcase. He said his name was Pietro. Three days later Pietro came to see how they were and took them for Gelato. Three weeks later they moved in with him into a big house that he shared with his old aunt Ilse, the local witch who did spells, curses and love potions for a fee and his uncle Hansi who belonged to the South Tyrolean Liberation Committee who wanted the area to belong to Austria. (Hansi was in jail for blowing up a carabinieri post, killing three). A week later, when Ilse heard Iva's story, she offered to put a death curse on Antonio for the minimal fee of 20,000 Lire (about twenty bucks). Five days later the newspapers wrote that the husband of Iva Zanicchi died in a car crash. Ilse said "Già fatto, e fatto". Four days later Pietro and Iva got married at San Nicolò, Iva became signora Ivona Ganser. Four days later an official letter told them that Hansi was shot and killed trying to escape. Four days later Ilse died peacefully in her sleep. Three weeks later they sold the house and four weeks later Ivona, Rita and Pietro landed in Toronto. Ivona taught canto and flute and Pietro was a successful mastication consultant who trained people how to chew food to lose weight. Rita studied the science of imaginary solutions and is a professor of Pataphysics. She married the local barber, a Hungarian by the name of István Szilágyi. He is Anam's father. Anam runs a Pilates studio and is the lead singer of the all-female band "Le Vampe". They play hip-hop versions of sixties and seventies Italian hits and always start with "Ciao cara, come stai?".

Anam set down her coffee cup and looked at me. I said "That's cool and all, but according to the internet Iva Zanicchi is 84 and lives in Brianza, northwest Lombardy". Anam said "Yes, there is that".

Gentle reader, please read the paraquel published as the next post
 

MAIM and the Careless Use of Social Graces

I met Eduardo Pontos (Eddy) years ago at a Rick Von Schmidt concert (friend of Bob Dylan). We kept in touch over the years. Anyone knew that Eddy was a genius of engineering but "pas de manières". He asked me to come visit him. I went and Raffaella (Raffa), his long suffering partner, opened the door: "Ciao bella!". "How is he?" Raffa just shook her head and rolled her eyes. She had long lost count of how many jobs, assignments, investors and opportunities they missed with Eddy's temper. He would make a brilliant new invention/gadget/method and Raffa would write and publish a technical summary. They always had many inquiries and requests for meetings and demos. Eddy would do the presentation but insult anyone who asked questions telling them that they were too stupid to understand. He would lose his temper and walk out. On his way home he would stop by La Senza to buy expensive lingerie to show he was sorry. Raffa would ask "Why can't you be nicer?" he'd always say "I'm not a nice man". They did OK with money from maintenance, royalties and the few clients who put up with him because whatever he built was exquisite. Raffa told me that eventually she convinced him to make a machine to enhance social graces, and he did.

He was on his way back from the first test run with live public. I noticed a copy of Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" on the desk and asked "AI based? Is this for training?". Raffa nodded just when the door flew open and Eddy rushed in. "How did it go?" he ignored us and connected the contraption he was carrying to the big screen on the back wall. I could see an array of cameras and microphones. "This is my Manners AI Monitor (MAIM). Watch!". Great name, I thought. The screen showed Eddy in a meeting room with an older man (a tag said Bob) and a younger woman (a tag said Tammy). A timeline ran at the bottom of the video and it would turn gray, green, amber or red as MAIM analyzed the conversation. Eddy pressed PLAY and clicked on a green portion, we heard the audio: "Thank you for taking this meeting" Eddy was beaming. He skipped some grays saying it's just technical stuff and played the next green "I like your tie, Bob". We couldn't believe our ears. Eddy would proudly play all the greens: "That is a very interesting comment" and "What great questions". Towards the end there was a green turning amber and then a huge red blob. Eddy went there and we heard him say: "Tammy, you have a very nice smile" Tammy mumbled "Thank you". Eddy quickly added "and really magnificent breasts". Tammy, white knuckles, red face walked out the door. Raffa and I looked at each other and Eddy said "She really had great boobs, I show social graces. WHAT?". That is when I noticed the bag by the door, it was pink with white stripes: the colors of La Senza.