#chrisconley

My secret love... of early 2000s pop punk alternative rock!

yes! you guessed it! I was one of those guys! I enjoyed listening to the tunes of Yellowcard as I drove down south towards "Ocean Avenue." I explored the underground caves of Rufio as I tried finding that "Angel Above Me." I strummed an acoustic guitar... just to find the melody of Dashboard Confessional's "Hands Down." Yes! You guessed it! I... was... one... of... THOSE GUYS! (TG no pun intended)

Widly known as a Hip Hop fan, before I listened to such artists as Blackstar - Mos Def, Talib Kweli and Hi-tek, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, I was a huge fan of alternative music.

During my younger years (high school leading up to my GE years of College) I've connected to punk rock for its heavy rebel perception, to its emotional rage of anger. With wild emotions as a young adult, the crazy melodic sounds of punk matched with my high energy during parties, which totally helped direct my energy towards the appreciation for music.

More importantly... there was always that ONE song... that I've always revisted, when situations in my life took an airplane nosedive straight into the Earth's surface... that song... was "This is Not an Exit" by Saves the Day.

Today, was that day. The day, i listened to this song, as I left after a super crappy day at work.

"Despair, can ravage you, if you turn your head around and look down the path.... that's led you here, so what can you change... you're a vessel now, floating down the waterways..."

these words.. i would always sing in my past... and it never clicked with me... not until now...

as the lyrics travelled through my both my ears, discovered my brain, and started to build a settlement on it... neurons were darted straight to my heart... where silently... i teared.

I was driving home from work... the drive is usually 20 minutes long... and thats where i contemplated about life... everything hit me all at once... a freight train of situations... slammed against my head, like a metal baseball bat in a young adult baseball league... with anger and no direction.

after careful evaluation... and taking advantage of the time i had on the road (you know how traffic is on a friday night) i've decided to brush it off... and take the precautious steps needed to pick myself up

and thats when it dawned on me... the strength of music... the message of music... the artistry... the hardwork of putting words together with a melody conveying it through metaphors and similes.... it all tied together to just mean something to me at THAT exact moment...

being a scorpio... i was and am a sucker for signs... at that point... that was a big sign.

i wont disclose what happened to me after i listened to the song... what caused me to travel through these numerous steps because of a track and what trigger my decisions after work... i'll leave that up to the reader or listener.

but the fact of the matter is... if that song... that message.... or that track wasn't made... a whole lot of other things might have happened. being swallowed up into the darkest pit of despair. could be the worst.

Thanks to music and art... I am able to rejuvenate myself and continue doing what I do best.

Live.

A picture of my cousins and I catching Chris Conley during his Bug Sessions Tour in San Francisco... around 2005-07?