When the bullshit index (see previous post) gets to a certain level, I mean, like up to your eyeballs or lower parts of your earlobes, it's time to get an infusion from the creative realm to kind of re-balance the internals and lower the bullshit quotient to a more manageable level - we cannot eliminate bullshit from our lives, in fact, it's actually good fertilizer for those of us who try to be creative - but it's critically important not to let the bullshit totally engulf us. I mean I do not go with the idea that I will eat a shit sandwich and say it tastes good too - even if that is a core tenet of the American Ethos. I realize that when I get overwhelmed by events in the world, I turn to art, movies, music, theater. There's something life-afirming about people working in a creative endevour. Lately, music has been a huge aspect of my life, and really it's been so since about the age of 11.
This morning I'm listening the Jack & Meg White's latest effort: "Icky Thump." I love, love, love it. It's bluesy, rocking, I hear some Led Zeppelin (both Page & Plant), early Faces (yes, that band with a young Rod Stewart), and some new and un-identifiable elements. Jack likes to work within a blues tradition as all great rock & roll does too. He is a true guitar genius, able to take cliched blues licks and make them new and powerful (that weird high-octave whammy pedal makes an other-worldly, unholy noise!). Plus the guy is just quirky cat who can work in bag-pipes and marimbas and other weird sounds and make it all fly. Meg is a strange and fabulous drummer who is also funky and quirky with her beats. I love when she sings too.
Plus, these two people know drama. There's a great dynamic, guitars and drums, there's space in the songs, and maybe there's joy and hope in the silence in-between the loud, raucous, joyous noise these two pump out. I came a little late to the White Stripes, but this latest effort and the one previous (Get Behind Me Satan), are just absolutely great discs. Turn up the stereo loud and let the music knock you for a loop!