{"id":2282,"date":"2018-09-26T19:20:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T02:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/?p=2282"},"modified":"2018-09-27T08:36:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T15:36:08","slug":"sicilys-goodfellas-and-sopranos-are-coming-for-a-night-of-1000-guidos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/golf\/personalities\/2282\/sicilys-goodfellas-and-sopranos-are-coming-for-a-night-of-1000-guidos","title":{"rendered":"Sicily\u2019s Goodfellas and Sopranos are Coming for a Night of 1,000 Guidos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stephen

Stephen and Mary Jo Scofes during a recent visit to Italy\u2019s Amalfi Coast (Courtesy Stephen Scofes)<\/p><\/div>\n

Stephen Scofes returned to Lansing after his recent spree to Capri saying, \u201cOn the beautiful Isle of Capri I felt like I\u2019d died and gone to heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the trip with his wife Mary Jo, two daughters, and his father, George, the 58-year-old Scofes fondly recalled his mother, Georgia, who succumbed to pancreatic cancer in 2017. Scofes\u2019 paternal grandmother, a Giovanni, was from Sicily \u2013 the next increasingly popular Italian location on his vacation bucket list. The Sicilian villages of Savoca and Forza D\u2019Agro outside Taormina were used as settings in the Academy Award-winning film \u201cGodfather Part II.\u201d Bar Vitelli, the terrace caf\u00e9 in which Michael Corleone, through an awkward initial meeting with her father, courts Appollonia, the woman he would marry in a nearby church, still operates and welcomes visitors.<\/p>\n

But first Scofes will bring Sicily, and some of its notorious Cosa Nostra offspring, to Lansing in order to honor his late mother \u2013 and her sense of humor \u2013 with \u201cComedians for Cancer\u2019s \u2018Night of 1,000 Guidos\u2019\u201d- a fundraiser for Sparrow Hospital\u2019s Herbert Herman Cancer Center. It will feature Italian American actor Vincent Pastore, who played \u201cSal Bonpensiaro\u201d on the HBO hit mobster show \u201cThe Sopranos\u201d and played a \u201cwiseguy\u201d in films like \u201cGoodfellas\u201d and \u201cCarlito\u2019s Way\u201d with \u201cGodfather\u201d star Al Pacino.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been blessed with a number of friendships with people in show business,\u201d said Scofes, whose own godfather was actor the late actor Robert Loggia who appeared in the movie \u201cScarface\u201d (also with Pacino), and set in Miami. Loggia, who also reluctantly appeared in \u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d introduced Scofes to Pastore.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoggia told me he didn\u2019t want to appear on \u2018The Sopranos\u2019 because he felt the show was degrading to Italian Americans,\u201d said Scofes. \u201cWhen I found out he eventually accepted a role on the show, I phoned him and called him out. He told me, \u2018I\u2019m an actor, kid. I gotta eat!\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastore, himself a cancer survivor, will be in from New York and joined on the stage by comedian Jimmy Labriola who appeared with Michigander Tim Allen both on the television series \u201cHome Improvement\u201d and in the movie \u201cThe Santa Clause.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joey Kola, who has cracked wise on Jay Leno, David Letterman and Rosie O\u2019Donnell\u2019s shows, Al Romero and Johnny Rizzo will also add more yuks to the sauce.<\/p>\n

The stylish event, including Mark Randisi\u2019s live performance of\u00a0Frank Sinatra\u00a0music so beloved by Italians, cocktails, hors d\u2019oeuvres, a Hollywood-style red carpet walk for guests and an afterglow following the comedy performance will be held at Studio C, the theater in Okemos, on the evening of\u00a0Saturday, October 13.\u00a0Only 180 tickets are being sold for $150 each. They are available by calling Scofes & Associates Consulting at\u00a0(517) 485-5536<\/a>\u00a0or searching the show at\u00a0Eventbrite.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clean, funny show,\u201d said Scofes. \u201cI wanted to bring something unique and entertaining to Lansing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grazie mille, amici!<\/p>\n

Contact<\/em>\u00a0Travel Writer Michael Patrick Shiels at\u00a0MShiels@aol.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0His radio program may be heard weekdays at\u00a0MiBigShow.com<\/a>\u00a0or in Lansing on WJIM am 1240. His latest book is \u201cI Call Him Mr. President \u2013 Stories of Fishing, Golf and Life with my Friend George H.W. Bush\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Scofes returned to Lansing after his recent spree to Capri saying, \u201cOn the beautiful Isle of Capri I felt… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":2283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2834,1749,895799,1019759,1023600],"class_list":["post-2282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personalities","tag-michigan","tag-italy","tag-lansing","tag-comedy","tag-events"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2018\/09\/image15.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2286,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2282\/revisions\/2286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/traveltattler\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}