September 14, 2007
The National Does Letterman
As some of you already know, Doveman has been opening a number of dates on The National's current US tour, thirteen dates which will find him visiting most major cities on the east coast of America and Canada, and into the deep south. For those ardent fans of The National (and boy, there's a lot more of you these days) we also bring you this hot gossip alert that Doveman's pianist/keyboardist/driving inspiration, Thomas Bartlett, has been joining The National on stage with some frequency. Let us count the iterations: (1) 3/5ths of The National have been backing him throughout Doveman's set, namely Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, and Bryan Devendorf. (We're told Scott and Matt may join in on background vocals.) (2) Thomas has been participating in The National's set on accordian and various other key-based soundmakers. And, finally (3) Thomas made a scene stealing appearance with the band on the Late Show with David Letterman in late July. Yeah, basically this is an excuse to share some highly technological YouTube action:
Cute. Band. Alert.
In case you didn't catch Scott, Bryan, and Aaron from The National made a return appearance on the Letterman show about a month later backing up Feist as part of her indie rock children's chorus. Note also the appearance of members of Grizzly Bear, The New Pornographers, Broken Social Scene, and several other bands we don't like as much, haven't heard, or flat out don't recognize. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Witness actual history!
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