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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Thank You, Sly Stone
Let us begin with gratitude. Thank you, Sly Stone, for being so generous with your music before your death on Monday at the age of 82 — for the wealth of durable hits that includes 'Stand!,' 'Sing a Simple Song,' 'Everyday People,' 'Dance to the Music,' 'Family Affair,' and, yes, 'Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again).' Thank you, Sly, for effectively inventing 1970s funk and the career of Prince with that last song. Thank you, Sly for pulling together the Family Stone, a band of players and singers Black and white, male and female, that served as a music-world version of the original Sesame Street cast, bright with the 1960s promise of a multicultural future unbound by racial or genre distinctions. More from The Hollywood Reporter Kendrick Lamar Was the Top Winner at the 2025 BET Awards Tyler Perry Calls Out Hollywood Studios at BET Awards: "This Is Not the Time to Be Silent" SHINee's Key on K-pop Stardom After 30 and Reuniting with U.S. Fans And thank you, Sly, falettin me into your life in 2007. Permit me to explain. I grew up besotted with the music of the man born Sylvester Stewart in 1943. His songs defined my primordial years, osmosing straight into my bloodstream. In 1996, the year I became a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, I screwed up the courage to pitch the editor, Graydon Carter, the idea of my profiling Sly. Mr. Stone was in a bad place then. Actually, no one seemed quite sure what place he was in, having removed himself from public life after a bad 70s and 80s in which drugs and indolence robbed him of his joy and spark. It wasn't typical Vanity Fair material. But to my delight, Graydon said yes. Terrific! I started making phone calls. I got in touch with Greg Errico, the Family Stone's founding drummer, who invited me to watch him jam in a Bay Area rehearsal space with fellow original band members Freddie Stone (guitar, Sly's brother) and Jerry Martini (saxophone). Stonewalled by Sly's then manager, Jerry Goldstein, I reached out to his fellow record-industry machers Lou Adler and Richard Gottehrer, to advocate on my behalf. Despite their efforts, Goldstein was unmoved. Years passed. My wife and I welcomed two children into our family. A new millennium dawned. Then, early in 2007, I heard that the youngest of Sly's sisters, a singer born Vaetta and known as Vet, had coaxed Sly into performing a few dates with her band that coming summer. I contacted Vet and related to her my decade-plus of travails. She told me that if I was serious, I should get to Las Vegas pronto to see her band's show at the Flamingo Hotel. Sly, she said, was going to play. I asked her, given the predilection for no-shows that did in his career as a touring musician, if she was sure. 'All I can say is that I'm his little sister and he's never lied to me,' she said. Sly did show up — in a bizarre ensemble pulled from the Me Decade's dress-up bin, wearing platform boots, wraparound white sunglasses, and spangly newsboy knickers. It was a chaotic show in which he performed only a few songs. But when he sang a soft, unplugged version of 'Stand!,' with its affirming message In the end you'll still be you/ One that's done all the things you set out to do, he held the crowd rapt. It was evident that, whatever he had done to himself bodily and mentally, his voice and musicianship were intact. My reward for turning up was the first major interview he had granted in a couple of decades. We met in a motorcycle shop in his native Vallejo, California, called Chopper Guys Biker Products. I had a million questions. He answered them gnomically. When I asked him what he had been up to all these years, and if he was watching Seinfeld and American Idol like the rest of us, he said, 'I've done all that. I do regular things a lot. But it's probably more of a Sly Stone life. It's probably… it's probably not very normal.' The comeback that my Vanity Fair profile was meant to signal failed to materialize; he still had drug and business issues to sort out. But between then and now, he did finally get sober. Vet emailed me a photo of Sly contentedly dandling a grandson in his lap. In Questlove's excellent documentary released earlier this year, Sly Lives! (a.k.a. The Burden of Black Genius), his younger daughter, Novena, laughs at the unlikely circumstance to which she now regularly bears witness: 'He's kind of just like… a standard old Black man.' That he lived to become that is hope-giving. Sly is often upheld as as an avatar for how the utopianism of 1960s America curdled into solipsism, cynicism, and bad vibes. I am reminded of the title character's reproach of the Dude in The Big Lebowski: 'Your revolution is over, Mr. Lebowski. Condolences. The bums lost!' But in the long run, Sly won. He found redemptive happiness. His library of music remains as alive and vibrant as ever and shall forever transcend the circumstances of its making and what came after. Once again, Sly, thank you. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Hollywood's Highest-Profile Harris Endorsements: Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen and More
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Veterans cemetery in Agawam draws families honoring Memorial Day tradition
AGAWAM — Tyler Mulville, 11, fresh from marching in a Memorial Day parade with Boy Scout Troop 821 in Westfield, cleaned some stray dead grass from his great-grandfather's grave. He asked his grandfather, Martin Kwatowski, if it looked better. Kwatowski brought Tyler to the grave of his father, Tyler's great-grandfather, at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Agawam. Kwatowski's father, Raymond Kwatowski, was just 17 when he served in the Army during World War II. 'He came back,' Martin Kwatowski said. 'The reason I'm here is because he came back.' Families gathered in the warm sunshine across the 61-acre state-run veterans cemetery Monday to mark Memorial Day. 'Everybody today take a few minutes and make sure you remember and recognize Memorial Day for what it is, for what it stands for,' said Gov. Maura T. Healey. 'Everything that we enjoy today is only possible because of the sacrifice made.' For Alyssa Sealander, 18, it was because her great grandmother, Dolores Sealander, brought her here to put flowers on the grave of her great grandfather, Richard Sealander. Richard Sealander, who Alyssa Sealander never knew, served in the Coast Guard during World War II, participating in beach landings. His wife, Dolores Sealander, now rests with him. Alyssa said that's why she came — because it's something her great grandmother always did. 'Each of these grave sites represents a hero,' said William C. Walls Jr., chair of the Springfield Veterans Activities Committee and former director of the Veterans Memorial Cemetery. That extends to family members buried with their veteran loved ones, he said. 'Because if they served, their families made sacrifices, too,' he said. 'This is a memorial to that service. They are all heroes.' In the formal ceremony at the cemetery, current state Veterans Services Secretary Jon Santiago spoke of the selflessness he's seen on display while serving. Santiago is an emergency room physician and served as a major in the U.S. Army Reserve, deploying overseas twice. He spoke of how service members behave under stress, even if they are injured. 'The questions these soldiers asked were not about themselves,' Santiago said. 'The questions were about those they served with. You see it was never really about them. It was about their brothers and sisters in uniform. It's about the team, be it in life or death.' That commitment must be returned, he said, by living up to the pledge to care for veterans and their families. 'It even transcends death,' Santiago said. 'And that is why today matters. If you fall in that service, we will remember you.' And the commitment extends to veterans services and to the new $480 million Massachusetts Veterans Home in Holyoke expected to open in November 2026. State Sen. John C. Velis, D-Westfield, is also a veteran, having served in the Army Reserves and later the National Guard in Afghanistan and South Korea. Memorial Day is a day to focus on those who didn't come back, he said. 'I love Veterans Day,' said state Sen. John C. Velis, D-Westfield. 'Today isn't Veterans Day.' Velis, like Healey, pointed out that a very small percentage of the population takes up the call. According to the Census Bureau, 6.1% of the adult American population, or 15.8 million people, identified as veterans. 'To me, it's a reminder of service generally,' Healey said. She wishes more would join the armed services. 'I also would love to see a civilian corps for service, so that people could find ways in their own community to serve,' she said. CDC: Lead from phone lines is highly concentrated in Springfield manhole muck West Springfield buys old Walgreens for police station Target of Springfield eminent domain, 'Chicken Building' owners cry foul in court Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Council shuts down popular ocean pool inundated with 'hundreds' of 'toxic' creatures
Swimmers and beachgoers have been told by council to stay away from a popular pool along the Aussie coast after it was inundated by "hundreds" of ocean creatures. The sea hares, a type of marine mollusc, were found congregating at Mereweather Baths in Newcastle, in an incredibly "rare to witness" event. City of Newcastle council said the marine creatures, usually found in rock pools and sea grass beds, have come together to spawn in the pool which is currently closed to visitors to protect the species. A special warning to pet owners was issued to stay away from the area as the molluscs are toxic to dogs — with one vet telling Yahoo News that the animals will exhibit "immediate symptoms" if they've touched one of the molluscs. "This kind of mass aggregation is rare to witness in a public swimming facility, and we're working with marine experts to manage the event with care," a council spokesperson said. "Sea hares may naturally move on with the tides, but we are also preparing to manage their removal sensitively, as well as the egg masses, to protect both the animals and the environment," council said. The pool will be closed until at least Tuesday when council plans to "manually remove" the sea hares before pressure cleaning the pool. "We will be doing this in a careful way to maximise egg survival," council assured residents. Sea hares are soft-bodied marine molluscs that feed mainly on algae. It's understood that the species most prevalent in the pool is the Aplysia juliana, a common coastal species — but there are also a few larger individuals, have been identified as Aplysia sydneyensis. They are larger than a bluebottle, growing up to 30cm long and release a dark purple ink when disturbed. During spawning, they release long strands of yellow egg masses. Once the spawning is complete, the sea hares naturally die. Previously speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Dr Tim Hopkins from Northern Beaches Emergency Vet, who specialises in toxins, urged pet owners to avoid areas after mass beaching events after hundreds of dead sea hares were found along the shores of the Hardy Inlet, near Flinders Bay in Augusta in Western Australia in March. 🕵️♀️ Wild weather finally solves 50-year mystery on popular Aussie beach 🐊 Tracks on Aussie beach lead to 4WD couple's 'spooky' discovery 🪼 Toxic sea creatures 'joined in a line' on Aussie beach spark urgent warning Hopkins said symptoms can come in quite quickly in dogs in particular and the best thing to do if ingestion occurs is to seek out the nearest vet. "You'll see immediate symptoms from them having mouthed the sea hare, and then usually within hours, you're seeing those systemic signs," he told Yahoo. "It's often hard with these inquisitive dogs, they'll find a random washed up item or animal and we do see that [poisonings] sometimes after mass beaching events with jellyfish and other venomous animals. Their toxicity comes from their diet — primarily red and green algae — which contain compounds that can be harmful if ingested. The ink contains a mix of secondary metabolites, some of which can be irritating or toxic to other marine organisms. Symptoms in dogs can include vomiting, drooling, lethargy, tremors, seizures and death in severe cases. While not all sea hares are equally toxic, ingestion is risky, and pet owners are advised to keep their animals away from these creatures when they wash up. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
