It Might Get Loud

How are you creative?

I am a musician, and have played mostly guitar and drums for over 17 years. I remember my first guitar - it was a red Hohner stratocaster copycat. I got it during Christmas one year, and I remember when I first saw it in the garage after all the other gifts had been opened. My Dad led me to it through a false story about spilling coffee and needing some carpet cleaner. The first time I looked, I didn't even see it. But the second time, I did see it, and thanks to guys like Beau Bivins and my Dad, I was playing metal with power chords as often as I possibly could.

Any of us who likes partaking in creative endeavors can remember when we started and how it felt. That first time we made up our own song, played it with strangers who become our new best friends, and then showed it to others awaiting their response was unforgettable. The feeling of playing music you create, love, and share with others is like giving a friend a present. You are nervous about what they will think as they unwrap the box. Only, when you create something you are that much more nervous of the person's reception - what will they think of the colors you chose? What will they think of the sound it makes, or the way it looks? It's a fantastic feeling when it is received well and even better when asked for more.

"It Might Get Loud" serves as an example of the creative process through three men's legacies that have been shaped by the guitar. Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge get together to discuss the way the guitar has impacted their lives. We see and hear early video of the stories of U2, Led Zepplin, and Jack White's music, to sometimes comedic effect. However, this is not a documentary about bands, it is a documentary about creative persons. You see just how these guys approached the same instrument from different views and thus created something uniquely special where no two sound the same. The film explain's how each person developed or found their iconic instrument (The Edge's classic sunburst guitar, Jack White's unique take on pick ups, Jimmy Page's two neck guitar), and ultimately reminds us just how diverse and subjective music (or art in general) actually is.

The movie does not aim to create something with these three musicians. In fact, the end result of their conversation is a cover song, perhaps appropriately so. But there won't be any superstar band or "project" as a result of the meeting. I liked that. It kept the focus on the process of playing, discovering and creating. It took the focus off of content. These three men have made a career, traveled the world, and had emotional impacts on people across the planet from the same device: the guitar.

The thing is, it doesn't appear that being famous is what anyone was necessarily striving for - a refreshing change of pace in a reality tv world. The three men share a rabid love of playing and experiencing music. We go into their homes and see what vinyls they have, what their favorite songs are, and where other musicians have inspired each of them. It is fantastic. It is less rock star, and more giddy child interacting with music enthusiast. It made me feel like I was just hanging out with the guys. To make it even more amazing, the film revisits the homes or places where one of each musicians classic works were created.

The movie nicely covers a diversity in approach to the guitar. Each player has a specific philosophy about the art. Two ends of the musical spectrum candidly reveal themselves: to be aided by technology or to rebel against it. There are those who love the aid of digital manipulation, and those who refuse to participate in anything remotely digitized. In the film, these spectrum's are inhabited at polar opposites by Jack White and The Edge. It is revealed that The Edge has an individual, no two alike effect for nearly every U2 song. He shows how there is a sort of artistic approach to the aid of technical effects and devices. Then there is Jack White, who rebels against technology like a 4 year old to broccoli. His guitars and sound are happily obtained from thrift stores or places tech head musicians wouldn't dare touch. However, White is clearly in search of a specific sound. Jimmy Page appears to be somewhere in the middle of the two, having a raw sound but with the aid of some effect and polished gear.

I am very much opposed to overly used effects when I play. However, in watching the film it occurred to me that the effect is not the instrument or the pedal, but the player. Just as a paint brush doesn't talk or move without the aid of an artist, a guitar sounds how its handler wants it to sound. The artist is the effect pedal. The instrument is being played through them as much as anything digitally manipulated. The film made me think about how I create and what I use to create with.

It would be interesting to see the movie with other guitarists that cover more than a mostly rock n' roll spectrum. What would it have been like if BB King were there? Or how about a jazz or classical player who can manipulate the guitar into other absurdly beautiful or technical spectrums? Or, in a dream world - could you imagine if Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix were still alive and played together in this film?

I left the film wanting to begin playing again after a several year hiatus that had been brought on by my own lack of inspiration clogged by the demands of the stages in my life. Just hearing about how these men discovered music, play an instrument, and love their work made this an infectious movie. I cannot think of too many movies which left me wanting to go out and be creative. I got home, plugged in "Big Red" (all musicians name their instruments) and wrote a song.

All of the sudden I was playing music again, and it felt really good.

Questions to consider:

1. How are you creative? What is your primary means of creativity?

2. What inspires your creativity?

3. How often do you spend time admiring and praising the creativity of others?

4. If you haven't felt creative lately, what do you think some reasons might be?

5. What is something you have made that you are proud of?

6. How do you encourage the creativity of others?

7. Who inspires your creativity?

Liar Liar (or how I woke up one day and noticed my pants were very large)

This morning when I woke up, something felt different.

I went downstairs to start my day off with a run and noticed that my clothes felt baggy. What else is strange is that I ran the whole route instead of jogged it. After my run when I went to the kitchen for breakfast, I skipped right over to some oatmeal and fruit, a change of pace from the usual sugary cereal. I also happened to have packed a lunch the night before that looked abnormally trim. I finished my morning routine and - again - went on to notice that my clothing was balloon parachute worthy. What happened?

"Liar Liar" asks a potent question: If you woke up one day with a massive change in your life - How would you notice? How would your day be different?

Jim Carrey comically acts out the scenario as a lawyer who habitually lies. It's an older film many of us have seen that has a 3 part structure capped by a saccharine ending. Of Jim Carrey's comedy's, it's probably my favorite due to the way it showcases his comedic talent. The humor is just right, and it is hard to imagine anyone else besides Jim Carrey in the role. I am also personally fond of Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura), the film's director. Based on who I know him to be from his work with student's at Pepperdine, I have a lot of respect for the man which automatically endears me to his movies.

I want to draw attention to its central theme - change. While lying is the vice that is used to demonstrate change, I think the movie is less about the virtue of telling the truth and more about change in general. The movie poses a great question - if you woke up tomorrow and that habit you most wanted to change in your life were changed - how would you know? What would you notice?

Carrey never wishes away the lying, his change is the wish of his son. Yet, in thinking about change, this often true of ourselves. We are far too often not the instigators of change in our life even though we are ultimately the one's responsible for it. A friend or loved one may instead point out in us an aspect of our lives which is destructive because they feel and see the negative habit with a clearer view than we do. We are often unable to notice it. Think of a close friend in your life - have you ever confronted them on something? What was their reaction?

Change is hard because we make it hard. If not for ourselves, change would be easy in most cases. We are responsible for those behaviors we want to change. The reason is because destructive behavior serves a purpose. For example, I was once told by an overeater support group therapist that he got many doctors and nurses in his group. Why would medical professionals overeat or harm their bodies when they treat its ill effects so often? The therapist's answer was that these doctor's and nurses often have an entitlement mentality that plays out as something like: "I worked extra long hours today and served my patient's with hard work. As a result, I can treat myself to this doughnut (or whatever vice it may be)." For them, the food serves the purpose of comfort and reward for their sacrificial work.

How many of us can identify with a long, stressful day and then feel like we earned that extra large blended coffee drink? I know I can. What if it became a comfortable habit?

Change is hard, and we often do what we can to sabotage it. Sometimes we resist change so much that we are willing to be deceitful with those we love the most. Think of Carrey in the film attempting to manipulate his own son to get the change reversed. The scene is uncomfortable at some level to watch because we know Carrey is not interested in his son, but his son is deeply interested in a relationship with him. Often when a vice serves a function in our life - drugs, alcohol, overeating, lying, etc. - we are scared to do life without it. We thrive on that thing which ironically harms us and our relationships.

There is a principle in family therapy called "homeostasis" which is another way of saying "family functioning." When one person changes - the alcoholic stops drinking, the son or daughter puts up a parental boundary, etc - it typically means things get worse before they get better. It makes change all the more difficult. However, as with a dentist's visit to get a tooth pulled, it sometimes takes a degree of pain to remove something before healing sets in.

So, let's do an example. We'll suppose that you noticed recently you have been spending too much time on the internet. If you woke up tomorrow and this were changed, what would you first notice? You might notice that you don't have the compulsion to log in as much to certain e-mail accounts or websites. You might notice that you pick up the phone and call a friend to socialize. You might even head to the beach and just be still with God. You may notice that all of the sudden - you have time on your hands you didn't have before. You also might feel a little bit scared about this newfound connection through disconnection. That's okay. Better yet - that's a good thing. Change is scary, but all of us need it at times in our life to become more mature (or to the believer - more like Jesus). This is the process of refinement, or ultimately - growth. And like all things that grow, growth often coincides with health.

So now, what do you want to change?