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Citizen complaint of the day: Man just wants to bang on the drum all day
By adamg on Wed, 11/25/2015 - 3:44pm
An eardrum-ravaged citizen complains:
Currently (and often) there is a street performer who bangs on overturned plastic drums at the boston massacre site. it's loud and annoying -- i live 23 floors above it, and the noise still infiltrates my apartment -- and it drives tourists away from this historic site. i see them scurrying past and covering their ears, from my window. i can't believe the city allows this.
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Comments
Bucket banging
I never got that whole banging on buckets street performer thing. How is this a talent warranting of soliciting donations? It is disturbing the peace pure and simple and it shouldn't be allowed.
Noise Free Boston
Noise Free Boston
https://www.noisefree.org/
No talent for video games
so that leaves him to bang on buckets?
Bucket Banging
We have a bucket-banger (same guy?) who frequently sits on the church corner at Boylston and Dartmouth. The noise echoes down Dartmouth to the 7-story residence less than a block away at Newbury. It makes me crazy when I'm trying to do my research and writing. A few passers-by might get a kick from it, but pedestrians can easily walk away. A few times I persuaded him to move down Boylston where there are no residents. But he seems not to want to change his bad habits. Can anyone find him a job?
It's the same skill as any
It's the same skill as any actual drummer has, but just using things that aren't purpose-built as drums.
That said, I'm 100% in favor of eliminating nuisances like this.
Restraining Order against the Police???
I think there is a long term restraining order against the police prohibiting enforcement of any ordinances against any of these musicians?
That's not quite right.
That's not quite right. Street performers have freedom of speech. However, they must abide by the city's noise rules.
Right, freedom of speech only
Right, freedom of speech only comes up if the government tries to restrict performances based on content. A prohibition e.g. based on times of day, locations, or in this case, noise levels, that is meant to be applied regardless of content, does not fall afoul of the 1st Amendment. A noise level prohibition is frequently expressed as, if it's greater than X dB at Y feet, it can be declared a "nuisance" and prohibited.
BPD Allergic to decibel meters
If they used them downtown, they would have to use them in Allston. That isn't as much fun as responding to noise complaints with warrantless home invasions and abusive beat downs.
23 Floors above?
That can only be the Devonshire building. Which has a couple of other buildings between it and the T-station.
Why do idiots move into the heart of the city and expect peace and quiet?
Huh?
That seems like an arrogant, over the top, remark, with a number of assumptions built in. Those drummers are very annoying at street level. Being heard 23 floors up is good evidence they are too loud and should be shut down.
> Being heard 23 floors up is
> Being heard 23 floors up is good evidence they are too loud and should be shut down.
Not really. Being high up usually means you actually get more noise than being lower down. I live in a 14 story building in Allston. As I live on a low floor, I have no view and am surrounded by other buildings. There's someone on the 10th floor that is constantly complaining about the noise from house parties in Allston that are 2 blocks away. Lower levels are insulated by neighbors. High floors hear everything; only the naive believe living higher is a way to escape from the city.
No, this is legit. That guy
No, this is legit. That guy is incredibly loud and not very good.
Please explain
Not that good as in "this guy needs a click track"?
Or not that good as in "it's not my style of music"?
The latter I can deal with.
"overturned plastic drums"
We call those buckets.
Maybe you do
Nobody else calls a 50-gallon oil drum a bucket. Hospitals get H2O2 in 30-gallon plastic drums. Etc.
Maybe you do
Maybe you do your drumming on a 50-gallon oil drum. Most street performers use 5 gallon plastic buckets.
Some of them appear to be reasonably ok percussionists; however, good or bad, noise can be a problem and is a reason to shut it down regardless of artistic merit.
Not about most performers
The original complaint is about one noisemaker, and the complainant says he's banging on drums. If you want to say the complainant is wrong, it's on you to demonstrate superior knowledge of that one noisemaker, isn't it?
Trust me
Trust me, I walk by that pest on my way to the State T stop and he's banging on plastic buckets.
Those 5-gallon containers are
Those 5-gallon containers are usually referred to as "pails".
Oh gee
I bow to your superior knowledge of when the word "pail" should be used and when the word "bucket" should be used. I have rather a lot of these lying about the place, and as near as I recall, every time I have picked one up from Home Depot or Aubuchon or somewhere similar, it has been labeled a "bucket". But perhaps you could explain the salient difference between a "bucket" and a "pail".
Folks who couldn't or didn't
Folks who couldn't or didn't have acces to instruments have always created their own - using bottles, saws, washboards, spoons, sticks, barrels. But some have talent and some dont. I imagine he is talentless and noisy.
Endless drum solo
" I imagine he is talentless and noisy."
I don't think talent is the issue here. Noisiness is. Even if the guy was Charlie Watts or Gene Krupa, banging on buckets all day is the equivalent of an endless drum solo. No matter how good, nobody wants to hear it all day. Trust me, I come from the 70s where no concert by a band was complete without a drum solo. It was a great time to go to the bathroom.
Aquarium too
There's a guy who goes and plays in front of the (never working) City Toilet on the Aquarium plaza and it is just awful. I've seen the police come and kick him out twice - and the office building security above Legals has come down a few times to ask him to leave when he plays during work hours.
I hate when he comes around when I'm working down on the NEA plaza, it's a few hours of torture.
Eh, I like the bucket
Eh, I like the bucket drummers on Landsdowne.
There is so much noise in general downtown (at least as heard from my 7th floor office), it's hard to imagine a bucket man making much of a difference.
Who to call about noise:
Boston Police noise line: 617 343 5500
For noise in the area in front of Faneuil Hall, call the City Hall security office: 617 635 4595
"Air Pollution" Control
"Air Pollution" Control
http://www.cityofboston.gov/environment/airpollution/
More Narcissistic/ attention seeking than Donald Trump?
Kardashians, or Harley riders with mufflers removed?
I was working 25 stories
above Occupy Boston, and believe me, those drums were irritating as all fuck.
White people without rhythm
at OB, so, yeah, I imagine so.
Bucket bangers....
Sounds like a name for a bad porno.
Wuddyagonnadoooo?? Sue your
Wuddyagonnadoooo?? Sue your highpriced real estate broker who aggressively sold you that suite but neglected to tell you about life in the real city down below?
What are the names of Boston's noise Officials?...
What are the names of Boston's noise Officials?... at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/environment/AirPollution/noise.asp