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Elliott Smith Rare Live Footage from Unaired VH1 Pilot Hits Internet

Elliott SmithFour Paws Media

Extremely rare concert footage of the late Elliott Smith was placed online yesterday: a pilot episode of a VH1 series which was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, There Will Be Blood).

The footage, placed on YouTube is from a 2000 pilot episode of The Jon Brion Show which Anderson was hoping to launch on VH1. It was posted on YouTube under the account "Al Rose Promotions" named after a character in There Will Be Blood.

"I tore up the floorboards at H.Q. the other day and came up with this little number on VHS," the description reads under the YouTube post. "She holds up well. Love, Al."

At the time of the pilot Brion and Anderson had been working with singer-songwriter Aimee Mann on the soundtrack to Anderson's film Magnolia.

The 43-minute episode -- which has over 26,000 hits since its posting yesterday -- begins with a moment of darkness before Brion comes out and introduces Smith who begins with "Son of Sam" before Brion has Brad Mehldau come out to play piano as Smith performs "Independence Day."

"I think I might have hit a bad note on that last song though," Smith says after the song. After a false start Smith then goes into "Bottle Up and Explode" with drummer Dan McCarroll coming out to assist. The singer later also does "Happiness" with "Everything Means Nothing to Me."

"So you're about to going on the road, correct?" Brion asks Smith to make small talk. "Correct," Smith says with the short response drawing laughs. "Elliott's my favorite guest I've had so far," Brion quips before Smith starts into a lovely cover of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" which garners a loud ovation. Other covers include John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" (with a false start) and Big Star's "Nightime."

Smith -- who rose to prominence during the '90s with a series of critically acclaimed albums -- died in October 2003 after stabbing himself twice in the chest. He was 34.

Scroll down to view the episode.

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Alyson Camus

he did not stab himself, at least nothing like this has been proven, ever

January 18 2013 at 10:06 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bype

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January 18 2013 at 2:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply