Bononia Sound Machine

Bononia Sound Machine (BSM) is seeking help for funding a new CD.  They are using Kapipal, and are offering some great gifts to those that contribute.  Here is the info posted by BSM:

Hello everybody!

We’re Bononia Sound Machine (or BSM for short), an 11 piece soul and funk band, originating in Bologna, Italy, in 1992. We’re going to celebrate our 20th anniversary this year and we’d like to issue a new Cd/Dvd with your help and support.

The Cd will be a mix of live and studio recordings. The Dvd will be a documentary of our history and will include songs recorded live in Bologna in 2009 with special guest Jeff Tamelier (Tower of Power former guitar player) as as well as interviews with Tower of Power past and current members and other music personality.

Through Kapipal we’ll have the opportunity of raising funds from fans, friends, and family. Signing one of the incentives you’ll be actively involved in BSM’s life.

This project is a dream come true, the peak of our music experience and the vehicle for new adventures.

You can’t miss it!

Thank you very much

BSM

BSM Kapipal link is www.kapipal.com/bononiasoundmachine

Tower of Power (Now)

Yes, we have had a great run, for Forty-Four years (Forty Four this month) Tower of Power has been ours.  The band had some major commercial success in the mid 70’s, but since then, its been just the hard core fans that follow the band.  From the US, to Europe, and Japan, Tower has a great core of die hard fans.  Tower has and currently maintains a very aggressive touring schedule, to the point that you often hear people say that such and such band is the hardest touring band, well we know that Tower really is the hardest touring band in the world.

Tower Of Power (Then)

What I have come to appreciate is the intimacy of most of the venues the band plays in, most being 400-1500 seats, places where at the end of the show, you can say Hi to members of the band, and sometime hang out with them for a bit.  Because of this, I have personally lost count of the number of times since 1973 that I have seen Tower Of Power, as these venues are intimate and affordable.  One thing I can tell you is that I always see faces at each venue that I have seen before.  Over the years, many of those folks have become friends, again because the closeness of the Tower Of Power family.

Over the Forty-Four years band members have come and gone.  Many have gone on to great solo careers like Greg Adams, Richard Elliott, and Euge Grove (Steve Grove) have had great Smooth Jazz careers.  Lenny Pickett has been the Musical Director of the Saturday Night Live Band for almost two decades.  Many other former members have had great careers as sidemen for other artists, or as studio musicians.

Others who have known about our secret, are musicians themselves.  Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Prince, and Sting have one time or another remarked highly of the band.  Sting himself long before joining the Police was in a Tower Of Power cover band.

What makes Tower unique is that it has two driving forces.  One is of course the horn section, which is about as tight a sound as five pieces can get.  Led by Emilio Castillo and Stephen “Doc” Kupka the horn section has appeared on hundreds of recording over the years (check out the discography here www.towerofpower.com/discography/hornsection/).

The second force is the Rhythm Section (whose current line-up may be the best ever) led by legends David Garibaldi (drums) and Francis Rocco Prestia (bass).  Why do I say legends, just ask professional drummers and base bass players, they will tell you.

Tower has also been blessed to have  some very good singers over the years to round out their sound.

So why is the secret out.  Well it really started a couple of years ago when Tower got a new management team.  The band started playing larger venues, and started getting some TV show appearances.  Now this past July, opened a few shows for the Dave Mathews band which exposed the band to thousands of fans.  Side note: Roger Smith (keyboards for Tower) will be appearing on next Dave Matthews CD, playing on a few tunes (CD will be out in September I believe).  And now the thing that will send Tower over the top, as far as exposure is concerned, is a little thing called AXS.tv.  Premiering this Sunday at 8PM Eastern 5PM on the West Coast and running several more times AXS.tv will be airing “The Tower of Power 40th Anniversary Concert at the Fillmore“.  AXS.tv can be found at many major cable operators, and on Direct TV and Dish Network.  For more on this show at AXS.tv click here: www.axs.tv/blogs/axs-tv-concerts-tower-of-power-40th-anniversary-concert-at-the-fillmore/

So what’s the down side of this kind of exposure?  Absolutely nothing.  New fan base, bigger better venues, maybe even more money for the band.  Sounds like a winner to me.  Hey some of us might even meet some new people ourselves.

10.More potential Band viewers 32 Million in one night than 43 years of gigging.

9. Mark Cuban and Ryan Seacrest who own the network will watch but will not dance on camera.

8. Your chance to finally prove to friends and family why TOP is the best horn band in the history of the planet.

7. Out of respect all liquor stores in Oakland will discount 40 ounce beers by 10% during the broadcast.

6. Go to every Best Buy and TV appliance store and turn the channel to AXS on Sunday night, so people will get a clue.

5. This event is The Olympics for true Funk Soldiers.

4. Major guest stars, band alumni and hundreds of ex girl friends in the audience.

3. If nothing else, several million should tune in to see Emilio in a Tuxedo.

2. If you don’t have cable or a dish stop swiping your neighbors and get career counseling.

1. Is on Huge Sunday, August 5 at 8pmET/5pm PT and if you don’t know, you need to ask somebody.

Check you local listings and tune into : axs.tv Sunday August 5th.

The Life And Times Of Frank Biner

Strokeland and Doc Kupka Fans:  By special arrangement Doc Kupka and Strokeland Records has given Horn Driven Radio permission to debut music from their soon to be released CD “The Life And Times Of Frank Biner”.  The release date of the CD is August 7^th, (CD can now be pre-ordered at Strokeland) so from now until that time, you will only be able to hear songs from the CD in there entirety here at HDR (samples are available at Strokeland).  We are currently playing three songs from the CD “Gotta Run”, “Turn Back The Hands Of Time”, & “Your So Wonderful, So Marvelous”.  Each song will be played several times in our current rotation.   For more information on Frank Biner and the CD please go to www.strokeland.com

We want to thank Doc Kupka and Steve Finch for giving us access to the music, and letting us share it with our audience.