A some what amusing, "tongue in cheek" treatment of both the Columbus Parade 
and Sopranos Concert from a writer who was previously less sympathetic.

I'm encouraged by the amount of "Press" we are getting on as variety of issues. 
No change can happen in a vacuum.Even bad press is good press, and an 
opportunity for us to respond, and keep the issues on the "front burner". 
=========================================================
TOO BAD AMERICA COULDN'T HAVE DISCOVERED ITSELF

Rocky Mountain News,FINAL,Page 6A 
Mike Littwin
08/30/2001 

Bada-bing? Or bada-boom? 

You tell me. If it's not Uncle Junior swimming with the fishes - Barry "The
Barber" Fey offered that conclusion - it's Italian- Americans fighting
Italian-Americans over everyone's favorite parade with the latest proposal
being to drop "Columbus" from, yes, the Columbus Day Parade.
 
Eliminating Columbus would leave, I guess, Day Parade. And if we're going to
have a Day Parade, I suggest Wednesday, which, face it, gets no respect
day-wise and would also leave us with a five-day weekend.
 
There is a slippery slope here, though. What's next - no St. Patrick in the
St. Patrick's Day Parade? No Snoopy balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day
Parade? 

You can see where we're headed here. 

Once it was just Columbus vs. the Indians - Columbus dominating the annual
fall matchup - but now Italian ethnicity, American style, is facing its most
serious set of challenges since Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr. joined Frank
Sinatra and Dean Martin in the Rat Pack.
 
C.M. Mangiaracina, who owns the parade permit, is the one considering
dropping "Columbus" in exchange for an official Italian - American History
Month....

In the meantime, Mangiaracina says he will call it the Columbus Day Italian
Pride Parade, hoping to defuse Native American concerns about celebrating
Columbus, who was not exactly a boon to the greater Indian nation. There
still may be a fight looming here. 

For now, though, the fight has come from strongly pro-Columbus
representatives of the Sons of Italy / New Generations Lodge, which has
asked for a second parade in Denver that day. I checked with the Guinness
people, who confirmed that would be a record for most Columbus Day Parades
in a land-locked city. 

Which brings us to the other controversy - Uncle Junior, who was supposed to
be a draw for what was called the "Real Sopranos " concert. The show would
have featured real sopranos singing light opera at Fiddler's Green and
Dominic Chianese, who plays Uncle Junior on the HBO hit The Sopranos .
 
The show was canceled because, according to promoter Barry Fey, some
Italian-Americans were offended by Uncle Junior and The Sopranos . 
Personally, I'm offended by Uncle Junior's voice. Let's say Chianese does
not sing like a canary. He doesn't even sing like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano.
 
The Sopranos is controversial, with differing views even in the Italian -
American community. Some are disturbed that it stereotypes Italians as
mobsters. Others, including those who most enjoy the show, wonder how Little
Stevie Van Zandt qualified as an actor. And then there's the anti-Uncle
Junior e-mail from Bloomingdale, Ill., which said that The Sopranos go with
opera like "manure with whipped cream." 

I called Fey, who has been accused of spinelessness and worse for caving to
would-be censors. He said he was innocent of all charges, explaining he
would break my legs if I wrote otherwise. He said it was Opera Colorado and
the Museum of Outdoor Arts, both involved in the promotion, that backed down
in the light of a protest that included not a single e-mail from anyone
living in Denver.
 
"They wanted out," said Fey, alluding to the opera company and the museum.
"They said they relied on public funds and couldn't have a big controversy."

Fey then launched into his own defense, which could have been simply this:
They'd sold 367 tickets. This was not quite Ozzfest.
 
"If it had been my concert only, I'd be out in the streets with signs
saying, `Free Barry,' he said. "I'd have made it a First Amendment issue.
I'd say people should buy their tickets just to defend the Constitution." 

Suddenly he had a slogan: "Buy a ticket for 22 bucks and show your support
for the Founding Fathers." 

But then I called Opera Colorado to say that Fey was putting part of the
blame on the group. Spokesman Rex Fuller said, "No way. This decision was
made without any consultation with us at all. We're absolutely
anti-censorship and totally pro opera."
 
Fuller said he got the call about the cancellation from Rodney Lontine of
the Museum of Outdoor Arts. I tried Lontine. He did not return my call to
clarify the museum's role... 

In a press release explaining the decision to cancel, though, Lontine was
quoted as saying, "Promoting violence and negative stereotypes of any kind
was never our intent." 

Take from that what you will. Or try on this: Nominate Uncle Junior, who has
an open date, as grand marshal for both parades.

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