I had been longing for months in a “A Good Year” promotion. It seems like yesterday when they finished shooting in France, but if I really think about it, on the contrary, about an year has already gone by.
A good fan can wait, even if the wait is long and exhausting, but the news about his appearances in Europe made me hopeful he’d have come to Rome.

It’s only late evening Sunday, and I read on Internet that Russell arrived in Rome the day before. I can’t believe it. We’re breathing the very same air and am I not looking for him?!!:D

It’s done! My boyfriend Max and I get organized to make a “recognition tour” on Monday morning. We know where is the hotel he’s staying at, we know he’s not alone, thus it’ll be even more difficult to get close to him (privacy is privacy, and when he’s with his family, things become worse), but I’m still hopeful.

Nothing... Monday morning results vain, or better, we might be too far from the hotel to see something... for discretion, we didn’t want to stay on the very front of the hotel.

But Tuesday we get up fully intentioned not to let that day go by without trying everything to find him. This Oct 10th is completely devoted to the press, it’s absolutely impossible it goes unnoticed.

We arrive at his Hotel at 11.30sh. There’s a big traffic amongst paparazzi and journalist. Not much time and the movie promotion to the press is over. One of the journalists tell us that we could have a better chance to see him, if we go to Fiamma Theatre, not very far from the hotel indeed, where the press conference’ll take place.

We quickly reach it on foot. It’s 01.00 pm and we missed him again for such a small time!!! Damn it!!!! But we won’t give up!!!
We go to the back of the theatre. We can see an unusual sort of limos traffic. He might go out from a rear door to go unnoticed.
We decide to risk and wait him at the rear door. There’s a small bunch of people: a few paparazzi on scooters, ready to follow him, a pair of freelance cameramen and us, two fans waiting for him only to cheer him.

A guard at the rear door says gestures to driver of the parked limo. We understand that something is about to happen...
There’s non need to say that... His shape is as unique and as his gait... It’s HIM, he’s getting closer. Behind my video-camera, I really can’t believe it, I still think I’m looking at him on a screen, to shake me up from this unreal feeling, I look away from my camera lens...
Russell seems to notice Max t-shirt, the TOFOG one, bought for us by Sabry in Australia.

I tell myself: “Now or never!!!!”
I pull out the cd  (My hand My heart) I took with me to make it signed and... Voilà... Russell understands we’re not a threat, but that we’re here because really interested in him.

And now everything happens to us. While Max is giving Russell the pen, it blows up in Max hands. There’s ink everywhere, some squirts on my already perspired cd cover, Max hands are completely drenched, some spur ever reaches Max’s face. We both think that fortune is turning her back on us. But Russell doesn’t desist.
At first Russell tries to clean up the ink on Max’s face (only later on  Max confides me that, after all this, he’ll never wash his face any longer:D:D), then Russell, without batting an eye, takes the cd cover and tries to dry it with a piece of paper, in order o save whatever can be saved, then, thanks to one of his bodyguards, we can find a working pen and he can sign my cd at last.
Russell turns towards me to ask me the spelling of my name... at the beginning I go fast, but, when I see his glance on me... I don’t know... It might be because of the effect of his charismatic and magnetic eyes... well... I totally seize up... I can even forget the spelling of the last three letters of my name. Damn it, I would never thought that something like this could have happened to me.

Sabry... now I can understand your words;)
Max and I tell Russell about Le Thor, about last year great concert. Russell tell us about the video “Testify” shot in France. Above all I ask him when he could come to Rome to perform.
He answers that it’s all a matter of promoter. He’d like to make a tour in Rome, Milan, Verona and other Italian cities.

There're million of questions in my mind, he’s in a good mood to answer, it seems like a dream to have him in front of me, answering all the questions, but it’s even a dream to have him here, devoting to us 2 precious minutes of his time. It a never hoped dream.
Well, to make the long story short, I would have wanted to tell him so many things, either just thank him for his way of being an artist, or for his wonderful family who followed him to Rome, but my mind was completely paralyzed.

He’s  to go, anyway; one bodyguard of his attracts his attention by telling him that the car is clogging Roman hectic traffic. Inpatients hooting, which don’t understand they’re braking our dream, become really deafening.
They have to go, alas, Russell says goodbye to us and we thank him for making a dream come true.

He’s already far away in his car, but we can’t realize what ‘has just really happened , yet. We need to sit and relax a bit. Max can feel tension arising. I ‘m still gaping.