‘Sly Lives! AKA The Burden Of Black Genius’ Review: Questlove’s Passionate Doc Pays Long Overdue Homage To The Black Elvis – Sundance Film Festival
deadline.comThere’s a riot going on in Questlove’s follow-up to the Oscar-winning concert doc Summer of Soul, not least in the wardrobe department.
Blazing a trail for the funkadelic/glam rock ’70s with metallic, tasselled jumpsuits that often literally tied themselves up with a bow in the middle, Sly Stone is long overdue a film about his part in reconfiguring the face of popular music.
Everyone remembers—or, more importantly, is routinely obliged to remember—Elvis Presley and The Doors showing their faces on The Ed Sullivan Show.
But less often highlighted is the 1968 appearance by Sly and the Family Stone, which saw its charismatic singer jump into the largely white, middle-aged male audience during a rousing medley of hits that included snippets of a song that would soon become “I Want to Take You Higher” (unlike The Door’s Jim Morrison, Stone somehow snuck the h-word past the show’s producers).
Read more on deadline.com
