ENTERTAINMENT
Bakersfield favorites return to the KC Fair on Sept. 24 COURTESY PHOTO
The power of Tower! BY MATT MUÑOZ MÁS staff
B
akersfield’s adopted funky family is coming back to visit. MÁS Magazine presents Bay Area’s finest — Tower of Power — at the KC Fair’s Budweiser Pavilion, Thursday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. The concert is free with fair admission. Horn-heavy creators of “The Oakland Stroke,” along with classics like, “You’re Still A Young Man,” “What is Hip?” and “Soul Vaccination”
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among others — T.O.P.’s live show is a must for local music fans. With 16 studio albums, numerous compilations and imports, and live albums under their collective belt, Tower of Power, or T.O.P., have maintained their loyal following. And much like their SF musical brethren, Santana, Tower of Power continues to keep their creative pulse pounding by recording and performing regularly to soldout crowds everywhere.
Scoring a big break after auditioning for San Francisco artistic visionary, Bill Graham, during the heyday of the famed Fillmore West in the 1960’s, the band entered the Bay Area’s psychedelic music scene as young innovators. Who would have thought a band of soul music playing teenagers could infiltrate the “Flower Power” masses with sophisticated musical and funky styles — beyond the works of “The Godfather of Soul,” James Brown, that is. That was more than 40
years ago, and the band hasn’t slowed down one bit. In April, T.O.P. released their latest CD, “The Great American Soulbook,” a collection of soul classics, performed by the band and some special guests. UK soulstress Joss Stone, Tom Jones, rhythm & blues legend Sam Moore, and Huey Lewis all lent their voices to the project. Some songs included on the disc are, “I Thank You,” “It Take Two,” “Mr. Pitiful,” and “634-5789.” Looking at the disc’s liner Continued on page 12