It is another busy summer for The National. They are currently on an epic tour that is highlighted by a trip across the U.S. with R.E.M. and Modest Mouse and another visit to Europe. Their last show in the states before heading overseas is a June 22nd solo appearance at The National (yep) in Richmond, the new venue from the owners of Norfolk’s very own Norva. The R.E.M. tour includes a stop at the dreaded Merriweather Post Pavilion in Maryland just eleven days earlier on June 11th.

As for new releases, May 20th (next Tuesday) marks the arrival of The National’s first appearance on DVD with A Skin, A Night, a documentary crafted by Vincent Moon of La Blogotheque. A Skin, A Night captures The National in the studio while recording 2007’s biggest grower, Boxer. To sweeten things, the documentary is packaged with The Virginia EP, which contains twelve tracks that range from unreleased songs to b-sides, demos, and live takes. Let’s look at the trailer for the film and the EP’s tracklisting:

1. YOU’VE DONE IT AGAIN, VIRGINIA (previously unreleased)
2. SANTA CLARA (UK b-side)
3. BLANK SLATE (UK b-side)
4. TALL SAINT (demo)
5. WITHOUT PERMISSION (unreleased cover of Caroline Martin song)
6. FOREVER AFTER DAYS (demo)
7. REST OF YEARS (demo)
8. SLOW SHOW (demo)
9. LUCKY YOU (daytrotter session)
10. MANSION ON THE HILL (live)
11. FAKE EMPIRE (live)
12. ABOUT TODAY (live)

I saw this on TV yesterday. Kurt Loder thinks Eraserhead came out in 1997. Watch Kurt Loder interview David Lynch on his love for transcendental meditation.

Colin Greenwood reflects on an ugly, ugly evening at Dead Air Space:

To everyone who made it, and put up with the torrents on the lawn, and came early to catch the Liars and our show, thank you so much for braving the deluge. I hope you heard what you came for, the music and lights diverting you from the wet. We got out of there around three am, and the pic shows Jonny waiting in the loading bay whilst the water streams across the tarmac. We’ve had floods at Bull Creek, lightning at the RFK stadium, so there must be some kind of Biblical fix between us and DC. Frogs next time?

Colin

Last night was officially one of the worst of my life. I ventured to Nissan Pavilion last night to see Radiohead for the second time. I saw them in 2003 at Merriweather Post, but my seats were awful. I had great seats last night thanks to WASTE, but that was one of the only positive aspects of last night’s show. I can’t remember the last time I saw it rain that hard. My jeans were completely soaked, flooding was rampant, and a number of roads were closed.

Radiohead were great even though the set had a few odd moments. “Bangers & Mash” followed by “Bodysnatchers.” Huh? Thanks to a confusing sign outside of the venue, I ended up in the very back parking lot of Nissan. Despite leaving during the first encore, my car sat in a standstill for the next two hours. When the line finally started to move, I turned my car back on and the battery was dead. I had accidentally left the lights on.

My girlfriend and I proceeded to wait another two hours until Nissan’s tow man came and gave the battery a jump. We got back to my house around 4 AM. I will only see Radiohead again if it is at an indoor venue in another city and I have a hotel nearby. They are cursed when it comes to Virginia. It goes without saying that I will never return to Nissan Pavilion again. Big props to their tow man though.

As I write this, it is still raining.

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Pam & I