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The Day the Music Died (aging boomers battling hearing loss inflicted by too much rock music)
NYT ^ | 07/12/07 | STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Posted on 07/13/2007 9:09:44 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

The Day the Music Died

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Published: July 12, 2007

MICHAEL BELLUSCI’S quotation in his high school yearbook was, “It ain’t rock if it ain’t loud.” Growing up in Flushing, Queens, he played guitar and drums, idolized Jimi Hendrix and performed in cover bands. Later, he went on the road as Ringo in the musical “Beatlemania.”

These days, if his left ear happens to be covered by a pillow, Mr. Bellusci, 47, hears the alarm clock as a faint tick, tick, tick, not a blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In cacophonous restaurants, he watches people’s mouths so he can follow the conversation.

Years of high decibel noise and trauma from speaker feedback damaged his right ear. Mr. Bellusci, who plays ukulele, recorder, guitar and bass in an acoustic duo, now says, “If I could do it over again ...”

How many boomers are thinking the same thing.

As more members of the generation born after World War II enter their 60s, and the effects of age conspire with years of hearing abuse, a number find themselves jacking up the volume on their televisions, cringing at boisterous parties and shouting “What?” into their cellphones.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aging; babyboomers; hearing; rockmusic; tlr
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To: bmwcyle

Does your wife mind that they don’t match the furniture? Mine are in the garage.


101 posted on 07/14/2007 7:43:03 AM PDT by gathersnomoss (If General Patton was alive, he would slap many faces!!)
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To: Dick Vomer
I loved that song, “I’ve got a line on you”...one hit wonders...Spirit was great.

I used to play that song in a band. I played lead guitar (although I'm a bassist) on the song, and sang the lead vocal. We had to take it down a full step in pitch (song was recorded in the key of "B", we took it down to "A")and the crowds loved it! It was a keyboards, bass and drums group, with a chick lead singer. I alternated on bass and lead guitar, as the needs of the songs dictated, with the keyboard player playing bass on the keys when I played guitar. We were called "Ivy League". Freepers from the North-Central Ohio area might recall us. You can find out more at www.nobodysfool.org, click on the "Ivy League" link.

The band I play in now is a 4 piece, "Back on Earth", at www.backonearthband.com I'm the bass player....

I have some hearing loss from the music, but most of it was from recurrent ear infections in my right ear when I was a kid. I have some ringing, but in my current band, we work to get our stage volume lower, and let the PA do the work out front. Much easier on the ears, and the sound is better.

102 posted on 07/14/2007 7:46:24 AM PDT by nobdysfool (I hate government regulation of any kind)
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To: Cymbaline

Trower has a liking for small venues, where you felt the music and the wah, wah. I’ll spin that one today. I am getting my weekend play list by way of this post.


103 posted on 07/14/2007 7:46:28 AM PDT by gathersnomoss (If General Patton was alive, he would slap many faces!!)
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To: Cymbaline

Four 100W Marshall stacks on 10?! That’s A LOT of sound.


104 posted on 07/14/2007 7:47:18 AM PDT by wastedyears (Freedom is the right of all sentient beings - Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime)
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To: libstripper

Do you feel lucky?


105 posted on 07/14/2007 7:48:59 AM PDT by gathersnomoss (If General Patton was alive, he would slap many faces!!)
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To: bmwcyle

Wow...


106 posted on 07/14/2007 7:49:25 AM PDT by wastedyears (Freedom is the right of all sentient beings - Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime)
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To: federal
(Spirit) They were a pretty good band especially live.

I saw them live at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio in late '69 or early '70. I got to meet and talk with Ed Cassidy, the drummer (and Randy California's step-dad). he was really cool. I loved his drum setup, with the 2 big bass drums on either side, mounted and tilted so he could whack them with his stickls, and the big Chinese gong behind him. They were great live!

107 posted on 07/14/2007 7:50:12 AM PDT by nobdysfool (I hate government regulation of any kind)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
They’ll be able to recycle this story in a few years but it will be about hearing loss inflicted by too much use of mp3 players turned up too high. People are wrecking their ears with these things.
108 posted on 07/14/2007 7:50:25 AM PDT by TKDietz
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To: Farmer Dean

The helicopters did mine in.


109 posted on 07/14/2007 7:51:09 AM PDT by bannie (The Good Guys cannot win when they're the only ones to play by the rules.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Balderdash.....

Those of us slightly older than boomers ane now experiencing diiminished hearing. It is the way of the world.

I have listened to very loud music, shot doves all afternoon with no earplugs, and flown full bore in an open cockpit...... I now have difficulty hearing some conversation, especially with background noise.

I have a close friend who is my age, has hearing aids, and led a sheltered life growing up and as a minister’s wife. She certainly did not fit the profile.....accept for being 65.

By the way, did you hear about the guy who came into his office each morning, unwrapped two condoms and put them over his ears?

When asked why, he said he didn’t want to get hearing AIDS.


110 posted on 07/14/2007 7:51:48 AM PDT by bert (K.E. N.P. +12 . Happiness is a down sleeping bag)
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To: eddie willers

My good friend built false corners and has 6 corner horns and two subs in his living room. He drives them with one Large McIntoch.


111 posted on 07/14/2007 7:53:08 AM PDT by bmwcyle (Satan is working both sides of the street in World Socialism and World Courts.)
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To: Proud_USA_Republican
(ringing in the ears)

I have that too, but I thought it was the drugs...

112 posted on 07/14/2007 7:54:54 AM PDT by Positive (Nothing is sadder than to see a beautiful theory murdered by a gang of brutal facts.)
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To: nobdysfool
I got to meet and talk with Ed Cassidy, the drummer

Mr. Skin...we know where you been!

L

113 posted on 07/14/2007 7:59:54 AM PDT by Lurker (Comparing moderate islam to extremist islam is like comparing small pox to ebola.)
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To: Lurker
Mr. Skin...we know where you been!

LOL!

114 posted on 07/14/2007 8:05:19 AM PDT by nobdysfool (I hate government regulation of any kind)
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To: bmwcyle
Mmm, Klipschorns. I have a pair of those in my home office. I love how the old tube amps can drive them at low power levels. Lately, I find that I've developed an appreciation for the vintage solid-state equipment, too. My Pioneer SX-1250 packs more power than those folded horns really need.

I almost felt like I was stealing one like this from the local thrift store for $40.00; when all it needed was a squirt of contact cleaner...


115 posted on 07/14/2007 8:08:27 AM PDT by Charles Martel (The Tree of Liberty thirsts.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster
Well, between rock concerts and 155mm howitzers, there's bound to be hearing loss. At least that's what my doctor tells me...

5.56mm

116 posted on 07/14/2007 8:09:04 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: M Kehoe
I wanna crap on the stupid old hippies who are losing their hearing 'cuz they were stupid young hippies in the '60s while still honoring the sacrifice and service of the VN Vets.

FU in the ear you stupid old hippies!

117 posted on 07/14/2007 8:11:21 AM PDT by Cogadh na Sith (Banning Bread and Circuses is the New Bread and Circuses....)
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To: justanotherfreeper

“I don’t care WHAT the stations claim, the commercials are clearly MUCH”

standard practice to boost the sound frequencies in the 1 to 4 kiloherz ranges to force the ears to zero in on the product they are selling(especially for those who might have mild hearing loss). The whole commercial “sounds” louder despite the audio limiters used at the tv stations because of the radar stearing effect a boost in those frequencies has on the ears...The hearing apparatii once fully engaged causes the listener to experience the full effect of the sound coming out of the speakers all in an instant. The over all sound is not “louder” in terms of total amplitude...it’s the sudden increase of amplitudes in the 1k to 4 k ranges that end up “blasting” you!


118 posted on 07/14/2007 8:11:30 AM PDT by mdmathis6
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To: gathersnomoss

I believe loud noises of any kind can caouse it.


119 posted on 07/14/2007 8:27:20 AM PDT by nuconvert ([there are bad people in the pistachio business] (...but his head is so tiny...))
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To: bmwcyle

104 dB at 1 watt? Now that’s an efficient speaker!


120 posted on 07/14/2007 8:56:28 AM PDT by Cymbaline (I repeat myself when under stress I repeat myself when under stress I repeat myself when under stres)
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