Charlie Rose v. The White Stripes

I dozed off last night flipping between the Monday Night Football game and David Letterman, and woke up 30 minutes later to Charlie Rose interviewing Jack and Meg White from The White Stripes. I was forced, forced I tell you, to watch the rest of the interview and then lie awake for another hour or two thinking about it.

A couple of impressions:

1. Charlie Rose. He just plain knows his shit better than anybody else in the business. He can go from interviewing Mohamed ElBaradei to Sean Penn to The White Stripes and seem equally prepared and comfortable. Is he going to ask the "tough" questions? Not usually. But he always seems to put his guests at ease and get thoughtful in-depth pertinent answers out of them. Now he just needs to get some sleep.

2. Jack White. This guy is the real deal. I knew he was one of the best guitarists around, but he proved to be articulate, down-to-earth, intellectual, and able to crystallize his aesthetic in multi-syllabic words. Also, he had great insight into writing, performing, producing, and recording, as well as a lot of interesting thoughts on the blues, which I put into the "Ideas for Joe's Future Book About the Continuing Influence of Blues on Rock and American Culture" (working title) file in my mental file cabinet. Really. I have one. Anyway, Jack White is looking more and more like Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka everyday. He even carries a cane.

3. Meg White. I've always been a bit bored with her, but she too (the few times Jack let her talk) was articulate and extremely sweet. Like Jack, she seemed honestly amazed at and thankful for their commercial success. And she talked about the choices involved in her spare drumming style. Which gave me a better appreciation of her. I always knew The White Stripes were a freaky blues band, and Jack talked about how a lot of their thing is tricking people into listening to the blues without realizing it. And it's pretty clear that he thinks of himself as Robert Johnson, with Meg White playing the role of Robert Johnson's foot. He also talked about the experience of producing the Loretta Lynn album Van Lear Rose, which is a favorite in the Goodkin household.

All in all, worthwhile viewing. And the interview concluded with an acoustic performance, which was really... visceral. Jack White's voice is a challenge, but he attacks his songs so directly and with such genuine abandon that it usually makes for a pretty compelling listen. I think he's in the tradition of Dylan in this respect.

Now that I think about it, I don't actually own any White Stripes' albums.

Better get on that.

jbg