Saturday, the Sound Cafe will host a roundtable on the proposed noise ordinance starting at 2 p.m. You can read the proposal online; pay particular attention to Division 3: Regulations, starting at line 180 if you don’t have time to read it all. As I’ve said before, particularly concerning to me are line 192, which provides for the “judgment of a reasonable person” to decide what noise is excessive when decibel meters for whatever reason can’t be employed; and line 208, which reads, “No person shall operate or cause to be operated any source of sound in such a manner as to create a sound level which exceeds the limits set forth in Table 1 or which is unreasonably excessive.” That line makes no distinction between a live musician, a dead one on record, a domestic dispute, a drunken party and a barking dog. In a city that claims to value its musical culture, that non-distinction is really disturbing.

If you are interested in attending, read the proposal. All efforts to cut the uninformed posturing will be appreciated.