On December 7, Sly & The Family Stone will return to New York City for the first time in over thirty years. The enigmatic Stone, has been a recluse for some time (and has issued conflicting accounts about the nature of his songwriting and recording since his last studio session for Warner Brothers in the early 80’s). Following a swirl of rumors that he might make his first public appearance in well over a decade, a mohawked Stone turned up at the 2006 Grammys. A remastered version of Sly & the Family Stone’s Greatest Hits disc came out this summer along with the band’s back catalog, and the group recently performed a series of European dates (to mixed reviews and with varying amount of Sly Stone face time, although no one questions his groundbreaking, historic role in fusing funk, soul and psychedelic rock in the early 70s). B.B. King’s will host two shows from Sly & the Family Stone on December 7, with tickets on sale this Friday.