Never mind that I lopped off a fingertip while belting out the ballad "Angie" while distractedly doing a fast-action, pre-service basil chop at a restaurant shift some years some years ago... listening to music and cooking are a favorite combination of mine.
Today I have been obsessed with Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. C'mon, you must know that big, resonant sound on every Motown hit of the 1960's.... Well, I happened to set up an old microphone at the far end of my living room this afternoon while I hammered on my piano. (I wanted to hear myself play to best know what to work on) Little did I know that the positioning of the mic along with the combination of hard and soft surfaces in my living room would mimic the sound engineering of the legendary Golden Studios where Spector often engineered brilliant pop hits. "Lightning in a Bottle", they called the magical effect.
The creative process is beautiful. Although it leaves a staggering mess in its wake, we are able to forgive it. The revelation of the finished product atones for everything. While the sleep-deprived musicians leave ashtrays overflowing with disgusting cigarette butts and the pot-hurling cooks leave a horrifying sink full of dirty dishes, somehow that glimmering moment when we hear the perfect chord transition within the perfect measure, or when we tilt our heads back and savor that that first taste of a perfectly-balanced sauce....all the ugly chaos is forgiven. After all, it was in the name of some other-worldly alchemy.
Please, someone reading this, turn on some music loud enough to scare your spouse or housemates, pull out some mixing bowls and something really, really messy and just let it flow out like first love. Good music and fine food...THESE are the things to pursue with reckless abandon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment