"Nowadays we only talk via the Internet, ...And my mind flies back, quickly runs to before 2000, many years ago, when there was time, now there is not, and in addition to the cons there were pros... so I...
So much nostalgia for the 90s,
when the world was the ark and we were Noah,
it was difficult, but possible,
it was not known where and how, but it was still known why,
there were those who wanted it, there were those who were together,
there were those who still loved music despite the pain,
there was music, I remember, music, music,
there was music, music…”
so they sang Article 31 in 2030, anticipating the times that would come. Those were the years of Oh Mary, Tranky funky, Or of How come of 883, from the festival bar and dance, Jeans Energy, O'Neill jackets and Charro and Naioleari, ofEnergy, Levis and Read, and the first shoes Air Jordan, some of the status symbol of the rampant globalization.
Catania He lived all this, he lived his golden age, from a footballing, cultural and above all musical point of view. Those were the years in which the shops of historical clothing of Via Etnea they were under siege. Do you remember? Pop Off , Joseph or Vadalà brothers? I young teenagers from Catania and from the province they poured into the cult places, like it Squibb, the Empire or McIntoshWe were organizing to go to the now legendary Youth Afternoon.
La radiant Catania
In those very years, the city of Etna was considered as "the Seattle of Italy“, thanks to the innovation of the musical proposal brought forward by artists and producers such as Francesco Virlinzi. Between the 80s and 90s, Catania became a place where one could hear and above all experience rock music as had rarely been seen in Italy, we remember the historic REM concert in 1995 at Cibali Stadium, With Radiohead as a supporter.
All this contributed to making Catania “radiant”, as one of the protagonists of this golden season sings, that is Carmen Consoli.
In our city, discos could be counted on the fingers of one hand and they made the history of Nightlife in Catania.
The "Youth Afternoon": an attraction for the people of Catania and the entire province
So many people, who participate today in evenings and social events served by Facebook, remembers with nostalgia and enthusiasm the Young AfternoonsMany shared their experiences, helping us relive those glories. They were aimed at fourteen-year-olds. Lines of kids could be seen parading on their scooters along the city's main thoroughfares. They refueled at the gas station on Viale Vittorio Veneto, putting in 1000 and 2000 lire. Those who didn't have a scooter used their bus passes to reach Viale Africa, and many mothers and fathers patiently accompanied their children, picking them up at the end.
Memories of those afternoons
"These afternoons, they took place on Sundays”- He tells us Piero- “si He entered at 5pm and left at 8.30pm/9pmFrom my hometown I went down to Catania on my scooter, together with my friends. The disc jockeys They played the commercial music of the time with songs by Alexia, Ace of base, Coolio, etc.”
"The entrance fee was 5.000 lire”, he tells us RoccoUsually we went in mixed groups to have the classic reduction in couples at the entrance.
Luca tells us: “UA couple of times a year the so-called "meetings" were organised nonstop, like those at the Empire, where the evening lasted past 20:30 PM and ended at midnight. On this occasion, the supremacy and conflict among the students of Catania's high schools emerged: Boggio Lera, Archimedes, Prince Umberto, Spedalieri, Cutelli. Those were the days when if you had a friend or classmate who managed the entry lists and let you through without any problems, you were considered cool at school. The organizers sent out invitations stamped with the name of the group member.
Lillo he tells us: “At the end of the evening, with the scooters, the YES, Ciao and the special Vespas, the Bravo, we were going towards the sandwich truck of the station or at Vegas of via Etnea then moved to Vulcania, the most famous arcade in the city, open 24 hours a day, symbolic place of a generation of young people who listened to punk and dark music. (Source: https://www.facebook.com/A-Chi-Sacciu-1367289523338541/).
The McIntosh
The disco par excellence, between 1995 and 1997, was the McIntosh.
"To get in, you had to get a recommendation from the mayor. Unless you came down with a busload of women." - he tells us Massimo.
The soul of the place was Matthew Scuderi, supreme and undisputed leader of the Organizing Group McIntosh e Banker, the two most important discos in the South. Alongside him were other unforgettable figures such as Mr. spampinate, Franco Grasso e Franco Riccioli. Not they were simple PR, as many improvise today, but of the real institutionsThe Catania that mattered gravitated around him.
Youth Afternoon at EMPIRE: the most important musical event in Catania's nightclubs.
Another prominent figure was that of Mimmo Di Bella, PR and owner of the historic Catania nightclub, on Via Messina and then Via Zolfatai, near Catania Station. There were actual season tickets to attend these always-crowded evenings. Here, Massimo tells us, you began to refine your musical tastes, form your personality, want to be part of a group, experience the first bombardments of emotions. We started with songs by REM, U2, Queen and ended with dance hits.
There was also Charlie Brown
Competing with the eternal rivals Empire and McIntosh was also the Charlie Brown, on Via Martino Cilestri, a nightclub beloved by all the people of Catania. It opened in 1970 under the name Splash. Rock was played here, as Piero P. tells us. You began to understand which music was most congenial to you.
Among the prominent personalities who passed the records were Francesco Virlinzi e Angelo Buscemi.
Visit the page: https://www.facebook.com/CharlieBrownFansClub/
Medea 5 and Gammon
There were many other well-known and popular meeting places that offered opportunities for escape, discussion and growth. We remember the Medea 5, a historic nightclub on the Ognina coast and Gammon of Acitrezza, later became Banker.
"It was the jungle…the apotheosis…the panic…the spectacle…the gathering…the divertissement…getting on the dance floor and letting loose with R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion…or the Pixies. We'd climb on the cubes…dance and sometimes even mosh pits!“, he tells us nostalgically Save.
Today
I asked those who told us about their experiences in these places what the peculiarity that has made these afternoons legendary and inimitable in some of these placesThe response was almost unanimous: the music, the shine, the atmospheres , lightheartedness of those years that echoed the climate of "Lambs Time", the pure seeds, wanting to be in contact with others without electronic devices, the first emotions These came from contact, from experiencing the city differently, from being free from parental control. There was no desire to show others at all costs that you were having fun. You began to engage with the world and with yourself.
Today we live in a different climate, we are in the 2.0 generation where all of this now seems distant and anachronistic. Kids smoke, drink, seek out entertainment immoderately and by the age of fourteen they have already lived experiences that their parents never even imagined.
To bring those now-adult kids back to the slopes, some organizers have launched a sort of revival of those afternoons. A series of events has been launched on social media aimed at reviving the same emotions.
Sunday, April 7th at the Empire, it starts at 17:30 pm. here it is the link to the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/283194058478689/
Cover photo: https://www.pexels.com
