Dig the bass. The east bay grease that was hopin' in and out of Vietnamese Restaurants in Oakland as my guest plays a reality fender. Locking the groove like Bob Cranshaw, helping swing the band with David Garibaldi whose big band background helped drive the Tower of Power.

Of coarse it's deeper than that. It always is and my guest is too modest to call attention to himself. If anything he encourages cats to play their own bass lines rather than coming his. Be yourself and don't change horses in midstream because you got cats like Kuptka blowing over the top of low end bass grooves by my guest whose worked was frequented quite often by radio host Voco or on the vaunted San Francisco label.

When I started listening to music closely around the turn of the century the first melodic groove music that attracted me was the band TOP. They symbolized music that came out of the community and was supported by the community.

As companies discovered how to monetize music they sucked the soul right out of it. My guest still tours with the great tower but in two weeks they might play 14 different venues. Those are the transient times we live in.

Rocco Prestia welcome to the JFS