Tony's Roma

I talked to Tony on the phone about 1 hour from the club and it was like I had known him for years. We met in front of the bar, del Verme 8, and his smile was so warm his face looked familiar. We loaded in and went for a walk, beer in hand. Rome, with the reputation and all, was easy to fall in love with. Everywhere we went Tony had friends. Bringing beers out to us on the street, introducing their dogs to us, (Tony has a Spuds McKenzie dog named Fetus), and
it was easy to see Tony was the man. We saw lots of cool tags and graffiti, I've been learning more about the tagging culture from Ian of Japanther, and Im getting super into it. We went to a cool record store and were back at the bar in no time. Killer friend #2, Adrea,  arrives after a while with, I shit you not, the very best lasagna I've ever tasted. I don't think I'll even eat lasagna back home anymore. I can't even brag about it enough to explain just how mind blowing this was. We learned later he is a chef in the works, almost done with his culinary training. Later around 2am he tought me about wine and wine tasting- in Italy!
Oh yeah, he also was the sound man and bar tender! The show was so frigging packed!!! You couldn't move through this place. They really got into Shellshag- we had such a good time playing. It's great how close you get to people on a special adventure like this, and we are just loving the Japanther cats and super assistant Hiller. So much fun. 
Ian's even been jumping up and jammin drums with us on 1984. These guys had a killer set, great crowd, and we are up to speed and singing along and dancing now. Another new friend, Roberta was a fierce dancer and singer during the Shellshag set, and also seemed like an old friend. Everyone was kissing on one another and the friendship and fun was so thick, I wish so much to introduce you all at home to these guys in Rome that we spent the time here with. Someday soon I hope. We saw an old friend Hollis from Philly who was there with his friend Drew, and it was like a quick "cheeseburger" ( their words) seeing other folks from the states. We stayed out late drinking Grappa and wine and fuckin Russian vodka- so great!
Toni's house was a short walk away from the bar, and we got there around 3am. We went straight to sleep, and after 6 hours, Jen and I got up and went to the Colloseum. It's pretty incredible. Cappachino, expresso, and a mocchiato later we were loading up and heading out. Pescara is just 2 hours away, and along the drive through the mountains we hit some rain. We drove through, not near, not close to, but right through the brightest double rainbow, and we must of plowed right into the pot of gold. Magnificent drive!
Next up, Pescara Italy-
Shell