2 Members Of Tower Of Power Struck By Train In Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS/AP) — Two members of famed Bay Area R&B group Tower of Power were hit by a train as they walked across tracks before a scheduled gig Thursday evening in Oakland's Jack London Square.
Drummer David Garibaldi and bass player Marc van Wageningen were rushing from the Waterfront Hotel across the train tracks to Yoshi's jazz club around 7:30 p.m. for their set, according to CBS San Francisco. They waited for one train to cross, but a second train going in the opposite direction hit them. The two were thrown several feet from the impact.
Yoshi's general manager, Hal Campos, told KPIX he called 911 and stayed with the two injured men until help came. They were both unconscious and appeared to have broken bones, Campos said.
Garibaldi has been with the group since 1970. Van Wageningen is substituting as bass player.
"We are monitoring their situation directly with the hospital," band manager Tom Consolo said. "We will update everyone tomorrow but for tonight we ask that you send your prayers. "
Without identifying them, the Oakland Fire Department said that two pedestrians were hit by a passenger train at Jack London Square about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and taken to a hospital.
The accident was near Yoshi's, a jazz and R&B club where the group had been scheduled to play two shows Thursday night. Both were canceled.
It wasn't clear why the men were on the tracks, but pedestrians often need to cross them in the area with trains running across and in between streets, including right outside Yoshi's.
The Tower of Power, a band of about a dozen members, most of them horns, has been beloved members of the R&B and pop communities since forming in Oakland in 1968. The group and its rotating cast of musicians have recorded behind many far more famous names including Elton John, Otis Redding, Aerosmith and Santana.
They were also a national TV fixture in the 1980s with frequent appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman."
Read more at CBSSanFrancisco.com.
