Utah Pride?
For the first time ever, Dan and I state-hopped to catch a concert of a favorite artist. (Ben Harper... check him out!) Anyway, we saw him here last Tues, then flew to Denver to see him the very next night. After the concert, having enjoyed it with a totally different crowd than the night before, I have been making a few comparisons of Utahns and non-Utahns. My own results did not make Utah look very good. (I am pulling from prior experiences here and in other states.) Really, these are just my personal thoughts.
It was interesting to see how the concerts differed in each state. Ben (we are on 1st names!) played a great show here, but in Denver debuted newly written music. Oh, we were at Red Rocks in CO. Such an amazing venue! Everyone in that venue went completely silent to listen to this newer, yet slower music. I have never seen that here. We all respected Ben as an artist doing his thing. Last Fall we saw Ben here in a venue 1/3 the size of Red Rocks, and there was no respect for the music. Instead, there were stupid frat. and high school kids constantly yelling whatever, even during his quiet songs, just to hear their own voices. It was just plain rude. So of course Ben wouldn't want to share anything new with "us" here because some crowds just talk and talk and talk during what could be a great moment. (I am so moved by his music, that when it is live it is almost spiritual.)
This does not just apply concerts. Drivers here really are meaner than other states. There is confident driving and defensive driving. Utah has mean drivers. (other states really do let other drivers merge on on-ramps... I've seen it!)
I have now been to 3 different cities in the just the last couple of months where pedestrians really do have the right of way. In Estes Park, CO, there were actual signs posting the law for peds being safe in crosswalks. We almost got in an accident because of an over cautious driver dealing with the crosswalks!
So what am I saying after this long-winded blog? What makes Utah different? I don't know if I want to share those thoughts, 'cause I might offend. Okay. I think that since there are too many, dare I say, Mormons being raised to think they are better than everyone else. This would result in prideful attitudes at concerts, or wherever. This may create the terrible drivers that are not aware of anyone else on the road or pedestrians in the crosswalks.
This is NOT all of Utah Mormons. But don't we all know some who think this way? Collectively they add up, and that's too bad.
It was interesting to see how the concerts differed in each state. Ben (we are on 1st names!) played a great show here, but in Denver debuted newly written music. Oh, we were at Red Rocks in CO. Such an amazing venue! Everyone in that venue went completely silent to listen to this newer, yet slower music. I have never seen that here. We all respected Ben as an artist doing his thing. Last Fall we saw Ben here in a venue 1/3 the size of Red Rocks, and there was no respect for the music. Instead, there were stupid frat. and high school kids constantly yelling whatever, even during his quiet songs, just to hear their own voices. It was just plain rude. So of course Ben wouldn't want to share anything new with "us" here because some crowds just talk and talk and talk during what could be a great moment. (I am so moved by his music, that when it is live it is almost spiritual.)
This does not just apply concerts. Drivers here really are meaner than other states. There is confident driving and defensive driving. Utah has mean drivers. (other states really do let other drivers merge on on-ramps... I've seen it!)
I have now been to 3 different cities in the just the last couple of months where pedestrians really do have the right of way. In Estes Park, CO, there were actual signs posting the law for peds being safe in crosswalks. We almost got in an accident because of an over cautious driver dealing with the crosswalks!
So what am I saying after this long-winded blog? What makes Utah different? I don't know if I want to share those thoughts, 'cause I might offend. Okay. I think that since there are too many, dare I say, Mormons being raised to think they are better than everyone else. This would result in prideful attitudes at concerts, or wherever. This may create the terrible drivers that are not aware of anyone else on the road or pedestrians in the crosswalks.
This is NOT all of Utah Mormons. But don't we all know some who think this way? Collectively they add up, and that's too bad.
posted by Lindsey Montague @ 9:13 PM
1 Comments:
At 7:31 AM,
Annie said…
I agree with many of your concert comments. After a summer of "touring with the barenaked ladies" with my sister, we decided that we like West Coast crowds much better than east. We saw the band in the UT, Las Vegas, NJ and Denver in a span of about 4 months and the west coast is much better. If I remember correctly, the venue in Holmdel, NJ was way too big and the crowd was too raunchy. A girl OD'ed in the bathroom while my sister and I were trapped inside watching as the medics took her out while vomiting a rainbow of colors and a couple standing next to us during the show nearly undressed (seriously...not my mormom manners) each other and started to do things that should only be done at home...with the lights off! I think That CO must have a hipper music scene and I agree that Utah concerts have become too teeny bopper....with kids more interested in taking pictures of themselves at the show using their camera phones then actually listening to and appreciating them music.
How about that for a long blog comment?
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