American culture, alle Bolognese

I never have liked Queen more than after watching a Queen tribute band in The American Bar of Rock and Roll.

Indeed, it was also the only english I heard all night. A few evenings prior, the BCSP office had a party for all the American students as well as the students traveling to the states next year. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know a few Italian students who would be attending U of I next year. They were all very congenial, and in fact I had met one of them prior which was pretty amazing. So when one of them suggested that we go see a Queen cover band, it seemed like a ripe chance to get to know a future Illinois student better. So we drove to the American Bar at about 11- past my bedtime, but still awake. Surprisingly, I understood and was able to respond for the car ride as well as when we met his few friends (about 20) at the club. Even though the extreme number of strangers who didn't speak my native language was overwhelming, the hanging American flag, hamburgers and banana splits on the table made me feel right at home. Surprisingly enough, that was not even the best part. Imagine this...long-haired, Queen-shirted, air-guitar playing fans in the front row and surrounding the stage; fog machine; screaming for the one that everyone was wating for - Freddie Mercury. The real Freddie Mercury could pass for Italian and this one was amazingly similar, perhaps only with a bit bigger nose. Costumes, the same. Microphone air-guitaring, the same. He really was quite a showman as was the rest of the band and you can sure bet that I felt like a superstar when I could sing all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody. Really, Americans and Italians are not all the different. Every so often, we all have to let lose and surround a stage to watch a true rock spectacle after eating taglietelle e ragu Bolognese with french fries and ketchup.