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Cut and a concert
By JACKIE RIPLEY, Times Staff Writer TOWN 'N COUNTRY -- There are a lot of places where you can get a cut, curl and color. But there's only one place in Town 'N Country where you can get all three -- and a concert. That would be Ugo's Place, a beauty salon on Hanley Road where hairdresser and owner Ugo DeAmbrogio dispenses beauty as well as musical composition with a style drenched in the warmth of his native Genoa, Italy. "It's very simple," said DeAmbrogio, his accent a mix of syncopated rhythms. "I go from this chair to that chair and in between shampoos, perms, and tint I play piano for my clients." Indeed, it's all things European at Ugo's Place, from the painted pink Roman columns to the Grecian statues. And in the middle, a baby grand. "I have two passions and can simultaneously combine both," said DeAmbrogio between selections of Back to Sorrento and Theme from The Godfather. "I don't know how I could live without either one." DeAmbrogio, who moved from Italy to South America when he was 10, grew up with the idea of eventually coming to the United States. "I sensed it was the future for me," said the 63-year-old whose first experience with Americans was during the U.S. occupation of Italy. The soldiers gave bits of chocolate to DeAmbrogio and his brother. "Fate brought me here." He arrived in the U.S. 29 years ago and took his first job making pizzas at Maria's Restaurant on Westshore Boulevard. Mornings were spent in beauty school, nights at the restaurant. DeAmbrogio said music alone might have been his career had it not been for a family tragedy. "Who knows what might have been," said DeAmbrogio who was positioned to take advantage of a music scholarship in Germany when his father committed suicide and "everything stopped." "But I wouldn't be here, where I am now," DeAmbrogio said. "I have music and hair. They're both creative. They're both my passion." Though he has entertained clients at the piano for years, DeAmbrogio only recently became serious about his music, a change he credits to fellow pianist and friend, Oksana Kolesnikova, and her husband Allesandro Concas, of St. Petersburg. With their help he has played at various venues, including Royalty Theater in Clearwater and Gio's Italian Restaurant on Waters Avenue. In April he will release a CD of classics. "Sometimes people walk in and say, "Oh, I must be in the wrong place,' " DeAmbrogio said. DeAmbrogio, who has been at his 7004 Hanley Road salon for 17 years, is also a fixture on nearby Town 'N Country Greenway where he can sometimes be seen riding his bicycle with Bacio, his Chinese Pug, perched on the handlebars. "I wouldn't like to be in Hyde Park where I would have to be sophisticated," DeAmbrogio said. "Who is this, I would say. This is not me." - Jackie Ripley can be reached at 269-5308.
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From the Times |
