August 28, 2007
Feist Gets Folks From Broken Social Scene, The National, Grizzly Bear, The New Pornographers, Mates Of State, And Nicole Atkins To Dress In White And Perform "1234" On Letterman
While our tech people are determining if that is the most post-title-characters in Stereogum history, set aside a few minutes and enjoy the spectacle: Feist and friends, on Letterman, doing "1234." Leslie sounds better than she did on Conan and all, and if you'd never heard her before last night you probably would've "ooh"ed" and "aah"ed at her voice, but seeing as you've sang along to "1234" countless times, it's really just a trip to see Ed Droste, Chris Bear/Taylor, Dan Rossen, Carl (and Christy!) Newman, Kevin Drew, and Nicole Atkins, alongside our dudes in the National and Feist's Reminder cover photographer (thin blonde to your right of Kevin Drew) -- all wearing white, with those crazy, sparkly colored bangles. Dave doesn't quite know what to make of the indie all-star choir, and they certainly get no introduction. So, guess it's our little secret, internet.
Oddly enough, after a friend coaxed one of us out for a drink or two on the LES, we ran into Chris Bear on Avenue A above Houston, wearing white-on-white. Weird and rather cultish, we thought, but hey no judgments -- how you dress offstage is cool with us. The bar we wound up at, though, was the unofficial after-Letterman hang: only about 15 people in the room, but that included Carl & Christy Newman, Scott and Bryan from the National, Nicole Atkins and, soon enough, the Grizzly gang et al. Had to bail after a few minutes; just didn't feel like we fit in without the white-on-white, ya know? And we swear, it had absolutely nothing to do with the on-the-spot epiphany that we are painfully awkward and uncool. Seriously. Hear we missed group sing alongs and, most likely, witnessing a few unsuspecting patrons' minds blown.
Tags: Broken Social Scene, Carl Newman, David Letterman, Feist, Grizzly Bear, Kevin Drew, Mates Of State, Nicole Atkins, The National, The New Pornographers
Why couldn't they all do that during Revenge of the Bookeaters? I paid $50 to see something like that happen...
Posted by: Nat at August 28, 2007 10:09 AMNat, I think a lot of us feel the same as you. I can understand not doing "1234" the same way (keep some surprise), but why not have them all shake a tambourine on a Spoon song? Something? Regardless, interesting to see all those folks I'm used to seeing in separate pictures all together on the Letterman stage. Not mindblowing, just weird and pretty cool.
Posted by: jemaine at August 28, 2007 10:14 AMYou have to admit, the music world has changed over the last couple of years. This is far removed from the days of '80s and '90 'Rock Stars' that wouldn't even think of ruining their reputation by sharing a stage with anyone. How many Mick Jaggers do you think would sing uncredited in a backup choir in support of someone else?
Granted the performance wasn't amazing, and it wasn't even a massive milestone, but it is a symbol of a much greater, cooperative, and fun music world.
I like it. Keep it up.
Posted by: Zayin_451 at August 28, 2007 11:11 AMi agree, zayin. i think these guys have love creative love beaming and its fantastic to see.
i think its super fun to watch and the performance is much better than the conan appearance. i love it
Posted by: ben at August 28, 2007 11:13 AM