DALLAS — The Back Mountain Chamber’s Cultural Event Committee held its third annual signature musical cultural event on Friday, Oct. 2 at the Huntsville Golf Club.
This year’s feature band was Beatles Faux Sale, a 1960s Beatles tribute band. The nearly sold out event was a huge success. The crowd danced the night away and sang along with their favorite Beatles songs.
This year’s honoree Joe Nardone Sr. joined in the festivities as he was recognized and congratulated for his lifetime contribution to rock and roll music. Nardone founded the Gallery of Sound in downtown Wilkes-Barre (then Joe Nardone’s Record Shop) in the early 1960s and built it to an 11-store chain.
Joe Nardone and the All Stars were formed in the late 1950s, with Nardone as the lead vocalist and saxophone player. He retired from the band in the early 1970s. The All Stars reformed in the early 1990s to play reunion dances, and they still play once a year to sold-out crowds.
Concert promotions were another part of Nardone’s career. In the late 1960s, Nardone has promoted acts such as Neil Diamond, Frankie Valli, Queen, Billy Joel, Chicago, Bob Seger, Jethro Tull, B.B. King, Kiss, and more at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts. Nardone collected many of the vintage posters that he used to promote his concerts, and many are on display in his Gallery of Sound store on Mundy Street in Wilkes-Barre.
The chamber’s executive director, Bill Leandri, announced the committee will once again donate a portion of the proceeds to the Dallas and Lake-Lehman high school band programs. To date, the chamber has donated $2,400 to these bands.
