Tower of Power
In a recent interview with Emilio Castillo, founder of the legendary R&B/funk group Tower of Power, we chatted about several things: the band’s longevity, his creative partnership with founding member Stephen “Doc” Kupka, their embrace of Oakland over San Francisco and more. One of my favorite moments of the interview was when Emilio told me the story of how he first became a musician. It didn’t make it into the piece, but I like it so much that I thought I’d share it here.
Back in the day, pastel muscle-shirts were all the rage. As Emilio said, “All the guys would wear them in the summertime to make their muscles show.”
Emilio and some friends, who were in their teens at the time, were walking through a department store when they saw a rack of the shirts and had the bright idea to steal them. They would take a few into the dressing room, put them on under their shirts and emerge with some new wardrobe items. The store manager had been watching them, however, and grabbed them as soon as they came out of the dressing room.
Emilio’s dad picked the boys up, made them apologize to the manager, took Emilio home, gave him a notebook and told him to fill it up with all the reasons why he would never steal again. He also told him to come up with something that he could do that would keep him off the streets.
The Beatles had just hit the scene and Emilio decided that he would learn to play music. That very day, Emilio’s father took him down to the instrument shop and said, “Pick one.”
Emilio picked out a saxophone, formed a band, and then learned how to play. He has been in a band every day of his life since then.
Posted on December 29, 2011
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