Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Angelo Vivolo | Chairman of the Board of the Columbus Citizen's Foundation Columbus Heritage Coalition Previews Today's Columbus Day Para...

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Angelo Vivolo | Chairman of the Board of the Columbus Citizen's Foundation Columbus Heritage Coalition Previews Today's Columbus Day Para... · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's get to him, my man, Angelo Vivalo. He is
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the base of Columbus Day, one of the nicest people
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: you'll ever meet. Angelo, happy Columbus Day, my friend.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: I'm great and happy Columbus Day to you. And I
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: won't attempt to mention any restaurants because I leave out
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: too many good friends. You really put together a great group.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: You know, I don't want to comment because, as I said,
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: I make too many enemies, but I Great group of restaurants.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: My goodness. Have you been to all of them?
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Basically.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I've been to like just about every Italian restaurant, pizzeria,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: you name it. It's my favorite food. I've been very
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: clear about that for years. I could eat Italian food.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: And what's funny about me is I've been to Italy.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: It doesn't matter if I'm in Italy. It doesn't matter
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: if I'm at the most expensive Italian restaurant in New
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: York City or a place like Pronto, you know, a pizzeria.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: I get the same thing every time. Chicken parmesan and penne.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: That's it. Really?
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: If I really want to get kinky, I'll get like a,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: you know, like a, uh, Milanese or something like that.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: But otherwise, no matter where I am, no matter how
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: good the restaurant is, I'm a chicken palm guy, Angelo.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Got to eat what you like. That's, that's, that's what
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: it's all about.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Well, what do you do? What's your favorite Italian dish?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: The salt and vodka.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: You're not going to get me on that. Oh, favorite dish? No,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of a collector. I like them all because,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: you know, I was in the business for 42 years,
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: made a lot of, you know, made a lot of
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: good friends over the years. And, uh, As I said,
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: you named pretty much the hit parade of Italian restaurants.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I had them all. I think I did.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: When you say in the business, I didn't know this
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: about you. So you were in the Italian food business?
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: For 42 years, I had several restaurants. My flagship was
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: on 74th Street between Lexington and Park. It was my
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: last name, Vivalo, yeah.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: I was blessed, actually, in my career, and hopefully it'll
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: happen again. to serve two popes. I served Pope Benedict
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: when he was in New York for three days and
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Pope Francis for three days. Wow.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: At the home of the Nuncio on 72nd Street between
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: 5th Avenue and Madison. I love that. It was the
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: greatest honor of my life. Of course.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I actually saw today that Pope Leo is not feeling well.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: There's something with his lung?
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Well, let's hope and pray that it's something that if caught, boy,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: have time and he'll be fine. I mean, He's not
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: a holy man, but privileged to talk to you always,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: and especially on Columbus Day. You've been a supporter of
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: Italian-Americans your whole career, and I can't thank you enough
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: for your friendship. Your kind words about me, a little exaggerated, but.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think I underdid it, to
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: be honest. That's how much I love you.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: But listen, I go back years and years ago when
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: I first came back to New York with Bernard. And,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm very, very close over the years with
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Chaz Palminteri, as you are. And he contacted me and
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: he said, listen, me and my buddy Phil Foglia, who,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of course, yeah, he died.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So sad, COVID.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: We want to come into the studio because at that
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: point it was Bill de Blasio, another creep mayor, that
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: son of a bitch. He also wanted to take down
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the statues, Columbus, and get rid of Columbus Day. And
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Chaz and Phil came into the studio. We had this
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: huge event in Central Park.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: You were there. The Columbus statue, I should say. And
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: it was all of us.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Me, you, Piscopo, Bodilo, Arthur Aydala. And we thwarted all
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: their efforts. This is going back like 10 years ago.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Yep. At that time, I had made an application to
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: the Landmark Preservation Commission to have the statue at the
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: Columbus Circle removed.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: A landmark.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: And, you know, the city works very slowly. Well, I
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: got to know in one week.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I got it.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: I got it. I got an answer. No, it wouldn't happen.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: But look, we're here and we're we're looking forward to
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: celebrating a great day. It's you know, it's not only
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: celebrating Columbus, it's celebrating the great heritage and culture of
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: Italian of Italian people. You know, we believe in God. Family, God,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: and country. And I couldn't be more proud to do
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: my little part to represent our great community. And you,
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: you're the best. I mean, you're always there for us.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: You're always there. I love this day. I do. I
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: love this day. Get my convertible.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: That convertible Cadillac again coming up Thursday Avenue. And I
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: have to do a big, big thank you to John
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: and Margot because, you know, they broadcast the parade for
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: three hours live on Chester Avenue. And, you know, I'm
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: getting a little bit older and a little more difficult
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: walking up Chester Avenue. And I'm very fortunate that I'm
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: going to be co-anchoring that coverage with Ray Kelly. Yeah,
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: I'll be okay.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Ray Kelly.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Ray Kelly.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great. You're going to be there for three hours.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: John and Margo do a great job. Everything in the city.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I know John and Margo were there Saturday night for
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the big Columbus Day dinner. Maria Bartiromo and a whole
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: bunch of other very famous Italians were there. They do
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: a great job. John will join me in fact. In
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: about a half hour, you did mention the Cadillac. I
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: must mention La Familia Cadillac Club. That's the guys that
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: drive me down in that car every year. I've got
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: my own driver. He's a great guy, Frankie D'Amour. So
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Frankie and La Familia will be taking care of me today.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: I don't want to make this political.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I have to make one point.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: We know about the mayor giving the finger to the
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Columbus statue and leaving off, obviously, Mulberry Street and Arthur
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Avenue off his enclave immigrant map. And again, this is
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: not a political day. This is a day to celebrate
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Columbus Day. But there are people that are upset the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: mayor is not going to be there. I got to
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: tell you, Angelo, I was so happy. I was so
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: happy that the mayor did not show up at the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Israeli Day Parade. Why would I want somebody who hates
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Jews at my parade? Clearly, Mamdani has no respect, none
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: for the Italians.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: So why are people complaining? I would think you people
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: don't want him there.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, it just emphasizes the point that he
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: has no respect for it. And and we, you know,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: all the things you said, he didn't put a little
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Italy or or off Avenue on the map. It was
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: totally ridiculous. And the fact that, I mean, he gave
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: the finger to the Columbus statue.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Unbelievable.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: And the story, unbelievable and proud of it. I mean,
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: it's just, it's unfortunate. Look, like you, I love the city.
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: I root for the city. And I wish we had
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: a mayor who felt the same way. But unfortunately, in
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: my personal view, I don't think that that's happened.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: No, it's not. That's why, Angela, you got to jump
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: on right now. Rosenberg, 2029. You'd like to sign to that?
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Sign me up. Sign me up.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I tell you this, I will be at the Columbus
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: State Parade every year, make a very, very big deal
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: about it. I do anyway, do now, even just as
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: a radio host. So what are you most proud of, Angelo?
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: All the work you've done over the years, Italian restaurants,
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: now you help with this day and you've got the foundation.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: What are you most proud of?
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll tell you, you know, I'm the first Italian-American
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: on the CUNY board, you know, CUNY University of New York.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: And I feel like I could I can make a
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: difference being on that board on behalf of my community.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: It's it's a big honor. You know, I'm like you,
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: a Brooklyn boy at heart. So, you know, I that's
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: one of my I'm very proud of that and proud
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: of being appointed. You're nominated. And I've been on the
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: board for about five years now and will continue, I believe,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: next year. Until next year. And, I mean, there's so
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: many things I can say. You know, I believe that
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: just keeping the message alive, and I think we've made
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: a tremendous headway, about the truth about Christopher Columbus. And,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: you know, people say, you know what they say a
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: lot enough times is that people believe it. And unfortunately
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: we have a woke community that, that just loves to
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: keep lying about things. I have to, I was in
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Washington the other day when the God bless president Trump,
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: when he did the proclamation, uh, for, uh, for Columbus day.
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: And I tell you, he put us back on the
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: map with his endorsement, uh, when he, with the, uh,
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: with the proclamation. It meant so much. It really meant
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: so much. And the tide is turning. There's not as
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: many people going crazy about taking down statues and being negative. Sure,
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: there are people across the country who, unfortunately, are misinformed, uneducated,
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: and do not and do not say the truth. You know,
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: they just believe the lie. Yeah.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: They're called Democrats.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: They're called Democrats. If God forbid Trump loses, it'll go
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: right back where it was. Trust me.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: But, but, you know, God bless people like you. I look,
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: who sing the praises of Italian Americans. That's what it's
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: all about. You know, look, we can talk about everything,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: you know, politics, entertainment, sports, and so forth. But the
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: bottom line is, As I said earlier, you know, Italian-Americans,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: basic people, we believe in our families, we believe in God,
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: and we believe in this great country that we're fortunate.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: My dad came here as a teenager from Italy, and
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: he feels that he was blessed every minute to be here,
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: to raise a family, and to live the American dream.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: And that's what it's all about, the American dream.
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: 100%. Plus, you're good-looking people. You can cook and, you know,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: all that good stuff.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: But are you aggravated like I am? I said this
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to Joe Piscopo earlier. My son, Gabriel, who also loves
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: the Italians, he's home from school today. Oh, he's not
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: home for Columbus Day.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: No, no.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: He's home today for Indigenous People Day. Now, no disrespect
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to the indigenous people.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: God bless them. Okay.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Are you angry that they couldn't find another day? They
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: had a crap on Columbus Day.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Well, I've been making that fight for I don't know
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: how many years, and you were there. Like you said earlier,
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: you were there when we were at the Columbus Circle
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: when they took away the holiday from the public. schools,
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: the Department of Education, during de Blasio's time. And he
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: didn't know about it, by the way. He said he
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: didn't know about it. And they did away with Columbus
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: Day and brought in Indigenous Peoples Day. It's just horrific.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, 800,000 Italian-Americans in New York City alone. And
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: they did that. And, you know, I've been fighting that
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: cause forever and I'll continue to fight it, you know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: and I try to have that turned around. I think
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: we're making progress. I think that things are going well
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: for us. I think, you know. I think that we can,
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: you know, if we stick together, unity and good friends
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: like you, look, anything's possible. We're in a great country.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: God bless America. And I think that we can achieve
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: that goal at some point going forward.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: I love your optimism.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: Last one. I asked Episcopal the same question. He gave
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: me his mom and dad. That's too easy.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Maybe it'll be Joe DiMaggio. Maybe it'll be Frank Sinatra.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Angelo Vivalo, who's your favorite Italian?
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: I think you said it, Joe DiMaggio.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Well, I had the privilege of knowing him for the
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: 10 years of his life. You know, he was an icon.
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: He was a great guy. My experience with him, he
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: was just a down to earth, the terrific human being.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: And so, and I'm a big Yankee fan.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: I mean, obviously.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: And, you know, Joe DiMaggio was really an incredible person
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: for me to meet. I met many, many, I've been
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: very blessed. I've met many, many people, great Italian-Americans in
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: my career. But Joe DiMaggio, you know, I remember when
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: we would come in, I'd call everybody I knew. I'd say,
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: you can't believe it, Joe DiMaggio. I can't believe it.
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: I pinched myself. And he was just a terrific guy,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: and I got to know him really well. Actually, he
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: was a grand marshal at Columbus Day Parade.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, he was?
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Yes, he was.
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: That's pretty cool.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, clearly you're a Yankee fan because you would
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: have said Johnny Franco or Mike Piazza if you.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Were a Met fan. Yeah, right.
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: Now, who would Joe say?
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: Joe said his mother and father. That's too easy, though.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Oh, well, yeah.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: We all feel that way, right?
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: We all feel. My mother and father were incredible people.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: You know, I always say that you don't learn by
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: what they tell you. You learn by what they do. And,
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: you know, that was my experience in life. So I've
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: been blessed to know you and all the things that
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: you do for our country and, of course, for New York.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I feel the same way. The love is mutual. Thank you.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: The love is mutual, Angelo Bivolo. I can't wait to
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: see you at the parade later on this afternoon. Co-anchoring
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: with Greg Kelly.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I love it. Noon to three. All right. All right, Angelo.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Great job as always here today. We'll see you later
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: on this afternoon. Thank you so much.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you so much.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: God bless you. God bless you.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Angelo Bivolo right there, and he'll be co-anchoring, as he
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: told you, with Greg Kelly from noon to three.
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 13:02
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• 13:05
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• 13:10
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• 13:14
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• 13:20
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• 13:21
  Speaker 2: See you next time for a new episode so you
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: never have to wonder... What the heck is going on here?