Antonio Galloway..A little bit of the Italian in SL -MarriellaAnna Resident Reporting...

                                       

When asked to think of something decidedly Italian, one might be tempted to answer ‘Pizza’ or pasta or even the Catholic Church.

 If asked to reel off the most Italian things ‘I’ can think of the first thing would be a plate of meatballs..the second would be Antonio Galloway,  perhaps because they are not entirely dissimilar  for they are both hearty,  heartwarming and throroughly satisfying  to the senses.  Antonio might be an American, but the heart of an Italian beats firmly in his breast. It is that dolce vita attitude, that love of life that comes through with each of his performances, the infectious laugh in the gaps between songs and the telling of a story from his childhood.,  you just KNOW he’s having a good time behind the mic. You just know that here is Pavarotti singing Show tunes.

His reputation is perhaps first and foremost that of a Crooner,  one of the Brat Pack type, no surprise they were also all Italians, they oozed charm from every pore and Antonio is no smooth  exception. He is as suave & charming and has that same ‘twinkle in the eye’ as the Italians that came before him.  Lets face it, Frank Sinatra wasn’t exactly a looker, but he had that certain something, that made women weak at the knees, and okay so a twinkle in the eye  is a little hard to discern in sl but I am pretty sure Antonio must have a twinkle in his real life eyes and I’m not just projecting or fooling myself over an sl retina pixel.

Like Sinatra, Dean Martin and Perry Como, Antonio is a charmer.  I remember my first encounter with him, listening to him sing at the Titanic. I drooled. I swooned, my knees buckled and I giggledsnorted like a schoolgirl, so did the women with me.  His voice had a hypnotic allure, here was oomph on legs, Antonio is not  a crooner, he’s a ‘ to swoon fer’. Somebody pick me up off the floor. I’ve suddenly realised that in gushing on, I’ve entirely neglected to mention his music!

What I like most about Antonio..other than his rendition of the Munchinkins song from the wizard of OZ is that each performance is as fresh as his last. Its fresh because he has boundless energy, he gives every performance everything.

He is a natural comedian, Just to illustrate that point, I’m going to tell you now, that this wasn’t as he confessed to me,  the first draft of his interview answers.  He admitted that he hadn’t wanted to appear a wiseguy and decided to behave himself and rewrote it all.  I asked him what it was that he had written initially..there was a pause before he finally replied..”Well..like the question about what keeps your fanbase loyal? I replied ‘Locking them in sex dungeons’.

Pure Antonio. Probably moreso than the answers he actually ended up handing over.

MARIELLA:   How did you arrive in sl and was it with a singing career in mind?

ANTONIO: I happened to be watching television one night and an episode of CSI featured this new thing called Second Life. I became interested and signed up the following day. I really had no idea there was a music scene in SL at the time, in fact it took me a while before I was introduced to that and a while longer before I finally decided to start singing here.

MARIELLA:   Has your childhood influenced your musical choices? When did you discover you could sing?

ANTONIO: Yes, it most certainly has. I grew up surrounded by music, my mom, dad, grandparents, all my relatives loved music. Growing up in Dean Martin's hometown obviously had me surrounded by his music, but coming from an Italian family they were always listening to Dean, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Tony Benett, Vic Damone, Mario Lanza, so yeah I was surrounded by great Italian singers. My dad was the odd one, he loved Elvis so he introduced me to him and a whole new genre of music.

We grew up singing. It seemed whenever the family got together, weddings, parties, any knid of gathering, everyone would sing. Music was always on, so it was really nature for me to sing. When I was in first grade my music teacher gave me a solo, and she did every year after. Then I started singing in the church, and in high school at our school musicals I was always featured, so been doing this a while now.

MARIELLA:   You seem to have an enduring following on sl. What do you put that down to when other musicians seem to fall along the wayside in time?

ANTONIO: I just think I have an amazing group of people who are friends, family and supporters. We have fun together, I always sincerely look forward to seeing them and its really more like a big extended family, we get together several times a week, laugh, sing, have fun together. 

MARIELLA:    If you had to sing in front of the president..which song would you pick?

ANTONIO:  Interesting question. Probably something like "Let Freedom Ring" or "God Bless the USA"

MARIELLA:   Which musical era interests you most? Would you chose to be be Al Jolson, Glen Miller, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or Bob Dylan  etc etc if you could.

ANTONIO:  I love music. SO many fabulous eras of music to choose from, and each holds some amazing music. The 40's with the Big Bands holds a special place, love the 50's music that stuff is infectious, but if you are asking if I could be one of those men... hehehe I'd cheat and say I want the career of Frank Sinatra, and the charm, humor and timing of Dean martin.

MARIELLA:   How did it feel to win the Avatars choice award?

I was extremely humbled and excited. It was a HUGE honor for me because this was voted on by the music fans in SL. My group may not be the biggest in the SL music community but as I always say, I have the best group of loonies, friends, fans, family and stalkers in SL. 

 

MARIELLA:   Does being Italian give you an edge do you think?

C'mon, you know there are only two kinds of people in the world... Italians and those that wish they were. Seriously I think it did because the Italians really produced some incredible singers and they were my major influences so I suppose so.

I turned my attention to a subject which myself and a million other women would prefer didn’t exist. Seriously however, Asea is partner is lovely  -  unfortunately!

 MARIELLA:   Is Asea 'the wind beneath your wings?'

ANTONIO:  Ummm, How about "Shes the boot in my butt". HAHAHAHA. She has been incredibly supportive and is one of the main reasons I am singing in SL today, because she believed in me, supported me before anyone else and basically kicked me in the butt and made me start this. So yes Wings may be more poetic but if you know me, I can sometimes be stubborn and I needed that boot to move forward.

 

MARIELLA:   Can Asea sing? Do you ever duet?

ANTONIO:  Yes she can, and we did a duet during the Christmas season on "Baby It's Cold Outside" which was a lot of fun and we'll probably do something again sometime in the near future.

 

MARIELLA:    Will singing always be in your future? (sl/.rl)

ANTONIO:  Yes. Even if I wasn't singing in SL, I always sang, be it in the car, shower, walking, whatever... but my heart is in performing and It's truly what I love to do. I get an incredible  amount of joy anytime I am in front of an audience, whether it's SL or RL. It's fun, and I feel that's the key to having a good set, have fun and the audience can't help but feel that coming from you and they will have fun along with you.

 

MARIELLA:   What would you like people to know about you?

ANTONIO:  Hmmmm... I think I'm fairly transparent, who they see at gigs is who I am. I like to have fun, love to laugh, singing is my passion, collect football memorabilia from my favorite team and players, love to draw especially in the style of the old pin ups like Bettie Page, and love bulldogs. God I'm boring LOL.

 

MARIELLA:  (In reference to the rl picture of Antonio in his profile)  Finally..is that your bulldog and whats his name!

ANTONIO:  Yes it IS and his name is Vinnie. A good Italian name for him.

 

I’m going to leave the last word to Asea..

[09:30] Asea Andel: I would describe him as "rare".  He believes in honor and loyalty and appreciating the same in others.  He's a very genuine caring man with a heart of gold.  I think people feel how genuinely nice he really is and that's why they like him so much..... well that and that he was an incredible voice ;-)