{"id":43264,"date":"2015-06-14T00:58:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-14T00:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/?p=43264"},"modified":"2015-06-14T00:58:02","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T00:58:02","slug":"black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Black<\/a>

Black Diamond Express, pictured, will perform at this year\u2019s Owego Strawberry Festival on June 20, from 11 to 12:30 p.m. on the main stage at the Courthouse Square in Owego, N.Y. (Provided Photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Black Diamond Express is made up of six seasoned musicians, each bringing 40 plus years of experience to the band. They will kick off Saturday\u2019s performances with their classic rock tunes from 11 to 12:30 p.m. on the main stage at the Courthouse Square in Owego, N.Y.<\/p>\n

Native to Towanda, Pa., the band\u2019s keyboardist Edward Arnold said, \u201cRarely does the band play this close to my home.\u00a0I’ll have lots of friends and family there who have never seen Black Diamond Express.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beginning piano lessons at age four, Edward always had an ear for music. He was chosen from his audition after the previous keyboard player left. He enjoys playing at any of the wineries with the band and has been influenced by Les McCann, Ramsey Lewis, and Floyd Cramer.<\/p>\n

One of the original founders of Black Diamond Express, Rod Patt, is currently the band\u2019s guitarist. Coming from a very musical family, his own interest began when he started piano lessons at age seven. He later took up guitar and has been playing ever since. He earned his degree in music at Mansfield University, which he recalls as being the hardest yet most rewarding thing he has ever done. His influences are Rush, Blue Oyster Cult and Lynyrd Skynyrd.<\/p>\n

Also raised in Towanda, Pa. is vocalist Mark McEwen. He began his singing career when he first joined his high school\u2019s chorus. Great singers such as Don Henley and Steven Perry have influenced him. Previously, he was able to perform at CBGS in New York City with another band, and has recorded two albums.<\/p>\n

On bass is Don Gray, whom in fact didn\u2019t originally start on this instrument. At a young age, he began singing in the youth choir at church, and then proceeded to play the saxophone through elementary and high school. He also experimented with his family\u2019s home organ, which led him to become a keyboardist for different rock groups. It wasn\u2019t until these early groups that he started playing the bass. His influences are Emerson, Lake and Palmer and the Allman Brothers.<\/p>\n

David Zimmerman is Black Diamond\u2019s drum player. His first experiences with music were with his father in drum and bugle corps competitions and church choirs. He was told, however, that he would fall asleep to 1940\u2019s jazz music as a baby. His influences to this day are George Gershwin, Maynard Ferguson, Billy Joel, and the Beatles.<\/p>\n

The newest member to the band, Bobby Blandford, began as a temporary drummer while David was out. He did such an excellent job that Black Diamond Express decided to keep him in the band. Today, he serves as the band\u2019s alternate percussion, doing congas, bells, and the tambourine. He has opened up for musical legends such as The Temptations, The Beach Boys, Chicago, and Stevie Wonder. Being the oldest member in the band, he is glad to have the opportunity for his friends and family to see that he is still out there playing.<\/p>\n

Black Diamond Express has performed at biker rallies, amusement parks, casinos, wineries, and even at prisons!<\/p>\n

Rod said, \u201c Performing at prisons is like performing for a captive crowd and we get a lot of pen pals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future goal of the band is to record original songs, and get involved in more musical events such as the Trumansburg Music Festival.<\/p>\n

All the members are excited to play for the large crowd at the festival this year. They will perform Saturday, June 20, from 11 to 12:30 p.m. on the main stage. For more info on the band, go to blackdiamondexpress.net<\/a> or call Rod at (570) 265-6623.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Black Diamond Express is made up of six seasoned musicians, each bringing 40 plus years of experience to the band. They will kick off…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":43265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stawberry-festival"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Black Diamond Express is made up of six seasoned musicians, each bringing 40 plus years of experience to the band. They will kick off...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-06-14T00:58:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"opennysaver\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"opennysaver\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/\",\"name\":\"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-14T00:58:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Black Diamond Express, pictured, will perform at this year\u2019s Owego Strawberry Festival on June 20, from 11 to 12:30 p.m. on the main stage at the Courthouse Square in Owego, N.Y. (Provided Photo)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15\",\"name\":\"opennysaver\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"opennysaver\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/opennysaver\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press","og_description":"The Black Diamond Express is made up of six seasoned musicians, each bringing 40 plus years of experience to the band. They will kick off...","og_url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/","og_site_name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/","article_published_time":"2015-06-14T00:58:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"opennysaver","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"opennysaver","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/","name":"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20 - Owego Pennysaver Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png","datePublished":"2015-06-14T00:58:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2015\/06\/WGTPBlack_Diamond_Express.png","width":1200,"height":600,"caption":"Black Diamond Express, pictured, will perform at this year\u2019s Owego Strawberry Festival on June 20, from 11 to 12:30 p.m. on the main stage at the Courthouse Square in Owego, N.Y. (Provided Photo)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/06\/14\/black-diamond-express-to-perform-at-owegos-strawberry-festival-on-june-20\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Black Diamond Express to perform at Owego\u2019s Strawberry Festival on June 20"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/","name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e90b97e3c9fe75a643c31b3439ed7b15","name":"opennysaver","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9bec4be7017247fe88bfa55f4162d3e4f733b538d1e5778a56aec357ba2765b7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"opennysaver"},"url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/opennysaver\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}