"Italian pop music should be considered culture instead of vulgar merchandise," sentenced rocker Vasco Rossi, apparently without irony,
while collecting three statues from the national federation for record companies (Fimi) at the Italian Music Awards The middle-aged rocker from Modena, known for attention-getting antics, changed sides on a thorny political issue–a proposed law for the ‘protection’ of indigenous music which would require radio stations and music television channels to play at least 60% Italian music.
Rossi’s endorsement of 14-point proposal n.756, which he’d previously called "weird," may help move it out of the House of Representatives, where it has languished since July 2001.
Baseball hat on backwards and with visible stubble, Vasco collected kudos for latest album "Stupido Hotel" and parted with the statement, "We need a law that really helps pop music, like we have for the film industry and the opera." It will be hard to eradicate foreign pop music from Italy–even the two-year old awards program has an English name.
“Our goal is to let scooters roam free in the city center,” announced Florentine politician Federico Tondi. The creator of the newly-founded “Scooter Party,” Tondi drummed up 450 members against recent changes in traffic planning in a week.