1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: sly Stone are insane. He suspected that his own bass 3 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,680 Speaker 1: player hired someone to kill him. He was strong armed 4 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: by the Black Panthers, did cocaine with Miles Davis. His 5 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: La mansion was overrun with cocaine, PCP guns and bodyguards. 6 00:00:32,479 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: Drawn the attention of local law enforcement. He was soon 7 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: crossing paths with cops from coast to coast and was 8 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,479 Speaker 1: busted time and time again for drug offenses, including the 9 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,640 Speaker 1: time that he went on the Lamb under a false 10 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: name and was declared a fugitive from justice. If there 11 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: is any justice in this world, sly Stone will be 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: remembered as the mastermind of great music, music that was 13 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: intended to break down barriers of race and genre, all 14 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: in the serve of making people happy. That music I 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: played for you at the top of the show that 16 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:07,959 Speaker 1: wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for my 17 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: melotron called Vanity Calamity MK two. I played you that 18 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: loop because I can't afford the rights to a clip 19 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: from Rod Stewart's Maggie May And why would I play 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: you that specific slice of business in the front party 21 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: in the back Geeze, Could I afford it? Because that 22 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on November one, 23 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one, and that was the days sly and 24 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: the Family Stone released their fifth studio album, There's a 25 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: Riot going on, an unexpectedly dark missive that hinted at 26 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: darker days to come. On this episode, drugs, paranoia, a 27 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: fugitive from justice, Murky missives, and sly Stone. I'm Jake 28 00:01:53,360 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Sly Stone wanted to take 29 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: them higher, every last hippie down there in the mud 30 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: on old Man Yasker's farm, half a million easy Stone, 31 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 1: on Acapolca gold, tired, huddled masses yearning to breathe free. 32 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 1: Sly knew where freedom could be found. He had the map. 33 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,120 Speaker 1: He could light their fire while they had to do 34 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:51,559 Speaker 1: his stand and repeat after him. 35 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 2: Higher. 36 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:55,799 Speaker 1: Three point thirty am was an early wake up call, 37 00:02:55,880 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: but the people couldn't resist. Tense, unzipped sleeping bags cast aside. 38 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: Every one of them looked up at the stage and 39 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: saw themselves reflected in the integrated faces of sly and 40 00:03:05,680 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: the Family Stone. Men, women, black, white, everyday people. The 41 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: rhythm pulsated, was unrelenting, and so was Slies. Called to action, 42 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: want to take you higher. The crowd responded by echoing 43 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: the word back to him. 44 00:03:21,400 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 2: Higher. 45 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: Sweat ran down Sly's forehead to his oversized glasses. His 46 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,720 Speaker 1: mutton chops glistened, The fringe jacket felt damp against the skin. 47 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: It's close now, he could feel it. Freedom, the great release. 48 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: It was like a god released a pie piper. He 49 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: led and they followed. Boomshaka, Laca, Laca. They're all in 50 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:47,680 Speaker 1: it together, and together they'd be free. Together, they would 51 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: move as one. One year later, in nineteen seventy, sly 52 00:03:55,800 --> 00:04:00,000 Speaker 1: Stone wasn't moving. He didn't want to dancing to the music. 53 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: Let's not and say we did. Staying in one place, 54 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: living inside yourself, Now that felt fucking great. Sly rarely 55 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: left the home studio in the lot of his Tutor 56 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: style mansion at seven eighty three bel Air, the one 57 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 1: he was renting from Papa John Phillips. When he did 58 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: step out, he cruised LA's freeways in a cocoon on 59 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,599 Speaker 1: wheels thirty six foot Winnebago. He didn't engage with the 60 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: outside world. It wanted too much from him to perform 61 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: night after night to take everyone higher. The pressure was overwhelming, 62 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: the attention was a mind fuck. He was on his 63 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,920 Speaker 1: own trip now and he was taking no passengers. Those 64 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: blissed out masses. Back at old man NASCAR's farm, they 65 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:46,239 Speaker 1: could find their own way. Sly's new path was dimly 66 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: lit and was paved with cocaine and PCP, and it 67 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 1: let him here inside alone, safe too outsiders, the place 68 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: felt anything but safe. If slies on hind pit bull, 69 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,000 Speaker 1: that bug eyed motherfucker named Gun. Yes, that's right, a 70 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:06,159 Speaker 1: pit bull named Gun. If he didn't make you paranoid, 71 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: then the hired muscle with actual guns did. Who the 72 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,280 Speaker 1: fuck were the these guys anyway? They weren't around back 73 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: in San Francisco. They only started showing up once Slide 74 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: moved to La. The drugs, the people, the vibe. Everything 75 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: was different in LA. But then everything was different everywhere. 76 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: The sixties were over. 77 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 2: It was the. 78 00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:29,599 Speaker 1: Seventies, Martin's dream, the hippies dream, the memories. Everyone just 79 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:32,279 Speaker 1: woke up. Dig it for what it is. A dream, 80 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 1: just another glass half full scam that tricked you into 81 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: believing that things could actually change, And that boogeyman weren't real, 82 00:05:38,720 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: but things weren't getting better, and the Boogeyman were apps 83 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,679 Speaker 1: a fucking lutely real. They had names like Crazy Charlie 84 00:05:44,680 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: and Tricky Dick. They'd always been there and they always 85 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,200 Speaker 1: would be doing the dirty work with a flashlight while 86 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: your back was turned, or walking through your front door 87 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: with a pistolae right between your eyes after you opened them, 88 00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: really opened them for the very first time. Nineteen seventy, 89 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 1: now that was a reality. Everywhere you turned there was 90 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,520 Speaker 1: a riot going on. Hard hats beating on anti war 91 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:11,359 Speaker 1: protesters in the streets of New York City, Snipers on 92 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,719 Speaker 1: the roof at Jackson State Police cruisers, burning at Cotela 93 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: before Dead Ohio. The Panthers. They claimed they were on 94 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: Sly's side, that they were part of the solution. But 95 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,040 Speaker 1: Sly was looking out for number one. Now. He only 96 00:06:25,040 --> 00:06:28,799 Speaker 1: trusted a few, like his right hand man hamp Bubba Banks, 97 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: Bobby Womack, and Billy Preston. Miles was all right that 98 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: new record bitches Brew was a motherfucker, No doubt. Sly 99 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: wanted to make soul music if it sounded like that. 100 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: Miles like the swing by Sly's mansion head on up 101 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: to the loft where Sly was working on a new shit. 102 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,720 Speaker 1: The Miles found Sly overdubbing that same track so many 103 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:48,719 Speaker 1: times that the sound coming from the real was murky 104 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: as fuck, murky, just like Miles's voice. Slide you got 105 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:59,280 Speaker 1: any of that blow. But the Panthers what did they 106 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,040 Speaker 1: really want not to share in sly stash. They had 107 00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: their motives. They wanted Slies music for themselves, and they 108 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,360 Speaker 1: were prepared to get it by any means necessary. They 109 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:13,600 Speaker 1: strong armed him to dump his white manager, fire his drummer, 110 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: Gregor Rico, and his saxophone player, Greg's cousin Jerry Martini, 111 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: both of them white, and replaced them with black musicians. 112 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: So that was what made Sly in the Family Stone 113 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: so great in the first place. It wasn't by chance 114 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: that Sly hired black players and white players. He assembled 115 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: that band was intention. Could Jerry Martini blow as well 116 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: as some of the other cats, didn't matter. He was 117 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:36,800 Speaker 1: the right guy for the part and more waste than one. 118 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,000 Speaker 1: It was like the song said, everybody was a star. 119 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:43,640 Speaker 1: The Panthers did get their way, even though they weren't 120 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: the ones to make it happen. Gregor Rico saw the 121 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: writing on the wall, Sly's ego and the Ascendant. They 122 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:51,400 Speaker 1: all for one and one for all ethos that had 123 00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: driven the Family Stone for years. Mere Vapor trails in 124 00:07:54,400 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: its wake. If Sly wasn't laying down the track himself, 125 00:07:57,920 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: he was having someone like Bobby or Billy do it 126 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: than one of his own band members. Shit, you'd get 127 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: Miles to blow more than cocaine if he could. Greg 128 00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: knew what that meant. Pretty soon Sli would replace Greg 129 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: with that meister rhythm king Mark too. He was in 130 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,400 Speaker 1: love with a fucking machine, Gregor Rico bail before the 131 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:21,200 Speaker 1: record was even finished. When that record, was A Riot 132 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: Going On was finally released in November of nineteen seventy one, 133 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: two years had passed since Woodstock, closer to two and 134 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: a half years since the band's last studio album. Regardless, 135 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: Riot went to number one because people were clamoring for 136 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: something new from Slide, but what they got wasn't what 137 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: they expected. There's a Riot Going On was hangover music. 138 00:08:41,000 --> 00:08:45,600 Speaker 1: It sounded exhausted, pessimistic. The vibrant, life affirming songs that 139 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: defined the Family Stone's first four studio albums were long gone. 140 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: Even Family Affair. The leadoff single was funk Music on 141 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: Life Support. Rock critic Grail Marcus famously referred to the 142 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,480 Speaker 1: record as musaic with its finger on the trigger, and 143 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:02,720 Speaker 1: although it had since been reevaluated as one of the 144 00:09:02,760 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: greatest u turns in rock history, at the time of 145 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,920 Speaker 1: its release, there's a riot going on sounded like a shock. 146 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: It even shocked Larry Graham, the band's bass player. Larry 147 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: just wanted to be funky, which this shit most definitely 148 00:09:17,160 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: was not, at least not in a conventional sense. It 149 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: didn't help that Sly begin to suspect that Larry had 150 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: hired his own muscle to do him in. Someone had 151 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:28,600 Speaker 1: tried to poison him. Sly was sure of it. At 152 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,360 Speaker 1: a party, Who else was the target of those spike 153 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: drinks if not Sly? Such was the conceit of ego, 154 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: and the ego had landed an alter ego. Sly Stone 155 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: was just that a character created by a man named 156 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stewart. And Sylvester Stewart wasn't himself anymore. He was 157 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,440 Speaker 1: the other guy. He was Sly. Sly was taken over. 158 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: Sly was obsessed, Sly fixated. Sly said, did you see 159 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: that shadow, What was that noise? Who is that person 160 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:04,839 Speaker 1: over there? And are they cool? Somebody's watching you, brother, 161 00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,920 Speaker 1: the others in the family. Stone chalked it up as 162 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: the corruption of Sylvester Stewart by his alter ego, which 163 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: was only made worse by the corruption rock by the 164 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 1: powers that be in Los Angeles. Southern California was fear, drugs, 165 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,079 Speaker 1: and delusion, the heart of darkness. Sly's own heart had 166 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: gone dark. None of the shit even faced him, not 167 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: even in February of nineteen seventy three when the pounding 168 00:10:30,440 --> 00:10:32,640 Speaker 1: started on the front door of seven eighty three bel 169 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,319 Speaker 1: Air loud, progressive. It could be the county sheriff and 170 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 1: maybe the Feds. Look around cocaine everywhere, Angel does, sedatives, rifles, guns, 171 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:45,320 Speaker 1: and that fucking psycho Mutt. But sly didn't panic. Sly 172 00:10:45,679 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: oozed cool. Sly Stone had people to take care of 173 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:51,120 Speaker 1: shit like this, people on both the right and the 174 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:53,520 Speaker 1: wrong side of the law. But the guy who created 175 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:58,319 Speaker 1: the sly Stone alter ego, Sylvester Stewart, he was scared shitless. 176 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: He was at numb plus like slide. He was plused 177 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:04,679 Speaker 1: as shit. Slye was in control like he always was. 178 00:11:05,040 --> 00:11:07,400 Speaker 1: Sly said, yeah, man, Lenna, come in, let him break 179 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:10,560 Speaker 1: down the door. What did he have to lose? Sylvester 180 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:14,440 Speaker 1: Stewart meanwhile, was sweating his ass off. He had plenty 181 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,760 Speaker 1: to lose. The question was just how much would he 182 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: lose when that front door swung open and the outside 183 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:47,120 Speaker 1: world came crashing in. Word was sly Stone had gone 184 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,480 Speaker 1: full on Howard Hughes. He was a recluse, a hermit, 185 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: growing out his fingernails and pissing into jars. The rumors 186 00:11:54,480 --> 00:12:00,560 Speaker 1: were everywhere. Sly Stone was not. I was once the 187 00:12:00,600 --> 00:12:03,720 Speaker 1: ecstatic face of rock and roll's future, and that face 188 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: was all over the place. The Open Coliseum, Winterland and 189 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:11,720 Speaker 1: San Francisco, the psychedelic supermarket in Boston, to Fillmore West, 190 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: the Fillmore East, Detroit, Vegas, Decatur, Harlem ed Sullivan Top 191 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:20,120 Speaker 1: of the Pops on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. 192 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: From nineteen sixty seven to nineteen sixty nine, sly and 193 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 1: the Family Stone cranked out four breathless albums and a 194 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,400 Speaker 1: couple of non album singles that mass genres and blue 195 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 1: minds dance to the music, sing a simple song, thank 196 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: you for letting me be myself again? Everyday people they 197 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: could not miss. They were the epitome of late sixties cool, 198 00:12:40,720 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: on the cutting edge of the music industry, and they 199 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: delivered each new creation with confidence and virtuosic talent. Slah 200 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,319 Speaker 1: Stone had worked towards this moment for years back in 201 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:52,880 Speaker 1: the Leahoe when he was still a just Sylvester Stewart, 202 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:55,720 Speaker 1: one of five kids singing gospel music in his father's 203 00:12:55,720 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: Pentecostal church, touring churches up and down California. He knew 204 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 1: he was probably the most talented kid in the house 205 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:05,319 Speaker 1: full of talent, but he didn't hog that talent. He 206 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: spread the love and the joy. His idea of family 207 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: wasn't limited to the people living under his roof. He 208 00:13:11,880 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: ran with a local gang. Actually, the Cherrybusters were less 209 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: a gang and more a bunch of kids who just 210 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:19,880 Speaker 1: wanted to look cool together, which, as anyone who has 211 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: started a rock band can attest, is probably even more 212 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,680 Speaker 1: important than sounded cool. For at least the beginning stages, 213 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,120 Speaker 1: Sylvester sounded cool from the jump. His dynamic voice made 214 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: him a regional celebrity. As a DJ on KSOLFM, the 215 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: number two black station in San Francisco. He spun Dylan 216 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: and the Beatles next to his latest arm B tracks. 217 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: No one was crossing genres like that on commercial radio. 218 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: His reputation as a tastemaker grew. A small local label 219 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: hired him as a house producer. Sly oversaw early hits 220 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,040 Speaker 1: by white rock groups like The Beau Brummels and The 221 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: Mojo Man. Legend has it. He even helped the Little 222 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: Bay area band called the Warlocks produced their nineteen sixty 223 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,120 Speaker 1: five track Kick Come Down, just one month before they 224 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:07,840 Speaker 1: changed their name to The Grateful Dead. Music was freedom, black, 225 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: white rock, soul. Any attempts to defind a song didn't 226 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:16,400 Speaker 1: do it justice. It undersold the experience. Music was about expression, 227 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 1: the feel, the harmony, the possibility. When he became Sly Stone, 228 00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stewart took it one step further. He wanted his 229 00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 1: music to make people happy, no matter their color or creed. 230 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: Sly and the Family Stone walked that walk from their 231 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: inception in nineteen sixty six. Sly's brother Freddy on guitar on, 232 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: Larry Grahama on bass, Two Black Men, Sly's sister Rose 233 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: on keys, and Cynthia Robison on trumpet, Two Black Women, 234 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: Jerry Martini on saxophone and Gregor Riico on drums. Two 235 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: white men, But when they sang thank you for letting 236 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: me be myself, they didn't just mean their gender, or 237 00:14:54,920 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: color or their skin. They were talking about all that 238 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 1: leverprint robes and caves, wigs and go go skirts, afros 239 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: and knee on jewelry and goggle shades. Like any gang 240 00:15:05,640 --> 00:15:08,640 Speaker 1: worth their salt, the family Stone had their look down. 241 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: He took them until their second album, nineteen sixty Eights 242 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:14,680 Speaker 1: danced to the music to get their sound down too. 243 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,120 Speaker 1: The album's title track, which managed to introduce all seven 244 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: members of the band in just three minutes, was the 245 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: band's first top ten hit. As the calendar turned from 246 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty eight to nineteen sixty nine, Their single Everyday 247 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 1: People held the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 248 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: one hundred for four weeks. But slash Stone, or rather 249 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stewart's self doubt, grew an equal measure to his 250 00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: band's success. What if the next single wasn't as good 251 00:15:39,880 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: as the last? What if the band couldn't maintain this 252 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: level of excellence? What if the crowds kept getting bigger 253 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 1: sly one from being everywhere to being nowhere. In nineteen 254 00:15:50,160 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: seventy alone, he missed twenty six of the family Stone's 255 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: eighty scheduled gigs. It's not like he was backstage with 256 00:15:56,840 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: a case of cold feet bailing at the last minute. 257 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:01,840 Speaker 1: He didn't even bother the shoe up. That was the 258 00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:04,240 Speaker 1: rumor floating around the crowd of seventy five thousand at 259 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:07,760 Speaker 1: Grand Park in Chicago July in nineteen seventy. The Free 260 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:10,840 Speaker 1: show was an olive branch from an unreliable and erratic grifter, 261 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: a show to make up for the last Chicago show, 262 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: which Slide missed. The rumors ran as hot as a 263 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: ninety degree temperature. Slide didn't give a fuck about Chicago 264 00:16:19,480 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: shit man. Slide wasn't even in the state. The audience 265 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: was hot, drunk, and stoned, and they chanted Sly's name 266 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,960 Speaker 1: over and over it. Sly never took stage, so the 267 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:35,760 Speaker 1: crowd did. Thousands of people surged, feet, trampled bodies, bottles 268 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: and rocks, sword through the air. Chicago pead swarmed. The 269 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: crowd picked up whatever they could find, sticks, dirt, scraps 270 00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:47,160 Speaker 1: of asphalt, possum, and the cops responded with teargas, red 271 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 1: and swollen faces cried out, windows shattered, street signs and 272 00:16:51,480 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: lampposts uprooted. A police cruiser was overturned. Another was set 273 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: on fire. Rioters jumped from the bushes and ambushed the cops. 274 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,600 Speaker 1: The pigs are rich, they yelled, like they were on 275 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: the Cambodian border. Keep attacking. The cops drew their service revolvers. 276 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: Shots rang out hot fun in the summertime. At nine 277 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:14,520 Speaker 1: to fifty pm, about six hours after the riot began, 278 00:17:14,960 --> 00:17:18,000 Speaker 1: it was over one hundred and fifty arrests. At least 279 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,080 Speaker 1: one hundred people, including twenty four cops, were treated for injuries. 280 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:25,560 Speaker 1: Three kids had been shot by the police, and sly 281 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:29,440 Speaker 1: Stone he was far far away. He was back home. 282 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: Some said he only left the sanctuary to ride around 283 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 1: and is one of bago. Others said an impostor was 284 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,760 Speaker 1: now playing the role of Sly. The real sly Stone 285 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:46,960 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stewart that motherfucker was dead. Lapd got that particular 286 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: tip from a phone call. He was nineteen seventy three. 287 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:52,160 Speaker 1: A voice on the other end of the line said, 288 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: there's a dead body at seven eighty three, bel Air. 289 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:57,719 Speaker 1: The cops went over to Sly's place, ready for anything. 290 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: His reputation preceded him. He had a recent bust at 291 00:18:01,000 --> 00:18:03,720 Speaker 1: his Winnebago out on Santa Monica Boulevard to thank for that. 292 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: Now cops were banging on slie front door and his 293 00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: muscle tried to stall. No use, The cops are inside. 294 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:13,479 Speaker 1: Within seconds. They told everyone to stay where they were 295 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: and not to fucking move. They opened every drawer, returned 296 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:21,000 Speaker 1: every cushion, No dead body, lots of guns, drugs too. 297 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: Sly Stone didn't give a fuck, and when Sylvester Stewart 298 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,720 Speaker 1: protested from somewhere in the back of his mind, Slie 299 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 1: placated him with more drugs. Later at the courthouse, sly 300 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: slipped into the bathroom to snort coat off the countertop. 301 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:36,800 Speaker 1: He could do whatever he wanted, go a wall from 302 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: a scheduled concert, get high in court. He was untouchable. 303 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: His lawyer disagreed, sly he can't do this. As lawyer said, 304 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: that's what I pay you for. Sly responded, so I 305 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:51,800 Speaker 1: can do this. Sly's defense argued that the guns the 306 00:18:51,880 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: LAPD confiscated were part of an antique collection and that 307 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,879 Speaker 1: the pills were prescription drugs. Slide didn't know if the 308 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: cops had found any of the KINE or PCP. He 309 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: was barely paying attention and he didn't really care. In 310 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:07,679 Speaker 1: the end, he got one year's probation in court ordered rehab. 311 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: That little slap on the wrist didn't so much hurt, 312 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,360 Speaker 1: but the next slap did. That came courtesy of Clive Davis, 313 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: president of Columbia Records, parent company of Sly's label Epic. 314 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: Clive was irritated Sly was late delivering his new album 315 00:19:24,320 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: There's a Riot Going On was two years old now, 316 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,600 Speaker 1: and why couldn't Slide be more like Marvin or Stevie? 317 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,119 Speaker 1: For Sly's peers, every year meant at least one new album. 318 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,480 Speaker 1: Wasn't Sly a genius like the rest? It didn't help 319 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:38,960 Speaker 1: that the record plant in Sasolito, the one place Sly 320 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: would leave his home studio for these days, wasn't exactly 321 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: conducive to getting work done. They built Sly's own room, 322 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: called the Pit, sunken floor, carpetageacuzzi lothbed for when the 323 00:19:50,080 --> 00:19:55,680 Speaker 1: hour stretched into days. Clive was pissed. He suspended Sly's contract. 324 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,399 Speaker 1: Shape up or ship out? Fuck that Sly thought. No 325 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: one told Sly I want to finish a record, not 326 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: even Clive Davis. So Slide took matters into his own hands. 327 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: He went down to the record plan, flanked by two 328 00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: of his dudes, big menacing types. The record plan's manager 329 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: didn't know if these were the guys she'd heard about 330 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,800 Speaker 1: underworld mafioso types like Edward Eddie chan Elliott or Jr. 331 00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:19,720 Speaker 1: Of L Toronto, the kind of company Sly kept these days. 332 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:22,960 Speaker 1: But she didn't need to know their names. She saw 333 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: the pieces strapped to their belts, and she knew they 334 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:30,240 Speaker 1: meant business. And when Sly spoke in that low, menacing voice, 335 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: practically an octave deeper than how he sounded on the records, 336 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:37,359 Speaker 1: it was obvious he was all business. Give me my 337 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: fucking tapes. The tapes aka Sly is still unfinished new album. 338 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:47,120 Speaker 1: But the tapes didn't belong to Sly, they were property 339 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 1: of Epic. Sly could give it, damn. Those were his 340 00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:53,719 Speaker 1: songs on those tapes, his voice, his blood, his sweat, 341 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: his tears. He repeated his demand the fucking tapes now. 342 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: The studio manager wasn't backing down. Sly Stone didn't scare 343 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,000 Speaker 1: if one of his goons wanted to get knots, and fine, 344 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:09,119 Speaker 1: let's get knots. Go ahead and shoot. Sly knew you. 345 00:21:09,160 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 1: This wasn't working. He calmed his voice, told his guys 346 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: to chill. He asked the manager if the two of 347 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: them could speak privately in a different room. Out of 348 00:21:16,760 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: earshot of his muscle, sly went from a shot callar 349 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: to a beggar. Don't embarrass me, he said, please just 350 00:21:24,280 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: give me the tapes. But the studio manager wasn't the 351 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,280 Speaker 1: one embarrassing Sly. He was just embarrassing himself, and he 352 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: knew it was true. He left the record plant empty handed, 353 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: and he felt about as low as that sunken floor 354 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:40,720 Speaker 1: room at the record plant, and soon he'd feel even 355 00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: the lower. We'll be right back after this, word, word word. 356 00:21:55,320 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: June twenty second, nineteen eighty three, Fort Myers, Florida, Imada 357 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: Airport Hotel. There was no answer from Room two twenty one. 358 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: The bell hop knocked a second time with his free hand. 359 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: The other hand balanced a tray of hotel food. He 360 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: waited nothing, and this was odd. He knew someone was 361 00:22:16,119 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: in there. The front desk had received several calls that morning, 362 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 1: sly Stone demanding room service. He sounded as angry as 363 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:25,280 Speaker 1: the previous night, when he stoned into the hotel lobby 364 00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:28,080 Speaker 1: after playing at a local bar, said the owner stiffed them. 365 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: The motherfucker didn't pay up. That pissed Sly off, not 366 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: just because it was wrong, but because Sly needed the money. 367 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:40,399 Speaker 1: Bad finances had been a bit since the mid nineteen seventies. Fresh, 368 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,800 Speaker 1: the album Sly labored over at the record plan and 369 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: finally delivered in the middle of nineteen seventy three, was 370 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: a solid effort with some great songs, like the single 371 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: if You Want Me to Stay, but each subsequent release 372 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: offered diminishing returns. The bottom line and his bank account 373 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: diminished too, so did the family Stone original members left 374 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,880 Speaker 1: one by one. It was hard not to embrace complete 375 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: disillusionment while your band leader embrace complete self destruction. By 376 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:08,760 Speaker 1: the time of the nineteen seventy sixth album Heard You 377 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:12,200 Speaker 1: Miss Me While I'm Back, Cynthia Robinson was the only 378 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: holdover from the Glory Days, and even she eventually left. 379 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: Despite the record's title, no one was missing Sly all 380 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: that much by that point. The title of his next album, 381 00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine's Back on the Right Track, gave the 382 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,280 Speaker 1: impression that things were chugging along just fine. It was 383 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: all for show. Sly had gone off the rails long 384 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 1: before in the mid seventies. Broke, strung out and still paranoid, 385 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,119 Speaker 1: sly Stone hit up his friend in one time manager 386 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: Ken Roberts, for some money. Sly was desperate. In exchange 387 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,159 Speaker 1: for the cash, he irrevocably made Roberts the recipient of 388 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: his performance right royalties, which is the money a songwriter 389 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,199 Speaker 1: is paid every time his song is performed, meaning on 390 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:58,440 Speaker 1: the radio, concerts, jukeboxes, stadiums. So not a good deal 391 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:03,240 Speaker 1: for Sly. In nineteen eighty, the IRS levied a multimillion 392 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:07,119 Speaker 1: dollar taxilian on Sly's income due to years of unpaid taxes, 393 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: which meant that he didn't even see the majority of 394 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:11,960 Speaker 1: the money he was making from his music. Sly had 395 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: nothing left but a habit. He felt that habit call 396 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: out to him as he made a bee line to 397 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,200 Speaker 1: the lobby of the Fort Myers Ramata. His nerves shook 398 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,439 Speaker 1: like a low eastring plucked by Larry Graham's thumb. Freedom 399 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:29,399 Speaker 1: awaited him upstairs in Room two twenty one. The next morning, 400 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,639 Speaker 1: the bell hop continued to knock on Sly's door louder, 401 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: this time, still only silence. He began to worry, what 402 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:39,760 Speaker 1: with Sly's demeanor the night before in the reputation. He 403 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: dragged around the bellhop called for the general manager, who 404 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:45,960 Speaker 1: quickly appeared with a key. He unlocked the door and 405 00:24:46,160 --> 00:24:50,000 Speaker 1: slowly turned the doorknob, and the men stepped inside. They 406 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,280 Speaker 1: saw two bodies, sly Stone and a woman, both out cold. 407 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: Next to sly was a glass pipe, a torch, a 408 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,399 Speaker 1: razor with white powder. When the paramedics arrived, sly was 409 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,640 Speaker 1: starting to come too, and they asked him if he'd 410 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:10,000 Speaker 1: been freebasing cocaine. Yes, sly responded, but it's all gone, 411 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,000 Speaker 1: not just the drugs, the money, the family, Stone, everything 412 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: was gone. But sly Stone was given a chance to 413 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,200 Speaker 1: get it all back, the good things at least, if 414 00:25:22,200 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: he stayed away from drugs, then the money, the family, 415 00:25:24,560 --> 00:25:26,879 Speaker 1: of the music, they could all be his again. He 416 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,159 Speaker 1: just had to do one thing. All he had to 417 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,360 Speaker 1: do is recognize that sly Stone was a character that he, 418 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: Sylvester Stewart, had control over, and if Sylvester refused to 419 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:39,520 Speaker 1: give in to slie demands, he didn't cater to Slize 420 00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: every urge he'd once again achieve greatness. This was the 421 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,479 Speaker 1: solution presented by the staff at the Lee Mental Health Clinic, 422 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: a six acre retreat in Fort Myers, where sly Stone 423 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,280 Speaker 1: did six months of court ordered drug rehab in nineteen 424 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: eighty four following his conviction for possessing freebasing paraphernalia. For 425 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: those six months, it seemed to work. Sly receded into 426 00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:04,640 Speaker 1: the background and Sylvester peeked out from behind those dark, 427 00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:09,920 Speaker 1: oversized glasses. He was clean, coherent, focused, he was thankful 428 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: and thoughtful. But when he was released from reab he 429 00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:17,880 Speaker 1: was still broke. Sylvester Stewart didn't make the money. Sly 430 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,399 Speaker 1: Stone made the money. Sly Stone had always made the money. 431 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:28,680 Speaker 1: So sly Stone got to work. Sly sold his publishing 432 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: interest in most of his compositions to Michael Jackson as 433 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: a way to pay off debts. This was in nineteen 434 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 1: eighty five, the same year that the Kingdom pop famously 435 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:41,040 Speaker 1: took control of the Beatles catalog from Paul McCartney, and 436 00:26:41,080 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 1: then at the end of the decade, according to sly himself, 437 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:47,600 Speaker 1: sly began a professional relationship with a manager named Jerry Goldstein, 438 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,360 Speaker 1: Sly later alleged that between December of nineteen eighty eight 439 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: and February of nineteen eighty nine, Goldstein, through his company 440 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: Goldstein Music, made about thirty loans to Sly one hundred 441 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:02,640 Speaker 1: dollars here on dollars there. The loans helped Sly pay 442 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,840 Speaker 1: living expenses and pay for more cocaine. But in late 443 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,040 Speaker 1: February nineteen eighty nine, Goldstein, in his attorney, had a 444 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: new proposition. If Sly wanted to keep getting cash loans 445 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:15,399 Speaker 1: and thus keep getting drugs, Goldstein told him that he 446 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,639 Speaker 1: needed to sign an agreement that made his entity even Street, 447 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 1: the manager of Sly's personal and professional financial affairs. The 448 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: pitch was this, Sly was still in deep with the irs, 449 00:27:26,640 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 1: it would be better if his assets weren't his name, 450 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: and if his royalty payments weren't being sent directly to him. 451 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: The deals a lifeline. It would ensure that his cash 452 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:37,720 Speaker 1: flow wouldn't completely dry up and that there would always 453 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:39,439 Speaker 1: be a little scratch he could get his hands on 454 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,439 Speaker 1: when he was desperate. Because at nineteen eighty nine, at 455 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 1: the end of a decade in which he was arrested 456 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: numerous times for failure to pay child support, for possession 457 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,479 Speaker 1: of cocaine, for violation of probation, and for state narcotics charges. 458 00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,640 Speaker 1: Sly Stone was perhaps more desperate than he'd ever been. 459 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: He failed to appear in an LA court for those 460 00:27:56,359 --> 00:28:00,520 Speaker 1: narcotics charges and instead fled the state, running away to getaway. 461 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,200 Speaker 1: He was hiding out in New Jersey, Connecticut under the 462 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: name Sylvester Allen. A California judge issued a bench warrant 463 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:11,200 Speaker 1: for his arrest. Sly Stone ended the nineteen eighties as 464 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:36,119 Speaker 1: a fugitive. Sly Stone was nowhere to be found, But 465 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:39,240 Speaker 1: what else was new? He was always late. He was 466 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: laid to his own wedding in May of nineteen seventy 467 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: four fromt of twenty one thousand people at Madison Square Garden. 468 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: Decades later, in two thousand and six, he was laid 469 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: to a musical tribute in his honor at the Grammy Awards. 470 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:55,760 Speaker 1: Five Songs into a Star studded Metal. He appeared blonde moawk, 471 00:28:56,040 --> 00:29:00,560 Speaker 1: silver robe, platform boots, cast on one arm, owing after 472 00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: he played half of one song. It was all part 473 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: of Sly's legend. His behavior grew to overshadow his astonishing 474 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,080 Speaker 1: body of music. He was a JD. Salinger of funk. 475 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: He was unstable and unreliable, the wildest of wild cards 476 00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: and rock and roll stck, a once brilliant pop and 477 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: funk king whose years of hard drugs turned him into 478 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:26,920 Speaker 1: a joker. Sly Stone was a cautionary tale, and now 479 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: in twenty ten, the crowd at the coach Hell of 480 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: Valley Music and Arts Festival kicking themselves for not heating 481 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:35,719 Speaker 1: that tale, for allowing themselves to get excited over a 482 00:29:35,720 --> 00:29:38,640 Speaker 1: comeback show and a reunion that, on paper seemed like 483 00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:41,800 Speaker 1: a long shot. It was two in the morning, some 484 00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: three hours after a reunited Sly and the Family Stone 485 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,360 Speaker 1: were scheduled to take the stage. The collective desire to 486 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:50,960 Speaker 1: witness Sly take a festival crowd higher like he had 487 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,880 Speaker 1: all those years before at Woodstock. That was an ultimate 488 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,240 Speaker 1: act of desperation by fans stuck in their past. You 489 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 1: can make it if you try. Were fucking naive, hit 490 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:04,000 Speaker 1: dippy bullshit. That was. But then a little after two 491 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,720 Speaker 1: am people began to take the stage. There were the 492 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: horn players Cynthia and Jerry, and look, Freddie Stone Ship, 493 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 1: Gregor Rigo on drums. It was happening. The Family Stone 494 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:19,880 Speaker 1: and materializing right before their eyes, and then Sly, is 495 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:22,320 Speaker 1: it really him, the guy in the long blonde wig 496 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: with the Captain's at Holy shit, it was him. But 497 00:30:26,400 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: the band's attempt to finish just one song were fractured 498 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,960 Speaker 1: and pitiful. Ditto for every time Sly stopped the song 499 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: to mumble into the mic. He told the crowd that 500 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 1: he'd been kidnapped, that he had a lawsuit pending against 501 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:40,240 Speaker 1: his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, and that he'd been living 502 00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:45,480 Speaker 1: in hotels. It all sounded like the ramblings of a 503 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: crazy person, but there was some truth to what he 504 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: was saying. The following year, in twenty eleven, a profile 505 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 1: on The New York Post revealed that Sly was in 506 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:56,680 Speaker 1: fact penniless, homeless, and living in a white camper van 507 00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: that he parked on the side of a residential street 508 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 1: in Ellie's Crenshaw neighborhood. Just a few years earlier, the 509 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:06,240 Speaker 1: cash advances had stopped rolling in from Jerry Goldstein. Sly 510 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: had nothing, and that caused him to take a harder 511 00:31:08,640 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: look at the agreements he signed Back in nineteen eighty nine. 512 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 1: He cried foul, said he'd been conned, coerced to signed 513 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,720 Speaker 1: his life away when he was at his most vulnerable, 514 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: and then after he signed the agreements, Jerry Goldstein's lawyer 515 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:26,760 Speaker 1: negotiated a settlement of Sly's irs taxing in nineteen ninety six, 516 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: which meant that for fifteen years, Sly's royalties were not 517 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: going to tax collectors but to banks and companies managed 518 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:39,880 Speaker 1: by Goldstein, including roughly three million dollars from BMI alone. 519 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: So Sly sued, and in twenty fifteen a Los Angeles 520 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,720 Speaker 1: Superior Court jury found that slie Stone had not been 521 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: fully paid for his songwriting royalties. Jerry Goldstein, his lawyer, 522 00:31:53,480 --> 00:31:57,880 Speaker 1: in their Entity Even Street, owede Sly five million dollars 523 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:04,840 Speaker 1: in royalties and damages. The verdict was huge. Sly thanked 524 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: the everyday people of the jury. With that money, he 525 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: could stop living in a van on the streets. He 526 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: could pull himself out of poverty. Sly Stone one of 527 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:14,640 Speaker 1: the most creative musical minds of the twentieth century. He 528 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,520 Speaker 1: could finally get some of his dignity back, get clean, 529 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: make a new record, Take the People Higher one more time, 530 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: and maybe Sylvester Stewart will get his too once again, 531 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: take control over his alter ego like he had for 532 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: those few months at the lead mental health clinic in 533 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: the eighties. Put the badshit behind him. Forget about running 534 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:34,640 Speaker 1: away living in the lamb, busted under a phony name 535 00:32:34,680 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: and Connecticut an extra died it back to California. They 536 00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: locked him up. They never threw away the key. Forget 537 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,600 Speaker 1: about the more recent run ins with Johnny Law, like 538 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: the one in twenty eleven when the lapd pulled over 539 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,080 Speaker 1: his van for some stupid traffic violation and claimed they 540 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: found cocaine rocks in his clothes. Freedom from all that 541 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:54,760 Speaker 1: bullshit was going to be a brand new high, but 542 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:59,360 Speaker 1: the high didn't last. Just eleven months after winning his 543 00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: court case, in December of twenty fifteen, a Superior court 544 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 1: judge ruled that sly Stone would not be able to 545 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 1: collect the five million dollars after all. In his decision, 546 00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: the judge said that when sly Stone assigned his royalties 547 00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:15,160 Speaker 1: to Evens Street in nineteen eighty nine, he was given 548 00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,480 Speaker 1: a fifty percent ownership of the company. In return, mister 549 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:21,480 Speaker 1: Stewart entered the agreement with the assistance of advisers, that 550 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,560 Speaker 1: judge wrote, who received a substantial benefit. At the time 551 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,520 Speaker 1: of the ruling, sly Stone was seventy two years old. 552 00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: For eleven months in twenty fifteen, sly Stone lived in 553 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: a dream, A dream in which he got when he 554 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:40,480 Speaker 1: was owed and then some A dream in which things 555 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:43,480 Speaker 1: finally went up for once instead of down. A dream 556 00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: where the world took sly Stone higher. But just like 557 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:51,400 Speaker 1: the final years of the nineteen sixties, when Slyn the family, 558 00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 1: Stone channeled a dream of inclusion, acceptance, and joy to 559 00:33:54,960 --> 00:34:00,400 Speaker 1: their groundbreaking music, this dream wasn't meant to last and 560 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: end it like all dreams do, leaving sliz Stone living 561 00:34:04,080 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 1: in the here and now in the real world, a 562 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: world that is full of disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and 563 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and 564 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,279 Speaker 1: is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this 565 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: episode can be found on the show notes page at 566 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: disgracelampod dot com. 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