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Toronto Sun
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Sly Stone, leader of funk revolutionaries Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
Published Jun 09, 2025 • 7 minute read This image released by the Sundance Institute shows Sly Stone in "SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)" by Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Stephen Paley / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK (AP) — Sly Stone, the revolutionary musician and dynamic showman whose Sly and the Family Stone transformed popular music in the 1960s and '70s and beyond with such hits as 'Everyday People,' 'Stand!' and 'Family Affair,' died Monday at age 82 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Stone, born Sylvester Stewart, had been in poor health in recent years. His publicist Carleen Donovan said Stone died in Los Angeles surrounded by family after contending with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other ailments. Founded in 1966-67, Sly and the Family Stone was the first major group to include Black and white men and women, and well embodied a time when anything seemed possible — riots and assassinations, communes and love-ins. The singers screeched, chanted, crooned and hollered. The music was a blowout of frantic horns, rapid-fire guitar and locomotive rhythms, a melting pot of jazz, psychedelic rock, doo-wop, soul and the early grooves of funk. Sly's time on top was brief, roughly from 1968-1971, but profound. No band better captured the gravity-defying euphoria of the Woodstock era or more bravely addressed the crash which followed. From early songs as rousing as their titles — 'I Want To Take You Higher,' 'Stand!' — to the sober aftermath of 'Family Affair' and 'Runnin' Away,' Sly and the Family Stone spoke for a generation whether or not it liked what they had to say. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Stone's group began as a Bay Area sextet featuring Sly on keyboards, Larry Graham on bass; Sly's brother, Freddie, on guitar; sister Rose on vocals; Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini horns and Greg Errico on drums. They debuted with the album 'A Whole New Thing' and earned the title with their breakthrough single, 'Dance to the Music.' It hit the top 10 in April 1968, the week the Rev. Martin Luther King was murdered, and helped launch an era when the polish of Motown and the understatement of Stax suddenly seemed of another time. Led by Sly Stone, with his leather jumpsuits and goggle shades, mile-wide grin and mile-high Afro, the band dazzled in 1969 at the Woodstock festival and set a new pace on the radio. 'Everyday People,' 'I Wanna Take You Higher' and other songs were anthems of community, non-conformity and a brash and hopeful spirit, built around such catchphrases as 'different strokes for different folks.' The group released five top 10 singles, three of them hitting No. 1, and three million-selling albums: 'Stand!', 'There's a Riot Goin' On' and 'Greatest Hits.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For a time, countless performers wanted to look and sound like Sly and the Family Stone. The Jackson Five's breakthrough hit, 'I Want You Back,' and the Temptations' 'I Can't Get Next to You' were among the many songs from the late 1960s that mimicked Sly's vocal and instrumental arrangements. Miles Davis' landmark blend of jazz, rock and funk, 'Bitches Brew,' was inspired in part by Sly, while fellow jazz artist Herbie Hancock even named a song after him. 'He had a way of talking, moving from playful to earnest at will. He had a look, belts, and hats and jewelry,' Questlove wrote in the foreword to Stone's memoir, 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' named for one of his biggest hits and published through Questlove's imprint in 2023. 'He was a special case, cooler than everything around him by a factor of infinity.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In 2025, Questlove released the documentary 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).' Sly's influence has endured for decades. The top funk artist of the 1970s, Parliament-Funkadelic creator George Clinton, was a Stone disciple. Prince, Rick James and the Black Eyed Peas were among the many performers from the 1980s and after shaped in part by Sly, and countless hip-hop artists have sampled his riffs, from the Beastie Boys to Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. A 2005 tribute record included Maroon 5, John Legend and the Roots. 'Sly did so many things so well that he turned my head all the way around,' Clinton once wrote. 'He could create polished R&B that sounded like it came from an act that had gigged at clubs for years, and then in the next breath he could be as psychedelic as the heaviest rock band.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. A dream dies, a career burns away By the early '70s, Stone himself was beginning a descent from which he never recovered, driven by the pressures of fame and the added burden of Black fame. His record company was anxious for more hits, while the Black Panthers were pressing him to drop the white members from his group. After moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles in 1970, he became increasingly hooked on cocaine and erratic in his behavior. A promised album, 'The Incredible and Unpredictable Sly and the Family Stone' ('The most optimistic of all,' Rolling Stone reported) never appeared. He became notorious for being late to concerts or not showing up at all, often leaving 'other band members waiting backstage for hours wondering whether he was going to show up or not,' according to Stone biographer Joel Selvin. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Around the country, separatism and paranoia were setting in. As a turn of the calendar, and as a state of mind, the '60s were over. 'The possibility of possibility was leaking out,' Stone later explained in his memoir. On 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),' Stone had warned: 'Dying young is hard to take/selling out is harder.' Late in 1971, he released 'There's a Riot Going On,' one of the grimmest, most uncompromising records ever to top the album charts. The sound was dense and murky (Sly was among the first musicians to use drum machines), the mood reflective ('Family Affair'), fearful ('Runnin' Away') and despairing: 'Time, they say, is the answer _ but I don't believe it,' Sly sings on 'Time.' The fast, funky pace of the original 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)' was slowed, stretched and retitled 'Thank You For Talkin' to Me, Africa.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The running time of the title track was 0:00. 'It is Muzak with its finger on the trigger,' critic Greil Marcus called the album. 'Riot' highlighted an extraordinary run of blunt, hard-hitting records by Black artists, from the Stevie Wonder single 'Superstition' to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' album, to which 'Riot' was an unofficial response. But Stone seemed to back away from the nightmare he had related. He was reluctant to perform material from 'Riot' in concert and softened the mood on the acclaimed 1973 album 'Fresh,' which did feature a cover of 'Que Sera Sera,' the wistful Doris Day song reworked into a rueful testament to fate's upper hand. By the end of the decade, Sly and the Family Stone had broken up and Sly was releasing solo records with such unmet promises as 'Heard You Missed Me, Well I'm Back' and 'Back On the Right Track.' Most of the news he made over the following decades was of drug busts, financial troubles and mishaps on stage. Sly and the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock & Roll of Fame in 1993 and honored in 2006 at the Grammy Awards, but Sly released just one album after the early '80s, 'I'm Back! Family & Friends,' much of it updated recordings of his old hits. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He would allege he had hundreds of unreleased songs and did collaborate on occasion with Clinton, who would recall how Stone 'could just be sitting there doing nothing and then open his eyes and shock you with a lyric so brilliant that it was obvious no one had ever thought of it before.' Sly Stone had three children, including a daughter with Cynthia Robinson, and was married once — briefly and very publicly. In 1974, he and actor Kathy Silva wed on stage at Madison Square Garden, an event that inspired an 11,000-word story in The New Yorker. Sly and Silva soon divorced. A born musician, a born uniter He was born Sylvester Stewart in Denton, Texas, and raised in Vallejo, California, the second of five children in a close, religious family. Sylvester became 'Sly' by accident, when a teacher mistakenly spelled his name 'Slyvester.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He loved performing so much that his mother alleged he would cry if the congregation in church didn't respond when he sang before it. He was so gifted and ambitious that by age 4 he had sung on stage at a Sam Cooke show and by age 11 had mastered several instruments and recorded a gospel song with his siblings. He was so committed to the races working together that in his teens and early 20s he was playing in local bands that included Black and white members and was becoming known around the Bay Area as a deejay equally willing to play the Beatles and rhythm and blues acts. Through his radio connections, he produced some of the top San Francisco bands, including the Great Society, Grace Slick's group before she joined the Jefferson Airplane. Along with an early mentor and champion, San Francisco deejay Tom 'Big Daddy' Donahue, he worked on rhythm and blues hits (Bobby Freeman's 'C'mon and Swim') and the Beau Brummels' Beatle-esque 'Laugh, Laugh.' Meanwhile, he was putting together his own group, recruiting family members and local musicians and settling on the name Sly and the Family Stone. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'A Whole New Thing' came out in 1967, soon followed by the single 'Dance to the Music,' in which each member was granted a moment of introduction as the song rightly proclaimed a 'brand new beat.' In December 1968, the group appeared on 'The Ed Sullivan Show' and performed a medley that included 'Dance to the Music' and 'Everyday People.' Before the set began, Sly turned to the audience and recited a brief passage from his song 'Are You Ready': 'Don't hate the Black, don't hate the white, if you get bitten, just hate the bite.' Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances! Toronto Blue Jays Olympics Columnists Toronto & GTA Olympics
Broadcast Pro
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Broadcast Pro
RFC – Jordan extends submission deadline for 20th Rawi Screenwriters Lab
Rawi works with a diverse group of Creative Advisors and selection committee members from the Arab region and beyond. The Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) has extended the submission deadline for the 20th edition of its Rawi Screenwriters Lab. Arab screenwriters now have until midnight on Saturday, June 14, 2025 (Jordan Time) to submit their entries for this milestone edition of the Lab, which will be held from November 20 to 26, 2025, in Wadi Feynan, Jordan. Launched in 2005 in collaboration with the Sundance Institute, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab has evolved into one of the Arab world's most respected script development programmes. The name 'Rawi,' meaning both 'storyteller' and 'water bearer' in Arabic, encapsulates the Lab's mission to cultivate and nourish Arab voices in cinema. Over the past two decades, the Lab has supported more than 150 emerging screenwriters, many of whom have become influential voices in contemporary Arab film. Held annually in a retreat-style setting, the Lab provides eight selected Fellows with an immersive creative environment. Each participant is paired with four acclaimed Creative Advisors—renowned Arab or international screenwriters and editors—for intensive one-on-one sessions. The experience also includes informal discussions and group exchanges, fostering a strong sense of community and artistic collaboration. For the 20th edition, the Lab draws inspiration from Daucus Carota, a resilient wild Jordanian plant, symbolising strength and creative growth. In this spirit, Rawi continues to provide space, guidance and mentorship to screenwriters who are ready to evolve their craft and share their stories with the world. The programme is open to Arab screenwriters working on their first or second feature-length narrative screenplay. Eligible applicants may apply as independent screenwriters, writer-directors, or co-writers. Submissions must include a completed screenplay (minimum 60 pages), a logline, a synopsis, a filmmaker's statement, a biography, and links to previous work. While screenplays may initially be submitted in Arabic, selected projects must later provide an English translation. All other application materials must be submitted in English to ensure equal evaluation by an international committee. Applications must be submitted through the official online form. Results will be announced by August 1, 2025.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
UNITY BLOCK PARTY RETURNS FOR 2025 WITH GRAMMY-NOMINATED HEADLINER DURAND BERNARR AND A MISSION TO UPLIFT BLACK CULTURE, BUSINESS, AND CREATIVITY IN UTAH
A Three-Day Celebration Amplifies Black Arts, Economic Empowerment, and Community Impact During Black Business Month SALT LAKE CITY, May 19, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Unity Block Party, Utah's largest Black-led cultural event, returns for its third year as a three-day cultural and economic powerhouse from August 29–31, 2025. Headlined by Grammy-nominated performance vocalist Durand Bernarr, this year's celebration promises to be bigger, bolder, and more impactful than ever—showcasing Black excellence at the intersection of music, business, and community during Black Business Month. The Unity Block Party kicks off on Friday, August 29 with an outdoor film screening and panel discussion presented in partnership with Sundance Institute, followed by an all-day cultural celebration on Saturday, August 30, and concludes with a powerful Black Creatives Excellence Brunch on Sunday, August 31, spotlighting thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and community builders shaping Utah's future. This year's featured talent includes:Miles Minnick, Honey Bxby, The King Will Come, Quail, Cure For Paranoia, Evolution Of The Revolution, Afia Chin, Detzany, Nubia Soul Goddess, Bunny, and Corey Stefonwith hosts including Shaadie, Nayo Campbell (Utah Jazz), Deja Brown (KSL Utah, and CJ Miles (Former Utah Jazz Player). Festival sponsors and partners include Block, Sundance Institute, Rocky Mountain Power, Uncle Nearest, Redmond Re-Lyte, Shadow Mtn Productions, SLC ACE Grant, ZAP Grant, and community allies such as Utah Film Commission, The Blocks Art District, and Avanza Utah. "I'm honored to headline the Unity Block Party because it's about more than music—it's about movement," said Durand Bernarr. "We're showing up fully, loudly, and joyfully in a space that's never seen anything like this before. This isn't just a show—it's a statement that needs to be experienced." From the mainstage energy of Saturday's Block Party to the intentional networking of Sunday's brunch, Unity Block Party 2025 provides: A launchpad for Black-led startups and creatives, strengthening Utah's $512.1 million arts economy. A catalyst for economic mobility, connecting underrepresented entrepreneurs with new audiences and corporate partners. A safe, joyful space for culture, community, and celebration in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. "What started as a memorial installation in 2020 has evolved into a national movement," said Michelda G. Castro, founder of Versatile Image and event organizer of the Unity Block Party. "This weekend is a love letter to our community—and a blueprint for how art, culture, and economic justice can come together to build a better future." Events include: Day 1 — Outdoor Film ScreeningIn partnership with the Sundance Institute, the Unity Block Party kicks off with an outdoor screening of a major award-winning film that premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Square | 7PM–11PM | FREE Day 2 — Benefit Concert headlined by Durand BernarrA full-day celebration with live music, food vendors, Black-owned businesses, DJs, and immersive artLibrary Square | 11AM–11PM (Concert 5PM) | $30–$150 Day 3 — Black Creatives Excellence BrunchIn partnership with OurSundays, this intimate, invite-only brunch centers economic advancement, business innovation, and networkingNeutral Ground Lounge | 11AM–3PM | $55–$95 Discover the "U" in Community. Join the Movement. Press credentials, media kits, and sponsorship opportunities available here. ABOUT UNITY BLOCK PARTYFounded in 2020, the Unity Block Party is a nationally recognized, Black-led festival designed to celebrate cultural excellence, economic empowerment, and artistic innovation. Anchored in Salt Lake City and powered by community partnerships, the event brings together thousands of attendees each year to champion equity, creativity, and collective progress. Contact:Kenny Williams PR Lead, Unity Block Partykennywilliamsjrbookings@ 313-525-6783 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Versatile Image Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sundance Institute Native Lab Fellows announced
Sandra Hale SchulmanSpecial to ICT As the major incubator for Native films and their screenwriter/directors, the nonprofit Sundance Institute has announced the fellows selected for the 2025 Native Lab. The Native Lab is the signature initiative of Sundance Institute's Indigenous Program that takes place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The labs offer filmmakers personal guidance, and one-on-one nurturing, to develop their projects under the guidance of accomplished creative advisors. Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford – who can be seen in a quick cameo on the first episode of the current season of 'Dark Winds' – included Indigenous artists in the first Sundance Institute lab in 1981. The Indigenous Program was formalized in the mid-'90s and the alumni have brought Indigenous stories to mainstream audiences in film and television. Over five days, the selected fellows refine their scripts for feature and episodic projects with feedback sessions, screenplay readings, and roundtable discussions. Four fellows were selected. Three are U.S.-based: Jared Lank, Mi'kmaq; Isabella Dionne Madrigal, Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe; and Alex Nystrom, Ojibwe. One is from Canada, Jordan Waunch, Métis, selected in partnership with the Indigenous Screen Office (ISO). This year's Native Lab creative advisors are Bryson Chun, Kanaka Maoli, Sarah Friedland, Kiva Reardon, and Erica Tremblay, Seneca-Cayuga. The Native Lab is overseen by Adam Piron, Kiowa and Mohawk, director of the Institute's Indigenous Program, alongside Ianeta Le'i, the program's senior manager. 'Every year our team selects a cross-section of bold, diverse Indigenous storytellers and committed advisors, and it's always rewarding when we gather in Santa Fe to discuss storytelling and development because this process involves trust and reveals unexpected breakthroughs every time,' said Piron in a statement. 'We are looking forward to supporting this year's fellows and to see how they support each other in challenging themselves, reimagining their work, and deepening their relationship to how Indigeneity factors into their work.' Fellow Isabella Dionne Madrigal, Cahuilla/Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, told ICT: 'I am so honored and thrilled to be a part of this cohort! Without the Indigenous artists who have been building at Sundance, I wouldn't have had the opportunities I have today. My goal with the feature project I am working on, Menil and Her Heart, is to inspire Native youth to see themselves as powerful, multidimensional beings – people with agency and stories worth telling. Through filmmaking, I hope to continue centering Indigenous women's stories. I believe that when art and popular culture shift, policy and public attitudes follow. This opportunity is a way for me to contribute to that. 'I recently wrapped a short film version of Menil and Her Heart. This short serves as a proof of concept for the feature-length project I am working on. As an emerging director, mentorship through the Native Lab offers insight into how to strengthen both the short and feature film script. 'Independent filmmakers, particularly those from underrepresented communities, often face barriers to accessing resources and industry networks. Through this fellowship, I look forward to expanding my community and learning from filmmakers who have successfully written and directed their own projects. Being a Native Lab Fellow and working with a team that shares my vision of filmmaking as community-driven storytelling ensures that this project stays grounded in the values and purpose that inspired it from the beginning.' Jared Lank, a Mi'kmaq filmmaker from Maine, creates existential works that explore themes of cultural erasure, myth and grief. In 2024, his debut short film, Bay of Herons, was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival, and he was featured in Filmmaker magazine's '25 New Faces of Independent Film.' Jared Lank told ICT: 'Being chosen for the Native Lab means everything to me at this moment in my life. In so many ways, attending the lab this week in Santa Fe marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter of my life where I can really hone-in my craft as a writer-director and ultimately pursue the goal of having my film made. 'I am fully entering this lab with the mindset of a student and a peer. I hope to receive critical feedback on my screenplay and learn how to develop my voice as a writer. A higher-level goal for my project is to refine this screenplay to a point where it can be pitched for development and made into a film! I believe this lab is the catalyst for that to happen.' Alex Nystrom is an Ojibwe director, writer and producer. His pilot Between was selected for the Black List's second annual Indigenous List, and his short film Four Nights and a Fire (Palm Springs International Shortfest, Short of the Week) is currently being developed into a feature film, Spiral. 'It's really a dream to be recognized for your work as an independent artist,' Nystrom told ICT, 'and for Sundance to see your potential for what you might yet create. It's a validating moment, and perhaps even more meaningful to be a part of Native Lab's legacy in contributing to the future of Indigenous cinema. 'My priority is to be inspired by my mentors and peers, and build lasting relationships and collaborations. I would like to push myself to be more vulnerable during the lab, in an effort to find a deeper clarity in my screenplay.' Previous Sundance Institute lab fellows whose early career work has been fostered at the labs include award-winning filmmakers Sterlin Harjo, Shaandiin Tome, Sydney Freeland, Erica Tremblay, Sky Hopinka and Taika Waititi. Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Summit County pulls funding as Sundance prepares for its last hurrah in Utah
SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — As Sundance Film Festival prepares to bid adieu to Park City, its home for over 40 years, county leaders are pulling back funding allocated to promote the festival. During a Summit County council meeting on Wednesday, county leaders came to the decision that none of the $4.37 million from restaurant sales tax is going to be granted to the festival's advertising costs. Summit County has been a staunch supporter of Sundance in past years. Records show that in the last five years, Summit County granted a range of $112,500 to $225,000 to promote Sundance, which covered a sizable chunk of the festival's advertising costs. However, with the festival's exit from Utah planned on the horizon, council members are no longer seeing the merit of using taxpayer dollars to promote the festival. 'If this is the swan song, I'm not sure that reinvesting the money at this point in that particular entity is maybe the right way to go,' council member Roger Armstrong said. This year, Sundance Institute requested $225,000 from Summit County for marketing purposes — in line with their requests from years past. The Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee suggested $85,000 instead, less than half of the institute's initial request. However, the Summit County council unanimously agreed to not grant any. 'If it's just being used to advertise in the Wasatch Front for an organization that's leaving the Wasatch, I'd rather take that money and invest it into a local organization,' said council member Canice Hart. The meeting adjourned with the Restaurant Tax Advisory Committee saying that they'd come up with other recommendations for the $85,000 they previously allocated for Sundance. Sundance Film Festival has one last hurrah left in Utah before it relocates to a new home — Boulder, Colorado, in 2027. It's yet unclear how this decision will affect the festival's final days in the Beehive State. Video: Coyote seen digging up grave at California cemetery Vietnam War: Operation Babylift adoptee unites with others Summit County pulls funding as Sundance prepares for its last hurrah in Utah Very warm and windy Mother's Day in the Beehive State Neighbors react to Saturday night shooting in Kearns Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
