Odds and Ends!

Maria Granditsky writes:

I interviewed Harvey Henderson of The Bar-Kays in 1990. We talked about how they teamed up with Sly Stone on the track "Just Like A Teeter-Totter" (the best track from the Bar-Kays album Animal). Harvey told me that the record company, PolyGram, had suggested that they should work with James Mtume on one track for that album. Mtume was already working on a soloalbum for Sly which gave Harvey and the guys a great opportunity to meet Sly, who they admire greatly. They got together with Sly and Mtume in Sly's house and after talking about old times they wrote that song together and recorded it the same day.The Bar-Kays convinced PolyGram that it should be incorporated on their above mentioned album. The stuff Sly had done with Mtume never came about, Mtume told Harvey later, because PolyGram thought it sounded to old-fashioned (this was of course in the horrible days of synthesizers and drum-machines only) and Sly was not willing to change anything. He said to the record company that if it couldn't be done his way he didn't want to do it at all.I asked Harvey why no one bothered to help Sly the way everybody tried to help James Brown get his act together and Harvey laughed and said that Sly had not struck him as a person who really wanted any help.

Rumour: Sly Stone is playing drums on "Poet" from There's a Riot Goin' On.

Paul Weller (The Jam, solo) in 9/92 revealed via Record Collector what his Top Ten albums of all time are. They are:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band by The Beatles (LP)
Small Faces by The Small Faces (LP)
Traffic by Traffic (LP)
Curtis Live by Curtis Mayfield (2 LPs)
Innervisions by Stevie Wonder (LP)
My Generation by The Who (LP)
What's Going On by Marvin Gaye (LP)
Fresh by Sly & The Family Stone (LP)
Colour Him Father by The Winstons (45)
Search For The Inner Self by Jon Lucien (45)

(Thanks to Stefan Andersson)

Anyone see Late Show with David Letterman when Adam Sandler and Cheryl Crow were guests? (If you did, you can see me for a brief second in the audience when Regis Philbin runs in). Anyway .... before they started taping the show, the Most Dangerous Band plays a few tunes to get the crowd going .... when I was there they played "Dance to the Music" with Paul playing the vocal part on organ. We thought that was a trip ... then they launched into "Hot Fun In the Summertime" before and during a commercial break! Someone must have had Greatest Hits lyin' around ...

From [email protected]:

"While recently viewing Madonna's Girlie Show (1993) concert video, I was struck by the music playing behind the closing credits. It sounded somewhat familiar but due to poor sound quality, I could not identify it. I could only make out the word "stand" and a few others here and there. I searched for the word 'stand' on the music computer at the local music store and it returned about 200 references. I was overwhelmed and almost hit the clear button and walked away. But, there it was - "Sly and the Family Stone". The instant I saw that, it clicked in my mind - that sound from the past was now unmistakable. Straight to the racks to look for Greatest Hits. Not only was "Stand!" there, but also "Everybody Is A Star" (her closing song of the concert - what a treat - I had not even thought about that one yet). Upon listening to the CD, I further re-discovered "Dance To The Music" (that long time classic routine that everyone uses to introduce their band members) which was also part of the closing medley. Madonna was obviously much influenced by Sly Stone. Wait - that's good. On this tour (1993) Madonna was attempting to recover from the media onslaught created by the release of her book and her Erotica CD. Madonna has never had a problem finding words or ways to express herself, but apparently she could find no better words to close her show and leave on a positive expression of individual self worth, that to borrow Sly Stone's "Everybody Is A Star" and "Stand". I am now left with a new appreciation for Sly Stone.

To summarize, the closing song (10:30 in duration) of Madonna's Girlie Show concerts (1993), was a medley consisting of "Everybody Is A Star", "Everybody" (her song), and "Dance To The Music". A few minutes after the curtain was closed, and the standing ovation continued, she reappeared and brought the crowed to immediate, but only temporary, silence, by placing the microphone to her mouth and singing the four words 'everybody is a star' as the culmination of the entire show and the summary statement of its message. This was then followed with playing "Stand" (by Sly and the Family Stone) over the stadium sound system as the audience was leaving (another statement of self expression and self empowerment that she has expressed for years).

From Michael E.Veal:

"On the Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsys" CD, you can hear Buddy Miles singing the refrain from Joe Hicks' "Home Sweet Home" on the track "We Gotta Live Together." Interesting, considering the close relationship between Buddy and Sly."

Craig Wall has also pointed out to me that on that same Band of Gypsys album, in between the songs "Message of Love" and "We Gotta Live Together" Billy Cox and Jimi break into a brief rendition of "Sing a Simple Song." Interesting that Jimi and Sly shared that connection.

With the previous comment in mind, check the photo collage on the back cover of There's a Riot Goin' On. There is a picture of Buddy Miles, staring back at you.

Larry Graham on the formation of Sly & the Family Stone, December 1974:

"It was obvious that he was going to make it, he had that touch of genius about him you know...after that first rehearsal in Sly's basement, I knew we would make it."

(Thanks to Maria Granditsky)

Larry Graham told me that Carlos Santana's favorite Sly & the Family Stone song is "You Can Make It If You Try" -- the version they performed at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival.

P.H.Lambers writes:

"There is a record by Odia Coates, 1975, United Artists, who is supposed to have been part of Sly and the Family Stone. The album is produced by famous Rick Hall, recorded in his Muscle Shoals studio. The music is some sort of mixture of MOR songs written by Paul Anka (!), sung in a soulful way and more deep soul style material. She also appeared on an album by Anka from the same period. According to the information which is included for promotion of the album Odia Coates was part of Sly and the Family Stone."

From Black Music Magazine, June 1975:

"But Odia didn't cross over to secular music until '68. While working as a secretary she got a chance to do a show in Sunnydale, California, where she appeared with headliners Diamond Jim and Tera The Snake DAncer, who danced with a ten foot boa constrictor! Her second gig was at the Wayne Manor Club where she worked with a newly formed and unknown band, Sly And The Family Stone! After a couple of months Odia hooked up with Brotherly Love, a group who played Las Vegas and up to San Francisco."

(thanks to Philip M Healy... anyone know anything more about this?)

Even though Larry Graham confirmed my suspicions that there are songs on the album Fresh which feature him on bass ("Que Sera, Sera" (he said features him) and "If It Were Left Up To Me" (my guess)), former Sly & the Family Stone drummer Greg Errico also confirmed my suspicion that he too can be heard on some tracks on that album. My guesses would be "If It Were Left Up To Me" and possibly "Let Me Have It All." Also, Freddie has confirmed that the lineup for "Thank You For Talking To Me Africa" is: Greg on drums, Larry on bass, Sly on guitar.

Mike Theiss writes about Brides of Funkenstein members Dawn Silva and Lynn Mabry:

"If I remember correctly, they were Sly's background vocalists on the '76 tour in which his band was opening for P-Funk. The story I heard was that Sly FIRED them in the midst of the tour and that same day George hired them. Needless to say, Sly was less than amused!"

Lonnie Hanekamp writes on the association between Prince (T.A.F.K.A.P.) and Sly:

1. It is assumed that Sly Stone was one of the artists that influenced Prince, but there is no documented collaboration.
2. It has been documented that a swooning Prince met Sly Stone around 1978. [Source: Dave Hill's "Prince - A Pop Life," 1989]
3. Steve Fargnoli was Sly Stone's road manager. Fargnoli later became Prince's manager. [Hill, 1989]
4. in the 'New Musical Express' of 20 September 1986, [Miles Davis] described [Prince] as a thoroughbred. "He's like an Arabian breed... possesses that extra something. When I listen to Prince, I hear James Brown, but it's updated...modified. I also hear Marvin Gaye, Sly Stone...a whole bunch of other good people. That's the part I like." [Hill, 1989]
5. Sly Stone was featured on one track of Prince-protege Jesse Johnson's second solo album (Shockadelica). Jesse Johnson is best known as a member of "The Time," which was basically a Prince creation."

Joe Cambra offered this humorous anecdote about Larry Graham:

"I first met Larry Graham in 1970 at Sears and Roebuck in Mountain View. He was going into the snack shop to get a burger or something, and I thought he was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. He called me "Shorty". I didn't have the faintest idea who he was, but I figured he was up to no good. I worked at the garden shop, and I called Security on him. They followed him around the store. They had the greatest time. I was later fired from Sears and decided to become a musician. The night I first saw Graham Central Station was the first I'd heard of the band. They knocked me out!! But you should have seen my face when I got close enough to see Larry. Oh my God ... the same guy I met at Sears. Incredible!!! Hope you guys find this amusing....."

Thomas Weiss writes:

"Sly Stone played Guitar and Piano on REO Speedwagon's 1974 LP titled Lost In A Dream. Sly plays on the "You Can Fly" track. "Lost In A Dream" is REO's 4th album, is still in print, and hails from their dues-paying era. The song, as well as the rest of the record, is pretty much 70's hard rock... not at all the same as the power-ballad material which made them famous.

According to REO keyboardist Neal Doughty, Sly had an apartment above (or maybe near) The Record Plant, the Sausalito studio where the record was made. Sly was liable to show up any time day or night and work with whoever happened to be recording.

The liner notes from REO's first anthology album explain that, after being invited to play a piano track, Sly wound up also replacing one of the guitar tracks. When Sly asked if he could wake up his drummer and replace the drums, a slightly annoyed Gary Richrath (then REO's lead guitarist) told him, "Forget it. It's done."

James Ugay writes:

"I just read your post on Sly and it brought memories when I saw him and the Family Stone in Bakersfield in the early 70's. B.B. King was the opening act. It was a hot summer night, and Sly was an hour late. But when he finally got on stage...he cooked, non-stop for an hour or so. That was his signature in those days to late. I wonder if he made it on time performing at Woodstock."

A fond recollection from Highflag:

"Out of all the mega-stars to appear at Woodstock, for me, Sly stole the show... It was Saturday night (I think) and it seemed as if the entire festival was about to collectively crash...I remember crawling into the tent that me and the group I was with had set up, fully intent in catching some zzz's...all of a sudden an incessant drum beat began, as boom!...booom!...booom!...booom!...Sly breaks into "Dance to the music...!" and heads came popping out of tents and sleeping bags all over Max's farm...It, along with Jimi's anthem, were the most memorable musical accomplishments of the week-end."

Steve Paley, former A&R man for Sly & the Family Stone (1970-1976), said this regarding the rumor that Sly and Doris Day were at one point romantically entagled:

"There's was no truth to the rumor that Sly and Doris Day were an "item." Sly knew Terry Melcher, Doris's son, who was a staff producer at Columbia Records. I believe Sly wanted to buy a classic car from Terry (or Doris) and went over to her house to check it out. After Doris and Sly were introduced, Sly mentioned that he was very fond of her hit song, "Que Sera, Sera -- Sly could be very charming when it suited him -- and they proceeded to sing the song together, with Sly at the piano. And that was it. Then Sly recorded the tune for his album, with his sister Rose singing lead. And somehow the story grew that Sly was having an affair with Doris Day, which kind of amused Sly. It was even reported in Newsweek. And Sly didn't exactly deny it at the time. Doris Day, on the other hand, was not amused."

Jon adds: "Sly appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" and was asked about the rumour. He denied it and added "I think she's a great lady." He also said that he met her through her son, Terry.

Steve Paley, former A&R man for Sly & the Family Stone (1970-1976) has said that it is Billy Preston who plays the classic electric piano licks in "Family Affair" from the album There's A Riot Goin' On. He has also said, in regards to the recording of that album:

"The Record Plant in Sausilito built Sly a special studio. Very plush and it had a bed in the middle, as I remember it, and Sly recorded some of his vocals with a wireless mikes from that bed upon occasion. I don't remember seeing him do it, but I heard that he did. As for erasing tracks, he was always doing that. Some really cool things were lost or recorded over."

The group shot in the center fold of the Greatest Hits album was taken on the old set of "A Streetcar Named Desire" on Warner Bros.' backlot in Burbank. The band is standing on the same staircase that Marlon Brando used when he yelled "STELLA" in the most famous scene from the movie. Steve Paley, former A&R man for Sly & the Family Stone (1970-1976) and also the photographer who took all of the pictures for that album and several others, confirmed this.

Steve Paley speaks of how Sly & the Family Stone were signed to Epic in 1967:

"Chuck Gregory, a promotion man for the label at the time, told David Kapralik about the group. David moved fast and beat out Atlantic which also wanted to sign them. I'm not sure if David was working for Epic when he signed Sly -- probably not -- as he would have been violating company policy if he personally signed them while working for CBS. But I know he HAD been at Columbia, and was re-hired by Clive Davis (the head of CBS Records) to run Epic *after* Sly was signed to him, and Davis allowed him to manage the group while running the label."

Steve Paley writes:

"Sly once recorded a track as a favor to me, for an artist I was producing for Epic -- Jimmy Gray Hall. The tune was written by Hall and Sly made a great track for him. Too good. Hall could not sing believably over it. It was too funky. So Sly wound up using it himself, rewriting the melody slightly, and it finally appeared on one of his later albums for CBS (High On You). The song was originally called "If That's Not Loving You," but Sly changed the name to some variation of that ["That's Lovin' You"] -- and he never credited Hall, who was later killed while attempting to rob a bank!!! So I guess he couldn't have cared less."

Steve Paley on the whereabouts of most of Sly's recorded material: "CBS Records was purchased by Sony and that included the Epic label and all of the material that Sly recorded while he was under contract. Legacy is a label that Sony started to repackage CBS's old masters. Warner Bros. owns the two albums Sly recorded for them, and whatever else he did while under contract, it it is still in their posession."

Steve Paley on the now famous ending of the song "Stand!":

"I remember being in a studio in San Francisco when Sly added that funky extension to "Stand." This was after the rest of the record was completed. We (Sly and me) went to a disco called the Rickshaw and Sly gave the DJ an acetate of "Stand." After it was played for the first time to the unsuspecting crowd, Sly felt something was missing in the song and booked some studio time and recorded that new ending. I recall that that he hired some studio horn players -- maybe Jerry Martini was also playing with them -- but not Cynthia -- I do remember that. And he was so business-like, passing out W4 forms to the players.

I also remember him referring to a music theory book by Walter Piston he was carrying around with him."

[email protected] recently posted to rec.music.funky:

"According to Lonnie Jordan, keyboardist and vocalist for War, the song "Me And Baby Brother" was written by the group expressly for Sly Stone to record. Lonnie says that Sly and War hung out alot in the early 70's and it was at that time they decided to write a song for Sly. By the time the song was ready Sly was nowhere to be found so they recorded it themselves and the rest is, as they say, history."

Sue Curran told me this touching story: "I'm a Sly fan from waaaaaaaaay back. In fact, it was Sly's infamous crowd-participation of saying 'Higher' and throwin' the peace sign up in the air at Woodstock in '69 that helped me about 12 years after Woodstock to improve my upper body mobility. I'd been diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder, and couldn't raise my hands above my head. The Movie Channel was going to rerun "Woodstock," and I swore I'd be there for every showing, and have my hands up there for every "Higher." I worked and I pushed and I amazed the physical therapists who said they doubted if I'd ever regain any strength. So I owe a lot to Sly in being the impetus to work that body! Thanks, Sly!"

There is a rumor that in between Stand and Riot Sly & the Family Stone was going to release an album entitled "The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly & the Family Stone." This rumor is untrue and its inception may have been due to Epic's marketing ploy in the early 70's to somehow capitalize on Sly's rep for not showing up to gigs. As a result, the sleeve for their 1970 hit single "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" bore this as the group's name.

According to Steve Paley, the cover of "There's a Riot Goin' On" is not a painting, but a photograph of an actual flag that Epic had made especially for Sly and that record. Sly's request was for an American flag with the colors red, white and black and for it to have suns instead of stars. Three of these flags were made, one was given to Sly, one was kept by the record company (and was subsequently stolen) and the other was given to Paley.
The original album featured a song called "There's a Riot Goin' On" which lasted 0 minutes and 0 seconds. This and album's title refers to a near-riot which ocurred at one of Sly's performances for which he was blamed. Sly felt that this riot was not his fault, hence the pun.

A little known fact is that a drummer named Gerry Gibson filled Greg Errico's shoes immediately before Andy Newmark. Gerry is also featured on several songs on "There's a Riot Goin' On." Gerry describes how one song was recorded:

"In brief, a friend of mine was engineering at CBS. He had met Sly, and when Greg quit, he told Sly about me. Sly remembered me from doing an interview on his radio show in Oakland with Roy Head ('66). I was the original, 10 year drummer for Roy (Treat Her Right). They (Sly's staff) called about two weeks later and sent a cab to take me to CBS for an audition. Of course, the cab ride detoured to someone's home in the Hollywood Hills, where Sly was transacting some "business." An interesting ride, it was!...Sly was picked up, and we eventually arrived at CBS. "You Caught Me Smiling Again" was in the can except for drums. This track, which is as I played it the first time through, was my audition. I listened to it while the engineer set levels, and then I played it through. At the end, Sly's parents, Larry, Rose, Freddie, and two or three other people broke into applause in the booth. Sly came into the drum booth and said, "You got the gig!" I said, "Yeah, but can I do that over????" and he said, "No, it's fine just the way it is!" He wouldn't let me do it again."

Gerry Gibson on the infamous Apollo Theater performance in 1971:

"The Apollo show was literally a "hair raising experience"!!! Sly's decision to make the audience wait for him to go on caused the owner to try to shoot him with a '45, the crowd was extremely hostile when we finally came on stage, and at sometime during the performance, the limos were smashed and damaged outside. Jerry Martini and I, being the only whites in the bunch, changed clothes and slipped out unscathed! I have no idea how the rest of them got out without being hurt, those people were UPSET!!!!!!!"

Danny Pearson on the making of Chasing the Rock:

"The song was written in protest to the devastation of drug culture, which has claimed too many lives...my good friend Gene Page heard the demo, liked the song, and took it to the attention of the Sepe Bros., Barry White's general managers who immediately took it to the studio. I wrote and co-produced it along with Gene...it turned out great and we released it on the Sepe's Label "Domain Records." Syl liked it so much he agreed to do a duet with me, and that really added the flavor...

It was cut at Devonshire Studio's in the valley, Mike Mancini was the engineer, we used for the rhythm:
Nathan East : bass
Paul Jackson : guitar
Sly Stone : guitar and vocals
Mike Bodicker : keyboards, synths
Silvester Rivers : keyboards
Ndugu Chancelor : percussion
Michael "Big Foot" Brown : drums
Gene Page : arranger
We had a great time making it, and the tune gained somewhat of a cult following stateside, I never knew it was played in Europe...

Think you've gotten all that Life (1968) has to offer? Go back and listen to it again. Sly has cleverly hidden a theme from "Dance to the Music" in every song on this album, in places you would never expect. To find out more, read the original Rolling Stone review of the album.

Pat Rizzo: "I played tenor sax on GCS's first album. Some of the cats from Sly's group played on their records but used false names so Sly wouldn't get upset. He didn't want us to play with anyone else but him. So "Pascal CaboOse" is me, my real name is actually Pascal."