7/7/10

Behind The Bars

Robert “Diamond Bob” Perro Sr.

by Kathleen McCoy Grover

“Diamond Bob” Perro brings life long love of performing to Lincoln

In 1956, Burlington, New Jersey was a living-breathing jukebox with the harmonies of acappella groups rising up from nearly every street corner. Robert Perro Sr. was barely out of first grade when he and his friends started singing on the front stoops of their neighborhood brownstones.

“My mother always played music in the house. She played everything, Country, Motown and rock and roll,”� Bob said. “Back then, you'd get your 45's and go into somebody's garage and listen to The Everly Brothers, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley and the Comets.”�

“When I was eight years old kids in my neighborhood and I put together a small all boys group called The Jaguars. There were four of us and we did a cappella stuff like Poison Ivy, Blue Moon and Rock around the Clock. Every year when the new cars would come out at the dealerships, we would sing at those dealerships,” he said.

“In high school my best friend John Pizzio and I sang, backed up by five guys on guitars, sax and drums. We were Lord John and the Yorkshires. We used to do all the talent shows in school, and win them all. 'Land of a Thousand Dances' was our killer song,” Bob said. “We made time to chat on the phone and keep up with each other's lives, until Johnny passed away in 1997.”

Just out of high school, Bob entered the Air Force Security Services. He completed four years of service, including a tour of duty in Vietnam. In 1970, he returned home to Burlington to discover all his music buddies had settled down and gotten married, and many had children. The old saying, “You can't go home again,”� was never truer.

The welcome home he received like so many returning veterans in this country was not at all what he had envisioned. The national contempt for returning 'baby killer' Vietnam vets was anything but patriotic. When he couldn't get a job he went to work doing odd jobs and helping out in his family's roofing business until finally being hired fulltime by the A & P grocery chain.

He enrolled in college, worked the midnight shift and went to school during the day, graduating with an AA in Applied Sciences in 1975. In 1976, he moved to California and began working in the communications industry, first with GTE in Los Gatos, and later with Octel and then CISCO where he worked until 2000. He was laid off after Y2K, fortunate to be able to retire early.

Through a mutual love of Harley Davidson motorcycles, he met Danny Hull of the Doobie Brothers.

“He taught me to play the harmonica, stage presence and just about everything, and I helped him get his full VA benefits,”� Bob said.

Bob picked up the 'Diamond Bob' moniker from his motorcycle buddies who always commented on his propensity for diamond rings.

“I wrote three songs with Danny's collaboration, Vietnam Sunshine, Ode To Canine Rowdy and War Cousins,” he said. In 2006, Bob sang them before an audience of 250 before receiving a Meritorious Service Award from the Vietnam Security Police Association.

In 2006, during a trip back to New Jersey for his 40th high school class reunion, Bob reunited with Joe Abate one of his old band mates from Lord John and the Yorkshires.

“That night, with Joe on saxophone and me on harmonica we performed Vietnam Sunshine for 200 people. When the crowd exploded at the end of the song I was bit. At that moment I knew I should have done this all my life,”� Bob said.

Upon returning to California, Bob joined the San Jose School of Blues, refined his harmonica skills and networked with other musicians. He put together a jigsaw puzzle of previously mismatched and discarded musicians who like him had been told, “You can never be successful at this.” When they all fit together as a band, they began playing local events, following in his belief that “You get in, where you fit in.”

They played where other more established bands wouldn't play, and developed their own following. It wasn't long before the more popular venues like J.J.'s Blues, The Grand Dell and Monterey Road House were calling them to perform.

“Soon we were busy all the time. On Sundays we hosted Jams at the Monterey Road House,” Perro said.

The band got their name from Bob's fellow musician, Debbie Waterstone. After he explained his unique style of 'alley sneaking' playing of the harmonica to her, she dubbed them Diamond Bob and the Alley Sneakers. He has also performed in the popular duo, Fratello di li Blues with the Diego Picetti.

“In 2009 I came Lincoln to visit my brother-in-law Ronnie Leavitt and his wife Marne. The people here were so friendly. My wife Laurie and I fell in love with Lincoln. We sold our townhouse in San Jose, along with all my music equipment. I thought my performing music career had ended. We bought a new home in west Lincoln, and began our new life,”� he said.

But, it didn't take long before his two other loves were calling him. He joined VFW Post 3010 in Lincoln and the Sacramento Blues Society. He missed performing and started playing at local Blues Jams.

At the Valencia Club Jam, he met Clark Calvert, the seasoned and amazingly gifted saxophone player from The Fabulous DeVilles. Clark invited Bob to come hear The Fabulous DeVilles, and play his harmonica with them at the band's monthly gig at Kim's Country Kitchen.

“When I heard them play at Kim's in February of 2010 that was it!”� Bob said.

“I immediately started to look for the pieces of a new band. For the entire band to be a success, I knew they would have to fit, like a love connection,”� he said. “Three weeks later our new band played our first gig at Kim's Country Kitchen.”

In the last four months the band has been refined into a comfortable fit of all the right pieces, with Randy “Blue Boy'” Carey on lead guitar, Carolyn '“Magic” McNabb on keyboard, Rick “T-Bone”Campbell on bass and Bobby “The Mighty Quinn”� on drums.

“Our tastes range from B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt and Hendrix. We play the Blues standards, mixed with more obscure songs, and our originals. It's a jigsaw puzzle of fine pieces of music made to match the stellar talents of each individual member of the band,”Bob said. “I'd love to see a House of Blues in Lincoln!”

In June, the band played for an overflowing crowd at Lincoln's Rods and Relics Car Show. They also play at private events and Kim's Country Kitchen on the fifth Tuesdays of the month.

Bob currently serves as the Jr. Vice President of Lincoln's VFW Post 3010.

“It's been a wild ride, I wish I had done it before this age. But it just wasn't in the stars,” Bob said. “Better late than never, because it's never too late.”

For more information go to: www.diamondbobsblues.com

Kathleen McCoy Grover “My Life, Your Music”� is a Lincoln Resident.

Robert “Diamond Bob”� Perro Sr