Did you know that “Sly and the Family Stone” were originally two bands? In 1966, Sly Stone formed a band called “Sly and the Stoners” and at the same time, Freddie Stone formed a band called “Freddie and the Stone Souls.” In 1967, the brothers combined their bands.

In 1968, the latest incarnation of Madison Square Garden opened in the heart of NYC. By the 1970s, the arena was the premier showcase for music's biggest stars.

With the '00s ending and MSG's renovation scheduled to begin in 2010, we have four decades of classic concerts and one question: What's The Garden's greatest show?  Each week in November, MSG will give you a chance to vote on shows from each different decade, starting with the 70’s.

Sly & the Family Stone performed at MSG back in June 1974. Concertgoers got a little something extra at this show – front man Sly Stone married model/actress Kathy Silva onstage.

To vote for Sly & the Family Stone, or any other of the 1970’s shows, go to http://msg.com/100best/

1980’s poll opens Monday, November 9
1990’s poll opens Monday, November 16
2000’s poll opens Monday, November 23

A unique product from Sony Music / Legacy Recordings, Sly & The Family Stone's Greatest Hits (Limited Edition Collector's Crate) combines a classic album, t-shirt, and a custom storage crate, perfect for fans and gift-givers alike!

If you're already a registered Woodstock.com community member you're already entered. If you haven't registered yet then please do so. The prize pack includes: The Woodstock Experience (Limited Edition Complete CD Box Set), Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music (40th Anniversary Ultimate DVD Collector's edition), Autographed copy of The Road To Woodstock, Ang Lee Autographed Taking Woodstock Poster, Woodstock - 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm box set. Check it out!

This summer celebrates the 40th Anniversary or what Rolling Stone called "the most famous event in rock history", of the original Woodstock Music & Art Fair.  In the summer of 1969, 500,000 people and 32 musical performances came together in Bethel, New York, for an event that sufused our culture, politically and socially, as much as musically.  During that summer, five of those acts, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Winter, Santana, and Sly & the Family Stone, had also recorded albums for Sony Music Entertainment labels, and for the first time next Tuesday, the Woodstock Experience series combines those albums along with the music from their festival performance. 
 
VH1 and Rhapsody are giving you the opportunity to hear Sly & The Family Stone Woodstock Experience before you can buy it through The Leak.  Simply to go VH1 The Leak to preview this great album.  And look for all five Woodstock Experience releases on Tuesday, June 30.

The spirit of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair of 1969 resonates 40 summers later, as if it were just yesterday.

In 1969, five acts recorded albums for the Columbia, Epic, and RCA labels (divisions of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT) and brought their music to Max Yasgur’s farm that summer. For the first time, THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE couples those albums with music from the festival, providing a pocket portrait of what each artist and band was experiencing during 1969. Available at all physical and digital retail outlets starting June 30th – in newly-designed eco-friendly 2CD packages (see details below) – will be the following five titles:

· JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(RCA/Legacy) Includes Volunteers, their sixth and final album with the original lineup before all the changes came in 1970, with “We Can Be Together,” “Good Shepherd,” “Wooden Ships,” “Eskimo Blue Day,” and the title tune; coupled with 13 songs from their Sunday wee-hours set at the festival, including six previously unissued live tracks.
· JANIS JOPLIN - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Columbia/Legacy) Includes I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, her first and only solo album released during her lifetime, with “Try (Just A Little Bit Harder),” the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” and Rodgers & Hart’s “Little Girl Blue”; coupled with her entire 10-song festival set, including three previously unissued live tracks.
· SANTANA - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Columbia/Legacy) Includes the debut Santana LP, with “Evil Ways,” “Savor,” “Persuasion,” “Soul Sacrifice,” and Olatunji’s “Jingo”; coupled with their entire 8-song set, including one previously unissued live track;
· SLY & THE FAMILY STONE – THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Epic/Legacy) Includes their breakthrough fourth album, Stand!, with “Every,,day People,” “Sing A Simple Song,” “Stand!” and “I Want To Take You Higher”; coupled with their entire 8-song set, including seven previously unissued live tracks.
· JOHNNY WINTER - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Columbia/Legacy) Includes the debut Johnny Winter solo LP, with homages to Robert Johnson (“When You Got A Good Friend”), Sonny Boy Williamson (“Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”), Lightnin’ Hopkins (“Back Door Friend”) and B.B. King (“Be Careful With A Fool”); coupled with eight songs from his Sunday evening set at the festival, including seven previously unissued live tracks.

Each THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE disc will be packaged inside a mini-LP cover with inner paper sleeves: CD-one replicating the front and back covers of the original LP, and CD-two featuring iconic photography of the artist performing at the festival. These mini-LPs will be housed in a paper-board slipcase sharing continuity of design recognition across all five packages. The slipcase will also contain a two-sided 16x20-inch fold-out poster, with one side displaying iconic photography of the artist performing at the festival, and the other side displaying a classic crowd shot of the audience.

The upcoming 40th anniversary celebration includes such highly-anticipated projects as Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock (which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, starring Demetri Martin, Liev Schreiber and Emile Hirsch, via Focus Features); and Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang’s The Road To Woodstock, written with Holly George-Warren (on HarperCollins’ Ecco imprint).

Announced in April, Sony Music Entertainment has teamed with Woodstock Ventures to launch Woodstock.com, a a cutting edge live music social network for all concerts, including complete artist and event information, access to ticketing, concert reviews, music, blogs, and a forum to connect with other fan events throughout the world. There will be platforms for environmental initiatives, social issues, and other current topics. Visitors to the site can meet on a virtual village green, a platform for developing initiatives about global warming, carbon emissions, and responsible energy use.

The spirit of the Woodstock Generation continues to be a thriving and dynamic force in society because the communal ideas expressed in the music of those artists still resounds loud and clear. The social and political and cultural concerns that informed their lives and music in 1969 are still with us today. And there has never been any better way of experiencing the tumultuous events of 1969 than through the music.

Details of the five THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE titles are as follows:

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Volunteers, RCA/Legacy 88697 48240 2, originally issued April 1969, as RCA Victor 4238)
Disc One – Selections: 1. We Can Be Together 2. Good Shepherd 3. The Farm 4. Hey Frederick 5. Turn My Life Down 6. Wooden Ships 7. Eskimo Blue Day 8. A Song For All Seasons 9. Meadowlands 10. Volunteers (Recorded Live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969: PART ONE) 11. Introduction (previously unissued) 12. The Other Side of This Life (previously unissued) 13. Somebody To Love 14. 3/15 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds (previously unissued) 15. Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon 16. Eskimo Blue Day.
Disc Two (Recorded live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969: PART TWO) – Selections: 1. Plastic Fantastic Lover 2. Wooden Ships (previously unissued) 3. Uncle Sam Blues 4. Volunteers 5. The Ballad of You & Me & Pooneil (previously unissued) 6. Come Back Baby (previously unissued) 7. White Rabbit 8. The House At Pooneil Corners (previously unissued).

JANIS JOPLIN - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, Columbia/Legacy 88697 48243 2, originally issued October 1969, as Columbia 9913)
Disc One – Selections: 1. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) 2. Maybe 3. One Good Man 4. As Good As You’ve Been To This World 5. To Love Somebody 6. Kozmic Blues 7. Little Girl Blue 8. Work Me, Lord.
Disc Two (Recorded live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Saturday, August 16, 1969) – Selections: 1. Raise Your Hand (previously unissued) 2. As Good As You’ve Been To This World (previously unissued) 3. To Love Somebody 4. Summertime 5. Try (Just A Little Bit Harder) 6. Kozmic Blues 7. Can’t Turn You Loose (previously unissued) 8. Work Me, Lord 9. Piece Of My Heart 10. Ball & Chain.

SANTANA - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Santana, Columbia/Legacy 88697 48242 2, originally issued August 1969, as Columbia 9781)
Disc One – Selections: 1. Waiting 2. Evil Ways 3. Shades Of Time 4. Savor 5. Jingo 6. Persuasion 7. Treat 8. You Just Don’t Care 9. Soul Sacrifice.
Disc Two (Recorded live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Saturday, August 16, 1969) – Selections: 1. Waiting 2. Evil Ways (previously unissued) 3. You Just Don’t Care 4. Savor 5. Jingo 6. Persuasion 7. Soul Sacrifice 8. Fried Neckbones.

SLY & THE FAMILY STONE - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Stand!, Epic/Legacy 88697 48241 2, originally issued April 1969, as Epic 26456)
Disc One – Selections: 1. Stand! 2. Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey 3. I Want To Take You Higher 4. Somebody’s Watching You 5. Sing A Simple Song 6. Everyday People 7. Sex Machine 8. You Can Make It If You Try.
Disc Two (Recorded live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17, 1969) – Selections: 1. M’Lady (previously unissued) 2. Sing A Simple Song (previously unissued) 3. You Can Make It If You Try (previously unissued) 4. Everyday People (previously unissued) 5. Dance To The Music 6. MEDLEY: Music Lover / Higher 7. I Want To Take You Higher (previously unreleased) 8. Love City 9. Stand! (previously unissued)

JOHNNY WINTER - THE WOODSTOCK EXPERIENCE
(Johnny Winter, Columbia/Legacy 88697 48244 2, originally issued May 1969, as Columbia 9826)
Disc One – Selections: 1. I’m Yours And I’m Hers 2. Be Careful With A Fool 3. Dallas 4. Mean Mistreater 5. Leland Mississippi Blues 6. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl 7. When You Got A Good Friend 8. I’ll Drown In My Own Tears 9. Back Door Friend.
Disc Two (Recorded live at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, Sunday, August 17-Monday, August 18, 1969) – Selections: 1. Mama, Talk To Your Daughter (previously unissued) 2. Leland Mississippi Blues 3. Mean Town Blues 4. You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now (previously unissued) 5. I Can’t Stand It (with Edgar Winter) (previously unissued) 6. Tobacco Road (with Edgar Winter) (previously unissued) 7. Tell The Truth (with Edgar Winter) (previously unissued) 8. Johnny B. Goode (previously unissued).

Woodstock Ventures has teamed with Sony Music Entertainment to launch Woodstock.com, the official website for the Woodstock community.

Woodstock.com will feature a cutting edge live music social network for all concerts, including complete artist and event information, access to ticketing, concert reviews, blogs and a forum to connect with other fan events throughout the world. There will be platforms for environmental initiatives, social issues, and other current topics. Visitors to the site can meet on a virtual village green, a platform for developing initiatives about global warming, carbon emissions, and responsible energy use. A special interactive portion of the site will make clear to the world which issues are of the greatest importance to the Woodstock community. And of course, the site will be the ultimate source for all things Woodstock -- exclusive interviews, guest editors, audio-visual content, rare photographs and other memorabilia with an online store offering a wide variety of goods including fine art prints of never-before-seen photography, music, film, collectables, apparel and books.

Woodstock.com will also offer a platform where fans can share their experiences from all of the Woodstock Festivals (’69,’94 & ’99) as well as other live concert events. Woodstock.com will also premiere WikiStock, an interactive wiki-style encyclopedia of all things Woodstock, which will accept and incorporate contributions about the individual experiences visitors have had at Woodstock festivals over the years.

Woodstock.com is being created under the auspices of Michael Lang and Joel Rosenman, two of the founders of the Woodstock Festival. The launch of Woodstock.com is planned to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the 1969 Woodstock Festival, the historic weekend that showed the world how the youth of America could unite in peace and music.

"Woodstock began as a dream and became a reality that exceeded our wildest expectations," said Michael Lang. "That dream lives on and our hope is that Woodstock.com will harness the power of 21st century technology to the communal idealism and values that continue to grow out of Woodstock."

Joel Rosenman added, “Like the Woodstock Festival, Woodstock.com is designed with the Woodstock community in mind -- a destination for music, social issues, memories and hopes, and above all, a place to have fun. And, like the festival, the website will change and evolve. The Woodstock community will see right away that Woodstock.com is not only a place, it's a pathway for a fascinating journey.”

"The original Woodstock festival shaped the musical and cultural values of a generation," said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. "We at Sony Music are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Woodstock Ventures in bringing the heritage and spirit of Woodstock Nation into the future."

For a limited time, now more Essential music from your favorite artists!

 

In addition to all the hits on Discs 1 and 2 of these best-selling Essential collections, Limited Edition 3.0 CDs feature these additional hits and fan favorites!

 

* Each Essential Limited Edition 3.0 expanded 3-CD set features the biggest hits and best-loved songs from superstar artists, including material not previously available in an Essential package.

* Definitive, career-spanning and comprehensive, The Essential 3.0 series features all of the must-have selections from the biggest names in music history—now with a 3rd disc!

* Now available for the first time in eco-friendly cardboard packaging.

* Limited Edition 3.0 disc features "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" and "Dynamite!"

  

Limited Edition 3.0 titles are in stores August 26, 2008 and can be purchased from Amazon!

All-star Tribute To Sly and The Family Stone to be performed at the GRAMMY Awards

In an unprecedented gathering of musical talent, Maroon 5, will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, John Legend, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Joss Stone, Robert Randolph, and singer Devin Lima will join together at this years 48th GRAMMY Awards to pay tribute to one of the 20th Centurys true musical innovators and icons: Sly And The Family Stone, it was announced yesterday by The Recording Academy. This special Grammy salute to Sly And The Family Stone comes on the heels of the announcement of the release of Different Strokes By Different Folks, an album of timeless hits of Sly And The Family Stone covered and remixed by the artists performing the Grammy tribute.

Different Strokes By Different Folks is due in stores February 7th on Epic/Legacy Recordings, one day before the 48th Grammy Awards on Wednesday, February 8th at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, airing on CBS Television Network. Also featured on the CD are Outkasts Big Boi, Janet Jackson, the Roots, Wylde Bunch, and Moby, among others.

Different Strokes by Different Folks -

Album Hits the Stores February 7, 2006!