I Want to Take You Higher_ The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone - Jeff Kaliss [88]
It was Ric Stewart, with his fine eclectic web site therel.com, who first got me writing about Sly, and that's what attracted the attention of literary agent Robert Lecker, who connected me with the book's publisher. My dear friend Jann Moorhead provided informal legal counsel during the launch of the project and the occasionally rough waters later on. For background on the inspiring history of African Americans and Sylvester Stewart's roots in Denton, Texas, there were Denton denizens Lynette and Betty Kimble, Sly's cousin Christine McAdams, and the tireless Kim Cupit. Professor William Issel and his graduate student Richard John Figone moved the history forward and westward to midcentury Vallejo, California. Tender memories of that time and place were voiced by several dear souls, including venerated teacher Dave Froehlich and Ria Boldway Douglas, whose honesty and passion are a model for us all. My fortuitous flat tire at the side of a Marin County freeway led to a chance meeting with drummer James Henry, who later led me to singer Skyler Jett, who in turn led me to little sister Vet Stone. Appreciation for similar serendipity goes to hairstylist Eric Hooten, who led me to fellow stylist Bobby Gomez, who led me to Mario Errico.
The Errico family shared two generations of hospitality and garrulousness passed down from parents Jo and Nick to brothers Mario (another of my links to Sly) and Greg (the second of my cooperative veterans of the Family Stone). A similarly generous Italian American, Rich Romanello, told me of the Family Stone's early days and arranged for valuable accommodations in South ern California. The spirit of hospitality extended to the island of Maui, where Nancy and George Kahumoku Jr. put me up during my extended interviews with the magical David Kapralik (and sourced my side story on slack key guitar for Guitar Player magazine).
To those who wouldn't talk openly or at all for this book, some due to residual resentment over perceived past misrepresentations by writers and journalists, I can only express regret that you weren't able to appear more directly in this story. I hope that I'll have more to share with you some day. To all, including Sly, who shared their stories, I hope you feel properly accounted for.
The staff of the Art, Music, and Recreation Center of the San Francisco Public Library helped keep me informed, and Susan and the wizards at Castro Computer Services kept my cybermill turning. My collection of Sly & the Family Stone sides was bolstered by Streetlight Records, Amazon, John Hagelston of Rhino, and Tom Cording of Sony/Legacy. Invaluable detail and opinions about music, and the Family Stone in particular, came from rock and funk scholars Ben Fong-Torres, Alec Palao, and Rickey Vincent, as well as developmental editor George Case, and more informally from Bay Area music veteran Anthony Reginato of Mission Market. The book has been illuminated by multiple suppliers of photographs, both professional and amateur, among them the artful Jim Marshall and Steve Paley. Seth Affoumado and Beverly Tharp took useful portraits of the author. Alongside Neal Austinson, continued contact with Sly was facilitated by his other devoted helpmates, Charles Richardson and Rikki Gordon.
On the opposite coast, at mission control, aka Hal Leonard/ Backbeat Books, acquiring editor John Cerullo somehow managed to keep me in orbit, with reassuring words in my telephone earpiece and my e-mail inbox, and manuscript editor Mike Edison guided me in making my own written words look like a rock book, ready to be polished by copy editor Godwin Chu. Production editor Bernadette Malavarca completed the assembly, and Diane Levinson and Aaron Lefkove helped position the result in the public eye.
I bear a long and deep personal debt to my hometown and college papers, the Bar Harbor Times and the