CITIZENS OF EMERALD CITY
20 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | July 2014
Here ’ s what I saw in my backyard this month
Colicchio ’ s Corner by Victor Colicchio
Victor Colicchio is a new York based actor , screenwriter , and musician . As a screenwriter Mr . Colicchio is best known for his screenplay SUMMER OF SAM directed by Spike Lee . His acting credit include , Bullets Over Broadway , Goodfella ’ s , Inside Man , Brave One , Soprano ’ s , numerous television appearances on Law & Order , and NY Undercover
CITIZENS OF EMERALD CITY
Hi readers
As a young boy living in the Bronx , I would often avoid the heat of a summer ’ s night by going out on the roof of my five-story walk up . I lived across the street from the Bronx Zoo . The roof featured a spectacular view of the animals that inhabited the vast zoo . I saw Elephants , Giraffes , Buffalos , Zebras , and Lions and Tigers and Bears . Oh my !
But the view which intrigued me most was that of the Manhattan Skyline at night . The Empire State building and its surrounding skyscrapers , when all lit up , had me believing that the island of Manhattan was in fact Emerald City , the Land of Oz , a horse of a different color .
I ’ ve been living on Manhattan Island for most of my life , and I have come to realize that life on the island is quite similar to life in Emerald City .
The Wizard of Oz tells the story of Dorothy , who finds herself in The Land of Oz and discovers new people , places and things . To me this sounds like a typical night out in Manhattan . One never knows who , or what , one will encounter on a single night out .
We ’ re not in Kansas anymore
This is where my story begins . The month of July this year was hot . On one particular day it was too hot to cook dinner . I headed out for some dollar pizza . Along the way I ran into a friend who told me that another friend of ours was hosting a cable TV show that evening . The host was none other than Actor Vinny Vella . Vinny is a native of Manhattan ’ s
Little Italy and is best known for his work in Martin Scorsese ’ s CASINO , THE SOPRANOS and ANALYZE THAT . I met Vinny when Director Paul Bourghese cast us in his film FOUR DEADLY REASONS . I later cast Vinny in my film POTLUCK , which was produced by HIGH TIMES MAGAZINE .
I hadn ’ t seen Vinny in a while , so I dropped by the studio to say ‘ Hi ’ and catch up on old times . I invited my photographer / girlfriend along . When we arrived at the studio , we discovered that the guest artist that week was Randy and The Rainbows , whose song DENISE hit the Top Ten on the 1963 Billboard Charts . The song was covered by BLONDIE and
20 | Steel Notes Magazine steelnotesmagazine . com | July 2014