Issues-Driven Folk Singer-Songwriter Pascali Provokes in English and Italian

Issues-Driven Folk Singer-Songwriter Pascali Provokes in English and Italian

Amanda Pascali, 22, described by some as an Italian Bob Dylan, started singing and playing the guitar at a young age so that she could use her music to tell her family’s diaspora story. (Before Pascali’s Sicilian-decent father came to the U.S. as a refugee, he spent two years in a forced-labor camp for speaking out against the communist dictatorship in his native Romania.)


She released her folksy debut album, with songs in both Italian and English, a little over a year ago — and hasn’t stopped writing since. “I write songs about the truth, and the truth sometimes gets some people upset or angry or uncomfortable,” says the demure Pascali, who graduated from UH during the lockdown, and had to cancel a European summer tour due to the pandemic. But she sees silver linings in the schedule shift: “Taking time to reflect and better understand myself is hard work that I often pushed aside.”

Click here to see the full 2020 portfolio.

Special
Fall Philanthropy Report: March of Dimes’ ‘Signature Chefs’ Event Coming in November

What year was your organization launched? 1938

What is your mission? March of Dimes was founded in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to combat polio. The name “March of Dimes” was suggested by entertainer Eddie Cantor as a way to encourage people to donate even a small amount, like a dime, to help fight polio.

Keep Reading Show less

Derrick Shore, Tom Mays and Owen Conflenti (photo by Daniel Ortiz)

THE ALWAYS MEMORABLE Alley Theatre ball took on special significance this year, becoming not just a sexy Post Oak Hotel soiree — with “A Buenos Aires Affair” as the theme, nodding to the company’s production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives — but also an emotional sendoff to retiring longtime Managing Director Dean Gladden. It raised $1.3 million to boot.

Keep Reading Show less
Art+Culture

RICE VILLAGE JUST got a whole lot tastier.

Keep Reading Show less
Food