Gil Scott Heron died this week, and on hearing of this I remembered that he was on Saturday Night Live in its 1975-1976 inaugural season. (I love Saturday Night Live and like to watch the old ones.) Richard Pryor hosted that particular show. Checking the DVD, I discovered that Heron’s SNL appearance was on December 13th, 1975. I found a grainy, ghostly version of it on YouTube (at least the first minute). The sound quality is poor, but the energy is there. Here it is:
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And here’s a better version of Heron singing “Johannesburg”:
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Carpe diem.
