Scinta-llating Act

Friday, March 9, 2001 | 3:58 a.m.

It is Tuesday night at the Las Vegas Hilton's Nightclub. Joe and Frank Scinta, fresh from a week's vacation, are already harassing their audience, a mild-mannered group completely taken by the men's subtle slips of the tongue, "pee-pee" jokes and flawless impersonations of the likes of Mick Jagger, Tom Jones and Joe Cocker.

It is a sold-out show, a typical occurrence for the hunky, madcap Sicilian brothers, their songstress sister, Chrissi, and drummer Peter O'Donnell, all of whom packed up nearly a year ago and headed to Las Vegas from their hometown of Buffalo, N.Y.

After an energizing and emotional 90-minute performance, including a heartfelt monologue by Frank Scinta about aging (while impersonating George Burns) to a lump-in-the throat homage to America, freedom and veterans, Joe Scinta sat down with the Las Vegas Sun to discuss the show, his siblings and the long road to Las Vegas:

Las Vegas Sun: How did all of this come to be? Growing up in the Scinta family, did you ever in your wildest dreams think you would be headlining with your brother and sister in Las Vegas?

JS: Not a chance. We were so different. Frank was playing ragtime banjo on the "Ted Mack Amateur Hour" and "Merv Griffin." Meanwhile I was in a rock band doing the rhythm and blues thing, opening for bands like ZZ Top, Sly and the Family Stone and Yes.

Sun: When did you finally team up?

JS: Twenty-five years ago. I joined up with a band that ended up in Hawaii. Everyone wanted to stay except me. We lost our keyboard player so I asked my brother to join me in Hawaii to fill in. Everyone wanted to stay, but we had ties. We had family back home so we flew to California, then drove back to Buffalo.

Sun: Were you planning to continue performing with him once you were back in Buffalo?

JS: No. I planned on going to Florida to sell burglar alarms. That drive from California to Buffalo was a nightmare.

The night before I was going to leave for Florida, Frank gets a call from Paul Maguire, ex-Buffalo Bills player and restaurateur. They wanted a piano player to play in a piano bar, and much to my surprise Frank said, "I don't work without my brother."

Sun: Were you up for it?

JS: I was waving my hands and saying "No. I'm going to Florida."

Sun: Apparently you didn't go?

JS: No. We go to this place, Maguire's Archers, and they made us an offer we couldn't refuse. Before you know it we were doing a (gig) in this club. Within two months you could not get in. Five hundred people were packed into a 200-seat room.

We interacted with the audience and they just ate it up because nobody was doing it. People love to be part of the show. That's the biggest thing that made us successful. We're not playing to the back wall. We're playing to the audience.

Sun: How did you get from Buffalo to Las Vegas?

JS: The Buffalo Playboy Clubs came to see us and offered us a lot more money than we were making. We played a lot of Playboy clubs in Buffalo and Detroit. Our launching pad was a place (in Akron, Ohio) that used us to fill in for Charo. He booked us for a week. By the end of the week, forget about it.

A big shot restaurateur saw us -- guy's name is Joe Vicari -- he promoted us and helped us get to Las Vegas.

Sun: Was Las Vegas the ultimate destiny?

JS: We were very skeptical. We were very afraid. We had to move four families, four homes, eight cars and leave a lot of friends behind to pursue our dreams. It was Las Vegas or bust.

Sun: Your sister, Chrissi, has an amazing voice and really wows the audience. How did she become part of the act?

JS: She was very young when she'd sit in with us, (when she was) 12, 13, 14, our parents would come and sit in because she was so young. She did cameos, you know.

Sun: Are there other Scintas we don't know about?

JS: Our brother, Tony, between Frank and I. He's a homicide detective in Buffalo. Don't forget Peter O'Donnell. He's been with us for 14 years, he's very much a part of our act. He's very much an integral part of the band.

Sun: The show's much more than a few laughs. There are moments when you're jerking tears from the audience, especially the patriotic portion at the end of the show.

JS: People in Vegas are shocked that we mention veterans. When we mention America, World War II, when (the veterans) stand, I can see (some of them cry).

Sun: And it's from the heart?

JS: We love our families, our country, our veterans.

Sun: You open a new show at the Rio in April. What will that be like?

JS: More produced, defined lights, staging, dance stuff. It's going to be more refined than it is now with the same kind of feel. I don't want to lose that lounge feeling.

Sun: I know some of the performance is improvised, but who writes the jokes and puts together the ideas for the show?

JS: Most of the stuff you see onstage was born onstage.

Sun: What about your musical training? You play bass. Frank plays guitar, banjo, spoons, drums and keyboards.

JS: We have no training. Frank and I do not read music. So rehearsal doesn't take that long. We listen to an album, then play it. Frank is all self-taught -- the banjo, the guitar, the spoons. He's just a natural prodigy. My sister's had some (vocal) training.

Sun: You mentioned almost selling burglar alarms. What other jobs did you have before this?

JS: Frank has always been a musician. I've been a law clerk, a sanitation worker. I worked at a chroming factory.

Sun: You've stayed together this long. What's the secret?

JS: We join hands before every show. We've been doing it for 25 years. We saw the Temptations doing that. Since that day things have been going up.

The message we have, the entertainment we have -- we're going to do a lot of things in the next five years.

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