Hello Artie’s friends,
It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since Artie passed away. It has been a very difficult month for me and many of us… coping with his absence. An adjustment to not get his texts and phone calls daily. I still have him in my phone directory…
News: Today, an anonymous classmate of Artie’s donated enough money to print up 50 more of his books, and the only request was to give them away to all his friends and family. This is Artie’s legacy. Very important that I keep this alive for him, as this was his only request of me.
Artie and I ended up writing our last song, this summer, over the phone, called ARLINGTON. Artie passed away before I could finish the recording, so he never heard it. Freebo (Bonnie Raitt’s bass player), Debra Dobkin ( Shawn Colvin, Richard Thompson), Valerie Lundsberg (Fame), Lisa Johnson, Lisa Turner, Michael Mulder and Matthew Weaver all contributed musically to the recording.
Now, film director Mary Ann Skweres(Hollywood Dell Studios) has gotten a team together to film a music video for Arlington.
We need to raise $3,500. I got a check for $300 already! It is for insurance, for equipment rentals to film at Arlington, and the West LA VA cemetery. We have a caterer who’s donating food for the shoot. Please honor Artie by donating any amount you can. The shoot begins October 23rd.
We’re looking for US soldier uniforms from the VietNam Gulf and Iraq wars. And soldiers, female, male, all ethnic backgrounds to stand in for the video. Please contact Lisa Nemzo at lnemzo@dreamwildrecords.com.
The shoot will be in Los Angeles, CA.
Story of Fallen Soldier Inspires Songwriter’s “Arlington”
Songwriter Lisa Nemzo was watching a documentary that aired on CNN called “Arlington-A Call to Honor”, and a portion of the program showed a mom who drives to Arlington Cemetery to visit her son’s grave.
The mother, (Teresa Arciola) of Private First Class Michael A. Arciola, 20, of Elmsford, New York, who died February 15, 2005, in Al Ramadi, Iraq, from injuries sustained from enemy small arms fire. She said, “I drive from Elmsford, NY to Arlington 4-5 times a year, I brings roses, and his favorite childhood story which I read to him at his grave.” At one point she looks tearfully at the camera and said, “I don’t want him to be forgotten”. Then the narrator finished the piece saying “Arlington, is the saddest acre in America”.
“I was so moved by her story that I bolted off my couch into my studio and began writing the song that would become Arlington, said Nemzo”.
At one particular point, I was struggling with finishing the lyrics and set it aside until I could be clear on what I wanted to say. My friend and co-writer, Artie Colatrella a lyricist and poet who had been fighting renal cancer for the past three years, see http://www.artiecolatrellafund.com “Artie’s Story” called a few days later announcing he had finished his last book “Breathe”. He was bored he said, “Now what am I gonna’ do..?”
“I asked if he would help me finish the lyric. I sent it to him, and played the music over the phone. Through his morphine haze he still was able to come up with the pre-chorus lines, and helped me finish a verse. It was the last song we would ever write together.” Artie passed away September 2, 2011.
Shortly after his passing Lisa finished the recording. “I played Arlington at a few concerts and the response from the audience has been overwhelming. So many civilians are deeply saddened by the stories of the soldiers and their families and sometimes hearing music is the only way to connect with their feelings” she says.
“I want to continue to honor the fallen, and provide some comfort to their families that our soldiers will not be forgotten. And for the ones who’ve been injured and have returned home, the acknowledgment that what they’ve given will never be forgotten. I want Teresa Arciola to know we won’t forget her son.” – Lisa Nemzo
www.lisa nemzo.com
Til tomorrow,
Lisa
