The Kevlar Beard

Last night I had a vision of floating down a canal. I was in a topless coffin with my entrails dragging behind the buoyant pine. The fish were taking delicate, intentional bites, spreading my body from rivers to sea. That plankton is me.

Here is a cd I made for a mixtape trading group I am a part of. I figured I’d pass it along to my few followers:

1. Booker T & the MG’s – Green Onions
2. My Morning Jacket – One Big Holiday
3. The Steeldrivers – Blue Side of the Mountain
4. Ryan Adams – New York, New York
5. Stevie Wonder – Uptight
6. Good Old War – Coney Island
7. Charles Wright – Express Yourself
8. Angus & Julia Stone – On the Road
9. Brandi Carlile – The Story
10. Beck – Lost Cause
11. Crosby Stills & Nash – Teach Your Children
12. Great Lakes Swimmers – Pulling on a Line
13. Frank Turner – Dan’s Song
14. Boxer Rebellion – Evacuate
15. David Grey – Now & Always
16. Seven Day Jesus – Everybody Needs Love
17. Justin Townes Earle – Hard Livin’
18. Avett Brothers – Swept Away
19. Gregory Alan Isakov – Dandelion Wine
20. A.A. Bondy – Black Rain
21. J. Tillman – My Proud Mountains (Townes Van Zandt)

http://rapidshare.com/files/382859764/Exchange__3.rar.html

(you will need winRAR or the mac equivalent to unzip the files)

When you’re sad and when you’re lonely and you haven’t got a friend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all that you’ve held sacred, falls down and does not mend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

When you’re standing at the crossroads that you cannot comprehend
Just remember that death is not the end
And all your dreams have vanished and you don’t know what’s up the bend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

When the storm clouds gather ’round you, and heavy rains descend
Just remember that death is not the end
And there’s no one there to comfort you, with a helpin’ hand to lend
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

Oh, the tree of life is growing
Where the spirit never dies
And the bright light of salvation shines
In dark and empty skies

When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men
Just remember that death is not the end
And you search in vain to find just one law abiding citizen
Just remember that death is not the end
Not the end, not the end
Just remember that death is not the end

-Bob Dylan’s “Death is not the end”

I was just thinking, I don’t want anyone to ever respect me solely based on my age. I think respect is something that one has to earn until the day they die. Sometimes, I get the feeling that people just give up after a certain point. “I’ve had my kids and paid my mortgage off. I am sick of caring about anything else”. I hope I never get to that point. I’m sure some of my older readers will feel like I am knocking older generations, this is not what I am intending. I respect people for their histories and past triumphs. I am just stating that the moment people stop pressing forward and rely solely on the past, they have lost.

Morning sun lay on my brow

Shoulders heavy

Dust Bowl’s got me asking how, oh

The Earth is cracked and blistered dry

And all I see are failed attempts at

Feeding my family

In the caverns of the soul

A Love stays silent

Nothing new and nothing grown, oh

Happiness may come and disappear

But all I really care about is

Feeding my family

Secrets whispered through the pine

I am yours and you are mine

Born into her tired arms

She held me closely

Never showed his battle scars, oh

They never really had that much

But what we had was worth the cost to

Fight for our family

Please click below to see Mark and I perform “Weary Hands” in his basement:

Weary Hands from Josh Mickelson on Vimeo.

V1

You reached through the clouds to me,

You filled my lungs with praise

Now my heart will sing your name

And Spread it through the Earth

Chorus

Just rivers turn to sea

Your love flows through me

And you crossed the grave

To touch humanity

V2

Like the sea reflects the sky

I’ll be your face to men

And when I fall I’ll reach to you

I’ll stand and look to you

Chorus

Just rivers turn to sea

Your love flows through me

And you crossed the grave

To touch humanity

As many of you know, I am working on writing a worship album with my friend Mark Thomas. I am going to use my blog to post some of the lyrics I have written for it. I fully realize that a lot of people will be uninterested in reading these, and I am totally ok with that. Congregational music is a tricky beast. You have to write something heartfelt and inspired, yet it needs to be easy for a community to participate in. there is this balance that needs to be felt in the song. Hopefully I am capturing that in these.

Verse 1:

In the shadow of your heart

I hear you whisper in the wind

Here’s my heart for you to mend

Take my life and make it whole.

Chorus:

I’ll raise my weary hands to the sky

And sing my praise to the Lord on high

Through your blood my ransom paid

Jesus, you have made a way.

Verse 2:

Lord, the fullness of your love

Is like the vastness of the sky

Lord, the thunder of your voice

Will shake our sleeping souls to life

Chorus:

I’ll raise my weary hands to the sky

And sing my praise to the Lord on high

Through your blood my ransom paid

Jesus, you have made a way.

Bridge:

Abba Father, I surrender.

David Bazan – House Show (4/16/09 Denver, CO)

This is the house show that was in my living room. There were approximately 50 of us huddled around David as he sang us his music. It was a really special evening that I will remember for the rest of my life.

The tracks are unmastered, so the volume is a bit low, but they sound good and convey the feel of the evening quite well. We used a Protools Digi 002 set up with a matched set of Audio Technica 4050s.  Thanks to Mark Thomas for his recording set up. Just download this file and un-zip it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?nmmhjiyqwuz

Tracklist:

1. Graduation
2. Please, Baby, Please
3. Priests and Paramedics
4. The Man in Me (Dylan cover)
5. Curse Your Branches
6. Harmless Sparks Fewer Broken Pieces
7. Transcontinental
8. When We Fell
9. Options
10. Bearing Witness
11. Weeds in the Wheat
12. Cold Beer and Cigarettes
13. In Stitches
14. Hallelujah (Cohen cover)

Cantatrice

Misunderstanding. Misunderstanding, misunderstanding.
Are we stationed here among another thing?
Sometimes I wonder.
After the lightning, this afternoon, came thunder:
the natural world makes sense: cats hate water
and love fish.

Fish, plankton, bats’ radar, the sense of fish
who glide up the coast of South America
and head for Gibraltar.
How do they know it’s there? We call this instinct
by which we dream we know what instinct is,
like misunderstanding.

I was soft on a green girl once and we smiled across
and married, childed. Never did we truly take in
one burning wing.
Henry flounders. What is the name of that fish?
So better organized than we are oh.
Sing to me that name, enchanter, sing!