BluesWax Gives Rock My Soul a 7, Readers Give It a 9! 

The Mark Stutso cd continues to get rave reviews. Steve Daniels of BluesWax states that as a singer, “his pipes are reminiscent of Curtis Salgado with faint flavors of Little Milton and Boz Scaggs.” He adds that “this album, a tasty amalgam of Blues, Rock, and Soul, has the perfect name: Rock My Soul.” Don’t forget that you can purchase this cd from the normannardini.com online store or cdbaby.com. You can read the entire review through this link: BluesWax Revue

Rob Johns Memorial-Benefit Show a Huge Success 

Rob and Norman started playing together in 1966. He was the guitar player in a band called the Yardleys and they brought Norman in to play keyboards. They soon became best friends and worked in numerous bands together. Over the next few years, Rob switched to drums and Norman switched to guitars.  In 1974, Norman was working at Fox Studios in East Liberty when he, Rob, and Bob McKeag recorded the Marvin Gaye song, Ain’t That Peculiar, and Diamond Reo was born. It instantly became a top 40 hit and the band soon had a national recording deal with Big Tree Records. They added Frank Czuri on lead vocals, formerly of the Igniters & Jaggerz fame, and Warren King on guitar. The success of their first album earned them a spot on American Bandstand and they began opening shows for Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Kiss, Rush, and others. Life on the road brought change to the group, they became less top 40 and Bob moved on to form the McKeag/Lawson Blues Band. The second album, Dirty Diamonds, was more hard-edged and featured Warren on lead guitar. They received much press and critics claimed this to be a timeless classic record. As they moved closer to the 80’s, they became influenced by the punk/new wave movement. This is evident in their 1978 release of Ruff Cuts. Most fans consider this to be their best album.  Although Diamond Reo disbanded in 1979, Rob and Norman remained friends until his death in January. It was with a heavy heart that Norman organized this memorial for his friend, ‘the Bead Man,’ on January 25^th. See January’s gig updates for details!