There are some songs where the rhythm is just so, for me, so important, like "Sing A Simple Song." How did that come about.

[plays] "I'm walking, walking, walking in my sleep." That's my part. Yeah, that was a funky song.

…

[plays] Funk.

"I Want to Take You Higher." Now that's a song that _______. Tell us about that.

[plays and sings] That song did take Woodstock out. In fact, you see that? I just happen to have on my Woodstock, see it? 1969. When I think of that, the, the thing that was most amazing about Woodstock was there was no way you could anticipate what was going to happen.

Higher, higher. [plays and sings] That was my part right. When I play "Higher" I think of Woodstock. That was the most phenomenal gig. I mean no one could possibly anticipate what was going to be taking place at Woodstock. I mean, how could you prepare for half a million people. But aside from that, how could a band prepare in their minds and hearts to perform for that many people. I mean it's, maybe it's better that we didn't know it was going to be like that humongous. And the, the energy that, that was flowing on the stage at that time, I mean it just kept rising and rising and rising and rising. And what really went it in to high gear is when we finished, because our set was pretty continuous, when we stopped playing, the roar of the audience, half a million people, yayyyy. I mean I had never heard anything like that in my life. And, and that just sent us into another zone. That's what you hear in "Higher." You hear another zone that we entered into. I mean, it took us out, the people took us out, and then what they got from us took them out. I mean it was just a wonderful interchange that I don't think anything has happened like that since, not for me at least. But because of that, once you enter into a new zone musically, you're kind of like aware of an area that you can tap into that you never went before. And that, uh, we were able to get into that for other festivals we played. For example, in Germany, it must have been about 250,000 in a festival we played there, which was a fabulous concert. I remember standing behind Jimi Hendrix's amps when he was playing. And he was doing his backbends -- woowowowowo. And he went on going on, doing a backbend and he popped his pants. And he ran behind the amplifier to fix his pants, and I had my camera and was shooting all kinds of pictures and stuff. But my camera, my film got messed up. It must have went through radar or something you know at the airport or something. I don't know, something kind of went my films. I had some great shots. But anyway, that show was like great. And some of the energy that we had gotten from Woodstock, the zone we entered into, we started being able to get into that zone more often now. We played also the Isle of Wight, off the coast of England, and that was a big festival that had maybe three or four hundred thousand. Some have said half a million. I don't know. It was a lot of people, right? And uh, after that, I think that all of that contributed to the wreckage that, that followed. I mean once you tasted something like that, it does something to you, you know. I guess maybe that's why I'm wearing my Woodstock t-shirt today. This is the same shirt that I had all the way since back in 1969. I was so impressed by the concert, I never took this _________ off. It's still, feels a little starchy now. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. I just got this shirt about a week ago really. And this friend of mine that was up in Reno and saw it sitting there and made them think about me, and so they took it up and bought it for me. And it just really sent me back to my thoughts about Woodstock. Because they tried to redo it, and I'm sure what they did recently with the new Woodstock was, was good. I hear positive things. But I don't think there'll ever be another one like the old one, the original, the first one. At least not for me.

Did you at any point when you heard about the regathering at Woodstock, want to be back there with the Family Stone.

Not only at that time that it was announced when there was going to be another Woodstock. But at other times too. You know, when you're that close to band members, like a family, it did become a family affair. And it's like being raised up almost like with your fleshly family, that, uh, your fleshly brothers and sisters and if something happens, everybody grow up and you go your own way, and pursue your own life, you still miss that being together. You're happy as an individual, uh, but you still look back on the days when the family was together gathering around the table, and mom bring out some chicken and the biscuits and stuff, and everybody fighting over that, gimme that, that's mine, that's mine. So as a family we did a lot of things together as the Family Stone. We bought motorcycles together. You know, we used to go riding on the beach and stuff, you know, had these bad bikes, you know. And then we got into T-birds together. I still have mine. It's a '55 Thunderbird, screaming orange with an orange paisley top. Psychedelic. You know, and Sly's was purpose with a purple paisley top and Freddie's was pink. I mean, can you imagine us driving into Las Vegas right, with these T-birds, with these paisley topped pink and purple and orange and long hair and these strange clothes. And people were like, who was that? What's up with them? But they was packing the clubs and seeing, you know, seeing what we were about. But it was like, you miss, you miss those musical events. Because uh, musically we reached and tapped into some zones that, hooo. I don't know if anyone else in the band has been able to tap into those zones by themselves or with any other group members. I love my group, Graham Central Station, of course, and I think that we went into some nice zones ourselves. And I look back at a lot of the music that we were able to get into, for example, "Release Yourself." Uh, we got into a serious zone on that, especially life, and the jam, and things like that. But it was different, you know. It was different, it had its own powerful and positive energies about it. But the Sly and the Family Stone zone was different, you know. And I loved both of them. But sometimes I think about the Sly and the Family Stone, especially when the Woodstock thing came up, you know, hmm, wouldn't it be nice if. You know? But you never know. You know, maybe it's better left the way it was, or maybe something will happen to allow that to come together again for a brief moment, who knows? And anyway I can say that I've had the experience. And I can always go back and put on my video tape, and you know, check out Woodstock, or I can go pick up my bass and play "Higher." Did you get my last word, higher?

Well, actually, uh, there's not a whole lot I can tell you because the group of course was in a protected zone, speaking of zones. So a lot of what went on would take place between management, road management --

Well, there was a lot went on in Boston. But of course, a lot of those things that went on, the group was kind of like in a protected zone, so to speak. So we would hear little bits and pieces of different things. But most of the, the things would be handled by road managers and managers, and different people that would be on the road with us. So we didn't really have any direct confrontations. But it got a little strange up there, you know, but it all turned out positive. You know, the people loved the music, and that's the bottom line. If they get a chance to hear it and they love it, regardless of what went on surrounding it, it kind of disappears into the space zone.

Down South, Jerry Martini was telling me that they really didn't _______ integrated, and hippies and long hair so and so. [INAUDIBLE]

Well, in the, the South, the, the problems that I recall. I mean of course you're going to run into confrontations because, um, you know, you're an integrated group, you know, and stuff, so you'd run into those kinds of problems. But uh, we also ran into a few problems because of, uh, the flag too. There was a red, white and black flag that would be hung in front of the organ. In fact on the album, let me see that CD right there. This CD right here, this particular concert, at Madison Square Garden, now if you could see me, which you can't, I don't think it's in the insert anywhere. But if you could see a picture of me, nope, it's not here. But I have on a red, white and black flag. And see it was like red and white stripes all the way down like a robe, it was all the way down to the floor. The collar was black with white stars on it --

Now down South we did run into, uh, a few problems down there. I mean having an integrated group, uh, doing those times, and where the world was at that time, there were a few problems we'd run into because of that. But we ran into a few problems too, um, because of the fact that there would be a red, white and black flag hanging in front of the organ. And sometimes I'd wear a robe that looked like a flag. It was red and white stripes all the way down, the robe was down to the floor, and I had a black collar with white stars on it. So it was a flag, a red, white and black flag. And we would run into a few problems, not only in the South, but other places with that. This flag business, because some folks had their opinions about that.

Well, the white was for the, the white race, and the black was for the black race, and the red was for the red race, is, is what the thought was at the time. In other words the colors in the flag pertaining to the races. Um, so, that was, that was the thought at that time. And you know, when you start getting into certain areas you may encounter certain little negatives, uh, about, about that. Um, I'm sure that when Hendrix did the "Star Spangled Banner" in his fashion, you know, there was some people that had something to say about that. Some people loved it, some people didn't. So, you know, sometimes when you express yourself in certain ways, you find, you find some people that are gonna love it, and you're going to find some people that's gonna hate it, you know. So with that, that was a feeling at the time, it was like an expression, um, a thought that was being expressed, and that's how we were doing it.

After Woodstock took you into the ____ zone here. It seemed like you were at that zone for a good year, and then things began to slowly disintegrate for the band and with Sly. When you finally left the band, when did you leave an why did you leave?

I left the band about 1970, '71, something like that. '70, '71. In fact Riot, "There's A Riot Goin' On" was about the last album that I actually played. There was some cuts that came out later that I had played on before.

Before Riot was released after. This would probably be '72 if it was after Riot was released.

I'm not absolutely sure it was released before I left or after. It was close, the time period was very close. So I couldn't say --

Describe your feelings when you left the band.

Well, Sly and the Family Stone had been, um, a close family like organization band. And uh, you, you feel like this is something that's going to be together forever. It's like when you're part of a family, you're going to always be a part of that family. I mean, I'm always part of the Graham family, that's something that's going to be forever. Certain things you can get hooked into or locked into that you start feeling the same way about that. But it's not necessarily the case. It could be a job. A person could have a job, and they really love their job, and they think well hey I'm going to be with this company forever. And then when it's not like that one day, you're kind of like, oh wow, you know. And that's what happened with, with me. Things weren't the way they were in the beginning. You know. And so I ended up, well, actually Greg Errico left before I did. And uh, I left, must have '70, '71, something like that. And my last gig was the Coliseum in uh, in Los Angeles. And uh, when I left, I didn't really plan to start my own band or anything like that. In fact I didn't know exactly what I was going to do musically, uh, what my next thing would be, project. But I put together this band called Hot Chocolate. Well, we called it Hot Chocolate. It's not the same band that had some hit records out later, but this was our Hot Chocolate, right? And I said, well, I'm going to write and produce them, and that's really what my next project was going to be. Not when I left the group, but later on when it turned out to be. So I started writing and producing them. And one night we were playing a, a gig, they were playing a gig at a place called Bimbo's in San Francisco. And the last song I went and sat in with the band. And uh, there was something that just clicked with the, with the chemistry. We went into a zone. And the people just, you know, went off. And it was obvious at that moment that this was the next thing. It wasn't going to be Hot Chocolate, it was going to be this group with me. And uh, then later I came up with the name Graham Central Station, and then that was the beginning of that. That turned out to be the next thing. And some people say that the next thing, uh, well, they, they would sometimes make a connection between Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station, naturally because of me. And uh, in fact, in fact, one time, uh, Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station were almost on the same bill in Washington, DC. And uh, people were flying in from different parts of the country to see this show. Graham Central Station, Sly and the Family Stone, Capitol Center, Washington, DC. About 22,000 people inside, broke all attendance records, you know, and about 5 or 6000 people outside that wanted to come in, and they ended up, as I heard, uh, they tore the doors down, and came in the place. And the place was just packed, you know. And uh, the promoter came in the room and told me, he said, you know something has come up and Sly's not going to be able to make it. And uh, I was kind of wondering if you would go out there and tell the people.