altoidnerd@LEPTON:~$ bitcoind importprivkey $priv
or
altoidnerd@LEPTON:~$ echo $priv | bitcoind importprivkey
both of which seem to freeze bitcoind or return an error. I guess because bitcoind importprivkey doesn't like stdin?
Is your wallet encrypted?
If so, you'll probably need to unlock the wallet with walletpassphrase before you try to import a private key.