(ex [a=virus polyactive])
main characters:
the basement: everyone has a basement in their past, ours was on ultra-deluxe model, kindly made available to us by zabban (see zabban), clean, shining, pleasant-smelling, a real jewel...
caldini: the dark prince of the band...a beautiful and noble soul., a sensitive and refined guitarist .’rive gauche' scarves ..author of (almost) all the songs...would go on to become the prince of karnak (see karnak) and partner in life and art of michela (see michela), you can still see them play under the pseudonym of fkt..
menichetti: rampant and omnivorous drummer, he wanted to play all his drums, without ever neglecting any… raging and passionate, he hit the drums a hundred times for every thought he had...
chiappini: bohemian keyboardist with eyes of blue and angelic playboy, his little harmonic tapestries were a dime a dozen, he ogled all the girls and lived the good life... would go on to join moda (see moda>. and then disappear...
di pasquale:bassist by chance, a bit moody and of rudimentary technique, made enough noise when it mattered...
micheli/spalck: third-rate singer, strange clothes and make-up, would go on to join pankow (see pankow) and then go into exile on the other side of the world...
martini: friend of zabban (see zabban). he hit pots and pans and made enough racket for two (or three), with just enough sarcasm...
pilu': bassist à la paul simonon. long arms, blond coif and cigarette always hanging from the corner of his mouth. a real punk animal, better known for his exploits in karnak (see karnak)...
cosi: character straight out of a novel, saxophone player, shouter. traveller, permanent agitator, garibaldi reincarnated … leader and engine of karnak (see karnak). one of the rare cases in which legend and reality coincide...
friends:
zabban: basement proprietor, fanatical record collector, noble patron...
pino di salvo: friend to all, deus ex machina of the fiorentine scene. always running at top speed and always loyal...
michela: singer of karnak (see karnak) and happy partner of caldini, a sweet presence without thorns , born the exact same day as micheli/spalck (see micheli/spalck)...
cesaretti: young fanzine writer, publisher of free, aspirant producer of records and cassettes and later one of the most brilliant architects in Italy...
fasolo: cosmic genius, soul and founder of pankow (see pankow), respected and fearod by all. seduces micheli/spalck and transforms him into a ‘pankowita' (pankow-man for life), one of Europe's great musicians, lives in france (see france) and dedicates his life entirely to music, everything from Monteverdi (see Monteverdi) to pankow reborn (see pankow)...legend has it that he once commented that the song ‘romy’ (see romy Schneider) by polyactive was actually not half bad...
...it was on era that can never be repeated, florence was once again at the center of the world, for the first time since the demise of lorenzo the magnificent., at tenax in the same month you could see killing joke, bauhaus, daf, tuxedo moon and echo & the bunnymen...the girls wore green boots and were all gorgeous ..the communist party social clubs were boiling over with music and cacophony...we were all 20 years old...our hormones played terrible tricks ..we hated diaframma and litfiba...what also is there to say?...it was all beautiful...all terrible...we even wrote two or three pretty good songs...
Alex Spalck (translation Andrée Thibert. updated by Susan Hillman)[/]
From the liner notes on Silence Over Florence 1982-1984
