What’s that on your Dashboard? Oh, it’s just a Confessional

On Monday night I was invited to go to a Dashboard Confessional concert. While they are not my favorite band, I like some of their songs and after all, I didn’t have to pay!

The band that opened for Dashboard was called Brand New. Let me just tell you that I absolutely loved NOT hearing this band. The reason I loved not hearing them was because by leaving the venue and heading for the bathroom I could avoid the inevitable bleeding of the ears thats comes from hearing really bad loud music. I was surprised that Dashboard picked this particular band to tour with them, considering that the fans of Dashboard tend to like a little more mellow music.

Once the opener was finished torturing 8,000 people and giving hearing aid companies new costumers, Dashboard came on stage. They were shrouded by a huge white sheet as they started playing. A little ways into the song the sheet was ripped to the floor and the fans started screaming. When I say screaming, you have to understand who was sitting behind me. There had to be 15 teenage girls, decked out in Dashboard gear, basically sitting on my shoulder with their voices directed straight into my ear canal. Yeah, it was that loud. It was a good thing that I prepared my ears with a little tissue from the bathroom.

I didn’t know a lot of the songs they were playing, so that made things a little less fun. Near the middle of the show I started to key on the leader of the band, Chris Carrabba. He started the band, and is the heart and soul of the show. If you don’t know anything about Dashboard Confessional, they fall under the category of emo music, or emotional music. (Wikipedia has a very enlightening article on emo if you are interested)

Not knowing much about Chris I watched him closely. He is 5′5″ and has tattoos that fill each of his arms down to the wrist. He dresses casually in a t-shirt, jeans, and a baseball cap. It’s hard to explain, but Chris is very emotional. His songs are about love and loss and dig pretty deep. While he spoke between songs you can tell he has a lot of passion, almost fake passion. As he talked about writing songs and his inspiration I kind of wanted to say, “Are you for real? No one is really that dramatic.” I kept wondering if his band mates in the background thought that he was completely out of his mind because the way he talks is so self-absorbed. It’s like no one feels things as strongly as he does. At the same time I felt like his passion was kind of endearing. There was some kind of wholesome appeal to the man. I quickly dismissed this notion however, because he was a tattooed rocker and probably not that great of a person. More on this later.

The show ended and the band ran off. I knew they would be back, and so did the crowd. Once again all 15 girls shouted in my ear “Encore! Encore!” I was ready to go, and didn’t really want to feed Chris’s ego by cheering for them to come back. Besides, that was the super fans’ job. They came back and started playing “Vindicated,” which was on the Spider Man 2 sound track and one of the songs I really like. It was electric. The people there, including me, ate it up! Suddenly I could see that things were more fun when you just start belting out all the lyrics you know.

Tonight I decide to do a little research on Chris Carrabba on Wikipedia. Despite my judgments, I learned some things that were interesting. The first is that he suffers from stage fright (I can relate). He seems so composed on stage that I pegged him as an overly confident celebrity. The other is that he openly admits that he is Christian and was brought to God through a family tragedy. While I don’t really know what that says about his true character, maybe my initial feeling about his wholesome side was correct after all. It was just another lesson on the ills of judging people.

Through the Mountain Tops

On the Saturday of General Conference my roommates and I decided to take a little drive during the afternoon session. You might be thinking, “Well what about conference?”. We did not forget about this and made arrangements to listen to it in the car over the radio. My comrades and I set off on this beautiful autumn day towards Payson, UT where we would find the start of the Mt. Nebo Scenic Byway. This mountain road winds its way back into the Wasatch Mountains, rounds Mt. Nebo, and meets back to highway 15 near Nephi, UT.

The experience turned out to be rather spectacular. I have oft found it difficult to stay awake during General Conference. While I feel bad about this, few things short of putting on my Sunday dress and heading to the nearest stake center help the problem. To my delight I found it quite easy to stay alert during our trip. With my ears attuned the speakers’ messages and my eyes fixed on the beauty of the Almighty’s creations, I felt very fulfilled and edified. I thought it was particularly inspiring to be driving over a pass at just over 9,000 feet and gazing at the near 12,000 foot Mt. Nebo while listening to the choir sing “High On a Mountain Top”.

The scenery did not disappoint. The fall colors were abundant and bright, reminiscent of the pictures of New England I have seen in books. Maybe someday I will be able to compare it to the real thing! The soft lines of the vibrant trees, backdropped by the snow dusted crags of the nearby peaks were truly a sight. I have hiked to the top of Mt. Nebo and it looked even taller than I remembered. This place is a must see that is as accessible as the grocery store and offers so much without even leaving the car.

I think that I might make this a tradition for the future. A scenic drive while listening to General Conference is a perfect match. You will have to be in Utah though, unless Conference is broadcast in your area over the radio.

If you go…

Directions: From Nephi, follow Utah 132 east for about five miles and turn north at the Scenic Loop sign. Or, access the north end of the Loop from Utah 91 in Payson, following the signs.