Did you bastards know there’s an official Midnight Special channel on YouTube releasing entire unedited episodes (as well as clips)? Holy shit, it’s a treasure trove!
Timestamped performances for this episode are here. I mostly just watched Sly and the Family Stone, obviously.
BONUS: Here’s another recently released episode with Mott the Hoople and The New York Dolls. Not sure who the guy is in the back playing the Thunderbird for the Dolls. Arthur Kane appears to be in a cast and is obviously miming …
Between this post and and the Smothers Brothers, you Bastards are taking me back to my late childhood all the way through late adolesence. I (and more menacingly, Mrs. Renfield) hold you personally responsible for any unspeakable 70’s excesses that I may revisit.
I never watched Midnight Special, as it was on after Carson, which aired at 11:30 Pacific. It was already super late if I caught the Tonight Show monologue. I was vaguely aware of what came after.
Great seeing musicians awkwardly host the other musicians.
“Thank you Mott.”
“…the Hoople.”
It blows my mind that Makerbot and I stayed up and watched Letterman almost every night when we were roomies. The good old nights.
Guy in the back w/the Thunderbird:
Must be Peter Jordan–roadie who subbed on bass for Kane when he had his “accident” (girlfriend); see the cast on his left arm. He was in the Electric Chairs a couple of years later too.