I tell you this other adventure in Milan, perhaps more amazing than the show in 2008. Be prepared that is a bit 'long ... and in 2 episodes.
Mind you ... all the names you mention are not pure fantasy but reality, and in my opinion had a sinister influence in everything that happened :-)))
A client who manufactures machines for coffee bars for a prestigious brand, won the tender for the supply of 7 bar at La Scala after its restoration was completed in 2004. Delivery contracts, can be granted a day to shoot the photographs that document the presence of their cars inside the theater for publicity purposes.
We are commissioned this work and keep contact with the sales of our client who handled the contract and who would take care of all the paper work the thing. For us, all the preliminary contacts were held by Paul, who also organized the trip, providing support to the home of her sister who lives in Milan.
The work is scheduled for Monday, February 15, 2005, the day when there would be a symphonic concert of the season. Our project was to make the shots during the day to bars and empty at night, in the interval of the concert, machine on the stand and a long time, a series of shots more "experiences" with people on the move and a couple of models (chosen and called by us by agency), and unique properties are identifiable with branded coffee cup in hand.
by the company give us the ok, Sunday, 14 parties and organizations in order to be operational by early morning. We charge a sea of \u200b\u200bequipment and parts. First, Paul asks me to store security number, our representative in Milan who was then the director of the bar, Mr. Magagna ... I do not know about you, but we "flaw" has the meaning not just omen of something that does not work :-) But apart from the name, which sounds strange to me is the role: "We are confident that working with quantities of equipment within the scale (although they had the bar) is sufficient to permit the Director of the bars themselves?" - I ask Paul. He reassured me by saying that everything is okay and that our man has thought of everything ... yes, our man, the commercial has scored this coup for the company ... dr. Pompeii ... no, no errors, just Pompei ... Magagna, Pompei mmmmmmmmhhhhhhhhh ... ... here the thing stinks.
During the journey, Paul makes me aware that we will host her sister has a child of 3 years a little 'uneasy', so that periodically, husband and wife in turn are one week from Ancona to her parents take a break and bleed a little 'stress on the baby. I thought ... and that be? Well, I had to wait only a few hours to find out. Meanwhile we had arrived in Milan and decided to go outside the theater to realize the situation.
At 19 we arrived at the home of our "guests" and began to make acquaintance of the little vandal that, after some 'initial shyness (2 minutes and 37 seconds) began to claim his rights as a child and wanting to have to play the sound of kicks and punches to his father, the mother (and okay), but also to me and Paul and screaming like a lunatic if you did not listen to her. Asks him to read the tale while he did anything, but if it stops you are hurled run with a straight punch to the stomach. The icing on the cake, finished his dinner, while we were still eating, he "slumped" with a banana on me which I can not stand even the smell. When finished eating, had the wonderful idea to wipe hands and mouth on my sweater ... I think that was the only time in my life where I came instincts of violence toward another human being without groped to repress them. I took it and shifted the weight of a good measure to me, even though I had the window at hand with a nice drop of 20m from the road; result? I dealt a kick in the ankle ... a pleasure. I thought, well, then, that the best thing to do was go to sleep and would have ended everything: the poor deluded.
Before us good night, the hosts gave us the necessary supplies to survive the night, a pitcher of water per person "Here the central heating, keep him off the high and late. At night it is not uncommon to wake up to the dehydration. " Very true, but before being awakened by my thirst, I was awakened by a MAAAAAAMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCQQQQQQQQQQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
A continuous scream that tore the night until her mother appeared in the doorway with his glass water, then the novel Tarzan undertook his mouth to drink and not to shout. This, they told me then, it happened usually 3 or 4 times a night, summer and winter without distinction. But we were lucky because that night it happened only 2 times, maybe because we were already at 6 feet to be punctual to the appointment that we had set for Magagna 8.30
At 8.15 we were in front of the outside bar, base supporting and departure. Paul approached the machine, go downstairs and entered the bar asking the Director. I'm told now that the director did not arrive before 9 usually. I thought that on this occasion we had given half an hour and was still in place because we were slightly earlier. Permission Meanwhile, the equipment to download, which I agree, so we can go and leave the car at the parking that we had identified at 200 meters ... not many, but with all the equipment we had certainly not few. Let's go to the parking lot and when the browser indicates that we are at 30mt .... lock works. Deviate and enter into a narrow street where the navigator because of the high buildings on either side loses the signal and we, who are a bit 'as Toto and Peppino, we lost ugly. Morale, after shooting 4 times around the same time, we head towards another car which had seen a statement trying to get another.
fall within the bars are 8.45 (half an hour to park 200m), but no trace Magagna. Paul tries to call the phone: "You are unreachable ... ... ohibò that my gloomy forebodings body take? We decide to move on their own, and we ask the courtesy of bartenders while we find him we were going to make us a tour of inspection.
shoulder bags to take some "fact" we go at artists like we had indicated the employees of the bar, we qualify e. .. goalkeeper does not know anything about us. We check in all the possible names, if not our own, that of the customer, Magagna, and even at Pompeii. Nothing at all. Explains what we should do, but we are told that we can not access without permission. We return to the bar "Magagna We tracked down ..." says one of the barmaids, (the first good news-I-) "... is ill and will not be today ..." (I'm quiet but why not?) "... but now comes the deputy director and will accompany him. "(Now that's good news!)
Again shoulder bags and go, back to the artists' entrance, fast already almost 10. We wait in a corner while the goalkeeper with the Deputy Confabula. Come back to us and tells us the same things that the guy told us "do not enter without permission." Meanwhile, a well-dressed guy (a type of Lino Banfi fatter) at the turnstile entrance, intrigued by the movement, approaches and asks who we were and what we did there. We put it up to date and he qualifies as the deputy superintendent and tells us (hear that news) that "we do not enter without permission", but adds a new piece of information: our complaint that the permit had been assured by the customer we have been granted , told us that (maybe some of you remember him) at that time was on-going agitation of the workers against the general supervision of the ladder, so the weather was not exactly the most relaxed. It would be better to desist from our intent, he said. "But we did 450 km to come to work." Shrug-rite - "Sorry" was his reply.
We return to the bar, the assistant director calls the Magagna who advises him to give us a temporary permit to those that they use to access the bartenders and suppliers to the inner rooms. What a brilliant idea ... this time, the strongest possible we head directly to the turnstiles, skipping the goalkeeper who, poor fellow, he felt excluded.
"These do not apply," the operative part of well-dressed "and then the Maestro Muti has just started testing and does not want absolutely no one else in the theater." "But we are in the bar that we ..." "NO!" At that point we are trying to figure out how to save at least the day and decide to go to the source of the problem: we call Pompeii, not the city, our contact person. Which confirms that they did everything according to its practice and communicated in time that this day would come to this hour No. 2 photographers from Ancona to do service to the bar inside the theater with a subject of coffee machines supplied by the company so and so. All this was agreed by telephone with the personal secretary of the superintendent, Dr.. Great. We have to know what the well-dressed without replicating that comes close to the goalkeeper who picks up the phone. The well-dressed back to us and says "Now go down the dr. Great "In the meantime Paul and I are trying to reschedule the work according to the little time left, it's almost 11: we think we neglect the small bar and just focus on 3 major and choose the one which would be more convenient to work in the evening with the audience and the models so as to inform the dr. Great out of the elevator and in the meantime it has "Alexander the Great "................................. I understand right?
That is, our Magagna and Pompeii, who know only and tragedy, the "enemy" contrasts with no other than Alexander the Great! Well, we can go home :-))) The young (and beautiful) Alexander confirms that it is all true ... there is in the contract that was granted to the customer service, true that Pompeii had communicated by telephone that we would arrive this time that day, but it is also true that the thing had never been formalized in a document ... in essence, a fax or something like that formalizes the ... "Verba volant, scripta manent" This told us that he repeated at Pompeii we called and we did speak with Alexander the Great who said, "but I think that Scala is a national monument, a temple of world music, you could enter as a a friend's house? "It was not entirely wrong, honestly.
Hopefully, we realized that we were victims of the approximation guilty of a third person, at least we got to work for mercy, then outlines our intentions. We listened to pronounce the end: "We have not understood: without permission of the Superintendent does not enter and photos during the concert, with audience toglietevele from the head, now and forever. That said, gentlemen, I have my commitments, I return to my office "FREEZE!
We returned to our base bar (luckily that has access from the square), first alerted the models that work was missed and that they could still charge the customer the price for failing to work, which they did. So we decided not to blow it up in smoke, and since in any case were 11.30, however, to make the shots outside the bar, then, as the internal service was done and we still had to go back once formalized all the permits, we made a visit in the afternoon, as the Test Maestro Muti was meanwhile completed.
made our shots, we return with and without cameras at permessino artists, where well-dressed nor us near that says "Then we understand each other! 'A bit like in the comic 30 years where you dress recurrence by hydraulic, pizza boy, a priest, but you recognize and do not always make you go :-((( "We are without equipment, the tests are over, the misunderstanding is cleared up, let's just see what is around us expect when we get back "He said," I'm sorry, the visits can be made only in the morning "-" Why, this morning ... "" ONLY IN THE MORNING! "
sadly back to the bar declaring our performance and we head toward the parking lot to retrieve and return the machine to load equipment: 6 hours parking twenty euro ... if reborn, I open a park in Milan!
We do our load, we salute and we head to our support base to take your bags: since it's gone so we must not remain another night in Milan as it should according to our plans for working late into the night show. And that was the only real positive note in this whole story ... safe from vandalism.
and I think it over? Of course not because we had to go back, but keep in mind the that in those days there was the agitation of the workers della Scala, because it will have a key role in the ordeal that awaited us upon our return, with lots of snow and crazy megafunerale in Cathedral ...
soon ;-)
