Thursday Roundup: Sly Stone, The Kinks, The Hold Steady

Items three to you from me:

• Sly Stone is a musical icon, one of the truly towering figures in the history of soul music. Sly Stone is also a man... a very troubled, erratic and possibly unbalanced man. For more on the Sly one's latest concert debacle, check this account .
  
  
• Joining the recent flurry of reunion rumors are The Kinks , the original British brothers-and-bandmates-who-frequently-can't-stand-one-another-but-make-amazing-music-together. Brother Ray Davies reports that brother Dave has recovered sufficiently from a 2004 stroke for recording and touring to become a real possibility again. Stay tuned ...
  
  
• Finally, one of this writer's favorite bands of the moment, The Hold Steady , earned a nice writeup the other day on MSNBC.com.