Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Bolivar "The Liberator"

As I gradually mature, I find that I am more and more interested in history. Mainly history I have no idea about. For instance: the war of 1812. FASCINATING! Did you know that in 1812 the British retook Detroit? How wild is that? Also I enjoyed reading about this guy today. Simon Bolivar "The Liberator." He's worth reading about, although will most likely never come up in conversation unless we are sitting down together in an intimate setting talking about the liberation of Latin America from Spain, then you better believe we will be talking all about him!
It's articles like this that make me wonder...Did any teachers throughout college or highschool ever mention this guy? Was I too checked out to remember?
Also speaking of public education, I heard a guy on the radio say "If your kids like their teacher, they are suffering from stockholm symdrome. Needless to say he was against public education, and recommended some fancy book which, if read, would talk you out of sending your children there. I however work in public schools everyday, and I think they're aight.



update.

Here's an article by someone who is a much better writer about the album I just blogged about. 

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-passion-of-david-bazan/Content?oid=1169181


Sunday, August 9, 2009

Curse Your Branches.

There are certain people in my life that I have never met that have very special places in my heart. One of men is David Bazan. My junior year in highschool I went to a little sleepover camp out at my friend Matt Graham’s house in Momeyer, NC. There are 2 things I remember very well about that night; 1.) Putting on a fireman’s suit and rolling through the bonfire, and 2.) Listening to “Winners Never Quit” by Pedro the Lion. To listen is to love. From that moment on I listened to everything I could by Pedro the Lion whose front man was David Bazan. In those early years he was on Jade Tree records (which in itself holds another very special part of my heart). David’s lyrics have always been brutally honest, and his music insanely simple. It was not about the simplicity of the music, but how perfect the music went with the way he sang it. Each song is beautifully written and his voice is one that can never be mistaken. David’s lyrics challenged me in my Christian walk more than any other band at the time. His honesty made me question so many things that I knew about the Lord. It seemed like he was having the same struggles as so many people, but unlike so many he was willing to talk about it. He would say things that surprised me for example:

“You were too busy steering the conversation toward the Lord, to hear the voice of the Spirit begging you to shut the F up, you thought it must be the Devil trying to make me go astray; besides it could not have been the Lord because you don’t believe He talks that way…”

But you could always tell he was really struggling with his faith.

“I can’t say it like I sing it, and I can’t sing it like I think it, and I can’t think it like I feel it, and I don’t feel a thing.”

And

“Who shall I blame for this sweet and heavy trouble, for every stupid struggle I don’t know, I could buy you a drink, I could tell you all about it. I could tell you why I doubt it, and why I still believe it, and why I need it, and what the Pharisees don’t see.”

You could always tell though that He was holding on. Today however, I heard his new album entitled “Curse Your Branches.” I heard this album while driving to the beach and it honestly broke my heart. I think David has finally walked away from the Lord. Throughout the whole album his blatantly bitter lyrics toward the Lord ring out with passion. He questions God as to whether he “”pushed man when man fell.” Claiming that since God knew what was going to happen, and he made us anyway didn’t he just create us to be fallen creatures? The whole album is just track after track of surprising lyrics until in my opinion the climax of the album. The last verse of the entire album ends with,

“I might as well admit it, like I even have a choice. The crewmen killed the Captain but they still can hear His voice. The shadow on the water, a whisper in the wind on long walks with my daughter who is lately full of questions about You. When Job asked You the question You responded with ‘who are you to challenge the creator’ well if that one part is true, it makes you sound defensive like you had not thought it through enough to have an answer or you might have bitten off more than you could chew.”

I feel so down about this whole thing. I love sad songs, (and waltzes) but when they are about love and love lost it is a completely different feeling. To hear David, someone I care about, speak of walking away from the Lord, someOne I REALLY care about, it is the saddest thing that I have felt in a while. Hopefully He is just going through a time in his life when he’s down and out. The good news is that “He who began a good work in us will carry it out until the day of redemption.” I just hope that season for David comes soon, and that he writes and album about it. I hope one song talks about how new life can spring from dry brittle branches. Any thoughts?

Ps. If you love simple musical composure you should still check the album out, just be prepared to be sad when it’s said and done.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

A Few AM Thoughts


Ok, so I was wrong about the Michael thing. I guess I will never see him perform, but at least I had the next best thing a few times. There is a band around the area called "Who's' Bad" they are a Michael Jackson Tribute band and they are AWESOME. Everything is performed lived, no tracks and their Michael dresses like Mike throughout the years and man has he got a voice; he can even do butterflies! Whew! Check them out here.
You know when you find a spider or bug or something in your house and you start to think...oh man that thing is HUGE! Where did it come from!? How many more are there!? Do they crawl on me in my sleep? Well yesterday I had those tho
ughts upon encountering a large spider in my bathub. Arachnaphobia all over again! Don't worry though he's totally dead now! Here's a picture of how big he was!


I have also been watching a lot of Band of Brothers. I love this series and always try to wait a long time in between watching it. It always really moves me to a point where I am so thankful for what others have sacrificed for our country. Seeing those men in the Battle of the Bulge, at D. Day etc... As a boy I grew up with G.I. Joes and with playing war in the backyard; I was alway the hero of course. I begin to wonder though as I watch these men risk their lives in valiant efforts if I would be that brave when the situation arose? Would I be that guy in Saving Private Ryan who was too scared to even go save his friend? I hope not!

Lastly, I have started working out. Kristi and I are getting married on October 18th and I need to start losing some serious poundage, or turning this "extra" into muscle. I have worked out two days in a row now and honestly I could barely get out of bed this morning. I am so achey! Is this a getting old thing or a really out of shape thing? I think both! I will continue to stick with it and hope things get better! Pain means progress I guess. Someone used to tell me that pain was weakness leaving the body. I can't remember for the life of me who that was but apparently it stuck with me!

Until next time
David

Monday, July 6, 2009

Relaxation Station

Last Wednesday I left work a little early and drove to the beach to be with my family. It was such a beautiful extra long weekend mid 90's and sunny and the water was the perfect temperature! I love when it's 95 outside and you come out of the water and you still feel cold. Here are some pictures from the weekend. There aren't many because we were really busy with not doing anything so not many photos were taken!






Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Theory

Ok I was REALLY going to try to avoid writing a quick post about The King of Pop, but I did just want to get these thoughts down somewhere so that if this happens I can say "called it" and refer people back here.
HOW COOL would it be if Michael Jackson didn't die. What if this was just some sort of HUGE cover up. Lets not put it past Michael to do something of this caliber. Now this is what could happen. Michael Jackson is "dead." All of his 50 sold out concerts are "cancelled." What if the 02 theatre in London offered a refund but you had to show up to get it. Then they wanted to make a "public announcement" about his death. The people go in and sit down and then you hear it. Heavy Breathing. Then the bass comes in....smokey stage...and people are like..."What?!" "What is going on?!" And then you hear that laughter from Thriller! The smoke clears and there's Michael dressed up as a zombie "BACK FROM THE DEAD!" Then the show goes on according to plan. OH MY GOODNESS! That would be the best thing that has ever happened on stage. Anyway, just wanted "Told you so" rights so I thought I'd post.
David

Friday, June 26, 2009

Wam Bam Thank You Ma'am

Huge things have been going on over here in the life of David Mize. The biggest of which I would like to spend a few minutes talking about. Last weekend I bought the love of my life a plane ticket down to visit me! We had such a wonderful weekend and by the end of it we were engaged! I will let a few pictures tell the story!