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Every band, big or small, has at least a small group of devoted fans cheering it on and supporting it on its way to the spotlight. The retro "nu-wop" family band The Bronx Wanderers is no different – save for the fact that some of those devoted fans just happen to be music and entertainment icons from their hometown neighborhood, including Dion DiMucci (of Dion & The Belmonts), Tony Orlando and Oscar-nominated actors Chazz Palminteri and Danny Aiello.

Each one, according to "Yo" Vinny Adinolfi, the patriarch of the band performing alongside his two sons, Vinny "The Kid" and Nicky "Stix," has contributed to the band's success along the way, whether it be helping with an intro video, pushing them in a certain creative direction or merely showing up for gigs to cheer on the guys. 

"You just don’t meet these guys like this, one nicer than the next and asking what they can do to help you," Adinolfi said. 

With the help of those famous friends – and, not to mention, a healthy roster of lovingly recreated beloved retro tunes like "Sherry" and "Teenager in Love" with a splash of new hits from the likes of Coldplay and Bruno Mars – The Bronx Wanderers have built quite a fan base and reputation over the past decade of performing. They’ll be bringing those classics both old and new to Festa Italiana this weekend for two days, with two shows at 8:30 p.m. and after the fireworks on Saturday night, plus another gig at 4 p.m. on Sunday. Before then, however, OnMilwaukee got a chance to chat with "Yo" Vinny about the band’s origins, playing with family and why those old hits never actually seem to get old. 

OnMilwaukee.com: How is it performing with family members?

"Yo" Vinny Adinolfi: It’s been great. It’s one of those things where we’ve been doing it so long now – almost 12 years now – I’ve really gotten to watch them grow up in front of me. We’re always together, and it’s just, there’s no egos whatsoever, so everybody pulls for each other and wants to see all of us do well. It’s great. People come up to me all the time and tell me how lucky I am, and you know, I look back and say, "I know I am." And I am. It’s great.

OMC: Now the actor Chazz Palminteri helped kind of push you toward that direction, correct?

YVA: The kids were small at the time, and we were out one night playing – I was playing with Dion’s band at the time, and Dion only does about 10 dates a year, so the band to make money works all year long and hired me to kind of be him when he wasn’t touring with them. So I was with the whole band one night, and Chazz was a fan, and the music director of the band was the same guy who worked with Chazz on "A Bronx Tale."

So Chazz had come down and was hanging out in the audience, and my kids were there that night. My little one looked just like the kid from the movie, and he was taking pictures with Chazz, and everybody got a kick out of it. The next thing you know, for a goof kind of thing, we brought the kids up on stage, and the audience went crazy. Chazz just looked at me and said, "I’m telling you: If you don’t start a group with the kids, you’re crazy." And I looked at him and said that they’re so small; they’re 14 and 11. It’ll never work, but he said, "Listen, you trust me? Do what I’m telling you." I started saying no, and just like in the movies, he got real serious and goes, "Hey. You going to do this or not?" (laughs)

So we started it, and I really never thought it would work, but it just kind of exploded. People love the family element; that’s the big comment that we always get, that they love the fact that we’re all family and they get to see me with the kids. And if it wasn’t for Chazz, I never would’ve looked in that area.

OMC: That’s a nice pantheon of icons that you guys have helping you out on this path.

YVA: Yeah. I started my career working for Terry Cashman and Tommy West. I was 17 years old, and I just learned the music business from the inside out. I got to meet probably everybody, and I got to sing backup with everybody because of them. It was just one of those things where I just grew up in the business. So to know these guys and to have them in your corner is great.

OMC: A lot of the meat of your music is old school legendary doo-wop covers and renditions. Did the boys grow up with that appreciation already in them, or did you kind of steer them there?

YVA: The boys grew up in a household where Dion would be coming over, and they would meet him. And they would meet all of these guys who were stars in the ’60s that a lot of them turned to writing later on in the ’70s. We had a really big publishing arm at the record label that I worked at, and the boys just grew up meeting all of these guys, knowing these guys and listening to this music in the house.

When we originally got our start – it was one of those things where I called in every favor I could call in – I knew a promoter who said he loved the gimmick of you and the kids, and put us on all of his oldie shows as the opening act. So they got to grow up doing shows with Bobby Rydell and Kenny Vance and The Platters and The Coasters and Frankie Avalon and on and on. So the kids, that’s what they were exposed to all throughout their teenage years. It was all matter of fact for them.

OMC: What do you think it is about that old retro music that still really sticks with people today?

YVA: You know, I always say – from my music business training and just being brought up where we would sit around a table and think about what song would be good for Engelbert Humperdinck and so on – that a hit is a hit is a hit. You’ll see a song that was a hit in the ’40s, then The Duprees will do it in the ’50s, then a well-known singer in the ’70s will do it and it would always come through because it’s just good music.

You know, the "Jersey Boys" show is such a phenomenon, and if you really go see the show, it’s the music. The story is not a unique story; if you talk to any musician, four or five guys in a group – one guy’s a gambler, one guy’s a womanizer, one guy’s a drinker, whatever it is – every band basically has the same story. So it’s not a unique story, but it’s the music, and that music is just so timeless that a hit is a hit is a hit.

For me, it all started with Dion because we lived in the same neighborhood, and from my crib, he was the guy who took me under his wing. When I was 17 years old, he was recording with Cashman & West, and I said I wanted a job in the record business. He said to see these two guys and tell them he sent me. So I knocked on their door and said Dion sent me, and they laughed. I said, "No, he really did!" They got him on the phone and said, "There’s some kid here who says he knows you and he says he’s looking for a job." And he said, "You know, yeah, give him a job." And he started me on my way. Very lucky.

OMC: What is your favorite song from your repertoire?

YVA: "I Wonder Why." It’s a tough tune, but for me, it’s one of those tunes that’s one of my earliest memories. I was born in 1958; the song came out in 1958. It’s probably the quintessential doo-wop tune where if you really listen to it closely, there’s four voices, everybody has their own part and they’re all bobbing and weaving going in and out. It’s just one of those things I love. It’s just a neat little tune. 

OMC: What’s the hardest song to really recapture that original sound?

YVA: For us, it was "Bohemian Rhapsody." It took us a month and a half to get the opera form down and to get it where it just sounded like the record. There’s a video of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Vegas, and it just … between the lighting and the way the kids hit the harmonies and everything, it was a good job. I looked at all of them, and I stepped away and was like, "You guys are great. Great job." This whole thing started where I had to kind of carry them, and now they carry me.