An interesting curio from the back catalog of the Jim Henson estate here - the first ever (pilot) episode of The Muppet Show, which was recorded late in 1974 for broadcast in 1975. From the Muppets wikia:

The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence aired on ABC on March 19, 1975, and was shot on December 10-16, 1974.

It was one of the two pilots produced for The Muppet Show. The other pilot, The Muppets Valentine Show, aired in 1974.

In this half-hour variety special, the Muppets parody the proliferation of sex and violence on television.

Subtitled “An End to Sex & Violence,” this first ever episode of the world’s favourite puppet theatre seems a bit racy for a supposed family audience. However, watching this pilot it’s clear that Henson and co. were aiming for a more adult-orientated, risqué edge to the material, akin to the sketches they provided in the very early years of Saturday Night Live (and which were deemed, in the end, not to work.)

Obviously some more fine tuning was needed on this material before it became the international hit we all know and love. Not least a honing of the format and pacing of the show. This early version is a lot more fast-moving, with quicker cuts between multiple sketches, which we return to numerous times. The show had also yet to make musical numbers its main focus, perhaps explaining the later decision to constrain the sketches to single slots allowed to play out in full.

That’s not the only thing that’s disconcertingly different though: the usual Muppet Show host Kermit is relegated to just a bit part, even though by this stage he had become well known through appearances on Sesame Street. Sam the Eagle has a lot of screen time, and an early variant on Miss Piggy makes a brief appearance.

The main presenting duties go to a humanoid Muppet called Nigel, who is backed up by right hand man by Floyd Pepper, better known as the bass player in Dr Teeth’s Electric Mayhem and the popular character Janice’s main squeeze. The main Muppets’ to-camera addresses are a lot more knowing and audience-literate than Kermit’s let’s-get-this-show-on-the-road style, again hinting at the influence of a more grown-up, hip comedy aesthetic influenced by Lorne Michaels and even Monty Python.

Still, flawed as it may be, this is well worth a watch for Muppet fans and even the more curious viewer. Below is part one, while parts two and three are after the jump:
 

 
The Muppet Show: Sex & Violence Parts 2 & 3 after the jump…

 
Unicorn Booty posted this hilarious portrait of Rick Santorum made entirely of gay porn. There’s not really much to say about this except “LOL!” and “It serves him right.”

Click here to see larger image.

Via Dlisted

 
Chris Jagger presents a short film on Michael Joseph and his famous photo-shoot of The Rolling Stones’, for their Beggars Banquet album at Swarkestone Hall Pavilion, in 1968. Though Joseph’s photographs are now considered “among the best ever” taken of The Stones, a dispute between the band and their record label saw a plain R.S.V.P. invitation card used for the cover, which was later replaced by the infamous photograph of a graffiti-covered toilet.

A selection of Michael Joseph‘s Rolling Stones photos can be viewed here.
 

 
With thanks to Simon Wells
 

 
Drag superstar Alexia Twister recreates Madonna’s entire Super Bowl spectacle in Brazilian gay club Victoria Haus - a rather amazing feat considering this show was probably produced with less money than the cost of Cee Lo’s dressing room deli tray.
 

 
Neil Young sitting on a sidewalk in Glasgow back in 1976 singing the “Old Laughing Lady” and playing his banjo as people file past him with little clue as to who this longhaired hippie is.

When Dangerous Minds’ contributor Paul Gallagher shared a shorter version of this video last year, he wrote…

[...] Hoots mon! Rare film of Neil Young busking in Glasgow city center, April 1 1976, prior to headlining at the city’s legendary Apollo Theater later that night.

Mr Young performed outside Glasgow’s Central Station, on Gordon Street, where he sang “Old Laughing Lady”. Because of the date - All Fool’s Day - it has been suggested that Mr Young was carrying out his own practical joke for the benefit of those lucky denizens of the Dear Green Place.”

 
The photo above of Kraftwerk popped up on my friend Justin Strauss’s Facebook page. I loved the energy in the picture, the mix of uptown, downtown, black and white, and was curious about its history. So I asked Justin if he knew anything regarding the genesis of the photograph. He did indeed.

A deejay, musician and producer (he did a dance mix of one of my songs back in the 80s), Justin describes the night Laura Levine snapped the picture :

Everyone in New York was buzzing about this show. Krarftwerk had not played in the city since an early tour in the 70’s, and by this point, in the summer of 1981, their influence was huge.

I was lucky enough to be one of the main dj’s at the Ritz club. Night after night, the most amazing talent played in that place and I would dj before and after the shows. I mean everyone from Prince, U2, Depeche Mode, Human League, Public Image Ltd (I dj’d at this legendary show as well), Tina Turner, on and on. I had the best seat in the house, the dj booth at the Ritz.

When it was announced that Kraftwerk would play two shows there in support of their newly released “Computer World” album, I flipped. So excited to be able to see this show.

It did not disappoint. I invited as many of my dj friends as I could over the course of the two nights. Afrika Bambaataa, Francois K., Ivan Ivan, Larry Levan all hung out as we watched Kraftwerk’s amazing performance.

It was the first tour they used the Kraftwerk “dummies”, and the whole theme and set design was some sort of U-Boat feel to it if I remember correctly. When they performed their song “Pocket Calculator” Florian came out to the audience and let the crowd press the buttons on the small keyboard he held in his hand.

The show and the music were ground breaking and anyone who was there could not help but be totally mesmerized and influenced by what they saw and heard. I"m glad I was one of them.

Levine’s photo and Justin’s remembrance ultimately led me to the documentary Krautrock - The Rebirth Of Germany. Did Walt Whitman imagine a future world where machines and men would blissfully merge when he joyously exclaimed “I SING the Body electric?”
 

 
Nina Simone was born 79 years ago today, on February 21st 1933. Next year will mark the tenth anniversary of her passing, but for now let’s remember one of the greatest artists of the last century with her jaw-dropping performance of Morris Albert’s “Feelings” from her controversial set at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1976. Nina looks stoned here, and apparently she didn’t feel the crowd at this show were reacting appropriatley, explaining some of the tense spoken word interuptions. Still, if any doubts exist about Nina Simone’s skill or talent, watch this clip then tell me she is not one of the great artists of modern times:

Nina Simone “Feelings” Live at Montreux Jazz Festival, 1976
 

 
Thanks to Norn Cutson

 
Salon’s got a great series of videos exploring the lives and coping strategies of “the 99ers”—no, not the 99%, although they are certainly a part of that, too—the people who have exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment insurance and have nowhere else to turn.

In this most recent installment, Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Immy Humes listens to members of the longtime unemployed tell how the Occupy movement inspired them. There is something in the emotional core of this short film that captures perfectly, I think, the life-affirming realization of “Holy shit, this is really happening and it’s wonderful” that went on for those few months last Fall. Almost more than any other document I’ve seen about Occupy Wall Street, this one really speaks to the kind of experience I personally had there. It captures what it inspired in many people.

For our 99ers, an informal group of jobless New Yorkers who have exhausted their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits, the Occupy Wall Street movement came as a dream fulfilled.

As the protests took root in Zuccotti Park, the 99ers found a mass of people who care about the plight of the jobless and want to do something about it. As seen in last week’s episode of our video series, “Occupy Meets MacArthur’s Tanks,” Occupy Wall Street is just the latest in a long line of American protest movements demanding economic justice. The emergence of the Occupy movement, one 99er said, felt “like the early stages of a revolution.”

And then the question arose: What do America’s jobless want? As the video shows, the 99ers have some answers.

 
Here’s a delightful story about an elderly gentleman named Anthony Pisano, his whimsical knickknacks and collectibles, and his beloved cat. There aren’t enough Anthony Pisano’s in the world if you ask me.

From the Vimeo description:

On an unseasonably warm November night in Manhattan on our way to get ice cream, we stumbled upon what appeared to be a vintage shop, brightly lit display window and all. As we began to walk in, a man sitting out front warned us that we were welcome to explore, but nothing inside was for sale. Our interests piqued, we began to browse through the collections the man out front had built throughout his life. This is a story of a man and his home.

 
Via reddit

 
Had he not taken his own life in 2008, David Foster Wallace would have been 50 years old today. Perhaps, in the prime of his creative life. We’ll never know.

In this 1997 interview with Charlie Rose, Wallace talks about writing, fame, drugs, depression and David Lynch.

A the end of the interview, while discussing his depression, Wallace remarks “I’m not getting ready to jump off a building or anything.” “Anything” happened 11 years later when he hanged himself, leaving a brilliant trail of words behind him and a big hole in the heart of modern literature.