(instrumental drums music) - [Phil] That's the original band right there in 1923.

- [Nick] It's right in the base drum organized.

- Yeah.

- Yes, yes.

It's organized right in 1923, yep.

- [Phil] Holding the baton is Cino Paci.

His actual name was Giuseppe, Cino was his nickname, immigrated in 1923.

- I think, he was a euphonium player, he was known, - Yeah, euphonium.

- He was a brass euphonium player and apparently quite a virtuoso.

- Oh, quite a, very much so.

And so in 1923, he decided that he wanted to start his own band.

They based the band on the Italian town band tradition.

- The music was everywhere and every little community had a little like wind band.

- You can sort of see that here in our area where many years ago, down the line, we had the Steak Mar Gold medal band.

And then of course you had Paci here up in Scranton.

You had ring a band called the Ringold Band.

You had the Liberty Band in Hazelton.

That's the way it was.

And that's the way he brought that over here.

The band marched in suits 'cause they went to church.

Gentleman from the church would carry the saint through the streets.

- Through the streets.

- Of the town.

- And the band would follow and play different marches.

- The uniforms.

Somebody met a donation.

Isn't that how that started with- - That's how it began, yeah.

- A benefactor of the band donated money.

So all at once, they bought the pants, the shirts with the embroidery and the hats.

- Yep.

(audience clapping) - Thank you, this is the Cino Paci band.

100 years old this year.

(audience claps) - I mean, I've been in the band 40 years now and- - Yeah, you're pretty old.

- Thanks.

(instrumental trumpet music) - See, I grew up with him.

My father was a talent.

My father would sing on Sunday mornings while making the gravy.

It was just another extension for me to do.

And I mean, it was a great place for me to play, don't get me wrong, but I just felt like it was home, the minute I started playing there.

- There were men that were in this band into their 90s.

- Our drummer just sent me notice of retirement.

He's 94.

What he's done is he's passed that legacy on to my new drummers.

- He's kind of mentored them through.

- He's mentored them through, he's there, he waited until, we were sure.

And now we've got a whole new generation of gentlemen coming through and playing for the band and making it work right.

- One of the best people I've ever met, Joe Gambo, fellow clarinet player, had play the clarinet, marched many parades next to him.

He's the only guy in the band I think that didn't use the book.

- Right.

- Joe knew all of the music by heart, and he was a World War II veteran.

That sense of history was always there.

It was a living thing.

When you walked on the street, next to a World War II veteran, who was a prisoner of war.

You can't complain about if it's hot or, I got a cramp in my foot.

- No marching in this band.

The very first thing that I ever did with this band, I was about to line up and the leader at the time was Joey Infantino.

Joey I.

And he comes over and he says, "Kid," I was young.

"Kid, we don't march in this band, if I see you in step."

He said, "I'm gonna kick in an kneecap."

(Phil laughs) - We stroll.

- We stroll.

- [Phil] We stroll, we don't march.

- My first time in the band, I gave a ride to someone, a friend of ours to a job.

I dropped my buddy off and Joey I, he spots me there and I'm just about to leave.

And he says, (Nick chuckles) "Hey, Driscoll, you have a horn?

He says, "Give him a hat and a book."

And then I played that job and that's how I ended up in the Paci Band.

- Welcome aboard.

- Completely by accident.

There's this woman, she told her family, basically, when I pass away, I don't care about anything else, but I want the Cino Paci band absolutely to play.

- Absolutely.

- At Funeral.

- We ended up playing for her birthday instead because- - And she didn't pass away.

- She didn't pass away.

Thank goodness.

They would play St. Rocco's Festival.

It was called The Midnight Serenade.

And you would play at the various homes, which were having parties.

Now this is midnight and well into the morning, and we've done backyard parties and wherever it takes us, we'll go.

The marches that we do and just the music in general, needs to be played and preserved.

It's been played for many ages and I don't want it to go away.

(Nick speaks in foreign language) - My Italian is very bad.

- Yeah.

- But the tradition continues.

- It's a special Italian tradition, and we're gonna keep it alive.

(upbeat music continues)