I came home from a long day of work to hear just about the best news possible today. That’s right, The National are headed to Arizona! A band that rarely ever tours the West Coast, unless they’re playing a festival or a few isolated California shows, is coming to visit the desert in October. Fresh off the staggering success of their new album “High Violet”, (Which managed to land at number three on the Billboard 200 with 30,000 copies sold the first week) the band is going on tour to promote and celebrate it’s release. I saw these guys back in 2008 at Street Scene in San Diego, and it is beyond amazing how perfect they are live. I may be a bit biased, since these guys are my favorite band. But, there’s gotta be a reason for them being my favorite, right!?

If you don’t find it incredible enough that one of the best bands in the indie universe is coming to town, maybe the fact that Owen Pallet is joining them will knock you on your ass. Owen (previously known as Final Fantasy, legality be damned!) does things with a violin that I never believed could be done and is known to put on a performance that is unmatched. Being that The National sells out every show they play, some within a matter of minutes, I suggest you get tickets for this tour immediately when they go on sale on June 4th. The Tucson date is at The Rialto on October 13th and they’ll be at The Marquee on October 14th. Tickets are on sale Friday at 10am and can be purchased here.

MP3: The National – Afraid Of Everyone

If you need any indication of the ridiculous amount of hype that Girls has generated, just go ahead and type the bands name in Google. That’s right, the band’s Myspace profile is the first thing listed when you search for such a generic word. Or if that doesn’t tell you enough, how about the fact that the band’s label True Panther Sounds was recently purchased by Matador in large part due to the band’s success? Hype can be a bitch though. A lot of times it will crush a young band who isn’t properly equipped to deal with the huge expectations suddenly thrust upon them. However, this San Francisco two piece is different. They even had the balls to name their debut “Album.” And one hell of an album it is. Come see how it carries over to a live show when they play at Club Congress in Tucson on January 26th. Buy your tickets here.

Yesterday’s event at The Icehouse was a great way to spend an early Saturday evening. Miniature Tigers and Dear And The Headlights both played very solid sets and everyone there seemed to enjoy the free event. I also really appreciated the set up for the event. It was well planned out and utilized the space of the venue very well. Here’s a bunch of photos from last night before I head off to the final day of the event weekend tonight. Against Me is on at 8:30!

Miniature Tigers

Dear And The Headlights

Nike has released a new Blazer in three different colorways to pay homage to baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The sneakers have the trademark Brooklyn logo on the tongue as well as the Brooklyn “B” featured in an all-over Diamond print. These are available now at select Nike retailers.

Krink teamed up with Alife and Girl Skateboards to produce these limited edition decks. They come in metallic silver and feature Krink’s signature drip pattern as well as an Alife logo on the flip side. They are available right now at AlifeNYC.com. This is worth hanging on the wall if you don’t skate.

Congratulations to the ASU Sun Devils mens basketball team who made the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years this season. And now, they’ve got their first win of the tournament after knocking off Temple 66-57 earlier this afternoon. They will be taking on #3 seed Syracuse at 9:10am local time on Sunday.

This is only the second time Nike SB has given one of their sponsored skaters their own shoe model. The Stefan Janoski model is classic looking and fresh all at the same time. These are scheduled to come out in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Do you think you have what it takes to become the next roller girl in Phoenix? Women of all ages and skating levels have been invited to join in the fun. The organizers state they have different levels of derby teams and they will find one for everyone.