I just watched a YouTube video of Tower of Power. They were playing “Knock Yourself Out.” Tremendous band rocking out in a small club. If you aren’t familiar with them you should fix that immediately. Funky, funky band. Believe me… I know funky.
They had a big horn section that went off and played on everybody’s records. Any time you saw the credits “Tower of Power horns” on a song you knew you were in for a groovy time. Even if it was a Captain and Tennille album.
Yes, I said groovy time. I stand by it.
I first heard them on FM radio back in my hometown of Meriden, Connecticut. I think the song I heard was “Back On The Streets Again” and I love that song till this very day. Dean and I used to hang out at his apartment after school and listen to it over and over again while his mother plotted to kill his Stepfather.
I remember that the band had a lead singer that got arrested for murder so they had to go out and get another, less murderous singer. I am not sure if that is urban legend. Anyone know if that story is true? Every singer they ever had sounded like the first one… which is awesome. They seem to replace them periodically. They go thru more lead singers than Pure Prairie League.
I saw them once. I desperately wanted to see them. They were playing in Santa Cruz at the theater down on Pacific Avenue. I had my ticket.
I was working at Marianne’s Ice Cream at the time… in the back room actually making the stuff… not in the front selling it.
At the end of the day I was taking the five gallon metal cans full of ice cream and transferring them to the big walk in freezer. Those suckers weighed a zillion pounds.
You guessed it. I dropped one on my foot. Right on my big toe. Broke that sucker good. It swolled up like a big ol’ industrial strength condom. I went to the emergency room where they said there wasn’t much they could do with a broken big toe except bandage it up, give me drugs (It was Santa Cruz, CA. They gave you complimentary drugs when you bought jerky at a convenience store) and sent me on my way.
I took the drugs. I borrowed some crutches and went to the show. I remember nothing about it except how my poor toe throbbed. Luckily I had a very rhythmic injury so it throbbed on the two and four.
Go look up “Back On The Streets Again” on YouTube and you will finally understand how I grew up to be so damn funky.