I’ve always liked Michael Imperioli. I started to *really* like him, however, when I was watching some featurettes from The Sopranos; the cast were asked their favorite mob film. A majority of the cast, naturally, responded without hesitation that it was Marty Scorsese’s Goodfellas, which is undoubtedly and obviously a great film. A couple said Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, another classic. What stood out to me, though, was when Michael Imperioli paused for a second and said his was The Killing of a Chinese Bookie by John Cassavetes. I love John Cassavetes. After hearing that, I thought to myself, if I was a filmmaker, this guy would never have to audition for a role in any of my works.
Michael Imperioli is now writing and directing his own films, and also a musician, interestingly enough. A Renaissance man. His first band was called La Dolce Vita (there are way too many bands with this name, by the way) and they either disbanded or changed their name, so now Imperioli leads Zopa with the rhythm section of Elijah Amitin on bass and Olmo Tighe on drums. They released their debut album on 1 July 2020, titled La Dolce Vita after his previous band. I absolutely had to buy it on bandcamp.
I’ve been rotating it out with the new Paul Weller album On Sunset. La Dolce Vita is interesting from start to finish, in a way that a lot of what’s going on is equally surprising and not surprising. The album opener is titled after a Douglas Sirk film — quite possibly his greatest film and my favorite of his oeuvre — All That Heaven Allows, so from the get-go you know you’re dealing with someone who has a handle on their multiple crafts. Imperioli’s singing style is definitely a surprise, sort of halfway between bluesy and someone who clearly enjoys a lot of post-punk. This is a guy whose main guitar is a Fender Jaguar HH with the name “Isabella” scrawled in permanent marker between the bridge and controls.
Imperioli was on NTS Radio yesterday with a playlist that included Charlie Mingus, B-52s, and Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Yeah, this guy is pretty fucking awesome. You should probably buy La Dolce Vita by Zopa.
The Seeming and the Meaning 