Half a cup of Bugsy, two tablespoons of stand-up comedy and a dash of Phunne. Who could have guessed it would take that unlikely recipe to draw Sly Stone out from seclusion at long last on Saturday night?
For the past 20 years the 1960s funk icon has been musically MIA, appearing only to say a few words at his group’s 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, frighten fans with his golden mohawk during last year’s brief Grammys stint and flash peace signs while singing one song at a Family Stone gig this January in Anaheim. So despite last month’s announcement that resident Flamingo Hotel comedian George Wallace had secured Stone for a one-off in his showroom, nothing concrete suggested it would actually happen. Even when I caught a glimpse of Sly during Saturday evening’s soundcheck, I didn’t allow myself to believe he’d still be around later. (Who could blame me, less than two months after Lauryn Hill’s disappearing act?)
My worst fears felt justified for much of the night, first as a stalling Wallace stretched his opening routine past the hour mark and then when the curtain dropped and a 10-piece Family Stone began working through some of Sly’s best-known hits—“Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime”—with an unmanned Korg electric piano and microphone front and center.
But just as the sold-out crowd of 600 grew restless, with shouts of “Where’s Sly?” and “We want Sly!” threatening to overpower Vet Stone-sung ballad “Somebody’s Watching You,” Sly Stone stepped forward, finally emerging from his two-decade hibernation. “I want to present to some and reintroduce to others, my brother, Sly Stone,” Vet Stone announced, all eyes turning excitedly toward the spindly, sequin-dotted figure approaching tentatively from backstage left.
I wasn’t totally sure it was Sly at first, with his face and eyes obfuscated by sunglasses and a stocking cap, and his first few hesitant jabs at the keyboard and mumbles into the mic during a psychedelic intro jam made me even less certain. As he moved into familiar territory, however—“If You Want Me to Stay,” “Sing a Simple Song,” “Stand!,” “Family Affair,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and “I Want to Take You Higher”—his confidence grew markedly, as did his musical contributions, leaving little doubt as to the identity of the man behind the disguise. Not that Stone’s voice has maintained the sweetness of his early days; his range sounds far more limited now, and his words were tough to make out much of the time. But as he launched into “Family Affair”— “One child grows up to be/Somebody that just loves to learn”—his rich baritone boomed loud as ever, surely stirring Summer of Love memories for an audience comprising mostly Boomers.
Strange as it was to see Sly sing, solo on his keyboard, shimmy dance behind his instrument, speak to the crowd (“Is anybody here old as me?”) and proudly introduce daughters Phunne and Nobi (one rapped, the other played classical piano), all that was nothing compared to his most unexpected move of the night: a journey along a stage extension running down the center of the floor area. Though visibly affected by neck and back problems limiting his range of movement, the 64-year-old Stone ambled down the gangway, flashed a toothy smile and reached toward the sky as if rising from the dead while poignantly belting out “Thank you, for letting me be myself again.”
In the coming months we’ll see whether a reported European tour goes off as planned, or if Sly instead returns to self-imposed exile. But for 30 minutes on Saturday night, the man who once turned Woodstock inside-out was back. And strangely, those of us inside the Flamingo Showroom were lucky enough to witness it.
–Spencer Patterson