Loud Music And Decoding The Block Culture

anonymous · July 2007

I just bought a place in Bed Stuy recently (more near the J train, not near Cutie-Pie Bed Stuy), and I have a question.

I live on a really quiet block. For the neighborhood, it's crazy, spooky quiet. And (just about) all my neighbors talk in terms of preserving this quiet. Everyone mentions how quiet it is, and how they love it. And of course, there are exceptions to the quietness.

One of the exceptions is my nextdoor neighbor's older son. He has a set of speakers that make my whole house go wiggly!

So I am thinking in terms of what everyone else says about the quietness, and about the quietness that I hear, and I say to him that I want him to turn his music down please!

And he tells me that I do not understand the neighborhood. That nobody has ever had a problem with his music in fifteen years and that I do not understand the block culture. Because it's a quiet block, see, and so the way you show respect is to let people play their music loud sometimes. Not every week, but like once a month. For many hours. So loud that it drives you from your home.

And I told him that nobody else really does that but the people down the street, and that their loud parties tend to get broken up by the cops these days (what with the new noise laws and all)

And he told me that I had better not go calling the cops because that's disrespectful.

And all this leaves me confused. Because first of all, I would rather talk to my neighbor-kid than call 311. His parents are so nice, and I am going to be their neighbor for a long time. But his logic seems circular and Bush-like. I don't see how one respects the quietness of the neighborhood by playing loud music once a month. And I don't see how I can enter a conversation armed with a bunch of reasons why the loud music seems out of character--maybe not for the larger neighborhood, but for the block--and wind up feeling like a whiter-than-white dumbass.

Frankly, it's not so often that I can't just decide to go out when it happens, but I don't like the way I feel played.

Am I getting played? Or do I genuinely misunderstand something here? Because I am surrounded by other black people who seem to rigorously defend the quietness of the block. Are they just telling me that they are defending the quietness when in fact they are not? Could it really be that complicated?

jimmylegs · July 2007

say, has Cutie-Pie Bed Stuy been landmarked yet?

okay, first of all don't say "played."

this is an odd situation, do people on the block really discuss the quietness like that? it almost sounds like they're scared of him, if they truly value all quiet, all the time. what have his parents said? maybe you can't stop it by talking, but you'd think somebody would be able to explain it to you so you could understand while it's tolerated. sounds like some kind of twlight zone episode!

MOD · July 2007

Yeah that's just strange. How old is this kid anyways?

queencallipygos · July 2007

...I understand your not wanting to rock the boat on your block, but it sounds like you're overthinking this WAY more than you need to.

Bottom line: the noise is bothering you. You've tried talking to him and he's blown you off. The next step is maybe talking to his parents, if you don't want to call 311, and if that still doesn't work, then you are perfectly within your rights to call 311. It is not "disrespectful" for you to assert your rights, it is "disrespectful" of him to not do something about it when someone says he's being incosiderate of others.

That's true of ANY neighborhood. The block you live on doesn't matter.

Now, it IS possible that if he's playing music at a time when it's okay to be playing loud, there's nothing you can do; but that's also a good reason to call 311, because they would also be able to tell you "sorry, it's 2 pm on a Saturday, it's actually okay for him to do that". And it might be (I used to live on a block where a nearby church would have an outdoor mass on Easter Weekend each year, where the minister stood in a vacant lot with a loudspeaker and would preach, and periodically he'd give the mike to a "musician" who was tone-deaf but would try singing anyway; but they were doing this all in the early afternoon, when it was legal for them to do so, and they'd always gotten prior permission for a public demonstration, so there was nothing I could do). But, again, others would know the exact law better than I.

Mind, I am often a wee bit more outspoken about noise issues than the average person, so your mileage may vary. But I do think you're overthinking this a little; your rights are valid here too.

homeowner · July 2007

We need a bit more context. Is he playing music in the middle of the day? 6am to 6pm? 10 o'clock at night? Each one of those scenarios is a bit different.

anonymous · July 2007

If he's blasting his tunes at 1 am on a Tuesday, do something. If it's Friday night, cut the kid a break. I like listening to music loud sometimes too, but I try to keep it restricted to times that are a little more "appropriate". (I realize that bumping music is annoying to some people.) But if what he says is true, and it's not a regular happening, what's the problem? You never once had something loud going on in your place?

Then again, without context, it's impossible to give any real opinion. When I have to go to work in the morning, I get snippy about noise. I've just found that, on the weekends, it's easier to let it alone.

anonymous · August 2007

I sympathize with you. I get annoyed at the drivers who have to entertain the entire neighborhood while driving with their thumping music blasting. Playing music loudly for a bbq or party is acceptable to a limit. My neighbor who has a pool has parties everyweekend. From 11 am to 2 am in the morning. He is sooo inconsiderate. I didnt want to but unfortunately I had to call the precinct anonymously to complain. They came ,they left and he blasted it even louder. I called again. They came again and party was over. He continues to blast his music all day Sat and Sun but he now cuts it off about 11pm.I can't even sit in my yard and read because his music is soo loud. At this point , I have learned to tune him out. Do what you have to do for peace of mind.

anonymous · August 2007

Well there is what looks a lot like a liquor store at the corner of Carlton and Dekalb that was been playing loud music also. I could not enjoy my dinner at Madiba. Not only was the music loud but there was drunken dancers.....dancing in the store and the drunken crowd spilled out all over the sidewalk....it was well after ll p.m. too....whats up with this craziness?

(since we're complaining)
The place OPENLY violated the fire (occupancy codes) and caberet codes and the new noise codes.....go figure. NYPD officers were a block away harassing a bunch of young folks having a party at their private home.

stacey · August 2007

I suggest talking to the parents especially if you say they are nice people. Let them talk to their son. Explain to them just like you did here. Try to see it from the parents perspective, if no one has told them it bothered them they just assumed that it was okay. Be willing to compromise and give some options like "if you can keep it down after such and such hour" or something to that effect. Remember BOTH of you have a right to enjoy your home and your down time in which ever way floats your boat.
I am not condoning loud music at unreasonable hours - I for one draw the line at bass levels high enough to rattle my house - but having grown up close by I remember sitting outside on the stoop with my friends listening to music. I still do it now. As a parent I would much rather have my kid hanging out on the block than wandering the streets.

windowbox · August 2007

i agree with the other posters, in that your response should depend to some degree on how often he plays his music loudly and what time of day it happens. but if it's disturbing your sleep or something, you have every right to ask him to be respectful of you and your needs.

i find also that a good pair of earplugs is a necessity for city living.

putnam-denizen · August 2007

Hmm, just had similar issue on Putnam. The custodian of the masonic temple was washing his car with the music blaring. One nighbor of mine was sweeping her walk and had mentioned she had asked him to turn it down (it was 10:30 on Thursday evening). I went over, pointed out the time, and he turned it down. i went back inside and he turned it right up. When I approached him again he said I shoudn';t expect the block to change simple because I moved here (I've lived here six years). Sometimes people are just irrational. he seemed a bit tired and perhaps drunk, so I didn't push to hard, just suggested we had never had problems, and I simply wanted music down. He kept mumbling, but I wished him a good night and walked away. I tolerate the parties (barely) on Stautrday nights, but this was totally unnecessary.

jeffrey · August 2007

So let me get this straight, at risk of being sardonic...

Sounds like you have a catatonic masonic, washing the pontiac, hittin' the tonic and blasting the stereophonic.

As for aforementioned abuses sonic, what was it...

Dre's Chronic?

Osbourne's demonic?

Wagner's Teutonic?

Dvorak's Slavonic?

Dixie Chicks harmonic?

Aphex's electronic?

Alanis' ironic?

J.J. Fad's Supersonic?

Perhaps a croon or rag or roll by Connick?

Cheer up and take this one thought on it:

Still better than a high-colonic.

Ouch.

/me runs away

windowbox · August 2007

maybe also try apologizing first, sort of like, "i'm sorry to bother you about this, but i have to get up early tomorrow morning and i was wondering if you wouldn't mind turning down the music." most people are pretty reasonable, although chronic music blarers maybe aren't most people.

anonymous · August 2007

Hey, I apologize, I got really busy doing other things and forgot I posted this.

Thanks for the responses!

I want to say first that it doesn't happen often, and that when it does happen, it happens at weird times. In the middle of the day, on Saturday night, but not particularly often. It hasn't happened since I posted this. He's a nice kid most of the time, about 23, and I really like him. I don't mistrust him at all, in general. It's just that we had a really weird conversation about this noise thing that confused the crap out of me, because he basically made it out to sound like I just don't understand black people.

(which, yes. It did make me overthink everything. I mean, who doesn't get all weak in the knees when race is invoked?)

And yes. The people on my street tend to talk about it as a quiet block. Case in point: We had a block party, and three separate people mentioned to me that the music would be over at 8pm *sharp*, and that that was that.

(I did not mention anything about the music)

And no, folks are not scared of this kid. He is a valuable member of the community. Everyone knows his name and says hey to him and he's a good person, not some punk.

Honestly, what I did was I talked to a bunch of kids I work with who are in this neighbor kid's exact demographic, and they said that he was being a jerk, and that they know better than to make their neighbor feel bad for not liking their loud music, but that they understood what made him try.

And then I felt better and let it go. I don't think it's cool to call 311 on him yet, but I am going to keep talking to him about it. I don't want to make it so that he never plays loud music again--I totally hear the poster who said that everyone makes loud noise.

What I want is the ability to say "Okay, I've had enough."

(PS to Jimmy Legs: I am so white I am practically translucent, but I do work exclusively with 18-27 year old black men in Queens, and used the word "Played" in a way that is totally consistent with our mutual usage of the term while at work. In fact, I never use slang because it makes me look like a total dork, except this particular word and "Mad," which I seem to have mastered, according to my slang critics at the 9-to-5.

This is really dorky of me, but I guess what I am saying is that I felt so comfortable using that term that I am curious about why not say played. Are my co-workers misusing a term with me that is perhaps best reserved for those with more "street cred", or perhaps a different situation? Is this a Brooklyn thing? What?)

anonymous · August 2007

23 years old is an adult. Teenagers should know better. Adults behaving this way are just disrespectful, immature jerks. You're cutting the guy a lot of slack if he's trying to pull some racial misunderstanding bs on you when you ask him to turn down the music. Regardless of how often he does it, it is rude to give you any grief if you ask him to turn it down. He should be apologetic. Better yet, he should realize he acting like a 13 year old brat.

jimmylegs · August 2007

i was just joking.

but please, don't say "mad" either (*shudder*)

bedstuy-n-bushwick · February 2009

lol this thread is 2 years old but its great. Listen up, u come to brooklyn and you wanna upset the natural order of brooklyn. Bropoklyn is what it is because we do what the hell we want when we want. Thats the REAL 'character of the neighboorhood'. Sometimes your house might just have to get 'wiggely', deal with it!

lol na, I'm kidn.

Loud Music And Decoding The Block Culture

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