Welcome to the lucky #13 Funzalo / Mike Lembo newsletter folks!
As we close in on three years (!) of bringing you the Mike Lembo Funzalo Music newsletter with updates on everything from music news, business updates, fun photos, wacky stories and goings on from current and former Funzalo clients, we just wanted to thank you all for checking out the wild and the wacky from Sezze, Italy where Mike now resides.
We get such great feedback from our subscribers, it makes putting this newsletter all worth it. Thank you for that. And with that, on with the newsletter….. |
As we all know, it’s the holiday season and as you know (or maybe not), Funzalo has quite a catalog of easily licensable music from their catalog of easily cleared, one-stop licensing. From bands as diverse as Divine Weeks, singer/songwriter Jules Shear, reggae chart toppers The Jolly Boys to straight ahead traditional instrumentals from Ed Roth, we have quite the playlist for you to check out. And here it is! Let us know if anything appeals to you and your clients? |
Mike has worked diligently on Spaghetti Punk: Grande, an ever-expanding release of tracks covered and sung in Italian as classic punk songs. New tracks added to the project are a track Dean Martin made famous, “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu,” two Motown classics including the Four Tops, “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” and The Supremes, “You Can’t Hurry Love. You can preorder from Amazon or Apple. |
All tracks are pre-approved with the publishers making for easy clearance!
The idea for Spaghetti Punk came to Mike after arriving in Italy when he took a trip to Rome to see Marky Ramones of The Ramones play live. The compilation also features some of punk rock’s most enduring anthems, such as Talking Heads “Psycho Killer,” Patti Smith’s “Dancing Barefoot,”(“A Piedi Nudi”), MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams,” (“Balla Con Me”) and The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” – all sung in Italian with their original arrangements recognizable.
Additionally, a more recent cover of “Palisades Park,” done in the Ramones punk sound (a la their iconic cover version), is the latest track, which was written by none-other-than Chuck Barris’ of The Gong Show! Take a listen to that track here: |
The Spaghetti Punk version of the Talking Heads classic, “Psycho Killer” even made this Spotify playlist of Psycho Killer covers! |
And Thank You, Mr. Blue Sky!
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And speaking of Spaghetti Punk, we wanted to thank Dan Herman of Radio Crystal Blue, the internet’s longest running adult-alternative music station established in 2000 for playing some of those tracks as well! More on Dan’s station here. Just click the image: |
If You Knew Naples,
Like We Know Naples…
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Mike and Italian via the U.K. friends Patricia Jobling & her daughter Daisy recently took a trip to Naples and like all of his travels in Italy, Mike was constantly amazed by the love of life, the food and the celebrations all over his new home. Here are some photos of his Naples trip – an ancestral home for his family. Don’t you wish you were there?
While Mike isn’t particularly religious (to say the least) something really wild happened when Patricia and Daisy went into a church in Naples. The women taking their euros to enter looked at Mike and said “He’s one of us.” Patricia and Daisy asked what that meant. And the woman said “He’s Napolitano. I can tell. His look, the way he carried himself….he’s one of us.” It blew Mike away. She was right, he’s from Napolitano.
Oh and another thing – Broccoli Rabe or as it’s known in Naples - Friarelli . If you’ve never had this classic Italian dish, it’s quite something, nothing like what you think of as broccoli back in the states. The dish was a favorite of Mike’s as a kid and when his mom made it, he and his dad fought for the garlic in the serving dish.
Mike liked it so much, that while other kids had peanut butter and jelly or ham and cheese sandwiches, Mike’s mom made him (you guessed it) broccoli rabe sandwiches in elementary school. One day, after his mom made him a sandwich, Mike’s teacher gave him a note to bring back to his mother. The note read: “Mrs. Lembo, The next time you pack Mike a broccoli rabe sandwich, please make sure to pack breath mints as well!” Nuff sed. |
Church frontman Steve Kilbey's biggest regret? 'Being a prick' |
In another lifetime, Mike managed the Australian band, The Church in its most successful phase of their career. From around 1985’s Heyday to 1992’s Priest/Aura. In fact, we’ve posted photos of Mike and The Church’s guitarist Marty Wilson-Piper in Jamaica in our newsletter before.
So when The Sydney Morning Herald posted this interview with The Church’s frontman Steve Kilbey back in October, well, to say Mike got a bit of a kick out of the headline, would be an understatement. Let’s just say, Mike had no issue with the sentiment, the assessment, the headline or, in fact, anything at all Steve Kilbey said. All true. All true. In fact, about the only thing we can tell you about this is that we had to hold Mike back from telling you all the ways in which this was true!
This quote, however, did ring home however: “It wasn’t just morally [wrong], it really f---ed up my career. I’d go into a radio station in America and be really rude to the guy doing the show, walk out of there and the manager rings up and says, ‘You’ve just been cancelled on 270 stations across America’.” |
Johnny Bravo? No, David Bravo!
And Jules Shear.
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Back in the 80s, Funzalo client Jules Shear co-wrote a song with musician/songwriter David Bravo. Well guess what? All these years later, it’s coming out! “Never Gonna Let You Get Away” is out now on streaming services and is available for licensing. Take a listen here! |
Spaghetti Punk producer Marco Fanella has an Italian Goth band called Blax. And while it’s nothing like Spaghetti Punk, it is indeed one hell of a visual and aural feast. But this is just part of Marco’s repertoire.
Born in Sezze, Italy, Marco musical journey began with a moment of wonder: as a child, he was deeply struck by “Tunnel of Love” by Dire Straits. The haunting guitars and cinematic production sparked a lifelong curiosity about how records are made — a fascination that would eventually define his path as both musician and producer. Throughout his career, Marco has contributed to numerous records for both emerging and established Italian artists, including Tsubo, Habanera, Giovanni Colomba, Claudio Battaglia, HANE, Malet Grace, Giorgia Luccone, Massimo De Martino, Baudrim, Chiazzetta, Claudio Di Cicco, Aim to Head, Mark Vona, Hookers, Korrigans, Dyrnwyn, Blax, Matteo Gardin, Overload, and Godzillabong.
Marco’s work extends to television and advertising as well: he composed music for award-winning spots for RAI, including the Clio Award-winning Festa del Cinema di Roma (2018) and the Mostra del Cinema di Venezia (2024).
Blax has several songs in the can and is working up a new album but here is just one of the band’s videos for the song “Mr. Graceful” out now. Check it out below! |
Sculpture (Garden) Furtado
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When Mike was living in Tucson, a lifetime ago, he managed and released music on his Funzalo Records label by Americana guitarist Tony Furtado.
But what you might not know about Tony is that, his other passion is sculpture. And its amazing stuff. Recently, Tony shared with us, a link to his work and it’s something unlike anything we’ve seen before. Maybe you wanna check it out? |
Have A Holly Jolly Boys Christmas!
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We’ve posted photos of Mike and his client, The Jolly Boys from Jamaica. In fact, we have posted quite a few photos of Mike in Jamaica with and without the band. He’s spent quite a bit of time in Jamtown and his years managing The Jolly Boys are some of his best memories. In fact, he released three of their albums on his Funzalo Records back in the day. Tons of great memories.
Which made the news of the October 28 category 5 Hurricane Melissa all the more worrisome. With winds of 185 MPH hitting the island, it caused immense damage.
Below we have two links – one to music from his beloved clients, The Jolly Boys and another to hurricane relief bringing aid to the citizen of The Land of Wood and Water.
And while Shaggy and Sean Paul are teaming up for a Jamaica benefit concert, news Travel and Tour News is reporting that the island is making a rapid recovery and is welcoming visitors for Winter 2025. Great news. |
Radiohead Comes to Italy
– the Funzalo Connection
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So many of you know Mike has a bit of a past with Radiohead —as his wonderful producer clients Paul Kolderie & Sean Slade produced their first two records Pablo Honey & The Bends which they are all still dining out on, thanks very much!
Paul & Sean also produced a great Funzalo-related band from Nashvegas, Clockhammer (not very Nashville sounding at all) much more progressive rock! It was released on his First Warning label that caught the ear of old friend Nick Gatfield then head of A&R at EMI UK who loved Clockhammer & tried and made a (very good) offer for the world ex- N. America which he had to pass on because of his label’s ties with BMG International. Big mistake.
But sometime later, Nick called and said “I have this little band from Oxford (Radiohead)” that he wanted Paul & Sean to maybe produce. Well that turned out to be a wonderful thing for all. Enter Radiohead.
So 30 plus years later…..
Radiohead played four nights at the Unipol Bologna for 20,000 people who were packed into the venue – a sell out! Mike got a few tickets to see the band as he saw them first before they broke in Arizona in a small club first, then about 12 or so years later in an arena in Pheonix. They were always great, but Bologna was very special show with a stage in the round experience, set in the middle of the arena and moving from mic to mic – which included all the band and crew some of whom were hidden from below always. It always seemed like constant movement.
Thom Yorke lead the band through a fantastic set of songs, with hypnotic emotion, rhythm and power! Mike’s friends Paolo Brucker, Piero Lauri and his 17 year-old son Emanuele skipped school to go to the show. Many different ages & eyes and they had a blast!
It’s safe to say Mike love my new life in ITALIA! Especially when his old life comes to visit! |
Congrats to former clients (but still pals) in the rawk group The Steepwater Band who Mike managed in the 90s. They recently completed a tour of Eastern Europe that took the band thru Poland, Czech Republic & Slovakia and featured 15 shows including clubs, theaters, and festivals. The band will continue to tour in the States this winter, after completing the tracking for a new album, slated for release mid-2026. The album, which was recorded in the band’s hometown of Chicago, will mark their 9th full length album since their formation in 1998.
The band has been road dogs for years now and all their hard work is paying off in gigs in Poland of all places. Here’s some pics from a photographer Igor Andrich - Gorzów Wielkopolski (PL), at Jazz Club Pod Filarami. Imagine bringing the sound of foot stompin’ rock-n-roll sounds of a classic American rock band to Poland! Congrats boys! More (American) tour dates here! |
It’s a Dog’s Life in Italy
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And as we always do, we have some photos of Mike’s beloved dogs here, Joey, Nera & Thomas. They have it pretty good in Italy, wouldn’t you say? |
So that’s all the news that’s fit to print. We’ll be back with a new newsletter soon with more from Mike and Funzalo. Don’t forget to reach out directly to Mike if anything is of interest to you for licensing or sync opportunities. He’d love to hear from you!
Buon Natale!
Best,
Mike Lembo & Funzalo Music |
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