The Apologists of Cool

It's hard to be cool being from Utah. We've got that rep... you know the one... weird, cultish religious zealots with many wives that have suffered the effects of many years of in-breeding. A rep that's not helped by things like television dramas about and the current very real public trial of weird, cultish religious zealots with many wives who have suffered the effects of many years of in-breeding.

Case in point: I ordered a multi-effect electric guitar pedal I've been really enjoying. Comparing features online, the DigiTech RP80 seemed to have about the best bang for the buck in this department. It turns out the online music store I ordered from and the company which designed the pedal are both in Utah. Emblazoned upon the front of the box it came in was the apologist claim, "Designed by serious guitarists hiding in the rock-and-roll underground of Salt Lake City".

Isn't a major metropolis of over a million people entitled to it's own rock-n-roll music? I'll bet you didn't know Brandon Flowers (of the Killers, a decidedly cool band) grew up in Nephi, Utah... and he also has ties to the LDS community in Las Vegas, Nevada (as do I). The fact is, there are some seriously good musicians here, not just Donnie and Marie.

And that's not all... when I was in High School in the 80's, we were on the cusp of what was the soon-to-be cool sport of snowboarding. My classmates would hike up backcountry slopes because they weren't allowed on ski resort hills (yet). For some reason, the sport I played a part in pioneering (tubbing) never quite caught on, though.

In large part because of the global concerns of the LDS church here, Utah has a multicultural awareness and influence that belies its landlocked geography. The fact that many of our residents speak diverse languages was a key factor in the hosing of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympics (besides having the "Greatest Snow on Earth").

The University of Utah (my alma mater) was one of the first nodes on the internet. I was there when the first internet worm took down nearly every computer the network (that will never happen again -- how cool is that!) Today, all that is cool on the internet comes from Google... and Google is led by Eric Schmidt, who cut his CEO chops at Novell (in Utah). If you're more of a couch potato than a web surfer, you can thank Philo T. Farnsworth, a Utahn, for the (sometimes cool) television you watch every night.

If you've ever seen the stars show up at the Sundance Film Festival, it's obvious that cool people aren't visiting Cannes exclusively these days. When the wild child gals have had too much protracted-adolescece fun in L.A., they come here to dry out, sober up, and remember what life is all about. For extreme and outdoor sports, places like Moab are a mecca of the coolest in risk-taking behavior. Shameless plug: When you're there, stay with Tim at the Sleep In, and tell 'em Jeff sent ya!

I'm done apologizing for being a little different. I think different is cool, and this is a cool place to be.