By Michael Roberts, Westword | “Noise Annoys,” a 1978 Buzzcocks song, offers a prime example of the subjectivity of music. Punk-rock fans regard it as a glorious classic, while haters of the style have long found it to be supremely irritating.
A similar divergence of opinion is at the center of a dispute between Wax Trax Records and one of its Capitol Hill neighbors, who specifically cited “punk” in a noise complaint about outdoor live-music events put on by the store in recent years. And even though the matter was dismissed at a hearing last month after the neighbor failed to show up, the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment is appealing.
The city is currently exploring revisions to that ordinance — and Pete Stidman, Wax Trax manager and son of the shop’s co-owner, Dave Stidman, is scheduled to meet with Denver representatives on March 13 to discuss possible changes; he’s pushing an amendment that would legalize shows like the one that put Wax Trax in the DDPHE’s crosshairs. But he remains frustrated about having to re-litigate a case he thought he’d already won.
He suspects that the unhappy neighbor’s antipathy for punk was perhaps more responsible for the grievance than the volume at which it was played. “We have all genres of music at our events: folk, rockabilly, R&B, metal,” Stidman notes. “But we did have a little string of punk shows when the complaint came in. So it appeared to us from the language that [the neighbor] just didn’t like punk music. Some people don’t like country, some people don’t like jazz — but should the city really be taking sides on which musical genres get to be played in public?”
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Read the rest of the story here:
https://www.westword.com/news/wax-trax-punk-music-noise-complaint-denver-16288593
Michael Roberts has written for Westword since October 1990, serving stints as music editor and media columnist. He currently covers everything from breaking news and politics to sports and stories that defy categorization.
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
Photo: Wax Trax Records is contesting a noise complaint. Courtesy of Wax Trax
March 9, 2023| Music-Related Business| Barb Dye