Mr. "Respect the Craft"

    A recent article in the Sacramento Bee told about a new pizza place in town featuring Carlos Lopez (muralist) who I have had the pleasure of meeting, and his latest creation, coincidentally being the Creation of Man featuring Adam and of course, God! It measures 18' x 40' on the ceiling painted 25 feet high using the same ten colors that Michaelangelo used from his palette some 500 years ago on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Carlos however, painted it with a bit of a twist to it. God is handing Adam an electric guitar, hence the name of this massive place called Pizza Rock opening on K Street in downtown Sacramento Jan. 14, 2011.
   On either side of Pizza Rock will be connected to the Dive Bar on the right as you face it and District 30 on the left which will provide music, drink and lounge. Pizza Rock is brought to us by our hero of pizza, Tony Gemignani, multiple world champion pizza tosser, pizza maker and celebrity. Yes, pizza fans, he is coming to Sacramento in a huge way. In addition to being able to turn out 500 pizzas per hour in multiple style ovens, (Yes, you read that right. I said, 500 pizzas an hour!) Tony and other pizza acrobats will dazzle us with pizza tossing skills unknown to mere mortals.

   Mr. Tony (Respect the Craft) Gemignani is bringing his world championship pizza to us! Only VIP's will be attending on opening night so I will have to wait to be dazzled. His list of pizza related accomplishments fill several pages from championships in making the best Margherita pizza (beating the Italians, by the way) to the Triple Crown of pizza-making (which nobody has ever done-not even the Italians!) to 8 time world champion pizza acrobat to the Guiness Book of World Records and his own Pizza School actually sanctioned by the Italians as authentic.

   Recently, he appeared as the Keynote Speaker to the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas speaking to the crowd of media, pizzaiolos and pizza store owners. He hints that Tony's may be moving to other parts of the country as well and to watch for his pizza coming to the frozen food sections at supermarkets near you. Way to go Tony!

  Had I been asked to paint this mural, my interpretation may been slightly different with God handing a pizza to Tony and maybe with a few words of wisdom to the soon-to-be master. 

   Tony is a one man pizza promoting machine that has become a giant in the industry. I'm wondering if God might be on his VIP list for the grand opening of Pizza Rock?