Tuesday, December 9, 2008

A Thought

Here lies a short poem written yesterday. Please offer guidance on the form if you have it-

Well-
I was, for a long time, extremely busy avoiding the house of
regularity and normalcy. With it's bare bones and unbelievable
temperance. I chose, then, a complete preoccupation. I began a loose
search for the house of emotional satisfaction. Hearsay told me it was very much local with a tightly leashed dream. Then, after a drunken landing, I found it unfurnished
with nowhere to sit....so, now, I have a strange alignment within this
recovery.
Then, the song begins.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Summer Re-Cap and Looking for God's Phone Number

Well, this summer was a whirlwind of time. I played more music than I ever have during one season. I've begun to shift into a period of time that I always really enjoy: home (more on this later). In June, I toured with the incomparable Richard Julian. I recommend picking up his latest release "Sunday Morning in Saturday's Shoes". We ran into early weather roadblocks and even had a show cancelled in Des Moines due to flooding. We didn't trust the fancy GPS to navigate us through flood water, although it seemed completely capable somehow. Learned a whole lot about song writing from Richard on this run. Every night his show never rusted over. His songs have layers and layers of unassumed richness. In July and the first part of this month, I opened a slew of dates with my gracious and good friend, Jon Mclaughlin. These dates took me to a part of the country that I'd never seen before-The Wild West and New Orleans. I'd seen landscapes similar to these, I think, in an airplane before. From the top, not linear/flat. From the top, it looks like a bunch of crumpled up construction paper undone and laid on top of varying sizes of rock. Everything was extremely new and mesmerizing to see. Seems like all dinosaurs were born on the road from Houston to New Orleans. It looks like God got experimental on the vegetation there while taking breaks between hammering on the sun and moon. Or something like that!
Anyway, everyone should check out Jon's new record that's releasing early October. I really enjoy a tune called "You Can Never Go Back"...It will make you move. We had a major good time riding scooters around for a day exploring the great city of Seattle. Here's a picture of us before take off. Shown here is Jon's band (experienced riders) and me (non-experienced):



Now, I'm here. Trying to figure out who I am and where I'm from once again! Learning how to get back involved in serving in several different capacities and ways. Remembering that God does speak, and it's my job to stay still and to try listening for it. Then submitting to it. The music has never really come out well unless God's propelling the whole operation, not me. I was joking last week with a friend about trying to find God's phone number (weak metaphor..i know) and likening it to prayer. Maybe, He's at the very back of the crowd behind our circumstances and worries pushing forward. Maybe, He's flailing a piece of paper up in the air with that very number on it. By the time we reach Him, maybe, it's blank. Might have been all he could do to get near.
Micah

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

To Sting or not to Sting?

Last week, the me and the band found ourselves in the grand midwest, foreclosing any hopes of catching a visually stimulating aesthetic on the road. I will say that the serenity within Ohio, and most particularly Indiana, provides within itself a sort of stimulation that pierces enough on its own. We also were listening to a whole lot of the Bon Iver record which is just really dang good. Anyway, we had some time on Saturday to kill. I caught Ryan Horne (of Ryan Horne and his own smoking army), James (bass), and Chris (drums) completely mesmerized on camera. Here:





You're most assuredly making your own presuppositions. What could captivate such an elusive audience? A seemingly impossible audience of grown people with their own agendas and precious free time. Maybe news of harsh weather approaching the area? The You Tube video of the british children biting at each others fingers? billiards on ESPN2? Try this on for size:






That's right...the audaciously blond god of the Police, Sting. These guys watched a whole lot of this DVD. This photo is taken from Sting live at the OMNI in 1983. The Omni was the home (before its removal) to Atlanta icons Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb and, apparently, this bizarre showcase of the Police in their arena prime. A time period that I cannot and will not understand. Other than I was born the year later. I would liken the whole concert to an out take of the middle part of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", where there's loads of over aggressive tribal warriors howling (in their own dialect I assume) for the removal of our dear Harrison Ford's heart. There was nothing cohesive about this DVD. Which made it completely awesome and engaging. Sting 4 life.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Paul & Katie's

Tonight, I'm at Paul and Katie's house. They live in Cumming which is around 30-40 minutes north of my house in downtown Atlanta. I met Paul sometime back (2 years), and he's a very reliable/ responsible friend/brother. His wife, Katie, is pretty pregnant right now which is a beautiful thing. She's also a force. I come here basically every week because they offer an array of life's best gifts including but not limited to: proper meals, bigger/softer bed than mine, quiet...but the greatest of these is a constant basic friendship. Paul makes music too. He's started a studio called DOMAS. I've dabbled in becoming a session guitar player at DOMAS. Paul kind of thinks that I am, so I'm coming closer to think I am. They're moving to Athens soon, and I'm positive I'm going to have a hard time letting them go. I like coming here week in and week out. It's (my time here) truly deeply embedded into my strange existence. When you don't have but a couple of constants, you cling to the ones you got. Here's to Katie & Paul's.