The Power of Little Rooms
If you know me at all, you know that I love music. If you’ve talked to be about music, you probably know how much I admire Jack White.
I remember hearing Fell In Love With a Girl in 2001 and thinking, “Oh, I love this sound.” Then I saw the music video and thought, “Oh, I love these visuals.” Then I bought the album and discovered every track was incredible, and that all the beautiful noise was coming from just two people. And those two people were from Detroit! I loved their super stylized red, white, and black color palette. The drummer was a woman, and the guitarist wailed. The lyrics were telling stories and building worlds. It was Detroit blues music. It was garage rock. It was wild and emotional and it hit me right in the heart. Two kids from Detroit started a fire in the music industry and in me.
I still have the cover of the 2003 SPIN magazine I had bought specifically because they were on the cover. It hung on the wall in my college dorm amongst other magazine covers and posters of my favorite bands.
After the band broke up, I followed Jack White through other adventures… The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and solo albums. Opening a record store, creating art through upholstery and sculpture, opening a pressing plant... and on and on. I am forever in awe of how prolific his contributions to the world are. How intentional every step seems to be.
I have looked to all of this as a blueprint on how I live my creative life. I strive to create often and in many varied ways. I hope to continue to collaborate and bring others along with me on my journey. I aim to be intentional, but I am also aware that I am sometimes merely the conduit through which creatively flows.
These are all things I learned from Jack White. And I wouldn’t have known who he was, of out wasn’t for The White Stripes.
Jack’s acceptance speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction was poignant. His letter to Meg was a beautiful poem, a prayer, a message, about their journey together. It made me grateful to live in a world full of storytellers who remind us that all things start as a simple thought, and those who take action are bold.
André 3000 mentioned Jack and his little rooms comment in his acceptance speech for OutKast. “Great things start in little rooms,” he said. And he’s right. OutKast started in a basement nicknamed The Dungeon in Atlanta. The White Stripes recorded some of their early songs in an attic in Detroit.
None of us need anything fancy to get started on whatever it is we feel calling us. We just need to get started. Nurture your ideas. Get creating.
To quote Jack White’s acceptance Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speech:
“To the young artists, I want to say: get your hands dirty and drop the screens and get out of your little room and get obsessed. Get obsessed with something… We all want to share in what you might create.”
And once again I am inspired. Let’s get obsessed. ⚡️