I’ll attempt to post my No Age and An Horse interviews later today, but I needed to post an observation.  We keep an eye on our “most read” posts every day.  We’ve been beating our brains out, trying to give a comprehensive SXSW preview.  I’m personally thrilled that East Hundred is our #2 most viewed post, which I attribute to their continued dominance on my “most listened to” LastFM list.  My apologies for the high U2 rank, but I listened to the leak of the new album a bunch of times trying to convince myself it wasn’t awful (which didn’t work.  It’s by far their worst album).  But you really aren’t bright America!  Our most viewed post for the second consecutive week?  Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance on Letterman!  Ugh.  Move on.  There’s good music out there.  Read.  Listen.  Learn.

If you haven’t heard, Joaquin Phoenix was on Letterman last night.  Unfortunately some people don’t “get” what happened during his interview.  This was one of those rare convergences of two talented people at the top of their game on a perfect night.

Some people don’t remember Letterman’s NBC days when his show was frequently chaotic and defined comedy in many ways during the 80′s.  Since he moved to the 11:30 slot on CBS (I’m worried about you, Conan) he mellowed out.  We’ve talked about the great Andy Kaufman appearances on Letterman.  Here are some other great chaotic clips from NBC Letterman.

Here’s the Cripin Glover on acid appearance where Dave walked off the show for the first and only time.

The great Brother Theodore.  He was a frequent guest and it’s worth hunting down his other appearances on youtube.

and here’s Joaquin Phoenix’s appearance last night.

Phoenix is a wildly talented actor (Walk The Line anyone?) and this is clearly a put-on.  The discussion this morning should be about how brilliant the two were last night.  Letterman was as quick as I’ve seen him in years and was clearly inspired by Phoenix’s performance.  Bravo!