Stern Grove opens season with Oakland legends Tower of Power, Too $hort
SAN FRANCISCO -- What had been planned as an epic 84th season closing concert for the Stern Grove Festival now serves as this year's opening show when iconic Oakland music acts Tower of Power and Too $hort share the stage in San Francisco on June 12.
The season closing Big Picnic fundraiser featuring the two famed East Bay acts was canceled when flooding from a broken water main flooded the Grove just days before the late August show date, causing "catastrophic damage" to the park and putting this year's festival in doubt.
Flooding washed mud across the concert meadow area in front of the stage and did considerable damage to the backstage area at the venue. According to reports, the initial SFPUC estimates of a $4 million cost to repair the Grove was woefully short. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors eventually approved the updated repair cost of $20 million back in April.
- More info: Official Stern Grove website
This year's opening concert presents an all Bay Area line-up of headlining East Bay funk veterans Tower of Power, Oakland hip-hop icon Too $hort and scratch wizard DJ Shortkut. Tickets reservations for the anticipated concert sold out in less than an hour on May 31 but festival organizers made more available on Friday, June 3, at 2 p.m. Those were also snapped up quickly.
"I'm definitely going to have that energy, it's appreciation on my end, I really appreciate that this is something that I was doing 30-plus years ago," Too $hort told KPIX.
Hailed by many as the original East Bay rapper, Short, now 56, said he's been performing since he was 16.
"I was a little surprised that I was added to the show but then to be involved with a performance that also includes Tower of Power, it's sort of like a historic thing to me because of the torch that they held for Oakland before I was even an artist," $hort said. "Even in the early days when I was first learning how to work in a studio, there were people from the Tower of Power camp musicians that were with me, helping me learn my craft."
Outside of psychedelic soul and funk pioneers Sly and the Family Stone, few Bay Area bands have exerted the kind of influence on R&B music that "East Bay Grease" progenitors Tower of Power have since the principal members first come together in 1968.
Tower of Power songwriter, saxophonist and sometimes lead singer Emilio Castillo was advised by his father to hire baritone sax player Stephen "Doc" Kupka after an audition to join Castillo's band the Motowns. The group started playing clubs in Berkeley and Oakland with the aim of graduating to local concert promoter Bill Graham's Fillmore West.
"The pandemic happened and then, finally, we started gigging and then we got this cool gig in the Bay Area at Stern Grove and next thing you know all this water completely washed it out," Castillo said. "I was stunned."
Within two years, the band had changed its name to Tower of Power and not only became a regular act at the legendary venue, it was managed by Graham and signed to his Fillmore Records label. Released in 1970, Tower of Power's debut effort East Bay Grease found the band delivering what would become its patented mix of extended funk workouts and soulful ballads spotlighting the fiery punch of the mighty Tower of Power horn section.
The album also showcased the powerhouse line-up that had coalesced around Castillo and Kupka, including trumpet player/arranger Greg Adams and the ferocious rhythm section of drummer Dave Garibaldi and bassist Francis "Rocco" Prestia.
ToP would have something of a rotating-door policy with its lead singers -- Rick Stevens, who sang the early hits "Sparkling in the Sand," "You're Still a Young Man" and "Down to the Night Club" was gone by the band's self-titled third album in 1973, when their biggest hitmaker Lenny Williams came aboard, along with dynamic tenor player Lenny Pickett, guitarist Bruce Conte and organ player Chester Thompson.
Williams would prove a commanding presence on both ballads -- "So Very Hard to Go," the band's biggest hit -- and hard-hitting funk jams like "What is Hip?" and "Get Yo' Feet Back on the Ground." The band's follow-up efforts Back to Oakland and Urban Renewal further cemented the potency of what would later be hailed as ToP's best line-up. The Tower of Power horns would also become established as the go-to horn section for recording sessions and live appearances, collaborating with Bay Area artists like Santana, Journey and the Grateful Dead as well as such stars as Elton John, Rod Stewart, Little Feat and the Meters.
Williams would return to a solo career in 1975. Though Tower of Power managed a few more hits like "Drop it in the Slot," the subsequent departure of Garabaldi and Prestia coupled with the rising popularity of disco in the latter part of the decade made things difficult for the veteran band. Despite those challenges, ToP would continue to release records through the '80s and '90s and, more importantly, remained a vital live act with Castillo and Kupka at the helm. More recently, key members Garabaldi and Prestia returned to the fold, adding their considerable prowess to the still scorching band.
In 2018, the band celebrated a major historical landmark, hosting a sold-out 50th anniversary party at the Fox Theater in Oakland that was documented and finally released on DVD, CD and vinyl this year with the title 50 Years of Funk & Soul: Live at the Fox Theater.
In addition to the then current line-up, the band invited notable former members including tenor saxophonist Pickett (longtime musical director of the Saturday Night Live band), keyboard maestro Chester Thompson (who has played with Santana for decades) and classic-era guitarist Bruce Conte. The performance also captured one of the last onstage appearances by Prestia, who sadly passed away in 2020.
"We love to see whole families come out and we really love to see newbies so Too $hort, probably, sort of a different crowd sees him than us but I know they'll dig it," Castillo said.
"It's the Oakland soul sound and what can you do but relate," he added.
Tower of Power will be joined at Stern Grove by another Oakland legend. Too $hort (born Todd Shaw) has been hailed by many the original East Bay rapper. Starting in the mid '80s, the self-proclaimed Sir Too $hort started recording his frequently filthy raps over simple drum machine and keyboard beats, self-releasing cassettes and selling them on the street.
Too $hort started his own label to produce the tapes he sold from the trunk of his car, eventually moving from local legend status to sign a major label deal for his fourth album, Born to Mack in 1987. That album went gold and the follow-up -- Life Is...Too $hort -- went double-platinum, kicking off a string of hit albums that stretched into the next decade.
He has influenced multiple generations of MCs with the booming bass of his songs and their X-rated subject matter in addition to collaborating with such prominent rappers as fellow Bay Area great E-40, Los Angeles gangster-rap legends Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg as well as the late icons Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Too $hort has enjoyed the kind of career longevity -- scoring the 2006 hit "Blow the Whistle" nearly a quarter century after recording his first songs -- that few hip-hop acts can match. Too $hort and E-40 recently shared the stage as half of the West Coast hip-hop supergroup Mount Westmore with LA contemporaries Ice Cube and Snoop Dogg. The crew served as one of the headliners at BottleRock Napa Valley over Memorial Day weekend (they also played their own headlining show at the Oakland Arena. The collective released its debut album in April.
Warming up the crowd before the show and between acts will be turntable maestro DJ Shortkut. Part of the Bay Area's legendary Invisbl Skratch Piklz crew that helped elevate hip-hop DJ science to a new level in the late '80s. Additional details on safety protocols at the Stern Grove Festival are available on the Stern Grove Festival website.
Stern Grove Festival: The Big Picnic with Tower of Power and Too $hort
Sunday, June 12, 2 p.m. free (reservations required and currently sold out)
Stern Grove
