Milan Gowin writes:

>Now, I must say, if they did that for every concert, the problem would be
>resolved without having to resort to the child like tantrums of someone
>like Kurt Masur.

I don't see anything childish or tantrum-like about Masur's refusal to
tolerate the inconsiderate behavior of self-indulgent hackers.  From what
I have heard and read, all he did was leave the platform and return when
the audience was ready to listen, and that he was applauded for his
actions.

For comparison purposes, I attended a concert by Tommy Makem in a largish
bar in Phoenix.  Although one would expect an Irish singer to tolerate a
certain amount of background distraction in such an atmosphere, he stopped
his performance three or four times to glare at different loudmouths who
seemed oblivious to the fact that there was an artist doing his best to
give a good performance and that the rest of the audience was being cheated
by their boorish behaviour.

I welcome the intolerance of such distractions.  In a society where one
is assaulted by boom boxes (and boom CARS), streetcorner evangelists,
piped-in Muzak, movie-going blab artists, and all the other manifestations
of acoustic irradiation, I expect to be able to hear the music that I have
voted for with my money without side-band noise.

Mark
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