Leave Your Troubles in Your Pasta: Short Stories About Staying in the Joy of Life

By Carl Rigoli

The stories in my book describe inner feelings that I have experienced and deeply contemplated. Through this creative expression, my stories reveal compassion and insight.
I am honored to share my thoughts with anyone who is interested in a new prospective.
You should also know that I come from a long line of "pasta gathers" who have their weekly seances around and over a bowl of angel hair pasta, tomato sauce, meatballs, and sausage.
So leave your troubles in your pasta! You'll feel refreshed, revitalized, consoled, and loved. Harmony will emerge, and you will be ready to meet new challenges with a positive view of all your life's experiences.
Lee Powell (Editor) "I very much enjoyed the humor and philosophical outlook you included in your stories."

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667843667

Book preview

A person smiling and holding a bowl of food Description automatically generated with medium confidence

LEAVE YOUR TROUBLES IN YOUR PASTA

© 2022, CARL RIGOLI

All rights reserved.  This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN: 978-1-66784-366-7

DEDICATION

To Karen, the love of my life, who has inspired me throughout our 57 happy and joyous years of marriage.  She has been an unfailingly positive force and has constantly supported me through my music and teaching careers.

Karen has great insight and has always buoyed me with love.  She believed in me and had confidence in my talents; she encouraged me in times of doubt, offered great guidance for my musical career, and helped me to grow spiritually.

Karen was very supportive when I decided to move to Los Angeles to further my career in the music business.

Contents

Chapter 1: Musical Stories to Add to the Pasta Bowl

Leave Your Troubles in Your Pasta

Life is a Melody

Adventures of a Road Musician

They Had to Go to the Mattresses

A Special Visit from Maestro Puccini

Playing Drums at My First Hasidic Wedding

Ninety Percent Boredom, and Ten Percent Horror

Father and Son Music Collaboration

Creativity vs. Talent

Our Leonardo’s Fascination With Music

The Day I Almost Shit My Pants

The Power of a Kind Word

Expressing My Feelings as I Improvise

Chapter 2: Special Children’s Pasta Stories

Allowing Children to Follow Their Own Paths

The Art of Being Kind

Writing a Self-Visualization Script

Teaching Fractions Can Be Fun

Last-Minute Fill-Ins

Our Mysterious Disappearance

The Rebellious First Grader

Sometimes the Cheerleader Needs a Cheerleader

Chapter 3: Life’s Stories that Add a New Flavor

Diminished Capacity

Is It Leonardo or Leonarda?

Santa Is Coming With His Hearing AidsOn This Year

Pro-cras-ti-na-tion: Mañana is Not Enough for Me

Gratitude

Sicilian Saga Part 2

Chapter 4: Personal Heartfelt Feelings to Add Compassion for Your Soulful Pasta Bowl

I Met an Angel at Midnight Mass (December 24, 1963)

My Old Friends

I Made it to My Eightieth Year

Of Course I Talk to Myself – Sometimes I Need Expert Advice

Bidding Farewell to My Old Friend Carmelo

Chapter 5: Some Friendly, Comforting, and Encouraging Stories for a Great Blend

Our Magnificent Heart

The Positive and Negative Effects of Social Media

Is There a Vaccine for an Emotional Pandemic?

Was Writing My Memoirs Cheaper Than Going for Therapy?

Living One Day at a Time

Being Mindful by Keeping My Vision Clear and Focused

Wonderful Reflections Triggered by an E-Mail

Have You Had Your Attitude Checked Lately?

Chapter 6: Extra Marinara Sauce Scenarios

The Adventures of Vinnie The Ice

Another Monumental Story Featuring Vinnie The Ice and His Garbage Escapades

Everyone Looks Like a Bad Guy These Days

Beautiful Memories and Reflections in theCorner of My Mind

I Could Have, Should Have, or Would Have, If Only

Chapter 1:  Musical Stories to

Add to the Pasta Bowl

Leave Your Troubles in Your Pasta

After moving from New York City to Los Angeles to further my musical career, I was having challenges obtaining work as a studio musician. I was able to get gigs in clubs and at private functions, but my goal was to be a studio percussionist. Eventually I began playing drums in a big rehearsal band that included the best jazz and studio musicians in the business.

When I played drums, everyone in the band would comment on how they enjoyed my solid and tasty drumming. But there were occasions that I would get down about not achieving my goals, and apparently I looked gloomy. The band leader approached me and said, You need to be aware that musicians can pick up on that attitude, and it can hold you back. So leave your troubles in your pasta, enjoy the moment, and remember all these musicians have been faced with similar challenges when they were getting started. That was a wake-up call for me to get my act together and maintain a positive attitude.

Being raised in an Italian family, I remember that getting together with family and friends sharing a bowl of pasta was the time to enjoy the warm camaraderie where some shared their problems. It was a time to vent, be listened to, share your frustrations, and get some friendly and beneficial advice. Whatever we discussed stayed there in the pasta and wasn’t broadcast to anyone else. It was similar to group counseling. So, when we put our heads together while enjoying a bowl of pasta, we were able to discuss almost anything.

I remember some of the emotions that I experienced during our sharing session time. It was interesting how much lighter I felt when I confided my frustrations to family and friends. I knew that I needed to change my attitude, be confident in my abilities, smile, and realize that I would get my chance to work as a studio musician. My new affirmation became: I see myself performing on TV and on motion picture soundtracks.

And that gave me the confidence I needed to get work in the studios as a session musician. This positive attitude also helped me in my second career as a school counselor. I enjoyed working with students for over 20 years, and I would like to think that passing along my positive attitude benefited them, too.

Hopefully when you read my book you will enjoy my stories plus find them interesting, informative, and fun to read.

And don’t forget to leave your troubles in your pasta!

Life is a Melody

"Words make you think a thought. Music makes you

feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought."

(E.Y. Harburg)

I have been composing music for many years for jazz bands, orchestras, family, and friends. I have many favorite composers, but there are a few that really have made an everlasting impression on me.

Puccini’s music seduces my inner soul with great feeling, melody, and harmony through its many compositional surprises. Mozart’s melodies just pour through him like a waterfall that never stops flowing lavishly. Bach and Vivaldi were not only musical innovators – they were the first jazz composers hundreds of years before jazz evolved in the USA in the early 1900s. When I listen to music from these masters, it unfailingly infuses my mood with happiness, excitement, comfort, and beautiful thoughts.

Music can inspire us to adopt a romantic mood, encourage us to move our bodies and open our hearts, and help us to remember special events in our lives in graphic detail. Musicians playing different instruments as well as vocalists with their various styles can also trigger the same kinds of feelings and moods. Likewise, loud, abusive, and obnoxious music can trigger irritating feelings; and negative lyrics can put us in a bad mood.

The soothing sounds of ocean waves or nature can help us to heal when we are not feeling well or need to relax. I have heard some say that the mellowness of a vibraphone produces a healing sound, helping ease to

replace disease or harmony to overcome disharmony. I believe that the universal intelligence contains all the creative ingredients that we can tap into to aid us in our creative pursuits like composing music, drawing, sculpting, writing, and inventing.

Mozart believed when he composed music, it was like a vivid dream. Brahms said he communicated with his maker, God, before he composed music. Puccini felt that the musical score of his opera Madame Butterfly was dictated to him by God.

Michelle Medrano:  The music of life plays its sweetness in me, through me, and as me. I am grateful.

Einstein:  Life without playing music is inconceivable to me. I live my dreams in music.

Rigoli:  "When I compose music or improvise jazz on the spot on my vibraphone, I am in tune and plugged into the universal intelligence, the universal broadcasting station."

Adventures of a Road Musician

In the 1970s, I spent a year playing drums for Jim Nabors, a great singer and entertainer who appeared throughout the USA. I experienced great musical and humorous memories traveling with him.

Jim had a real Las Vegas - style show that included singers, dancers, and musicians who were part of his entourage. I remember flying from Los Angeles to Chicago, then transferring to a smaller prop engine airplane and flying to southern Illinois to rehearse and perform a concert.