Triple-bill event at the Big Dome Sept. 7
The much-awaited Manila performance of Tower of Power (TOP) is happening Sept. 7 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum to be mounted by Ovation Productions. The triple bill event also features Dennis Lambert and Kalapana.
Tower’s musical odyssey actually began in 1968 when Emilio Castillo met Stephen “Doc” Kupka in July of that year. When Doc auditioned during a band rehearsal at Emilio’s house, Emilio’s father called him into the kitchen and offered the following advice: “Hire that guy, he’s got something.” It was how Doc and his signature baritone sax came to be a major part of the band’s sound, and on Aug. 13, 1968, Tower of Power, as we know them today, began playing gigs and soon became very well known in the area.
Many other bands came out of the San Francisco Bay area in the late ‘60s. Bands like The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Journey and others helped define the “San Francisco Sound.” Tower of Power has always claimed Oakland, California as its hometown, playing area venues and making a name for themselves.
Tower of Power was signed to Bill Graham’s San Francisco records and its first album was East Bay Grease. All of the compositions were original tunes written by Castillo and Kupka. The next album, Bump City, led to a string of hits and memorable albums that include many of the songs that TOP fans come out in force to hear, even to this day. Over the years, the Tower of Power Horns have recorded with hundreds of artists as diverse as Aerosmith, Elton John, Little Feat, Phish, Santana, Heart, and many others, forever infusing the radio airwaves with Tower’s musical DNA.
Since the beginning, Tower of Power has never stopped touring and recording. Always in demand, the band never fails to entertain and amaze fans. Tower is blessed to have a dedicated following that often travels to see the band, and in many cases fans will plan their vacation or work schedule around an appearance of TOP. New generations of fans come to see them perform as their timeless music continues to excite fans of all ages.
Another featured performer in the concert is songwriter-producer-singer Dennis Lambert. His album Bags and Things was very popular in the Philippines in the early ‘70s and contained
hit songs Of All the Things, Ashes to Ashes, Somebody Found Her Before I Lost Her and So Little Time. He also either co-wrote and/or produced huge 1970s hits for other singers like Ain’t No Woman Like the One I’ve Got for the Four Tops; Rhinestone Cowboy for Glen Campbell; Hard Core Poetry and She’s
Gone for Tavares; Baby Come Back for Player; Love Music for Sergio Mendes & Brazil ’77; and Dream On and Rock and
Roll Heaven for The Righteous Brothers which revived the duo’s recording career in 1974. In the ‘80s, Lambert continued to write and produce alone under his Tuneworks banner. Credits include hits Nightshift for The Commodores; We Built This City and Sara for Starship; I Live
For Your Love and Pink Cadillac for Natalie Cole; and Moment Of Truth for Survivor. Lambert was the subject of an award-winning featurelength documentary film, Of All the
Things, directed by his screenwriter son Jody Lambert, which followed him on a cross-country tour of the Philippines promoted by Ovation Productions.
As for Kalapana, it emerged as one of the most popular bands in the Hawaiian music scene in the ‘70s, and is much loved by Filipinos for songs, Nightbird, The Hurt, You
Make it Hard and When the Morning Comes. They still enjoy frequent airplay in Manila’s top radio stations until today. Kalapana received the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. Ovation Productions took Kalapana on a Philippine Tour back-to-back with the band America in 2012.
It will truly be a thrill for Filipino music lovers to see all three of their favorite artists perform together in one evening of retro music at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. It certainly cannot get any better than this. (Tower of Power 50th Anniversary Tour featuring Dennis Lambert and Kalapana is produced by Ovation Productions. Media partners are FOX, FOXLife, FOX Filipino, The Philippine STAR, Manila Bulletin, Business Mirror, Wish 107.5, 97.9 Home Radio, DWIZ 882, DWWW 774, DZXL 558, 96.3 Easyrock, iFM 93.9, Philstar.com, Inquirer.net, Mb.com.ph, Manilascope, LionhearTV, Manila Concert Scene, Philippine Concerts and Soundcheck Manila. Tickets are priced at P5,250, P4,750, P3,750, P2,750, P1,750 and P750. Tickets are available via www.ticketnet. com.ph and regular TicketNet outlets or call TicketNet +632 911-5555 or Ovation Productions +632 532-8883.)