Life - Sly & the Family Stone
If you've got half a c-note to blow (and who doesn't these days?), you might want to head up to Santa Rosa tonight. History's in the making, as Sly & the Family Stone will be playing in Northern California for the first time in 30 years.
Or at least they're supposed to.
More to the point, he's supposed to. There have been various versions of the Family Stone running around for years, but Sly has been mighty reclusive since 1987. (Quite possibly the most intriguing recent tales of his hidden past come in the liners to the CD reissues of his one-time pal, country-soul man Jim Ford.) Stone did stop by the 2006 Grammy's to harmonize on "I Want to Take You Higher" and toured Europe for a spell in 2007. He even sat for a Vanity Fair interview the latter year (showing up on a customized motor-tricycle) that laid out all good and bad times, including the glorious funk hits, the profuse firearms, the bountiful coke, the PCP, the pitbull attacks.
The reviews of recent shows haven't exactly been fantastic -- usually you get 20 minutes of half-engaged Sly in the middle of a greatest hits showcase with only one of the original Family Stone -- but if you've got the ducats (or something to take you higher), you might as well head up north. Should be quite a trip.
Sly & Family Stone @ Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa on Friday, October 17; doors 8 p.m., tickets $53-$85.
More to the point, he's supposed to. There have been various versions of the Family Stone running around for years, but Sly has been mighty reclusive since 1987. (Quite possibly the most intriguing recent tales of his hidden past come in the liners to the CD reissues of his one-time pal, country-soul man Jim Ford.) Stone did stop by the 2006 Grammy's to harmonize on "I Want to Take You Higher" and toured Europe for a spell in 2007. He even sat for a Vanity Fair interview the latter year (showing up on a customized motor-tricycle) that laid out all good and bad times, including the glorious funk hits, the profuse firearms, the bountiful coke, the PCP, the pitbull attacks.
The reviews of recent shows haven't exactly been fantastic -- usually you get 20 minutes of half-engaged Sly in the middle of a greatest hits showcase with only one of the original Family Stone -- but if you've got the ducats (or something to take you higher), you might as well head up north. Should be quite a trip.
Sly & Family Stone @ Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa on Friday, October 17; doors 8 p.m., tickets $53-$85.
Leave a comment