BEST OF 2012 - #2 - JACK WHITE "BLUNDERBUSS"

It is probably no surprise that Jack White's debut solo album, Blunderbuss, placed so high on my Best of 2012 list.

Why did he finally do a solo record?  I think that this is his "divorce" album. I don't generally look too deeply into lives of artists, but this one was hard to miss:  Jack and Karen Elson sent out invitations to their 6 anniversary/divorce party.  So while it seems amicable, I'd imagine that every divorce has it's pain and that pain comes out in this album (which Elson provides backing vocals on, by the way).

Although he's the spotlight of every project he works on, I think he sees his bandmates as peers and friends.  I think that this time around, he'd rather just hire musicians, and not explain the songs.

Jack White being Jack White, his story is that he'd set up a session at Third Man Studios with The RZA; RZA didn't show up, and Jack started bashing out songs with the musicians that he hired.  But these songs don't sound like they were just cranked out on the spot.

The tour was really interesting:  he had an all-male band, and an all-female band, and each morning he'd announce who would get to play.  It's amazing that he still can manage to have some weird mystique to what he's doing, all these years after he started.  And that he'd go to such far lengths to bother to do so.  It was fun to hear him play White Stripes songs again (although a full band didn't seem to make up for Meg White missing), and cool to hear different takes on his Raconteurs and Dead Weather songs.

Anyway, the album is a classic: pretty much every song works.  A lot of them sound like they could maybe fit into his other bands.  "Hypocritical Kiss" and "Sixteen Saltines" remind me of The White Stripes for sure. I would love to hear Alison Mosshart singing "Freedom At 21."   "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy" reminds me of The Raconteurs.  But they still have a fresh, different sound.  In the 2010's, I don't know any other artists who are this consistent, and this interesting.

JACK WHITE AT ROSELAND 5/21/12

photo credit: Maria Ives 

It’s no secret to No Expiration readers that I’m a huge Jack White fan:  a couple of years ago, I named him No Expiration’s Best Artist Of The 00’s. I’m a fan of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, I dug last year’s Rome project, and I enjoy a lot of the 45s he puts out on Third Man Records. 

So this week’s show at Roseland was pretty cool: for the first time, he performed songs spanning all three of his bands.  It’s a solo tour, but on this tour, he has two bands: an all-guy group called Los Buzzardos, and an all-female group called The Peacocks.  Each day, he uses one band.  Our night was Los Buzzardos. 

A colleague who was also at the show said that Jack White is becoming the kind of artist who makes his fans “work for it.” And my friend and radio host Larry Flick says that Jack is probably surrounded by people who are probably afraid to tell the guy “no.” Both of them are probably right.  He’s very self-indulgent and also very ambitious.

And when an artist is ambitious, you can either go with him (or her) for the ride or not.  I’m all aboard.  I dug Monday night’s concert at Roseland.  He opened with one of his best songs, The White Stripes’ “Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground.”  It turns out that it takes like five guys to replace the power of Meg White, but I felt that the song (and all of the renditions of White Stripes songs) really worked.  Later in the show they played “Ball & Biscuit” and I dug that also.

A lot of the show centered around Jack’s great solo debut, Blunderbuss. “Missing Pieces,” the opening track on the album followed “Dead Leaves.”  I think it’s one of the best songs on the album, and it was definitely rockin’ live.  “Sixteen Saltines,” “Hypocritical Kiss,” “Blunderbuss” and especially “Dead At 21” really worked for me as well. 

I loved that he played some of his one-offs, like Rome’s “Two Against One.” Also the song he did from last year’s The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams collection, “You Know That I Know.”

The songs by The Raconteurs and Dead Weather didn’t work as much for me, and I love both bands.  On “Steady As She Goes” I missed Brendan Benson’s vocals countering Jack’s (that said, I loved “Top Yourself”).  Ditto for “I Cut Like A Buffalo,” because as much as I like Jack, it’s hard not to miss Allison Mosshart’s vocals on that one.  So, even though The White Stripes are history, I hope Jack continues to work with his other bands. I think that they both have real chemistry and and identities.

The opening group was one of the most buzzed about – if not the most buzzed about  -- new band of the year, Alabama Shakes.  I’ve known about them for a while:  Pattersoon Hood name dropped them a lot last year, since they opened for The Drive-By Truckers.  They seem so far from what a “buzz band” usually is, they are very soulful and southern rock, and not very twee or fey or indie. Their singer, Brittany Howard has an incredible voice, and the group really rocks.  I don’t think they have the most distinct songs – but then again, maybe I just need to spend  more time with their album.  I think they have potential to be great, and I’m glad they’re getting the attention that they’re getting.

VH1'S 100 GREATEST: MEG WHITE

It was a huge honor to be asked to be a commentator for VH1's 100 Greatest Women in Music. The list seems to be taken from VH1's lifetime - so no Aretha, Billie, Loretta, etc.

But still, there's a lot of great artists included, and I was really glad to see that Meg White of The White Stripes on the list. She was the perfect drummer for that duo, no one else would have worked, no one else could have made it work. She was so amazing.

Unlike her former bandmate Jack White, she doesn't seem to have the itch to make music all the time.  I wonder if she'll ever be in another band.

Personally, I just hope The White Stripes get back together at some point.  It's hard to imagine Meg in any other band (prove me wrong, Meg).  It would be a shame if she actually retired from music.

GRAMMY WATCH: "THE WHITE STRIPES: UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS"

I just wrote about what was probably my favorite music documentary of the past year, Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage.  Another one that deserves mention is The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights. It's nominated against Rush in Best Longform Video at the Grammys tomorrow.  While I prefer the Rush flick, I think that Emmett Malloy did a great job on this. Ostensibly, it documented The White Stripes' 2007 tour of Canada, and instead of just doing arenas, they did lots of last minute performances in strange locations, including an old age home, a bus, and a Y. It showed a lot about Jack White's commitment to music and making it something that isn't just easy to get. The special shows were announced usually at the last minute, it wasn't the kind of deal where you buy stuff online via a presale from the comfort of your own home. Jack doesn't make it easy on himself either - he mentions that he plays old guitars that are difficult to keep in tune, he keeps his picks at the back of the stage so if he drops one, he has to rush to the back of the stage and not mess up the song, stuff like that. It's really part of Jack's entire aesthetic, it comes through in his music and also in the way he runs Third Man Records.

But the unspoken heart of the film is the relationship between Jack and Meg White, a relationship that seems too complicated to explain or describe in words or pictures. And we now know, that the film documented part of what was their last tour, as they just announced their breakup earlier this month.

If you haven't seen the flick, stop here.

The interviews with Jack and Meg tell a lot of the story: the relationship looks like it's getting uncomfortable. Of course, it's to be expected: while Jack always sticks with the storyline that they are brother and sister, everyone knows that they are ex-husband and wife. The fact that they are in a band together - a duo at that - is pretty amazing. It's a complex relationship, too: she encouraged him to date the woman who is now his wife, Karen Elson, and he hired her husband Jackson Smith to play guitar on Elson's debut album. Meg and Smith were married in a ceremony at Jack's house; Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs was married at the same ceremony. It's complicated.

But you can kind of see things coming to an end in the last scene. Jack and Meg are sitting at a piano, with Jack playing "White Moon," and Meg swaying and watching him.  There's one little moment, where she looks at him and then at the camera and then away.  Soon after, tears start flowing from her eyes. It kind of says everything. It really is a cool doc, and watching it for the second time, with the Stripes now in the rear view mirror, it takes on a lot more weight. It's rare that documentaries about music groups have such raw moments of honesty, and few of them are this poignant, lovely and sad at the same time. I was really sorry to hear that they were breaking up... but after watching this again, I kind of understand why.

GOODBYE TO A GREAT BAND: THE WHITE STRIPES

So, as the entire music world knows by now, The White Stripes announced that, as of today, they are no longer a band. I don't want to overstate how bummed I am - there are a lot of worse things going on in the world to be sad or upset about.  On the other hand, you almost can't overstate how great they were.

I had a hard time immersing myself in bands after the Lollapalooza thing started to fade in the mid '90s.  After that wave of incredible bands of the late '80s and early '90s, I had a hard time really "buying into" many bands or artists (I'm not limiting this to just artists who literally played Lollapalooza, I'll include Faith No More and Helmet and Nirvana here, as well as less testosterone-y groups like Cowboy Junkies or Cake).

Part of it I attributed to my age: I graduated college in the early '90s, and stayed interested in new bands for a while, but pretty soon I couldn't find anyone new who I'd  be willing to go to see in concert.  There was also the sort of "indie rock" element, and obviously I don't mean "indie" as in independent artists like Fugazi or Ani DiFranco.  I mean the whole sort of slacker thing, which I often feel like comes from bands like Pavement or Sebadoh.  I won't say that those bands don't have good songs or talent, but they just don't hold my interest, and they don't seem to care about being great. In fact, the idea of trying to be great seems to be sort of embarrassing to them. That was my take.  You can have that sort of attitude if you are, say, Dylan or Lou Reed, but few bands are that awesome.  So: they don't care = I don't care.

And then The White Stripes came along. They had the old-school/punk rock "rust never sleeps" attitude, but at the same time, there was definitely a reverence for the past. They were hip but populist. They wanted their music to hold up to the legends, but they didn't want to get lazy. They were disciplined, they had a vision, they definitely cared and most importantly, they wrote great songs. Like a lot of other people, I got into them in 2001 around the time of their third album, White Blood Cells. To me, they were the band of the '00s (The Drive-By Truckers, Pearl Jam and U2 would also be in the running). (Last year, I named Jack White as my Artist of the '00s). After White Blood Cells, I picked up their first two albums, and by the time they released Elephant in 2003, I was all in.

They occasionally collaborated with other musicians (a horn section on "Conquest," Holly Golightly on "It's True That We Love One Another." But really, it was about the power of two people, Jack and Meg White. Three colors (red, white and black) and three instruments (guitar - or keyboards or marimba, drums and vocals)... I guess maybe they ran out of ideas.  Part of the discipline of the band was sticking within their confines, and to change that would be to change what was so great about the band. On 2005's Get Behind Me Satan I thought they were maybe running out of juice, but on 2007's Icky Thump, they had some of their finest moments (including the classic "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)".  That's a good way to go out. Their final performance was on Conan O'Brien's (first) last show (ha ha) doing "We're Going To Be Friends."

Of course, Jack has been making music outside of the Stripes anyway, with The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, and more recently with Wanda Jackson. Whatever Jack does, it has a particular sound, but none of his other projects had what The White Stripes had. I'm sad that he, or they, feel that they have nothing else left to say, but I respect that they know what they're doing, and they don't want to ruin what was a great band by putting out music that doesn't hold up to their legacy. That's admirable. Thanks for the awesome music. (By the way, you can read their parting statement at their official website).

"RACONTWOERS" PLAY THIRD MAN RECORDS FOR RECORD STORE DAY

Record Store Day is coming up this weekend. The coolest place to spend it will be, unsurprisingly, Third Man Records in Nashville. The "Racontwoers" will be playing the store. It's the two guys from The Raconteurs who aren't in The Dead Weather. Guitarist/singer Brendan Benson and drummer Patrick Keeler will be playing some Raconteurs songs. That's pretty cool. I know that when Brendan does his solo tours he stays away from Raconteurs material (I think Jack White doesn't want anyone crossing projects: he only plays White Stripes songs with the Stripes, Raconteurs songs with the Raconteurs, etc). And supposedly Brendan didn't work with Patrick on his solo album so that it wouldn't be similar to the band. which seems a bit unfair: White works with bassist Jack Lawrence in Dead Weather!

Meanwhile, I just got a cool new package from Third Man.  It's a double LP including all the singles that they're released this year, including songs by The Dead Weather, Mildred and The Mice, Rachelle Garniez, The Dex Romweber Duo, Wanda Jackson, The Black Belles, Jack White solo and more. I thought that that would be the latest V.I.P. package, which would have bugged me as (a) it's supposed to be an LP, a 7" and a shirt and (b) most V.I.P. members probably bought all of these on 7" and (c) that means it isn't "exclusive." But Third Man says the next package will be an LP of songs recorded on The White Stripes 2007 tour of Canada, but they will mostly be songs not included in the Under Great White Northern Lights documentary/soundtrack. The 7" will be two unreleased Raconteurs demos, and the t-shirt will be a Dead Weather shirt that will "blow minds."

DEAD WEATHER'S NEW ALBUM: "SEA OF COWARDS"

There's no release date, but The Dead Weather's website says that the band's new album, Sea Of Cowards, is "coming soon." Jack White must be way into playing with this band.  Usually he takes turns with his bands. I was thinking maybe he'd do some touring with The White Stripes since their Under Great White Northern Lights doc and live album came out this week. I don't know how Jack keeps track of all his bands and all of his other projects.  I've also heard a rumor that he may produce some sessions for Dolly Parton (The White Stripes do a great cover of "Jolene").

JACK WHITE RECORDED A TRACK WITH JAY-Z?

In an interview with the British version of GQ magazine, Jack White said that he recently recorded a track with Jay-Z. I am definitely curious to hear this one. I don't go crazy over Jay-Z like, well, nearly everyone else who writes about music does. But I've warmed to him a bit, and there are definitely a lot of good songs with his name on them. I dig "Run This Town," "Swagga Like Us," "Money Ain't A Thing" and his remake of Ice-T's "99 Problems."

In other Jack White news, today The White Stripes' Under Great White Northern Lights doc was released on DVD, and the accompanying live album is out also. I picked it up right after work, I can't wait to check it out.

Also, Jack's wife Karen Elson just released her debut single, "The Ghost Who Walks" on Third Man Records.  Did you know that she sang backing vocals on a remix of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her"? I gotta find that remix. But anyway, her debut album comes out this summer. Yes, Jack produced it.

DANIEL MERRIWEATHER COVERS THE WHITE STRIPES

Hi, meet Daniel Merriweather! Actually, I don't know that much about Daniel Merriweather. Other than the fact that he guested on an album by super-producer Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen) and sang an incredible version of The Smiths' "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before." Ronson signed him to his label and is putting out Merriweather's debut album, Love & War. I've heard that the album has been a bit problematic and has been delayed a few times.  I downloaded two songs from iTunes: a great duet with Adele "Water and a Flame," and a really great cover of The White Stripes' "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)." So far I'm pretty sold on the guy.  It's pretty interesting that a band like The White Stripes, have been covered by pop/soul singers like Daniel, as well as Joss Stone ("Fell In Love With A Girl") and Kelly Clarkson (who sometimes covers "Seven Nation Army").

AD AGENCY MUSICIAN APOLOGIZES TO THE WHITE STRIPES

Yesterday I wrote about how The White Stripes went on the offensive after hearing that the Navy Reserve used a song that sounds a lot like "Fell In Love With A Girl" for a recruitment commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. Today, the musician who composed the song, Kem Kraft, apologized in an interview with The New York Times. He said he was unfamiliar with the song, but he was sorry, and said that the Navy Reserve had nothing to do with it.

THE WHITE STRIPES TAKE ON A ONE NATION NAVY (RESERVE)

I didn't catch this commercial during the Super Bowl, but apparently, the U.S. Navy Reserves recorded a song that sounds exactly like The White Stripes' "Fell In Love With A Girl." The White Stripes didn't dig it: and Jack White and his team handled the situation with a lot of class.  They don't want to be invovled in promoting military recruitment during a war they do not support, although they do support the military and hope for them to come home safely and soon. See the full statement below. They posted "Fell In Love" and a link to the commercial (which has since come down). Well played.

BEST OF THE 00s: JACK WHITE -- MY PICK FOR ARTIST OF THE DECADE

Jack White is my "Artist of the Decade." Obviously, I've been writing about a lot of other "Best of the 00s" artists - and Jack just edged out my second choice, Aimee Mann.

In a decade where popular culture was dominated by famous people who were famous for being famous (or a willingness to do anything to be famous) and most credible rock bands had the "indie" thing (allergic to popularity -  among many other things - way too much sarcasm, no charisma), songs seemed secondary and new artists seemed to lack much sense of history... Jack White was a remedy for all of these things. It was almost like, where was this creature spawned from? All of this stuff looks good on paper: the real deal is that Jack White is a great songwriter, and one of the most prolific ones in recent decades.

The former Goober & The Peas drummer of course formed his own band, The White Stripes, in the late '90s, and they released their classic self titled debut in 1999. Not many indie bands (or any bands) would have the audacity (or soul) to cover Bob Dylan ("One More Cup Of Coffee") and Robert Johnson ("Stop Breaking Down") on the same album (which was dedicated to Son House).   In 2000 came De Stijl, their final indie effort (it was on Sympathy For The Record Industry, but was later reissued on V2). More covers: Son House's "Death Letter" and Blind Willie McTell's "Your Southern Can Is Mine." But also lots of Jack originals like "You're Pretty Good Looking (For A Girl)."

2001's White Blood Cells catapulted them to the pop charts with "Fell In Love With A Girl" (clocking in at a lean one minute fifty) and also "Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground." 2003's Elephant is probably their greatest moment ever, and had one of the best songs of all time, "Seven Nation Army," which has been covered by Kelly Clarkson, Audioslave and The Oak Ridge Boys. The entire album was great. I remember seeing them on that tour, and Loretta Lynn opened up.  She was amazing: Jack joined her on stage, and she returned the favor. I remember calling someone at her record label saying that they should get Jack to produce her next album, a la Rick Rubin and Johnny Cash. And guess what?

2004 saw the release of Van Lear Rose, a triumphant comeback album for Ms. Lynn, produced by Jack White. It also offered a glimpse of what he'd do more of in the future: work with musical icons and be comfortable rubbing shoulders with them.  It also offered a glimpse of The Raconteurs: bassist Patrick Keeler and drummer Jack Lawrence (both of The Greenhornes) were in the band. (Oh yeah, between Elephant and Van Lear Rose, Jack also appeared in the film Cold Mountain, and did a few solo tunes for the soundtrack).

After that, Jack may have lost his way a bit: 2005's Get Behind Me Satan was a really good album, but probably The White Stripes' weakest. So, he formed The Racontuers with Keeler, Lawrence and singer-songwriter Brendan Benson. Their debut, 2006's Broken Boy Soldiers is a classic, and "Steady, As She Goes" is up there with "Seven Nation Army." Around this time, Jack also jammed with The Rolling Stones on "Loving Cup" on their documentary and live album Shine A Light. (The Raconteurs, meanwhile, got to jam with Pete Townshend on Rachel Fuller's In The Attic web series.)

By 2007, The White Stripes were back in effect, and Icky Thump is another White Stripes classic. "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)"... another classic. The tour of Canada was captured for the upcoming documentary Under Great White Northern Lights which comes out in a few months.

2008 saw another Raconteurs album, Consolers Of The Lonely, which proved that they weren't a one-off side project type deal. It didn't have a monster like "Steady, As She Goes" but still, it was an amazing album. They've since re-recorded some "Old Enough" as a bluegrass number with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe, and an R&B version of "Many Shades Of Black" with Adele. And after that, Jack and Alicia Keys teamed up for "Another Way To Die" for the James Bond franchise. It featured Jack on guitar and drums, with Patrick Keeler on bass.

Earlier this year, of course, Jack appeared with Jimmy Page and The Edge in the guitar documentary It Might Get Loud. He's one of the few guitarists of his generation who could pull that off.  And then, after appearing in a film about his love for the guitar, he returned to the drums for his latest band, The Dead Weather, whose Horehound is one of my favorite albums of 2009.

I haven't even mentioned the fact that Jack (I believe) owns his masters, giving him a freedom that is pretty unheard of for artists of his stature, and he is leveraging that to be a force for good, via his Third Man Records. They record, on analog tape, single (that's a 7" 45rpm vinyl record with an A-side and a B-side). The Third Man VIP club also offers cool exclusive stuff for members, and so far it has been worth it.

Artistically, and as a guy forging his own path in the music industry, Jack is my dude of the decade.  I know I say this a lot, but I really can't wait to see what the guy does next.

THE LATEST FROM THE THIRD MAN V.I.P. CLUB

I've written about the Third Man Records V.I.P. club before: you pay $20 a month and get exclusive stuff and access to cool content on their website. I just got the latest package: it comes with a double live Raconteurs album on vinyl (2 LPs of course)The Raconteurs Live In London. Lots of great songs from both the band's albums and also a cover of the blues classic "Little Red Rooster."

Also included in the package is a White Stripes 7" with alternate takes of "Let's Shake Hands" and "Look Me Over Closely." And some kind of print that is a variation on The Dead Weather's Horehound album cover.

Being a member of this V.I.P. is definitely a luxury, but so far, they have made it pretty worth the money by sending lots of cool stuff out that you can't get anywhere else. 

THE WHITE STRIPES' "UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS" BOX SET

Over the summer, I wrote a bit about The White Stripes ' upcoming documentary film, Under Great White Northern Lights. The band just announced that they're releasing a limited edition box set to promote the film: it will include a DVD of the film, a DVD of their 10th anniversary concert from Nova Scotia that will only be available with this box set, a 16 track live album on CD and 2 LPs, a 7" single (the format of choice of Jack White's company Third Man Records), and a hardcover photography book.  But it now, its $179.  After the new year, it will go up to $229. 

Speaking of Third Man Records, their latest 7" releases include a spoken word disc by BP Fallon and a group called The Smoke Fairies.  Both produced by Jack White of course.

DEAD WEATHER - NEW ALBUM IN 2010

This week, Jack White told Rolling Stone that The Dead Weather will release their next album next year, possibly in time for their March tour of Australia. He also verified reports that he produced some tracks for Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Wanda Jackson. He was planning on just doing a 7" single for Third Man Records, but they started doing more songs, and that may turn into an entire album.

I wonder how these projects effect the next White Stripes project: the documentary film and new album that Jack White has talked about.

JACK WHITE TO PRODUCE WANDA JACKSON

One of my
favorite records of the decade is Loretta Lynn's 2004 classic, Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White. Now it looks like he is going to produce another female icon, Wanda Jackson, according to The Oklamhoman. According to the story, she's going to Third Man Studios to record a single, which I imagine will be publically available (as opposed to being a Third Man V.I.P. club exlcusive). Hopefully that will go well, and they'll do an album together. I guess Jack's latest tour with The Dead Weather is winding down; I know his next project is The White Stripes film and supposedly a new album.

THE RACONTEURS COLLABORATE WITH ADELE

Remember back in January, I mentioned that Jack White would be collaborating with Adele? Well, it turns out that it's not just Jack, it was a session with The Raconteurs, much like their collaboration with Ricky Skaggs and Ashley Monroe. They re-recorded their own song "Old Enough," bluegrass style and Skaggs and Monroe. This time, they did a more R&B version of their song "Many Shades Of Black" with Adele. Oddly, it will be coming out on a soundtrack CD for the television show 90120. Please! Release it as a CD single, or at least a la carte on iTunes. Don't make me buy a 90210 album, I won't do it. I'll borrow someone else's. But I am definitely looking forward to hearing it. It's probably the last we'll hear from the band for a while: Jack White and Jack Lawrence are both still working with The Dead Weather, and after that, I'm sure Jack will do another White Stripes project - especially since a documentary film about the band is coming out soon. There's also rumors that Jack White may be working with The Rolling Stones as well. And, of course, Brendan Benson has just released a solo album. But I'm sure The Raconteurs will get together again at some point, and I hope they do, they're a great band.

THIRD MAN'S V.I.P. CLUB

I just got the first package of Third Man Records ' Vault program. For a three month $60 membership, you get access to paid content on their website (and it's lots of stuff, videos, stills). But you also get a package in the mail every three months. So, now I have a sweet-ass Third Man Records t-shirt that isn't available anywhere else. I also have The White Stripes' Icky Thump in glorious mono on double vinyl. And a Dead Weather 7" which includes a cover of doom metal band Pentagram's "Forever My Queen," and another song called "Outside" (I don't know who that is by though). I wonder if enough people will think that this is worth the $20 per month to keep paying. I know there's a lot of collectors out there.

DEAD WEATHER VIDEO, WHITE STRIPES TRAILER

Jack White has been busy lately, not just starting his new company Third Man and starting a new band The Dead Weather, he's also spent a lot of time in front of a camera. There's the upcoming documentary It Might Get Loud with The Edge and Jimmy Page, of course. But The Dead Weather have a great video for "Treat Me Like Your Mother." And The White Stripes have a doc of their own coming out, Under Northern Lights. Check out the video and the trailer:

The Dead Weather - Treat Me Like Your Mother

JACK WHITE TO GO SOLO?

Jack White has just launched his third band, The Dead Weather; with The White Stripes and The Raconteurs still ongoing concerns, that makes three bands. So, I was surprised when Brit magazine Music Connection reported that he is entertaining the idea of doing something solo (I found it via TwentyFour Bit). I think Jack is a great collaborator, but ends up getting all the attention, although he doesn't come off as a "ball hog." It should be interesting to hear what a solo Jack album would sound like.