As background of all those of you that know me, know that I’m a huge fan of Tower Of Power.  Over the past 20 years, a large number of fans have connected, due to the internet.  I have had the pleasure of meeting, and becoming friends with many of these fans, one of which is George Grund.

Born and raised in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, George graduated from College with a degree in music theory.  After college he served in the Army for five years, returned home raised a family and worked for the US Postal Service (retiring after 26 years).  During this time he continued to play both keyboards and saxophone in bands around his area.  Performing with The Coasters, Drifters, Ben E. King, Kevin Eubanks, Stanley Turrentine, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.  George also is on the album “Simone On Simone” (2007) by Simone, daughter of Nina Simone; also several releases by East Coast blues artist Sterling Koch.  George and family eventually relocated to the Phoenix Arizona area in 2009, where George continues to perform with bands in that area.

So why am I writing about George? Well he recently submitted a song to Greg Adams for East Bay Soul’s next CD, entitled “East Bay Soul 2.0”.  After listening to the song, Greg liked it so much he decided to use it on this project.  “East Bay Soul 2.0” will be released this February, with a CD release party Spaghettini restaurant in Seal Beach, CA. February 17/18 here’s a link to the show: http://www.spaghettini.com/calendarNext.php

I called George the other day to get some info about the song:

Q.  What is the name of the song you submitted, and what kind of sound is it?

A.  The song is titled I’m Coming Home, and it was written as a Soul Ballad.

Q.  When was the song written?

A.  I wrote the song about five years ago, as an instrumental.

Q.  How did you get the song submitted?

A.  Originally I saw the album promotion on Kick starter.  I decided to contribute some money to the cause, and started following the blog Greg created, which charted the progress of the new CD.  Some time in the process, Greg blogged about actually sitting down and writing songs for the CD.  At that time I sent and email to Greg telling him about the song, and if he would be interested in hearing a demo I had created for I’m Coming Home.  Greg responded back saying that he didn’t normally accept songs in the way, but would listen to the song if I sent it to him.

Q.  So what happened next?

A.  On November 1^st at 1:30 PM I emailed an MP3 of the song to Greg.  Within 30 minutes (to my surprise) Greg called and said he loved the song, and would like to add it to the new CD, since he had one spot on left.  Over the next few days Greg and I decided how to treat the song, we decided to change the tempo a bit and add lyrics to the song.  As a bit or background, after hearing Darryl Walker sing on the first East Bay Soul CD, I thought that the song should have lyrics added to it, which Greg did.

Q.  Have you had a chance to hear the song yet?

A.  I think it was December 8^th I flew to LA to hear the horn tracks being recorded.  Since then I have heard the rhythm tracks as well.  Now I’m waiting to hear the final mix.  I also plan to be at the record release party in February.  Who knows maybe I’m Coming Home will be one of the songs East Bay Soul plays live at the party.

Q.  So what are your future plans?

A.  I will continue playing in local bands here in the Phoenix area, do arrangements as well.  But I have been a bit inspired by this whole thing, so I plan on writing some more original material.

I just wanted to share this with all of you.  Turns out good things do happen to hard working guys that are dedicated to their craft; it just may take some time.

Johnny Bamont, Michael Paulo, George, Greg Adams, Lee Thornburg, and Sean Billings : Photo by Andrea Adams

For more on East Bay Soul go to www.eastbaysoul.com

"Bill Champlin With Jerry Lopez" Photo Courtesy of Bobby Gladd

We just got news from Jerry Lopez leader of Santa Fe & The Fat City Horns.  Here’s what Jerry writes: “For years we have had amazing friends join us on stage as “Guest Artists” and the magic happens just that once, for the fortunate few that are in the small intimate audience. Now we are going to start bringing the “Healing” to the world via downloadable HD quality shows. We started with Ole Borud, then recorded a night with Bill Champlin and family, and now have other incredible guests on the roster”.

Below is a video teaser of what’s coming up:

The full video will be available on February 02nd of this year.  We will keep you posted, on where to see the taped shows once we hear more.

For more on Santa Fe check out their band page at Horn Driven Radio (link in red).

10. www.horndrivenradio.com can carry press conferences, but won’t because they are boring.

9. Ron Paul is telling everybody Rocco lives in Raider Nation.

8. His fund raising amounted to literally dozens of dollars.

7. “Why stand up when you can sit down, why sit down when you can lay down” – WC. Fields

6. He finally realized that he doesn’t give- a- funk about issues.

5. Thousands of old Friends are asking for pardons, and he ain’t even got the job yet.

4. Age 62 in normal years is 116 in Oakland years.

3. All of the absentee ballots cast in his favor are incredibly misspelled.

2. Nobody wanted to get “Rocco Rocks the Ballot Box” tattoos.

1. Realized that politics is show business for ugly people.

10.Never invite anyone backstage uglier than the best looking band member.

9. Make sure guest list includes Red Bull, Ben Gay and not Jose Cuervo.

8. Try not to book the band in foreign countries during major natural disasters.  This includes Oakland should the Raiders make the playoffs.

7. Stage techs to use full face Harley Helmets in case Doc’s suspenders fail during his dance.

6. Never admit to packing Rocco’s suitcase.

5. While booking bus tours avoid the use of public transportation.

4. Forty Dollar T shirts, really?

3. Fewer gigs at Ten times the money.

2. Meet and Greets after the gigs are the most important job of the night.

1. Keeping it fresh and funky for another year and beyond.