Buongiorno Sweet Friends!
Tuesday was a brilliant, sunny, Tuscan day and it reminded me of the novel, Under the Tuscan Sun. It was a perfect blue sky with no clouds, a nice breeze with the smell of fresh baked bread. I opened all my windows and let the sunshine and breeze in. I drank my coffee on my sunny terrace and meditated on my good fortune and gratitude. After a shower, I went out to roam the streets of Pistoia and purchase my ticket to see Johnny Lang that evening.
Pistoia is a very traditional Tuscan city with no big modern buildings or skyscrapers it has narrow streets and a community of people that seem to know each other. It’s not a village nor a small town; it’s a full-on city, but not huge and does not have an airport or any other type of international port, just a small train station and its city buses. The food is also traditional Tuscan with lots of meat, cheese, and pasta. About the only thing I could eat was a salad with no cheese, and bread with olive oil. Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful, but I was longing for a good vegan restaurant with some other options. The only one in town was closed for the week. Oh well, salad and bread is not a bad thing!
I went to see several churches and historic buildings and along the way I saw a sign for subterranean Pistoia. I bought a ticket and a young lady gave me an English speaking tour of the medieval “sewers” under the old hospital. Apparently, Pistoia was once home to the only med school in Tuscany and the hospital there was very well known. The hospital used the underground river as a dumping place for all the infected pots, textiles, pottery, glasses and other infected objects. All this stuff floated off somewhere I guess to infect another population, who knows, but this went on for years. The sewers are now closed of course, but they have excavated part of the underground and made it into a museum of sorts. It was very interesting and I also got to see the actual 15 seat med school and lab. Cadavers from the hospital were used for dissecting and anatomical study. And on that note, I went to have lunch and buy my ticket for Johnny Lang.
While Jack Johnson was in the Piazza Duomo under the stars, the Johnny Lang concert was held in a small theatre that probably seated around 150 people. It was an intimate venue that was perfect! If you’re not familiar with Johnny Lang, he’s a young white kid with the clean cut looks of Wally Cleaver! He started performing in his teens, released his first blues album at 21 and has been touring and playing ever since. He’s now in his early 30’s and still looks like Wally, and when he speaks, he sounds like the Beaver – all sweet and goodness. But when he plays and sings, he’s damn near demonic! His body contorts like Linda Blair and his voice sounds like he’s been eating gravel and piss. His music is satanic and sexy and makes your body want to writhe on the floor. Seriously. He’s that good. I’ve been listening to his music for years but this was the first time I’ve seen him live and OMG he blew me away. He’s not much on stage presence, but he can sure tear up that guitar. He was amazing. His band was equally awesome and were from New Orleans, Houston and Nashville – all Southern boys!
The concert was awesome and ended around 11:30 PM. Another late night, and I had to be up early. I went to bed feeling tired but grateful to have seen such amazing talent in one trip. Two very different artists who came together in this beautiful city and I was there to see them ignite. WOW! So happy for this trip and this moment.
Feeling grateful my friends, very grateful!
Ciao!
