Piano Man

Jon Batiste tickles the ivories; plus, Gen Z's love affair with Shania Twain, monarch butterflies, and a few good things.

Hello readers,

Have you had a good week? I sure hope so. Drop me a line and let me know what's new with you when you get the chance.

Today Grammy-winning performer Jon Batiste released the next three albums in his Batiste Piano Series (Black Mozart, Monk Meditations, and Monk Movements) and now I feel like maybe I need to drop a reimagined encyclopedia, or remixed War and Peace or something. On a more serious note, Batiste is a favorite, not just because he's so good at what he does, but because he's willing to explore and play in so many different sandboxes, keeping himself open to experimentation and randomness along the way.

A month or so ago, he did a Substack Live talking about his creative process and I thought I'd share some of what he said here. Maybe it will inspire you. Maybe it will nudge you to frolic through your day to day. Who knows?

Anyway, here's what he had to say:

On recording from home for the movie "Soul" during the pandemic

"When I was recording, I picked up the clang of [writer Suleika Jaouad, his wife] putting away a pot. You can try to organize the sound, or you can collaborate with what's happening. I like to do both...Life in the mundane is mystical, so you let it flow and don't fix it because that's what it's supposed to be."

On knowing when a song is complete

"You know that feeling you get while you're cooking and you taste something and realize it's done, or you think that you need to put something else into it. The less you think you need [to put something more into it], the better."

On embracing "something deeper" in the creative process

"Knowledge and wisdom are greater than logic. Logic is cool and very important and obviously we should think. But there's something else that's deeper...and we need to tap into that true north."

On morning pages

"When I have time, I do them in the hotel or backstage. Sometimes I do them in my Notes app. It's a very sacred practice we can get into where things come up in different forms. It's very clarifying for me."

I hope you have wonderful weekend ahead.

Thank you for being here.

Paige

Writing prompt: Reimagine something you've read, seen, or heard. Write about it and see how it makes you feel.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Endnotes

Still the One?

Let me preface this by saying that I am not against the singer Shania Twain. She writes a catchy tune. By the same token, I had not given her a ton of thought until I saw that she performed at Coachella with pop star Harry Styles a few years ago. That was a little bit confusing, but then again I am getting older and so more things tend to confuse me. After all, Shania's a little bit country. And Harry was practically a baby when Shania was belting out "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" in her heyday. Well, her first heyday, I guess, because lately it has seemed like younger folks are discovering her, celebrating her, and holding her up as a feminist icon. I quietly wondered why that was until The New York Times published this great article this week that explained it all, and gave me a newfound appreciation for Twain and everything she has been through to get where she is today. "You're not going to intimidate me," Twain told The Times. "That's not even possible." Keep on going wild and doing it in style, girl!

The Great Monarch Migration

In the coming weeks, monarch butterflies will begin their nearly two-months-long migration south to Mexico for the winter. It's one of those natural wonders that has always mystified me; here are these seemingly delicate creatures traveling thousands of miles to AND from, all the while braving the effects of global warming, development, and other manmade things that have endangered their very existence. Someday I hope to see them in one of these winter sanctuaries, where, The Atlantic writes, "the sky was alive with millions of fluttering shapes, congregating into clouds at random, occasionally turning into ribbons that wound through the trees. So many butterfly wings beat the air that their vibrations were audible, like a waterfall rushing in the distance." Sounds like a pretty amazing thing to witness, right? Even more amazing, The Atlantic reports, is that monarch populations are making a comeback after years of decline, a pretty extraordinary feat when you consider the odds we have stacked against them. For more on this (and some gorgeous photos), click here for the full story.

Things I'm Enjoying

Though I briefly mentioned this last week, now that I've listened to it, I can say that Maggie Smith and Faith Salie's You Can Make This Beautiful podcast is just this wonderful, soothing, funny balm about finding – or bringing – poetry into your life. So far, the duo has treated us to gems that include actor and author Henry Winkler talking about the poetry he's found in fly-fishing (and about touching Bruce Springsteen's forehead), and poet Peter Kessler explaining that we need metaphor to understand each other better. There are three episodes so far, and I sure do hope more are on the way. Go check it out! And? This piece about badgers digging up British golf courses to forage for worms. This little guide to a delightful neighborhood in Edinburgh, where the Fringe Festival is currently in full swing; I stayed there a couple of years ago, and would love, love, love to go back. Finally, Paris-based creative coach Anne Ditmeyer's notion that witnessing something like a solar eclipse with strangers can bring about a "collective effervescence."