soul with a capital S

A few weeks ago on a Saturday evening, we were making dinner and settling in for a quiet night at home. I was feeling pretty cozy in my track pants and t-shirt, hair in a pony tail and no makeup. At 6:15pm the phone rang. Our friend Kevin had 4 tickets for the sold out Tower of Power show at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts at 8pm that night. Now Steve had already seen them perform twice that week but I had not, so we jumped at the chance. If you haven't heard of the Tower of Power they are a soul/funk band consisting of a singer, rhythm section (guitar, keyboards/organ, bass & drums) and 5 horns (3 saxes, 2 trumpets, one of whom doubles on trombone). They have been together for almost 40 years. Seriously, 40 YEARS! Obviously, the personnel has changed many times during their history, but 2 of the original members have been in the band the entire time and 2 have come back after some time away. They are fun, energetic and incredible musicians. And they put on an amazing live show. Needless to say, we had a fantastic time. And did I bring my camera? Oh yeah!

Most of Tower of Power are in this picture. Just missing Roger Smith on keyboards.

Larry Braggs. Holy crap, this guy can sing!


Emilio Castillo, founding member of TOP.


Stephen "Doc" Kupka, the legendary baritone sax player and David Garibaldi the equally legendary drummer.


One hell of a saxophone section, Doc Kupka, Tom Politzer and Emilio Castillo plus David Garibaldi on drums and Rocco Prestia on bass.


Iron Mike Bogart. Awesome trumpet (and trombone) player.


The brilliant Rocco Prestia signing autographs after the show. This man survived a liver transplant in 2002. One of the best bass players ever.

Trumpet player Mike Bogart, Steve and I after the show.