News: The Republic Tigers Shoot Video, Play Tribeca Film Festival

On Monday, I was lucky enough to have lunch with SSM faves The Republic Tigers, who were in the Los Angeles area filming a video for their excellent track "Buildings and Mountains" (available for download from their MySpace page). The video shoot took place at El Mirage Dry Lake (the same location for Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" video) and was directed by Brian Savelson (who did the videos for Band of Horses' "Is There A Ghost" and "The Funeral"). As you can see from photos by Jill Kaplan, the video involves a boat in the desert. Apparently the band endured several sandstorms during the course of the shoot. Not sure when we'll get to see the finished project, but hopefully the quality of the video will match that of the track.

In other news, The Republic Tigers may be joining The National for a performance at the Tribeca Film Festival. Details on this show are sketchy, but the date will likely be around May 4, the day after a show by The National in Pennsylvania and The show will be on May 2, 2008 at Webster Hall, a few days before The Republic Tigers' previously-reported appearance on Letterman, at the end of their upcoming April tour of the east coast. Go Tigers!

In Pictures: The (Obviously) Good Stuff of 2007

Live: The National @ The Wiltern Theater - 9/28/07

The night before my ten-year high school reunion, with an exhausted Lady Doc in tow, I caught a live performance by The National. I was really excited after seeing their recent TV performances in support of Boxer, which just so happens to be one of my fave records of this year. Man, these guys played a great set to a full house at The Wiltern. They began with "Start A War" and, in around three minutes, proceeded to flex the full range of their dynamics in a way not heard in the recorded version of that track. The band continued with a great selection of songs from Boxer and Alligator. Frontman Matt Berninger said very little between songs, but I do remember a sincere and slightly overwhelmed "This is awesome!" in reference to the crowd's energy. I couldn't agree more.