Well, we'd like to say we're glad to be here.

Tell him, Fred.

There was a guy who used to hang out because -- hey, you know, you can come to my house because they're…

Remember Peavey man?

You can ask my grandma.

A certain party we all know and love. We will not call that party's name. Please no people listening.

How about Warren and John-John from New York.

Oh man.

Who was the guy with the Harley, the three-wheel.

Warren.

The one who slept in the coffin.

The one that I punched in the stomach that time.

The third degree black belt used to kick him and punch him in the stomach for exercise.

Did a video back in those days, it was "Everyday People" and he was in it.

Sure was.

Lunch pail coffin. He used to eat a dozen eggs.

Raw.

But he used to come from place to place, you going to eat that? Pile it on a plate. And it would be everything from a steak sandwich to waffles --

Including the bones.

And he'd just put syrup all over.

He ate my dog, I remember.

He made those leather jackets for my drums.

And you couldn't hurt him.

He was an amazing person.

A strange fellow.

Well, just 'cause he slept in a coffin.

Remember that time on stage, remember that on the stage, when you guys, uh, when you guys, uh, I'm trying to think of that time when he came on the stage.

Warren?

Yeah.

And decided then to demonstrate that he couldn't be hurt.

Right.

It might've been the Garden.

And then I came out, obviously that I couldn't hurt him. It looked like I was the one that knocked him out.

And it was on A Street, in the Village.

The Circus.

The Circus, that's what it was.

The Electric Circus.

Cool place.

It really was, it really was cool. Especially all the bodyguards we had.

I hit him with my thumb

and he fell down, to this day he's still laying on the ground.

He's still out. He had that coffin, when he got too big for the coffin he had to cut it in half, and he had it turned in this, he put it on the back of his three-wheeler.

You see that coffin kinda struck a nerve.

The reason I'm laughing, if you see this guy, he couldn't get too big for the coffin. He couldn't get any bigger.

You'd have to see it to understand.

You'd have to see it.

Had to be there.

He couldn't get too big for the coffin.

We're ready when you are.

Well, talking about the Electric Circus.

Now, whatever you do, don't sing your answer.

Okay.

Sing your part, then everybody gets nervous.

We're ready.

How long is the first, how many segments, while we're sitting, how long is this segment of conversation, dialogue, right here. In other words are we going to go on for five, ten minutes and then stop, something like that.

Tell me about the Electric Circus.

Tell me about the Electric Circus. Do you remember the first time, what the music scene was like at the time.

When we went to New York, before we, uh, began to really get started into what I'd call a good training ground, uh, we went there and we were looking for a place to stay. And we went all over the place, and the place they had given us to say, I'm telling you, it had great big holes in walls and we could tell where rats had been fighting. And you know, it was terrible, so we decided we weren't going to stay there. And they told us, they said, well, all the rock 'n' rollers stay here. We said, well, we're not going to stay here. We -- remember that?

Yeah.

We walked, we walked, we walked, we walked.

Stayed up all night.

I don't even want to name the name but, but it was terrible.

People were walking in the lobby barefooted.

It was terrible. But that was our introduction, that was our introduction to, okay, you're coming from San Francisco, so now you're going to New York, right. So we think we're going to New York, right, and when we get to New York, and we thought all these people, you know, loved us, and they gave us this big buildup, you're going to make it, and all this, and they sent us to the Albert Hotel. We said, oh no, we're not going to stay here, we couldn't do that. So we ended up getting another place to stay. But when we went to the Electric Circus, talking about a very warm place and a good training for us, and we got just super tight there. It was really great, it was really cool. We had, uh, great friends there, it was really warm, it was always packed. All kinds of people came, we took, I'll let somebody else talk. I, I could talk for days. But uh, do you still remember that.

Remember what, Fred?

What was the question anyway?

No, taking the subway to the gig.

And you know how we used to dress.

Yeah.

We'd take the subway from 57th, between 6th and 7th --

That's right.

BMT.

To 8th Street in the Village. And we'd do it together because that was the only protection we had.

We used to wear electric color clothes then when it was, nobody else was doing that. I remember I had these bright orange pants. And people on the subway would, they'd move away. When you’d sit down.

That was your protection.

Yeah, and don't mess with me I got orange pants on.

But the people there, they loved us, it was great. We had a lot of, the bodyguards there were always, they were all self-defense experts, you know. And uh, it was great. Uh, the kinds of things that we did, it was easy to do. In fact, to this day if someone were to ask I believe each one of us, where was the warmest place we ever played, even though we live here on the West Coast, uh, everyone would say it was New York. I mean New York treated us like home. I mean, that's just what they would say, they were just warm. And one thing about it, and, and when we played there, if you weren't good, if you weren't polished, if you weren't together, they'd let you know. Okay. And so, so we made sure that we were together, we were polished.

They can be your best friends or worst enemy, New York. That's right.

They'd even come to see, the people in New York even come to see you for different reasons than they do on the West Coast. They come to see what you have to say. To see if you really have that substance that they heard on the radio. They come to, they come to see your, your technical skills. They come to enjoy. They don't really come to see if you got string hanging, what's she wearing today. Oh, those shoes don't look good on her honey. You know, they really come to enjoy you, and if you don't give it to them, they'll tell us.

They know just where you are.

They'll kill you.

When the word gets around, there won't be nobody at the next gig.

Show 'em your scars Jerry.

See my thumb, they broke my thumb there.

What were you playing back then, what tunes?

That was our first album period. So "Dance to the Music" but we did a lot of stuff from --

That first album too.

Right the "Whole New Thing" album which was at that time kind of Avant-garde.

Yeah, actually when we first doing the Electric Circus, it was before the -- like our first album was really, was really the roots of Sly and the Family Stone. When the music started, it wasn't, it didn't have really, I'd say, I don't think it had any commercial considerations at all. You know, the first record. And um, I mean it was probably more personal, musically, and vocally, everything. Because "Dance to the Music" didn't come out, that was the third album. So the second album was another step maybe closer. "Life" was the second album. And those were kind of reaching out more like to, it was kind of in between leaving us, going to the people, the audience, and then the third album would probably be really boring, where you just reach out.

Yeah, and we don't remember anything after that.

Now the scene you all came out of was different from other music scenes. The West Coast was different. There was something else happening. And Greg, you started out on the West Coast, didn't you.

Well, yeah, well yeah, I was born and raised in San Francisco. But I mean there was, you know, everybody really, I mean, like Rose and Freddie grew up here. Jerry, grew up --

Sacramento.

Sacramento.

San Francisco.

Well, Greg and I, we were in a group together. We had a group before that.

And Sly and I had a group together.

And then Jerry was playing with Sly. And Rose came in every once in a while.

Wait, I got to tell you how I came in. I was the ticket girl. We had this club. Remember Boopy's? Boopy's? I was the ticket girl. And whenever they would hire somebody to come in, like some artist that was you know popular in those days, if they didn't show up, c'mon, Rose, you got to sing tonight.

She was on the bench.

So I had two gigs. I was in whoever's band at the time.

Freddie and I had a group called the Stone Souls. And I was literally, the night that the group started, the Family Stone started, I was, went over to the house for rehearsal for the Stone Souls. There was no talk about anything. And they were in the kitchen eating. I remember, Fred, your mother said, c'mon, they're in the kitchen. And I walked in there and you and Sly, and I think Rose too were sitting at the table eating some chicken. And I go where is everybody. You know, I'm expecting -- and they go, Freddie looks up, he goes, we're going to start, we're starting a new group tonight, you want to do it? I go, well, I'm here, I might as well, you know. And, uh, I wasn't that sarcastic. And uh, and everybody showed up, Cynthia, Jerry, Larry Graham. And we started rehearsing in the basement, five days straight. Starting that night. And the following week we did our first gig.

You know what else? See what happened when we had the group, I had a group, Sly had a group. [Overlapping talk] Cynthia, it was -- [Overlapping talk]. Okay look, Sly was on the air as a disk jockey, and after he'd leave the radio, he'd go down to this club. That's where him and Cynthia, uh, Rose would come in every once in a while and play. Jerry had, had, had been playing with him before so he knew him very well. Okay, that's at Bo-Peep. And so, and then, the other days we would come, my group. Well, see our group, Freddie and the Stone Souls, we'd blow them out of the water. And the reason why because they didn't rehearse, okay, we rehearsed -- isn't that the truth -- we rehearsed all the time, but see, some of those guys were a little bit older and so they kind of --

We had day jobs, more or less.

You know, they had been playing a little while, so we'd blow them out of the water. Anyway, Sly came to me one day, he says, look, why don't we get together and have one group. Get the very best musicians that you have out of your group and I'll get the very best musicians I know. Okay, so I, I went and did an inventory. And, and Greg was automatic because he was just phenomenal then and now.

See, Sly was searching all along too, he had been looking for about six months.

Sure. But when I told, when I said, I said, look, I got the drummer. We don't need to get a drummer. I said I got the drummer, I know I have the drummer, and it's Greg. And when he heard Greg he said, yeah, he's the drummer.

What is it about Greg that made him the drummer.

Let me tell you something about Greg. Same thing that, same thing that he has now, Greg then, not only, not only then, but even now, he had a way of playing, he was his own drummer, he had his own stuff. He came like, he was unique within himself. You know, and unique things always stand out. Greg is powerful, and I liked drummers that played with power plus he could play in time. See a lot of drummers can play, but they can't play a long time powerfully in time. That's why they come out with the rhythm machine, because the drummer, he got slower halfway down the set. But Greg wouldn't do that. He was, I don't care how long we played, Greg was there, keeping time, playing powerful, doing all the licks, all the riffs. And he was just energetic, plus he was creative. And when you have all of that plus a creative musicians, then you know that person's going to help you be creative. And not only that, not only about Greg, but that's what it was about Rose and, and Jerry and Cynthia and Larry is just that they were all unique within themselves, plus they were creative. And when you got all that going and then Sly is up here at the, at the helm, it's not hard to come together with something when you have people who are creative and he would give us the skeleton of a song, and then he would say, okay, what do you do with that. Okay, and then he would just let us go. Because he knew what we were going to come out with -- we were all, you know, when you get musicians together, you know, you're not creative really by yourself. But if someone, someone walks in the room, all of a sudden creative juices begin to flow. You know, and then, that's the way it would always work. And we just fused together and we became like family because we really were a family. I mean, if you, if you messed with one of us, you messed with all of us.

Amen, that's right.

You know, that's the way it was then, and that's the way it is now.

I remember I got slapped on the back of the head -- [Overlapping talk]

We'd be walking through an audience sometimes, and some people who had the long hair, some of the guys would come up and whack him on the back of the head, and Sly would turn around and say, who did that? And he would like, Sly would jump up and be ready to fight for me. It was interesting.

Speaking of slaps on the back of the head, if you could tell me about being down South. Because I understand that, I mean, we know about the racism, but evidently you and Greg as long-haired white boys had problems.

That's when I'd get slapped in the back of the head. But actually I think it was in Detroit or someplace, we were in a building we were walking into, a very tight area, and I got hit really hard in the back of the head, and I made it be known, and everybody was right there, uh, standing up, you know?

You had told me something about when you were down south and they wouldn't let you into the hotel, like there were a place for black folks, a place for white folks --

Oh yeah, Greg and I had to sleep in the truck. They'd say, we know what to do with you, but we don't know, we don't know what the heck to do with you. Y'all gonna have to sleep in the truck. I remember Larry, Larry snuck us in his window one night, we'd sleep on the floor at this hotel. It was some craziness happening then.

I would like you to backtrack for a moment, because I need to hear you say that …your long hair, because I need to paint this picture and the fact that it was in the South.

Yeah, when we first started, uh, playing in the south, they had never seen anybody like that. First it's an integrated band, coming there wearing wild clothes. Greg and I with the long hair and the beards and the wild look in the eyes and everything, they just didn't know what to make of us. So that's like we would pull up to the hotels, and they, they wouldn't even let Greg and I go into the hotels. So we had to stay out in the truck.

Everybody else got rooms.

That's a switch isn't it?

Yeah, nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah.

And not only that, I, I, I, I also remember that down in the south where we were playing, it's kind of like they, they were treating, they treat you as an entertainer differently. It's almost like, uh, it's almost like you, you have favor now, because you're an entertainer. And you know, you, you, your children, your youngsters are coming to watch this group and we're the group. And they kind of give us favor. But if you're not an entertainer it's not like that. That's the way it was then. I don't know how it is now. But I'll tell you the truth, it was really great. Every place that we played, um, sometimes, there would be some places where we were sort of, talked to some of the groups of that day, uh, uh, activists, wanted us to do certain things. And I remember that. And, and, uh, we would never, uh, take a position that we didn't actually believe in, and but, we were asked to do it more than once. And uh, we turned it down, we wouldn't do that. And um, there were times when, I know my brother, there was a threat on his life, um, because of certain things like that. But we wouldn't compromise what we believed in. There was something about each member of the group, not to be old-fashioned, but all of us had somewhat of a religious background, and so there were some like old-fashioned morals that we were just, you know, brought up on. And we held, basically we held onto those. And so there were some things that we wouldn't tolerate and wouldn't compromise, we wouldn't compromise our position. And um, it made us closer together. You know, we stayed together no matter what, no matter where we went. If we went to a place and it was basically white, it didn't change. If we went to a place that was basically black it didn't change. If we went to down in Kentucky or up at the Apollo, it didn't change, we were one.

What I wanted to talk about, Madison Square Garden. I understand that the first time you all performed there, people… Do you remember what it was like when you all did "Higher"?

Yeah. When we did "Higher", when we did "Higher", I think this was the first time we played, yeah it was the first time, Madison Square Garden, we did "Higher", they actually had, uh, before we, "Higher" I think was the last song and then we went off, and they were calling for an encore. They held us back because the engineers and the manager of the stadium, uh, and the fire department there got scared because when we were doing "Higher" we had everybody in unison going up and down raising "Higher" and the building was actually going about two or three feet from vertically up and down. And they, that was, I think that would've been scary for anybody. And so that had never happened before. And they actually had stopped us, paused for a while before they let us go back on. They had to discuss it and all this going on. And uh, and then they let us go back on. But I remember that, that was pretty significant.

I remember the police dancing too. That was so funny to see the policemen -- everybody.

Well, we had fun, everybody would get in on it.

Well, you know, Sly had a way of, uh, there were times when they would, where the police and the people that were putting it on would be somewhat fearful that the, the audience would get out of control. But Sly had a way of always talking to the audience in a way -- they had barriers, they would have barriers up, you can't come past this barrier. Well, he had a way out of communicating with the people. He'd tell them drop the barrier. People would come right up, they behaved themselves.

They monitored themselves, yeah, remember?

Remember that? They would always monitor themselves.

We've got to stop for just a moment.