Colton's All-State Choir Performance

We had a busy weekend, so I am breaking it up into a few posts...

Colton came to Salt Lake on Thursday for the All-State Choir concert. Only a few students from each school in the state were invited to attend so it was a privilege for him. The had intensive practice Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday, and then performed Saturday evening at the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The other kids were up here, too. Before his performance, the seven of us went to The Pie (a pizza place) up near the U of U campus. They have a really good Greek Pizza there.



After we ate, we went to the Salt Lake Tabernacle for the concert. The pictures were of the non-flash variety so they didn't turn out to great, but you can see Colton there in the picture.



The acoustics were (of course) amazing. I mean...truly amazing. The kids did a great job and got a couple of standing ovations.

That being said...a few interesting observations about the tabernacle itself. I have been to temple square downtown many times, but I had no idea that the tabernacle has NO BATHROOMS. The sweet elderly lady who told me that explained that I would need to go to the exterior bathrooms over by the Assembly Hall. That is because it is a historic building and they didn't have indoor plumbing back then. This led me to wonder...back in the day, when they had their long church services there...did they have an outhouse outside? If so, did they have one for everyone to use (it's a big building!) or did they have one for guys and one for girls? If they did, what did it say on the doors? "Brothers" on one and "Sisters" on the other? Or perhaps "Ladies" and "Gentlemen"? I am just wondering.

Finally, I would like to say that my husband has an amazing knack for getting into trouble. He can get into trouble ANYWHERE! Even the Tabernacle!!! So at the beginning of the concert they said that once the music began, no pictures or video could be taken, due to copyright that the Church has on the rockin' organ. At first I was rather annoyed by that...wondering why they would choose that venue if they were gonna be so stingey and not let the parents take pictures or video of their kids (once I heard the accoustics, then I understood why they still did it there). Anyway...being the good, law-abiding type citizen that I am, I put away my cell phone and listened to the concert...avoiding "the appearance of evil". That's what most people would do...right?

Not David. So even though he couldn't take pictures or video during the concert, he decided to use the zoom on our camera so he could see Colton better. He wasn't recording or anything...just watching with the digital camera sitting on his lap. Well, a very pleasant elderly missionary/usher leaned across me and asked him to put it away. He did. As the elderly man was walking away, I saw him whisper to an elderly sister missionary sitting on the aisle across from me and one row back. I didn't think much of it at first. Throughout the concert, I could see her through the corner of my eye. She was leaning forward...not very subtly. Over and over again. Eventually it was bugging me a bit, so I turned and smiled very sweetly at her. Then I figured it out...she had been assigned to watch David to make sure he wasn't bootlegging the concert. It was sort of funny to me that they cared THAT MUCH about whether people recorded it. Then I got to thinking...so people wouldn't be tempted to use their zoom lens to see better, perhaps they could put a big jumbotron in the center of the tabernacle ceiling? I had to bite the inside of my cheeks...hard...to keep from laughing. Then I got another idea. Wouldn't it be fun to make a Youtube video with the elderly missionaries and "Mission Impossible" music in the background? The elderly missionaries could have walkie-talkies and talk to each other, "The guy in the third pew has a digital camera on his lap...I'm closing in...on the count of three...JUMP HIM!!!"

I'm just sayin'.