As expected, my "waves of euphoria," described in an earlier post were followed by "waves of mud." I've learned that life is never one thing, it's a range of things, or a process, there's always this dichotomy and we're pinballing from one extreme to another, or somehow floating in between. So, I fell into a state of anxiety, followed by a major migraine. This is very rare for me. At the same time, I had a major breakthrough in the new theater piece I'm writing. So, I was in the midst of creative inspiration and and the same time I was reeling from intense pain. What to do? I thought of reaching for a Guinness, but I knew that would lead to a few more, and well, I could then add a hangover, with the bright bubbling of guilt to the mix. Instead, I bought a chocolate bar. I devoured the whole thing, and then I put some music on the box and draped myself across the couch.
So this is my special migraine music: Frank Zappa's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," and Miles Davis' "Live at the Fillmore." Two absolutely brilliant albums. Not exactly soothing background music. But for some reason, the intensity, the creativity, the uncommon brilliance of this demanding music kind of cleansed me. In the age of IPOD not sure how many people actually listen to an album's worth of music from start to finish anymore. But these two artists reward the listener with such an investment. I know people bandy about the term "genius" quite liberally, but I do think Zappa and Davis are musical geniuses. They always pushed the boundaries. These two albums take you on a wild ride. There's jazz and rock and much more. The music is funny, challenging, intense, dissonant, beautiful. The full range don't you know? By the time I got to the end of the Zappa disc, "So that's what a weasel ripping into flesh sounds like!" The pain had started to ebb.
I then put on the Velvet Underground for good measure..."whip it on me Jim..." I was healed!