It was sweeps week on PBS last week which is patent made for TIVO and I happened to note that they were playing a restored version of the Rolling Stones 1968 TV show Rock and Roll Circus. Apparently most of the film of this show was lost soon after performance because some say the Stones were mediocre and The Who were fantastic. It was never broadcast. Others on the show include John and Yoko, Eric Clapton and Taj Mahal. The Who do indeed play a great set and there is also an adhoc super-group (The Dirty Mac) with Clapton, Lennon, Richards and Mitch Mitchell. Later Yoko joins in with an infamous wailing tour-de-force. (Townshend says in an interview on the DVD that this didn't bother him, but thank god for TIVO that's all I can say).
There is more on the DVD than was broadcast on PBS including a longer set from Taj Mahal. He still comes to NYC regularly and I hope to check out a concert the next time he is here. Watching the show inspired me to start reading According to The Rolling Stones published by Chronicle Books. It has been sitting on the shelf for two years gathering dust. So far it is incredibly interesting to learn how they all came together in Ealing and Edith Grove. Curiously, there is virtually nothing in this book about the Circus. (So, here is wikipedia). Maybe there is something to the notion that they thought they were out-done by The Who. I thought The Stones sounded great but I did notice that there seemed to be no interaction at all between the members of the band. Poor Brian was dead 7 mths later.
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