Yesterday afternoon R.E.M.'s Mike Mills slipped the news on Twitter that David Letterman was retiring from his late night television show. Mills was privy to the information as he was present at the taping for last night's show -- he and ex-bandmate Peter Buck were the backing band for musical guest Joseph Arthur.
Dave just announced his retirement #2015 #muchlovedave
— Mike Mills (@m_millsey) April 3, 2014After Mills' tweet, the internet pretty much broke, and Letterman himself confirmed the news by posting a short video of his retirement announcement.
As the story was playing out online, Letterman's producers caught up with Mills and interviewed him about breaking the news. In the video, Mills briefly mentioned how R.E.M.'s first television appearance was on Letterman's show back in 1983 when they performed "Radio Free Europe" and "So. Central Rain," the latter of which was untitled at the time. Watch Mills defend his awesome leaking skills below:
For those who haven't seen it, enjoy R.E.M.'s 1983 performance on Letterman:
Fast-forward back to present day and watch Joseph Arthur along with Mike Mills and Peter Buck performing Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" below:
Arthur is releasing the album Lou, a tribute album to Lou Reed on May 13th. Read more about that here.
Published on April 4th, 2014 @ 5:59 AM