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Gino Vannelli
fans : Christopher & Liz Buckley
A word from the editors (B&T) :
Liz already chatted with us back in the 90's at the first official Gino Vannelli website the "old" first Gino Vannelli chat page ever with Jason, Christine, David, Otmaro, us, Shari, Arlene, Toby and also Diane, Joe Vannelli's Wife... And many more people... Liz loved Gino Vannelli's life's work and enjoyed the "old" chat page very much !!! We like to dedicate this web page to Liz and Christopher, Christopher wrote us : "You can use our pictures if you like for your fans photo book.
A part from Christophers's e-mail with great humour which says it all :  
Free cyber space for Christopher to write his Gino Vannelli and other stories :
Of course, I'm thinking to myself "what the heck is ANWB?...a bank?". Anyway, for some reason, this made me think of a series of events that are only connected by broken cars or things that relate to cars such as petrol. I'm overdue for a story, so here goes. By the way, all of this is true. Jonas Salk I was born in 1960. When I entered the 6th grade in 1971, it was in a brand new school building. The school was named after Dr Jonas Salk. Dr Salk, of course, discovered the vaccine for polio. A year later, the Board of Education dedicated the building and Dr. Salk was invited to attend. He agreed to participate. It is mostly a ceremony of speeches in a mutual admiration society. The class had to come up with items from our time in history which were to be placed in the cornerstone as a "time capsule". Anyway, Dr Salk was late in arriving. He said that they had a flat tire on the way from the airport. I have to laugh every time I think about it. Can't you just see this great man, who saved millions, quite possibly billions of people from the crippling effects of polio on the hard shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike, jacking up the car to change a flat tire? As if that were not outrageous enough, there is always that one stubborn lug nut that you cannot loosen. Can't you just see Dr Salk, with his hands full of grease, cursing the AAA on the shoulder of the New Jersey Turnpike next to the white oil tank that says "Drive Carefully". (The very same one that is in the opening credits of "The Sopranos"?) A Christmas Story Did you ever see the movie "A Christmas Story"? It is about a boy from Cleveland, Ohio who wants a "Red Ryder BB Gun" for Christmas, but everybody keeps telling him that "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" There is a scene where he is helping the father change a flat tire and he drops all of the lug nuts that he is holding in the hub cap. In the newspaper recently, there was a story about a man who was a "super fan" of this movie and he started producing replicas of the famous leg lamp which he sold over the internet to people as gag or joke gifts. He made a lot of money doing this and discovered that the house used to film the movie in Cleveland was up for sale and listed on Ebay. He ended up buying the house and the house across the street. He renovated the movie house to look identical to the film (including the leg lamp in the front window) and used the house across the street as a museum/gift shop. Apparently, there are a lot of tourists that drive by, pay for a tour of the house and buy a leg lamp! I guess there isn't too much to do in Cleveland other than the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! Anyway, they were taking his picture outside of this place with a Red Ryder BB Gun for the article, when somebody pulled up, rolled down the window and shouted "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Like I said, not too much going on in Cleveland, Ohio! Gino Vannelli I don't think I ever told you this, but here is a study in how my mind works. A couple of summers ago up in Lewiston, NY at the Art Park during the Gino show. You know, between songs he tells the stories of the Pope, etc, etc. Then, as if talking to himself he says "What have I been doing?...Well, last week I mowed the lawn!" Of course, everybody laughs. I'm thinking to myself, sweltering in the heat : "I wonder if he has a push lawnmower or a riding lawnmower?" Then I immediately answer myself: "It probably depends on how large his lawn is!" Taking the thought process farther: "If he has a large lot and a riding lawnmower, I wonder if he has a John Deere or some other brand?" Conversely, if he has a small lot and a push mower, would he buy a Toro or a Troy Bilt? Then, all of a sudden, this scene of a day in the life at the Vannelli household opens up: Gino: "Honey, I'm running up to Shell to get some gas for the lawnmower!" She replies: "Pick up a gallon of 2% milk, with a long expiration date!" "Umm..we need dog food, too!" Gino: grumble. By Christopher Buckley dated 12 December 2006. Hi B&T, I'm glad that Gino is getting ready to release a new CD. I'm disappointed that it is not in time for Christmas, but what can you do? (It looks like another lump of coal in the old Christmas stockings this year.....yet again!) Speaking of CD's, I wonder why he never produced a Christmas CD? I don't mean "santa/snowman/Rudolph" nonsense; why not classic Christmas songs?
The next one is painting by my favorite American Artist, Thomas Eakins. Eakins and Whitman were very good friends. Eakins lived in Philadelphia and Whitman lived across the Delaware River in Camden, NJ. I believe that this painting is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Like many artists, he was always on the cutting edge, living outside the boundaries of "polite society". Eakins was also a photgrapher, so maybe the first is his work as well. Here is my favorite painting by Eakins called "Max Schmitt In A Single Scull": He has a "Hudson River School" quality to his work, but more believable. I think that this is along the Schuylkill River (pronounced "school kill") west of Philadelphia. The Schuylkill flows into the Delaware at Philadelphia. The Delaware is much wider at that point. Maybe it is someplace else. It seems logical that they would have painted scenes around Philadelphia.
Well, I've been busy trying to finish up the last of my projects in this old house. It is mostly trim pieces to fill in (plus some furniture for downstairs), but I've made some great progress. I think that the best part was applying stain to the sanded oak floors, all of the tones "jump out at you". Even though it is a small house, it was a back-breaking job!
And, I'm sure that you'll appreciate this ........ Hi Barend & Trees,
Since I’m never at a loss for a story of some sort, here is an interesting one. On Sunday, Liz’s son sends me an e-mail with some photos of Liz and myself. These photos look like the Bermuda shots that I sent to you for the fan page. I couldn’t remember if I sent them to him or not. So I asked "where did you find these?" He said: "I did a Google search on Liz Westbo and the Gino Vannelli fan page pops up". I never said to anyone "take a look here" because it wasn’t finished. Hi B&T, Of course, her son didn't know who Gino was, so here is my explanation to him:
Gino Vannelli is a little bit different than the rest of the pack.
Is that a good one paragraph biography? An e-mail from Christopher Buckley dated 5 July 2007 with the subject: Gino Vannelli and Orange Store
Hi B&T,
Orange Store. Not too far from here is a venue called the "PNC Bank Arts Center". As you can see by the picture, it is an open amphitheater. Of course, the seats available to the "normal" people are around the edges and on the lawn. If it starts raining, everyone tries to get shelter in the aisles! I was there for a Seals & Crofts concert a while back (remember them?) and it started raining. It was a fiasco! Rain is seldom falling straight down! I think that this has to do with money. They have calculated that they make more money by doing this rather than by selling tickets on a "first come, first served" basis. You are correct, it is really corrupt and fraudulent.
  I recall reading about a concert that Gino gave before Christmas at their offices in the Netherlands. A search on the internet said that they were involved "automobile services, insurance, travel and finance". It turns out that they are a lot bigger than I thought they were. They have a presence in the US in the mortgage lending industry. Apparently, they bought out the Chicago based "LaSalle Bank" several years back. LaSalle Bank has no presence in New Jersey as a bank that you would walk into and open a savings account. They do, however, lend money to buy real estate in NJ. (Real estate means "land and improvements to the land". An improvement could be a house, a road or utilities.) The loan is called a mortgage and it usually taken for a period of 25-30 years. The mortgage is secured by the real estate which means that if you don't pay, they take away your real estate in a legal procedure called foreclosure. Of course, it is better if this never happens! Anyway, you can deduct the amount you pay for mortgage interest on your income taxes as an "Itemized deduction". This is why I sometimes see paperwork from them. CB 
An e-mail with a funny line from Christopher Buckley dated 9 September 2007 with the subject: Gino Vannelli and BLACK CARS
Is it possible that white cars look good in the shade too?  
Copyright 2005 - 2008 Barend and Trees in Holland |
Hi B&T,
I was reading your little article in regards to Gino performing at the ANWB
Christmas Party, teaching classes and why he moved to Holland. We were all
scratching our heads over here on that one. Very simply, he wants a "change
of scenery" to spark some new ideas. I understand and agree. You cannot
allow yourself to go stale. It is like riding a bicycle down a different
path.
I found two stock pictures of Walter Whitman for you. The first is a photograph. I'm not sure who took it, but Whitman's time frame was late 1800's.
I was able to get the smoke smell out from the Black Cars poster by airing it in the garage for about a week. The other poster is for Nightwalker. I'd still like to get a Brother To Brother one.
Not too bad for an accountant!
CB dated 24 November 2005.
