What happens at Patrizio's birthday stays at Patrizio's birthday!

Patrizio and Axene, who will be his supporting act at Carnival City this weekend

Italian singer Patrizio Buanne has visited South Africa several times and was featured at the Night of the Stars concert at The Dome a few years back where I first met him. He is performing at Carnival City next weekend and has a devoted following of female (and male, by default) fans in this country. Some of whom attended his 31st birthday party put on by Mike Fuller of Gallo Record Company at Fairlawns on Sunday. No one as famous as himself, of course, but the media table boasted Nadia Neophytou of 702, publicist Claire Clark and film critic Tat Wolfen. This was of course the "naughty table" and many a scurrilous tale was told by the journos who cheered loudly every time one of their own arrived or left. The champers flowed in honour of the birthday boy, naturally.

Patrizio, or Patrizio-Fabrizio as he was dubbed by us noisy oysters, came down from his room for lunch and to cut his cake after many of the guests arrived late. The highway was to blame for this as the three lanes had been cut down to one and everyone crawled for hours. Patrizio was unfazed by African time and sang a few popular numbers after Gallo's latest find, 16-year-old Axene had sung him Happy Birthday. "What happens at Patrizio's birthday stays at Patrizio's birthday, eh?" he winked with a heavy Italian accent. He added that now he knew what JFK felt like when Marilyn Monroe sung HIM Happy Birthday, Mr President.



The portrait of Patrizio on the cake was described as being "tougher than an iguana's foreskin"

The cake was adorned with a picture of Patrizio and the South African flag which in itself was hard to devour. One guest described it as tasting
"as tough as an iguana's foreskin".

Patrizio discovered a fellow birthday guest having a decorous lunch on the terrace overlooking the neo-colonial spring gardens. The pink clad grandmother was celebrating her 90th birthday and despite protests that she did not dance any more he serenaded her in true Latin fashion and gave her a proprietary twirl or two. She beamed from ear to ear, especially when he addressed her in her native tongue of German, then went back to lunch and presents. Patrizio prides himself on his talent with languages and speaks six of them.

Patrizio was being adored by his biggest fan club, a group of 3 girls from Cape Town who had been flown up by Gallo especially for the occasion. Who knows he might find his long sought after bride in South Africa, as many have done before him?