Manners and common sense

[deleted_user_02066fd]

I spent the last 5 weeks visiting my wife's family in Hawaii. I also play finger style ukulele reasonably well. We travel over every summer to visit and always try to get out and hear live music. Lots of really talented musicians there.
The Honolulu Zoo has a nice summer concert series featuring well known local artists. You bring a blanket, food, sit and soak up some rays and listen to some great music.
We took in two of those shows while there and encountered some really rude behavior. The second show was a very talented slack key guitarist named Led Kaapana. There was a group of haoles sitting behind us who decided to talk nonstop through the performance. Mind you they were not young tourists. They were all in their 50's and 60's,who lived there and would not shut up. After the second song I finally asked them to be quiet. I told them I came to hear the artist play, not to hear them talk. From their conversations I heard one of the women say she was a teacher. I'm sure I got a few nasty stares after I turned around.
Another woman who was sitting 20 or so feet in front of us decided to put up an umbrella to block the sun. My sister in law could not see. She took her phone out and snapped a picture. She then walked up to the woman and showed her what her view looked like. She reluctantly put the umbrella down.
What the hell happened to manners during a performance? I can only imagine what pianist Keith Jarret would do if people were talking. I'm sure Miles would have had something salty to say in this situation also.

[gunshowtix]

[kehaulani]

It's nothing new. I vividly remember being at a Brubeck concert (also in Honolulu) when some people kept their jaws blabbing and finally, so that almost everyone could hear, a guy a bit in front of them stood up, turned around, and said, "Hey, we came to hear Brubeck, not you!" That was around 1960.
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[deleted_user_02066fd]

[skootchy]

One of the groups I play in is a 12 piece horn band (TOP, BS&T, Chicago, etc) and we do a lot of "Concerts on the Green" during the summer months. At every concert the area in front of the stage has become a playground for every ones little kids. They run around, yell, throw balls, Frisbees, dolls, etc. Some have landed on stage. (Toys, not kids..lol) It is really rude and distracting...
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[Craig Swartz]

This is what we get when music performance becomes more entertainment than music. I remember well the situation when I was playing rock bands 40 years ago, as well as the situation now during our symphony performances. In many cases, it is the artist him/herself that sets the standards for the venue. The long cadenza where no one in the audience dares move- this is where performers should strive to come to regardless of music style. If you are a commercial player, what do you expect of your patrons? If entertainment is first, as it often must be, we cannot expect a hell of a lot of respect.

[Gordontrek]

I was attending an outdoor recital featuring my classical guitar teacher when, in the middle of Recuerdos de la Alhambra, a series of high-pitched screams and laughs penetrate the music.
Four or five girls from a local roller derby league, next to their crudely spray-painted 8-passenger van, were playing a very noisy game of tetherball with not one lick of consideration for the ongoing recital. Incessant screams, laughs, and loud talking. My teacher shot several annoyed looks in their direction, as did just about everyone in the crowd. It went on for about 10 minutes before the body-piercing-laden pills finally left.
Another time I was ushering for a local symphony concert. It was a Pixar-themed concert, so a lot of families came. Like the ushers are supposed to do, I was sitting on a stool beside the door of my "portal," as we call it, during the concert. This door is on the left of the concert hall towards the front, so it is visible to most of the hall. At one point towards the end of the program, this little kid sitting toward the end of a row started going out and coming in every other minute. The kid's parents did nothing about him. When the kid came back in about the fourth time, I leaned over and managed to make eye contact with the parents, and quickly shook my head at them while pointing in the kid's direction. They broke off their gaze and started paying attention to the orchestra again. Just when I thought I got my message across, the kid gets up and walks out again, receiving not a bit of restraint from his parents. Now, I'm not afraid to confront someone if I have to, but that changes substantially when I'm in front of 2,000 people. I was terrified of causing a commotion. When the kid came back in and sat down, I mustered the courage to go say something, but even as I was getting up, another patron took care of it for me. A big relief, but it made me realize I waited too long. Should have just gotten up and done it.
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[Brad361]

This problem is cyclical, I believe. People whose parents allowed them to get away with this kind of nonsense raise their kids the same way....and so it goes. We need to be sensible regarding confrontation, because in today's world things can very quickly escalate to a ridiculous and dangerous level. But as I have gotten older, I have also become far less tolerant of stupid and egocentric behavior of others, and usually in the past when I didn't something to the offenders, I kicked myself later for not having done so. So my policy now, while exercising good judgement, is as best I can to not let idiots get away with idiocy.

Brad
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[deleted_user_02066fd]

I teach band, string and sometimes chorus at an arts magnet school. The behavior of adults and children is sometimes unbelievable. During a holiday concert some years back I was sitting with my kids in the back of the auditorium with my chorus when I noticed an adult talking on his phone while a young girl was playing a piano solo. He saw me looking at him but continued with his conversation. We have a taped recording asking that phones should be turned off. I went to the booth and after the pianist was done and played the recording again. He got the message and went outside but gave me the stink eye when he saw me later. He was some kind of big shot in the towns Republican Party and apparently thought that gave him the right to do what he did. Total A Hole!!!!!!

[kehaulani]

And now you can see people holding their phones and tablets in the air to record a performance. The light from them is extremely distracting, and worse case, some tablets are large enough that when some moron holds it in the air, it prevents people from even seeing part of the stage.

It's as if you're in the back of an airliner, everybody's settled in to watch movies on the back of the seat in front of them, and there's a musical performance up front.
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[LittleRusty]

Back when my son was in middle school I was at an all city band concert. There were around 500 kids in band and orchestra. Around 2,000 in the audience. First the band played and then the orchestra.

There was a short intermission between the two and when the orchestra director got the kids seated and raised his hands to start most of the audience continued to talk among themselves. After all their child was already done performing.

After three false starts I finally had enough and in my best stage voice shouted "Quiet Please!"

A hush fell over the whole gym and the orchestra began.

I did a good enough job projecting that my wife and parents who were sitting next to me didn't realize that I was the one who shouted.

In high school there was one woman who chatted with the person next to her the whole concert. Didn't pay attention to the music at all. I mentioned to my wife how rude it was after the concert and she explained to me it was the high school director's wife.

[crzytptman]

[crzytptman]

[homebilly]

yes but they have the vibration of their Facebook or text message or instagram or twitter to respond to. what would they do without their device?
enjoy a concert perhaps? nah........
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[crzytptman]

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” - Karl Rove, per Susskind.

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Those devices are such amazing herding tools.
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[Brad361]

[deleted_user_02066fd]

I posted the original entry about a year back. I'm on Oahu visiting mu wife's family and not much has changed. We went to the summer concert series show at the zoo on Wednesday to see a performer named Willie K. He's an amazing musician/performer. Some people acted as if he was not even on stage. We had to move our chairs while some old windbag hag just kept on blabbering the whole time. While we were leaving I happened to walk by the people I had to ask to be quiet at the show I posted about last year.
Willie K performs mostly on Maui. If you happen to be on Maui, look up where he's performing and go. You won't be sorry.

[deleted_user_02066fd]

A funny ironic update to my original post/rant from a few years back.
My wife and I recently returned from our yearly visit to Hawaii to visit her family. As usual we took in some of the summer concerts at the Honolulu Zoo.
By now we've begun to recognize many of the regulars who attend, especially the ones who never shut up. We make it a point to sit as far away from them as possible.
Roy Sakuma is the organizer and director of the concert series as well as the annual Ukulele Festival. Roy has been the driving force behind the Ukulele Festival for 47 years. Roy operates a very successful chain of teaching studios for aspiring ukulele players. He's a very nice man who had a very rough upbringing as a child. Roy is Hawaii's version of Mister Rogers.
A free magazine in the islands called Generations did a very nice article on Roy. Roy and his lovely wife Kathy were on the cover. There were several pictures scattered throughout the article. One of the pictures had Roy and Kathy onstage at the zoo with a group of kids from their studio. Roy was speaking on the microphone. My wife pointed out three people sitting in the audience. They're three people we regularly see and always avoid sitting near.
Almost everyone else in the audience was listening to what was going on onstage. The three windbags(two women, man) were talking away, oblivious to the goings on.
Mind you they're senior citizens and the man has that awful red hair dye so many older men use. I call it Frank Gifford Red! For the record, I'm a senior citizen as well. Lost most of my hair and shave my head. Looks way better than a silly comb over.
The performances were all wonderful. One show was a jazz show and featured several well known jazz musicians in the islands. DeShannon Higa, an excellent trumpeter performed. This young man is a really good trumpeter. I've heard him before and he's impressive.

[trickg]

I know that this isn't exactly a music performance, but a big annoyance of mine is with people using cell phones in a movie theater. My wife gets on me about it because I have no qualms with saying, "Dude - really?" to some jackwagon who decides they have to check their email, texts, Facebook, Twitter, etc, in the middle of a movie.

One night we'd gone to a movie, and no sooner did the bit about putting away your cell phones end, then this dude up front decides to whip his phone out and start texting someone. At the time I had either a box of Milk Duds or Junior Mints, and I winged one of those down at him - I missed, but it hit close enough for him to get the message, and he immediately put the phone away.

It's like people can't follow instructions, or they think that those "rules" only apply to everyone else and not them.
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[deleted_user_02066fd]

trickg, I love it.
We went to see the new Planet Of The Apes Movie while we were visiting my brother in law and his wife in Hawaii.
We went to an afternoon show and sat in the last row. There were maybe 8-10 in the theater. Two guys in their 20's walked in carrying huge buckets of popcorn and sat 1-2 rows in front of us and just off our left side. Next thing I hear is the sound of a pop top can. Don't know whether it was soda or beer. They're drinking, munching and talking all through the coming attractions. No problem. Once the movie began they kept on yapping. I leaned over and in my best teacher voice asked them "Hey, you guys mind!". One of them looked around and asked Who said that? I told them I did. The talking stopped.
I'm only five foot seven and go about 160-165 but I'm still in good shape for 61. I was wondering if there would be some kind of confrontation after the movie. My brother in law was there but he's 76 and not exactly the athletic type. I must have scared the crap out of them. Once the movie ended they got up and hauled ass out of the theater and looked the other way as they passed by.