Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Let's Have Some Quiet

When did everyone start playing music everywhere?
I figure someone must have done a study that showed that people are more relaxed, more friendly or more willing to buy things when they are hearing music. As a result, you can't walk into a coffee shop or a department store without music playing. At the Americana at Brand, a large shopping area in Glendale California which is designed to look like a (phony) village square, they have loudspeakers set up in the outdoor areas which carry the sound to nearby Brand Boulevard so that when you drive by you get a blast of music to take with you, whether you wanted it or not.
Yesterday, I was in a nursing home and tried to take a phone call. I realized that I could not hear the caller because there was music playing on the overhead speakers. Loud music. In a nursing home. You'd think that the elderly people in there had heard enough noise in their lives, and could use a little quiet for a change. I certainly could.

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