Back when I worked for a company that was headquartered in NYC, I used to send my colleagues an annual homemade mix CD of Texas music as a Christmas present. Although my local tastes tended towards the alt-country, I always tried to be eclectic and have at least one "You mean he's from Texas?" on every edition.

My ace in the hole was always Sly (and the Family) Stone. Sly was born in Dallas in 1944, although the family (with a small "f") moved to California in the early 50's.

But Sly is a native son, and well deserving of recognition for his pioneering integrated band and eclectic sounds. (His version of "Que Sera Sera" was the hit of the final edition of my holiday mix.)

A Sly renaissance is in the air: He gets the remix/tribute treatment on a new CD, and rumors abound that he may pop up for a performance on tomorrow's Grammy show.

Just putting this out for future consideration: I'd love to see a Dallas-based music festival dedicated to bringing together musicians of disparate genres. And it should be named in honor of Sylvester Stewart.


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