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a classical pianist, and Phume [Phunne], a rapper, as each of them shined in solo moments from the stage they were sharing with their dad during this eventful evening." Audience member and Family Stone exmanager Ken Roberts, when questioned about Sly's brace, connected it to what he said was a large growth on Sly's spine. But Mario and others referred instead to a prolonged recovery from Sly's accidental tumble from a slope near his former Beverly Hills abode. Numerous amateur videos of the Flamingo show and later performances remain available on the Web.

A much anticipated box set of the seven Epic albums under the Sly & the Family Stone name was released in April 2007 as The Collection, in limited numbers, by CBS's Epic/Legacy division, complete with bonus alternate or unreleased tracks and both original and redacted liner notes by various rock writers. The most thorough presentation of Sly's work since Jerry Goldstein's admirable The Essential double album in 2002, the package inspired a new, almost universally laudatory cascade of reviews in the media and further nostalgia and anticipation among listeners. However, Sly, Vet, and Sly's lawyer, Greg Yates, cast doubt in interviews with Vanity Fair on Sly's connections with the box release and on Jerry Goldstein's management of the material and the finances. "As far as I'm concerned, there is no deal with [Jerry]," said Vet, and Greg added, "I've been retained by Sly Stone to represent him regarding issues surrounding contracts with other third parties for his publishing rights.... We are concerned about certain matters that he was kept in the dark about." In the same periodical, Clive Davis, who'd captained CBS and Epic during most of the launches of those albums, commented, "I have great regrets that it's taken Sly all these years to return, but the fact that there might be a happy ending to all this is a great feeling."

The Vanity Fair article was written by contributing editor and superfan David Kamp, who had "spent a dozen years chasing the former Sly & the Family Stone front man" and managed, with the help of Vet, to get an interview with Sly in the spring of 2007. The piece got global exposure but provided little new insight. "I get the sense," David wrote tellingly, "that Sly relishes this sort of opaqueness, letting people in just enough to intrigue and confound them."

Rumors had been circulating about a summer tour with Vet's band through Europe. An Independence Day weekend event in San Jose, a couple of hours south of Sly's Napa base, gave him and Vet a chance to ramp up for the European junket. There were serious delays during the festival, dubbed "Back in the Day," but none due to Sly, and the eager anticipation of the featured act seemed not to diminish. Attended backstage again by Mario Errico and Neal Austinson, and ushered onto the outdoor stage by a very tall bodyguard of recent hire, Sly got to perform for only about fifteen minutes, dressed in a rather unbecoming bulky white hoodie, baggy jeans, baseball cap, and shades. Local police, mindful of permit restrictions, brought the proceedings to what both artists and audience considered a premature halt. The Bay Area press, having wondered whether their hometown boy might somehow make good, reacted with disappointment. The San Jose Mercury-News's Shay Quillen credited Sly as "the most soulful person on stage," but berated Vet's Family Stone for not bringing him out until after several of his familiar hits and a couple of his creations for Little Sister had been played without him. Joel Selvin, there for the San Francisco Chronicle, praised the band's "extraordinary showmanship," but he noted that they"seemed more like a tribute band than a new model of the old standard," and that Sly's own voice was "hardly audible."

The tour abroad, for which the same basic ensemble took to the skies a few days later, also drew mixed notices. A reviewer in England's Observer seemed unaware of the history of Vet's band when he attended a performance in Italy and wrote, "It is somehow typical of Sly that he finally chooses