THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509230526
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: IN PASSING
SOURCE: Gary Edwards
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Sometimes I like to sit in my side yard late in the evening and listen to the music. I hear an ever-changing variety of songs.
They pulsate and pound through the gentle night air. The guitarists hit the feverish high notes, belt out bluesy chords. The bass rumbles, the drums thump and the voices ring out. Best of all, I don't have to pay a cent to enjoy this nightly concert. I don't even own a stereo - or need to.
I live about 50 yards west of Independence Boulevard. A stoplight controls traffic about 150 yards to the south. Lyrics from the waiting cars come to me as clearly as the evening news in the living room.
At first, the free concerts scared me. I thought someone was being strangled or electrocuted when the guitarists hit the notes way down on the fret. One night, before I learned to enjoy the passing show, I felt the onset of a heart attack. My chest began to pound. I stumbled to my feet and struggled to the phone to call 911. I started a last-minute prayer and promised God that I would mend my ways if He would get me through this one. Then, I realized it was only an electric bass, approaching in an open-windowed, raised-hatchback vehicle at 1200 watts and 120 decibels.
I love music, always have. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, other jazz geniuses amaze and inspire me. That's what I choose to listen to mostly when I'm not enjoying other people's music out in the side yard. Thank you, Jae Sinnett, WNSB and WJCD.
Rhythm-and-blues with some horns behind the vocals sends me into auditory ecstasy. R&B provided most of the repertoire of beach music, the magical music of my student days. Thank you, Bill Deal and Fat Ammon. Thank you, B.B. King, Otis Redding, James Brown and Motown.
I like rock, of course, since I am a child of the '60s. Thank you, Led Zep, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, the Allman Brothers. Chuck Berry is 10 times the musician, songwriter and singer that Elvis ever was. I have seen ``Woodstock'' a dozen times. Like Sly Stone, ``I, I, I am everyday people. Yeah. Yeah.''
I enjoy classical some, although most of it sounds alike to my unsophisticated ears, or what's left of them. Thank you Wolfgang, Ludwig, Johann.
I get a laugh out of country music titles. Who couldn't like ``I Got Friends in Low Places,'' ``A Million Light Beers Ago'' and ``She's Driving Me Right Out of Her Mind''?
Younger friends have even turned me onto (when's the last time you heard that phrase?) alternative rock. Some of it is pretty cool. Thank you, LemonHeads, Gin Blossoms, Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Music has charms to soothe the savage breast, wrote William Congreve, 250 years before the advent of the CD. It can evoke wonderful, powerful, bittersweet memories. It can enliven a party. It's played in churches, at funerals, at the office, in restaurants and clubs. Most athletic contests open with ``The Star-Spangled Banner,'' and football games feature 100-piece bands at halftime. You can even get music while you're on hold or, unfortunately, on some elevators. The rationale for the latter is that it makes a 25-story ride easier if you act like you're listening to ``Feelings'' while you stare at the numbers.
I'm not an old fogey who hates music. But just because I like to listen to music DOESN'T MEAN THAT EVERYONE ELSE WITHIN A SQUARE MILE WANTS TO HEAR MY MUSIC, TOO.
Obviously, my generation has begun to gap. I realize that part of the joy of youth derives from rebellion. Most '60s cars came complete with an AM radio and one tiny dashboard speaker. One historically ignored reason that riots and protests became popular back then was because car radios lacked the power to provoke. Progress changed that.
With progress came city ordinance No. 23-47, the noise-nuisance law.
Under 23-47, loud music is prohibited near churches, schools, hospitals and in any other setting in which it poses a disturbance to the peace.
If it has ever been enforced, I haven't heard (no pun intended) about it.
Maybe time will change things, though not necessarily for the better. Experience has shown that further progress can only mean greater and more annoying noises. by CNB