Business as usual at Rick's Canteen this night. I'm dressed as I do in China Poblana and Rick's night grillman is flipping pork brains with eggs to make the local omlet we do here around Xmas every year.

I'm alone on the floor and on the register, which also doubles as a computer and from which I now post this in loneliness to you.

I got SO sick of Rick's Xmas CD on the system that I replaced it with La Giovinezza which is in a loop and plays over and over again. Just like when I was young, I love it. La Giovinezza! The most stirring music I have ever heard.

Eric Fletcher had a smash up on his urine-powered bike yesterday and is out of commission until he gets it prepared. Both of us have started peeing into those big red plastic gas cans. Urine is fuel in Five Forks!

So try it where you are. Replace the boring repetitious Christ-Mas music with fascist anthems like the Horst Wessel Lied and La Giovinezza





Giovinezza

I
Salve o popole d'Eroi
Salve a patria immortale
Son rinati i figli tuoi
Con la fè nell' ideale

II
Valor dei tuon guerrieri,
La virtù dei pionieri
La vision dell' Atighieri
Oggi brilla in tutti i cuor.

Corus
Giovinezza, Giovinezza,
Primavera di bellezza
Della vita nell' asprezza
Il tuo canto squilla e va!
E per Benito Mussolini,
Eja eja alalà.
E per la nostra Patria bella,
Eja eja alalà.

I.
Dell' Italia nei confini
Son rifatti gli italiani;
Li ha rifatti Mussolini
Per la guerra di domani.
Per la gloria del lavora
Per la Pace e per l'alloro,
Per la gogna di coloro
Che la patria rinnegar.
[Corus]

II.
I Poeti e gli artigiani
I signori e i contadini
Con orgoglio d'italiani
Giuran fede a Mussolini.
Non v'è povero quartiere
Che non mandi le sue schiere
Che non spieghi le bandiere
Del fascismo redentor.
[Corus]

Traducción

I.
Salve oh pueblo de Héroes
Salve a la patria inmortal
han renacido tus hijos
con la fe en el ideal

II
El valor de tus guerreros,
La virtud de tus pioneros
La visión del Atighieri
Hoy brillan en todos los corazones.

Coro
Juventud, juventud
Primavera de belleza
En la aspereza de la vida
Tu canto retumba y se va!
Y por Benito Mussolini,
Eja eja alala!
Y por nuestra bella Patria,
Eja eja alala!

I.
Desde los confines de la Italia
Se han rehecho los italianos,
Los ha rehecho Mussolini
Para la guerra del mañana
para la gloria de los trabajadores
Por la Paz y por el laurel,
por la argolla de aquellos
Que la patria renegó.
[Coro]

II.
Los Poetas y los artesanos
Los señores y los campesinos
Con orgullo de italianos
Juran fidelidad a Mussolini
No hay ningún pobre cuartel
que no mande sus tropas
que no extiendan la bandera
Del fascismo redentor
[Coro]

How rude!

This is not the way I like to picture Il Duce!

Jody

I'm enraptured as we speak while listening to La Giovinezza over and over again.

Grand-T said you guys were gone. What's up with that?

Oh I dont like the looks of this at all..

I remember a simpler time. I don't know if it was any kinder - but it sure as hell seemed a lot simpler.

I am now thouroughly perplexed at almost everything posted here. And not in a woo-woo way. In a I'm lost in the goddamn nutcase wing of inverted world way.

The Horst Wessel Lied, sung by an SS military chorus, is on the same CD loop.

Me, I prefer the Giovinezza!


Jody

"Hard to explain."

Nope. You're gay.

Margareth Thatcher on TV
Shocked by the deaths that took place in Beijing
It seems strange that she should be offended
The same orders are given by her
I've said this before now
You said I was childish and you'll say it now
"Remember what I told you
If they hated me they will hate you"
England's not the mythical land of Madame George and roses
It's the home of police who kill black boys on mopeds
And I love my boy and that's why I'm leaving
I don't want him to be aware that there's
Any such thing as grieving
Young mother down at Smithfield
5 am, looking for food for her kids
In her arms she holds three cold babies
And the first word that they learned was "please"
These are dangerous days
To say what you feel is to dig your own grave
"Remember what I told you
If you were of the world they would love you"
England's not the mythical land of Madame George and roses
It's the home of police who kill blacks boys on mopeds
And I love my boy and that's why I'm leaving
I don't want him to be aware that there's
Any such thing as grieving.

Jody --

You pretend you're dressed up in some kicky military uniform - you sit home alone on a Saturday night listening to Italian marching songs and you have "a different past."


Connect the dots.

I'm no expert - but off-hand? You sound like a cocksucker.

Hey, Jody, I've been asking around about something. Maybe you can help. I want the qick and dirty rundown on Joey. Just the highlights and important parts. Don't need the minutia. Can you/will you help.

Love,
me

Nothing wrong with sucking cock, BF. I've always liked it, anyway.

I'd like some brain omelette in heavy creame , thanks .

Jody,

Something happened to your avatar. You're just a little red "x" now on my screen.

Jody.

If I may be so bold.

Would you be so kind to impart upon us a story?

To while away the hours at Ricks?

Jody

What a life(s) you lead!

Had to share this. Ha Ha. The Pig-Killer brothers came to the register to pay and said they really liked the change in Xmas music. They think La Giovinezza is a Christlike song. Ha Ha.

A fat woman just now came in and said just about the same thing. She ordered a grilled cheese sandwich and Zesty is looking for a block of velveeta we had under the drain cabinet a few months ago. Does that stuff keep?

I wish Eric would get his urine-powered bike fixed and come and sweep me off to somewhere exotic and exciting.

Jody

Like where? Somewhere in the mid-block of Nullchester Street?

FROM WIKIPEDIA:

The Battle of Caporetto (or Battle of Karfreit as it was known by the Central Powers), took place from 24 October to 9 November 1917, near Kobarid, in what is now Slovenia, on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. Austro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed in part by Oskar von Hutier. Erwin Rommel added lustre to his military career leading some Central Power forces during this battle.

Italian losses were enormous: 275,000 prisoners were taken and 2,500 guns captured; 40,000 were killed and 20,000 wounded. Austro-German forces advanced more than 100 km in the direction of Venice, but they were not able to cross the River Piave, where the Italians (with substantial help from French, British and American allies) established a new defensive line, which was held for the rest of the war.

The battle led to the conference at Rapallo and the creation of a Supreme War Council, with the aim of improving Allied military co-operation and developing a unified strategy.

The bloody aftermath of Caporetto was vividly described by Ernest Hemingway in his novel A Farewell to Arms.

Luigi Cadorna was in charge of the Italian forces and was forced to resign after the defeat. He was replaced by Armando Diaz and Pietro Badoglio (who later became head of the Italian government in place of Mussolini after the fall of Fascism in 1943) .

The debacle was not the result of a lack of repression or coercion. In fact, 870,000 Italian soldiers came to be denounced by authorities with 210,000 sentences in military courts; 15,000 were sentenced to life in jail and 4,000 to death. There were rumors of illegal decimations taking place after the fashion of Ancient Rome to attempt to terrorise the remaining soldiers into fighting to the death. The failure of the Italian army was most likely because of the preponderance of peasants in an army which fought through terror. Many of these soldiers could not understand the national language or their battle orders.

This led governments to the realisation that terror alone cannot adequately motivate a modern army. After the defeat at Caporetto, Italian propaganda offices were established and cynically promised land and social justice to soldiers. Italy also accepted a more cautious military strategy from this point on. Just one fifth of the total 650,000 Italian casualties during the war occurred after Caporetto.

After this battle, the term "Caporetto" gained a particular resonance in Italy. It is used to denote a terrible defeat - the failed General Strike of 1922 by the socialists was referred to by Mussolini as the "Caporetto of Italian Socialism".

In one of your previous posts, you mention "The Negro of Lostwood"..

And that people have said that you die, right after seeing the Negro.

Is there anymore to that story?

Oh, Sandra, thank you for posting that. Oh, that wretched and deceitful Cadorna! He betrayed an entire generation of Italian boys, and one amongst them that I loved, even at 13!

Let Caporetto never be forgotten!

I love you for posting that, Sandra!

Jody

Is this African-American of Lostwood, North Dakota

No. Nothing quite so interesting in North Dakota as harbingers of death that come in your dreams.

Just something Jody mentioned in one of her posts.

Jody,

Do you blog all of this? If not you should consider it as you certainly have a way with the written word!

Very Twin Peaks-ish, JC.

Just make sure you don't run through a Visa card order when you're trying to post here at PWR!