›

SLY STONE AND...COKE BOOGERS?!?

pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
edited October 2005 in Strut Central
Say, didn't somebody post on here a while back about existing video footage of Sly & the Family Stone? Ijust got the DVD of The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons, and the Sly footage is priceless. I don't know if it's available separately - it's part of a box set with two other discs - but there is a 1970 episode with Sly Stewart at his coked-out best! Number one: the band showed up late. Cavett and Debbie Reynolds are trying HARD to bide time until Sly appears (Debbie: "hey, I can sing 'Tammy!'"). Number two: the band performs "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin." Even though it's semi-lip-synched (the vocals are live, but I suspect the music track isn't), you get a chance to see Sly & co. in their hip threads...Number three: then Dick Cavett calls Sly over to the couch to chat. Oh, sacred shit...For the life of me, I cannot remember the exact line of dialog (I'm not at home right now), but Sly's monosyllabic grunts had me rolling on the floor, laffing my ass off. Apparently, quite a few of his fans were in the audience, because everytime he spouts some half-assed bit of "logic" the crowd erupts in cheers. (Dick: "So, how often do you sit and compose music?" Sly: "SOMETIMES I STAND." Crowd: laughter, then cheers, as if he just said something profound. Were they laughing AT him, WITH him, or both?) I'm sorry - I'm a huge fan of his music, but if Sly's Cavett appearance wasn't comedy teevee at its' finest, then what you're reading right now are the Dead Sea Scrolls. To his credit, Cavett actually rolls with the flow pretty well; if anybody looks like a solid-gold-plated fool, it's Sly. To put it bluntly, the man looks FUGGED-UP.I haven't seen the other eps yet - so far, I've just peeped the complete Sly episode, plus a Stevie Wonder ep from the same year, just before he went "progressive." Too bad the Little Richard and Curtis Mayfield eps didn't make the box, but then again that's what second volumes are for. Oh, yes - the "cocaine booger" reference. During Sly's performance, there's some kind of substance dangling from his nose that looks too white to be snot...as the song ends, he grabs a tell-tale white handkerchief and covers his nose with it, as he journeys from the keyboard to the couch...

  Comments

  • luckluck 4,077 Posts
    James: turn on your PMs.
  • Mongo_SladeMongo_Slade 999 Posts
    There was a lengthy and good article about Sly in Mojo a few years ago that touched on Sly's Cavett appearance and, yeah, he was a wreck then. The article contained lots of other stories of bizarre, drug-addled misbehavior and was both entertaining and disturbing. It's really difficult to understand how Sly could complete incredible records like There's a Riot Goin' On and Fresh while he was so far along the road to his current basket-case status.

    Almost equally mind-boggling is the fact that the article was written by Joel Selvin, of all people-- for non-Yay Area residents, he's the longtime music editor for the San Francisco Chronicle and is the Ricky Vincent of rock criticism.
  • tallbobsmoketallbobsmoke 715 Posts
    They talk about that appearance in that Oral History book about Sly and the Family Stone.

    Homie locked himself in the bathroom before is appearance and refused to come out. He was busy powdering his nose.
Sign In or Register to comment.