Love this! I live in south Louisiana, and when my favorite Italian restaurant changed ownership a few years ago, it switched from playing Italian opera to jazz. Great as Louis Armstrong is, he can’t nearly elevate a glass of Chianti like Puccini!
I cannot agree more. Sound diarrhea goes with us everywhere. Unfortunately, most people don't notice or mind, because our eyes take the lions share of our attention.
We should mind, though. Thanks for writing about it Alex. Maybe our eyes, reading this, will turn out attention back to our ears and our soundscape, at least for today
In NYC it seems there's never an environment without music and I find it comforting sometimes when I hear an impromptu performance of "Bye Bye Bye" on the electric violin while my mind is distracted by other things. All the noise just makes me enjoy the silence more; I think in the US especially people aren't comfortable with silence and so times where there isn't just noise that clashes with the environment but no noise at all are pretty rare.
I don't know if this is common in Ireland, but I was once in Dublin in a pub that had -per tradition- no music, and it was by far my favorite one there. Just to be able to actually have a conversation going and also to realize we don't need it.
Maybe in much more quiet cafes we can bring back oldskool jukeboxes :)
Alex I love to hear you talking philosophy. Recent episodes with Destiny and Folley were especially compelling. You even make religion interesting (Demiurge) and 15 out of 10 for getting at least some sense out of Peterson. I marvel at your ability to say stuff in the moment that I would have wished I had thought of weeks later. But - you knew there'd be a but. I am really saddened to hear you moan about the culture we live in. I cringed hearing you whingeing about architecture last winter. Now you moan about music in restaurants.
It's there because the proprietors have discovered that it gets them enough extra custom to pay for the sound system and the copyright licenses. That's the culture we live in. Also because human perception of sound volume is logarithmic it masks conversation and gives privacy to customers. You're in a tiny minority. Please don't become an old fogey. You're better than this!
Love this! I live in south Louisiana, and when my favorite Italian restaurant changed ownership a few years ago, it switched from playing Italian opera to jazz. Great as Louis Armstrong is, he can’t nearly elevate a glass of Chianti like Puccini!
I cannot agree more. Sound diarrhea goes with us everywhere. Unfortunately, most people don't notice or mind, because our eyes take the lions share of our attention.
We should mind, though. Thanks for writing about it Alex. Maybe our eyes, reading this, will turn out attention back to our ears and our soundscape, at least for today
In NYC it seems there's never an environment without music and I find it comforting sometimes when I hear an impromptu performance of "Bye Bye Bye" on the electric violin while my mind is distracted by other things. All the noise just makes me enjoy the silence more; I think in the US especially people aren't comfortable with silence and so times where there isn't just noise that clashes with the environment but no noise at all are pretty rare.
I don't know if this is common in Ireland, but I was once in Dublin in a pub that had -per tradition- no music, and it was by far my favorite one there. Just to be able to actually have a conversation going and also to realize we don't need it.
Maybe in much more quiet cafes we can bring back oldskool jukeboxes :)
Alex I love to hear you talking philosophy. Recent episodes with Destiny and Folley were especially compelling. You even make religion interesting (Demiurge) and 15 out of 10 for getting at least some sense out of Peterson. I marvel at your ability to say stuff in the moment that I would have wished I had thought of weeks later. But - you knew there'd be a but. I am really saddened to hear you moan about the culture we live in. I cringed hearing you whingeing about architecture last winter. Now you moan about music in restaurants.
It's there because the proprietors have discovered that it gets them enough extra custom to pay for the sound system and the copyright licenses. That's the culture we live in. Also because human perception of sound volume is logarithmic it masks conversation and gives privacy to customers. You're in a tiny minority. Please don't become an old fogey. You're better than this!