Sigh

Well, Sly Stone was a trainwreck last night. I'm too depressed to write about it, so I'll post a description written by Jim DeRogatis of The Chicago Sun-Times.

The much-ballyhooed tribute to Sly and the Family Stone turned out to be one of the strangest -- and saddest -- moments in Grammy history.

It started out strong, with the trio of Joss Stone, John Legend and Van Hunt kicking off a medley of the legendary soul band's hits. But things started to fly off the rails with a procession of guest stars who had absolutely no musical connection to Sly, including Maroon 5, and Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.

Then things went beyond weird and got positively bizarre. Doing his first major public performance (sort of) in 19 years, Sly, 61, came out wearing a blonde mohawk, hunched over in a silver cape, and mumbled part of "I Want to Take You Higher" in a nearly inaudible voice. And then -- he wandered offstage again, clearly surprising the musicians, who seemed to expect a little bit more.

Stone remains one of the most tragic burnouts in rock history. After his pioneering work in the late '60s and early '70s, he dropped out of the music scene and became increasingly reclusive and dependent on drugs. It was with no small irony that his segment was introduced by comedian Dave Chappelle.

"The only thing harder than leaving show business is coming back," said the comedian, who is currently learning that the hard way -- after returning from his own departure at the height of his comedy career.