ABOUT ME

My name is Diana, I'm Italian and I was born on June 29th 1988.

I write songs, study philosophy, read too much and spend time planning tons of useless things like where to go, where not to go, what to read now, what to read later, what not to read at all. Anyway I never follow my own advice, so the whole planning thing is completely useless.

I always feel like I'm on the run which is perfectly exemplified by a ton of stressful dreams where unknown people keep on hunting me for no apparent reason. I usually manage to escape by athleticly jumping down from third floor balconies.

I'm always listening to some music, wherever I am, whatever I am supposed to be doing. I obsessively look for artists I've never heard before and I'm pretty sure that one's everyday mood depends on whether you choose the good mood or the sad sad songs playlist. I'd much rather stay at home with a new album than go rambling outside. Otherwise, I love to go out while listening to my ipod. It feels like I'm living in a movie.

I've been playing piano since I was 5; I've attended the Conservatory for almost a decade, receiving a lot of pretty useless diplomas, then I understood that I really didn't care about classical music and stuff like that so I left the Conservatory.

Then I totally fell in love with folk music.

So I bought a guitar and I started obsessing with songwriting. I tried several times to establish a band but most of my musician friends listen to mainstream or metal music, so it never worked. I tried everything I could think of to gather people to play with but unsuccesfully - so, while I wait for better times, I keep on writing.

I love literature, and a few years ago I would have told you that I wanted to be a writer. I keep on planning and plotting a lot of stories anyway. Usually in November (that's nanowrimo time!) you can see me going crazy, but I'm not the happiest person to have around while the nano is up. I warned you.

I live in a small town in Sicily [the tropic of separation as Elliott Murphy called it: we're always too far from the places where things happen] where there's really nothing to do on saturday nights nor monday mornings or whatever day it is. Anyway, I'm not usually in the mood to jump into new things, so for many years I kept on thinking that living in a quiet place wasn't that bad. I mean, I'm always hoping for new things to show up, but when they do I usually get scared. So, in order to educate myself to the unpredictable, I bought this book called This Book Will Change Your Life, which "contains 365 daily orders, each one of which could turn your humdrum existence into a daily free-fall. On day 295, propose to a complete stranger. On day 181, get your street renamed after you. On day 16, discreetly give the finger to everyone you meet. Other days encourage self-crucifixion, currency manipulation, and writing to dictators." Right now I'm applying for a knighthood. I'll keep you updated.

I guess I'm not patriotic at all - on the contrary, I always long to be elsewhere. Junot Dìaz wrote of this state of mind like a sort of New Jersey desease so I started thinking that's one of the reasons I feel perfectly confortable into Bruce Springsteen songs.

I dislike smoking, bad spelling and reality shows. I love cappuccinos, woods and gloves. I really love to drink water, so I guess that in my past life I was some kind of fish, maybe an orca or something like that.

I guess I could be a good buddhist.

Well, that's all. If there's anything else you'd like to know about me, you can write me at shaking.tambourine [AT] gmail.com.

I'll surely write you back.