WILKES-BARRE — The inaugural Luzerne County Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame Induction Dinner on Oct. 14 will feature live performances by several of the first class of inductees.
Scheduled to perform at the dinner are The Buoys, The Badlees, Eddie Day, Joe Nardone & the All Stars and Jimmy Harnen, who will sing his Top-10 hit song “Where Are You Now.”
Musical tributes will also be featured at the dinner, representing inductees Mel Wynn & the Rhythm Aces, the Kryger Brothers and the Lee Vincent Orchestra.
Tickets are now on sale for the dinner and can be purchased with cash or check at:
• Joe Nardone’s Gallery of Sound, 186 Mundy St., Wilkes-Barre.
• The F.M. Kirby Center, Public Square, Wilkes-Barre.
• Online sales via credit card can be purchased at www.timesleader.com/luzerneco-hof
Tickets are $100 each and tables of 10 are also available at a discounted rate. Tickets include a full course meal and open bar throughout the evening. Sponsorship packages are also available. For information contact the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame page on Facebook.
The Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Hall of Fame was formed in 2022. A news conference, held in October at The F.M. Kirby Center, official announced its formation. In March, the Luzerne County Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame Committee announced the inaugural class of 2023. The members of the Luzerne County Arts & Entertainment Organizing Committee are: Joe Nardone Sr., Gallery of Sound; Bill O’Boyle, Times Leader; Lindsay Griffin-Boylan, President/CEO Greater Wyoming Valley Chamber; Tony Brooks, Wilkes-Barre City Council/Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society; Mayor George Brown, Wilkes-Barre City; Constance Wynn, RACETeam – Rediscovering Ancestry Through Culture and Education; Alan K. Stout, Executive Director, Visit Luzerne County; Jody Busch, musician/recording engineer.
The organizing committee issued the following list of inductees.
Arts category:
• Adrian Pearsall, architect and furniture designer.
• Barbara Weisberger, founder of the Pennsylvania Ballet.
• C. Edgar Patience, coal artist who took the ordinary piece of coal and sculpted it into something extraordinary.
• George Catlin, Native American painter.
• Hammond Edward “Ham” Fisher, comic strip writer and cartoonist.
• Sue Hand, artist, best known for her artworks in watercolor and her hexagon-shaped historical illustrations of mining.
• Jack Palance, actor.
• Santo Loquasto, production and costume designer for stage, film and dance.
Entertainment category:
• Lee Vincent — formed the Lee Vincent Orchestra after returning from World War II and rose to prominence shortly after playing locally and nationally.
• Joe Nardone & The All Stars — devoted his entire professional life to music as a musician, concert promoter and retailer.
• Mel Wynn & the Rhythm Aces — perhaps the most impactful band on the local music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Melvin Samuel Wynn, the front man for the Rhythm Aces, was known for his electrifying on-stage presence.
• Eddie Day Pashinski — has dedicated much of his life to music as a performer and educator.
• Jimmy Harnen — a native of Plymouth; with the song “Where Are you Now,” he is the only artist from Luzerne County to score a Top-10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Breaking Benjamin — explosive modern-rock band has sold over 19 million albums in the United States and have earned three platinum albums and two gold albums.
• Bobby Baird — took his first trumpet lesson 88 years ago and his career has spanned nine decades. A well-known area entertainer best known for Bobby Baird and the Dixieland Band.
• Brunon Kryger/The Kryger Brothers — played polka music from 1937 until 1996, locally and nationally.
• The Buoys — one of the first acts from Luzerne County to land a national recording contract and have national success. In 1971, the song “Timothy” was a Top-20 hit.
• The Badlees — this critically-acclaimed roots-rock band was signed to two national recording contracts and scored national hits with the songs “Angeline Is Coming Home” and “Fear of Falling.”
