Houby Ready

[Diona]

That is true guys that with anything that is done there will always be some that will have a problem with whatever is being done.  LOL...I know at my work when we have luncheons, there's always a few somebodies that complain about the food etc..

I will try to go to the town hall meetings when they concern the next Houby Day & respectfully state my case about the location of the bandstand.  Hopefully it can be heard & understood.  If not our lease is up in Sept. next year so we can always move out of Berwyn.  Not just because of the fest though.

Bonster, my husband LOVED the pozole from Tacos Y Salsa!  He wants to go to the restaurant, so should we go or is it better when they do fests?

[Bonster]

How 'bout thinking outside the box on this?


First, find out what was wrong with the original location. 
THIS location is conducive to excessive noise due to how narrow it is (think: reverberation).  At the original location there was much greater space between the buildings, less reverberation.   Also, in this location the stage was set back in Vacin Parkway, so the sound was reverberating off the backs of the buildings and towards the homes. 

Second, if the problem at the previous location had anything to do with sound, perhaps in the future some kind of simple baffling could be built behind the stage.  Sure the low frequencies will travel through, but if the upper frequencies are directed away from the block it'll sound like typical Berwyn prior to the noise ordinance!

Third, Tony's biased cause this year's location was next to HIS office, not PAV.

[Bonster]

Bonster, my husband LOVED the pozole from Tacos Y Salsa!  He wants to go to the restaurant, so should we go or is it better when they do fests?

seebee (and now I) refer particularly to the way the steak is cooked - via open flame rather than on a hot griddle where it just gets greasy and rubbery.

Here's seebee's review of Tacos Y Salsa:

Rain + work+gym=home late on Monday. Perfect excuse to try Tacos Y Salsa.
Did my typical new taqueria order - Just about one of each kind of meat:
Chicken - C
Pastor - B
Steak - D
Barbacoa - C
Salsa A-
For me, the Pastor was the winner here. Everything else was just ok. Not BAD, but nothing to write home about.
VERY good salsas.The salsa verde had a pretty good burn. It was homemade, not just the giant can of Herdez Salsa Verde most places
use.  The red was a homemade salsa chipotle. VERY good, and much milder. Neither were fresh chopped pico de gallo, but the blender stuff. Still VERY good. We'll be back for Monday 99C tacos if we're in a pinch. Tacos were just ok - nothing really special for me. Won't get the steak again, but the other stuff was ok. Thanks for the suggestion! Definitely will be using the left over salsa for a dinner concotion this week. The gave us two small beverage cups filled with each of the salsas with our order. Probably 10 oz each. MAJOR props for that. ESPECIALLY since the salsa rocks here. Thanks again!

[BRoWN]

How 'bout thinking outside the box on this?


First, find out what was wrong with the original location. 
THIS location is conducive to excessive noise due to how narrow it is (think: reverberation).  At the original location there was much greater space between the buildings, less reverberation.   Also, in this location the stage was set back in Vacin Parkway, so the sound was reverberating off the backs of the buildings and towards the homes. 

Second, if the problem at the previous location had anything to do with sound, perhaps in the future some kind of simple baffling could be built behind the stage.  Sure the low frequencies will travel through, but if the upper frequencies are directed away from the block it'll sound like typical Berwyn prior to the noise ordinance!

Third, Tony's biased cause this year's location was next to HIS office, not PAV.

Diona may have been hearing mostly the bands monitor mix and not as much of the FOH mix...... depending where the apartment. is.  Many musicians themselves wear earplugs. Others are so deaf from being blasted over the years that they have soundman turn them up....so their bandmates wear earplugs. One inexperienced soundman can ruin the ears of a musician in a split second.  Someone in the band may have real bad hearing and has  monitor turned up loud.  Was it just too loud all day?

[OakParkSpartan]

How 'bout thinking outside the box on this?


First, find out what was wrong with the original location. 
THIS location is conducive to excessive noise due to how narrow it is (think: reverberation).  At the original location there was much greater space between the buildings, less reverberation.   Also, in this location the stage was set back in Vacin Parkway, so the sound was reverberating off the backs of the buildings and towards the homes. 

Second, if the problem at the previous location had anything to do with sound, perhaps in the future some kind of simple baffling could be built behind the stage.  Sure the low frequencies will travel through, but if the upper frequencies are directed away from the block it'll sound like typical Berwyn prior to the noise ordinance!

Third, Tony's biased cause this year's location was next to HIS office, not PAV.

Diona may have been hearing mostly the bands monitor mix and not as much of the FOH mix...... depending where the apartment. is.  Many musicians themselves wear earplugs. Others are so deaf from being blasted over the years that they have soundman turn them up....so their bandmates weat earplugs. One inexperienced soundman can ruin the ears of a musician in a split second. 

Except people also heard it in the depot district.

And it really doesn't matter where the noise emanated from, except as a red herring.

[Bonster]

Except people also heard it in the depot district.

I can't speak to that.

Again, I think it was the dynamics of the location.  I didn't hear it in North Pointe in previous years.

BRoWN's correct about the monitors, too.  
I still think the previous location + baffling + decent Sunday hours = no complaints

[Diona]

Sounds like a somewhat good review on the restaurant, thanks for finding seebee's review.  We may stop in there 1 day soon.

Yeah Brown it was loud all day, it shook the walls & rattled the windows.  Now the apartment complex is old, but it takes something really booming to shake the walls & windows.  The way the complex is set up every kind of louder sound echoes, so having said that, with the loud basses & just generally it being loud it bounced off everywhere & was just a pain.  We for sure could have handled 2-3 hours, but 11 hours was a bit much, even with the 2-3 hours they didn't play for rain delays etc..  American English on Sunday evidently could be heard all over Berwyn, now that's pretty darn loud if people in the Depot District heard it pretty clear.

I would even be happy with them setting it up the same way next year, but not playing for 11 hours of the booms.

Bonster I was told by the director that they didn't want it on Gunderson as years past because they wanted it on North Berwyn.  Now Gunderson is a block over, would that not still be North Berwyn?

[Bonster]

Bonster I was told by the director that they didn't want it on Gunderson as years past because they wanted it on North Berwyn.  Now Gunderson is a block over, would that not still be North Berwyn?

Oooh...good point.  I surrender!

[BRoWN]

In- ear monitors for the performers basically can totally delete sound onstage and behind the stage. Each performer can have his own individual mix with no bleed over from across the stage. As for FOH......no soundman should be blasting the volume to be heard a mile away

[tony la]

Third, Tony's biased cause this year's location was next to HIS office, not PAV



Bon I know you were just dying to say that........It would not have mattered.  It would still be a good event for Berwyn. 

[Bonster]

Bon I know you were just dying to say that........

I didn't realize it till I walked the streets via Google a couple hours ago.

Bad weather + cramped space + entering from Vacin Parkway I didn't even realize I was by ReMAX, lol...

That said, I'll take youse guys any day over PAV. (I did, actually)

[billyjean]

With regard to the music being too loud, I think if an event is held in an area where there basically are no residents to disturb, you can be more flexible in sound.  For instance, if a band is in the middle of the Morton West field, or behind the plaza.  You do have ppl that live on Home across from the school, however, it's not like they are right ON TOP of the music.

For an event like Houby, the music should not be so loud as to make sure ppl who are at the complete opposite end of the route can hear it like if they were 50 ft. away.  The sound level should be lower to DRAW PPL to COME to the stage area to hear the band, and once you walk away, you have a chance to get respite and actually have a conversation with someone without shouting.

It's like downtown.  They have bands all through the summer at lunch time, yet none in all the years that I can remember made me want to run away because I just could not hear myself think.  Yes, they have tall bldgs, but really the sound just bounces off.  Instead, you hear faint sound of a band in the distance, and the idea is to draw you to the plaza they are playing at which is just a few blocks away.  It's just loud enough.

This business of how loud is too loud should be looked at.  Again, you should be able to start walking away from a bandstand, and at a reasonable distance, not have the band interfere with your ability to hear someone or talk to someone.  It does not SOUND to me like this was the case.  Please consider that many children go to these events.  Babies too.  Anyone that cares about their hearing SHOULD be concerned.  You inform a band before they sign up that THIS IS THE LEVEL of sound that they CANNOT go beyond, whatever has been determined to be safe and not excessive, if that actually can be determined ahead of time.  If it cannot be determined ahead of time, then you conduct a warm up test and someone knowlegable can then say, ok, that's just right ... or that's too much, turn it down, etc.

The recent Italian Fest behind the Plaza.  For the most part you cannot hear the band all that well as you retreat from the bandstand and go toward the food and carnival / rides section.  It's only as you walk up toward the bandstand that you begin to hear what is actually being played.

Bottomline is let ppl walk up to bandstand area to hear what is going on there.  Once they begin to walk away it should diminish drastically so ppl can communicate.  What exactly that sound level should be set at to accomplish that scenario ... I don't know.  But they constantly test for sound before they play, so someone who DOES know how this scenario can be achieved can assist the band in making that happen, so that it is a SAFE (for your ears) and enjoyable experience for those attending and a considerate measure for those that reside right where the band is playing.

If you are a half a Cermak block away from the bandstand and have to struggle to hear what someone a few feet away from you is saying, it's too loud for an area that has residents living right on top of the bandstand.

[tony la]

that is so profound I think I will faint

[Bonster]

Good post, bj.

Bonster I was told by the director that they didn't want it on Gunderson as years past because they wanted it on North Berwyn.  Now Gunderson is a block over, would that not still be North Berwyn?

Oooh...good point.  I surrender!

Diona, let me clarify just in case - the Gunderson location was on the south side of Cermak.  That's the difference between N & S, and the point to which I was surrendering.

[Diona]

I agree with what bj said too, good post. 

Guess they really didn't give a shi** in this case, we are renters, who cares about renters.  Anywho...it's over & I will do what I can at the town hall meetings concerning next year's Houby Day to get it put somewhere else or hey we just might move the month before the fest, let another renter be assaulted for hours on end. 

Bonster, no problem, I didn't realize Gunderson where they had the old band stages was the south side, my directions aren't always the best...LOL!