If you walk or drive near Mare Island on September 7th and the afternoon breeze is just right, you’ll likely hear “Pick Up the Pieces,” “Nightshift,” “You’re Still a Young Man” and “Always and Forever.”
These are hits by Average White Band, The Commodores, Tower of Power featuring Lenny Williams on lead vocals, and Heatwave, respectively.
And if you think these artists represent old school funk, memorable R&B, a style of music that makes listeners, young and old, feel good and laid back, then you might be ready to line up for the 2024 Mare Island Dock of the Bay Festival in Vallejo.
The festival, organized by Fraser Trager Presents, will feature a lot of funk, an aggressive urban dance music with hard, syncopated basslines and drum beats and accents of various instruments, especially horns. It will also feature a variety of food paired with local wines, craft beers and specialty cocktails. The entire festival grounds will also feature waterfront views of the Napa River, promoter Kevin Fraser said.
The Average White Band (or AWB for short) is a Scottish band that was named after their strong love for black American music and formed in 1972. They gained attention in 1973 when they opened for British guitarist Eric Clapton at his comeback concert at the Rainbow Theatre.
After their initial recordings, the band signed with Atlantic Records and released the “AWB” LP in 1974. The album included such Billboard number one hits as “Pick Up the Pieces,” “Person to Person,” “Work to Do,” “Keepin’ It to Myself” and “I Just Can’t Give You Up.”
Their second LP, 1975’s Cut the Cake, showcased more of their tight, hat-band rhythmic shuffle and horn attack, and included the title track as well as “School Boy Crush” and “How Sweet Can You Get.”
By the mid-1980s, the band had largely faded from the Billboard charts, but some of their songs can still be heard in discos and nightclubs, 50 years after their release.
The Grammy Award-winning Commodores were a soul group formed in 1968 by friends from the Tuskegee Institute of Music who became Motown’s most successful band after Stevie Wonder during its late period. They became famous for the vocals of Lionel Richie, who later launched his solo career. Some of the band’s best-known songs include “Easy,” “Three Times a Lady,” “Too Hot to Trot” and “Brick Houses.”
Solano County resident Lenny Williams is, of course, the legendary former lead singer of Tower of Power, the Oakland-based all-around R&B band that emerged out of the Bay Area club scene of the early 1970s.
Known for their Wall of Sound horn section, their albums included East Bay Grease, released in 1971 on the San Francisco Record label, followed by Bump City in 1972 on the Warner Brothers label, which spawned the single “You’re Still a Young Man”, which became one of the group’s signature songs.
The “Tower of Power” LP was released in 1973, when Williams, a native of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, joined the band. He went on to sing on the “Back to Oakland” and “Urban Renewal” LPs, and the band was at its peak, releasing singles such as “So Very Hard to Go,” “What Is Hip?,” and “Don’t Change Horses (In the Middle of a Stream).” Other hits included “Bump City” and “Down to the Nightclub.”
Heatwave is an original funk and soul band whose hits include “Always and Forever,” “The Groove Line,” “Mind Blowing Decisions” and “Boogie Nights.”
Note: General admission attendees can bring their own portable seating or stay in the VIP area to enjoy an upgraded experience that includes special drinks, delicious food, indoor restroom access and waterfront seating closer to the stage. Premium VIPs will have the chance to meet the Average White Band backstage and win a gold vinyl set of their greatest hits, Frazier said.
Additionally, there will be shareable tables and chairs in the food court area of the Unity Stage and along the waterfront, and the main stage will feature a large video wall and state-of-the-art lighting, he added in a prepared statement.
Fraser said tickets for the festival are expected to sell out and people are encouraged to buy their tickets early.
The festival is sponsored by Mare Island Company, Wente Vineyard, Suite Treatments, Larson Family Winery, Phillips 66, The Fireside, Touro University, Skyview Memorial and Moreno Inc.
If you go
What: Mare Island Dock of the Bay Festival When: Sept. 7, 1 to 9:30 p.m. (doors open at 12:30 p.m.) Where: Mare Island, 860 Nimitz Ave., Vallejo Tickets: $120 general admission, $187 VIP, $265 Premium VIP, all with free parking Online: dockofbay.com
First published: August 13, 2024, 4:58 PM