the horror

This just in about the state of the performing arts:

http://www.oregonlive.com/performance/index.ssf/2011/08/tweeting_during_concerts_the_h.html

I read the article, read some of the comments, and then I went outside and threw up.

Okay, seriously, I didn't do the last bit; but I could have.

Are you [bleep]ing KIDDING me?

With so many people going to concerts without knowing about the music, you're going to leave the writing of the program notes to audience members with smart-phones and crackberrys and let them text notes in real time? And then you're going to encourage other people to read those notes and get their information about the music from a 140-character [bleep]ing TWEET?

I'm going to go to a concert in the future and watch as hundreds of my fellow concert-goers whip out their smart-phones and tweet away to the strains of a Rachmaninoff or Beethoven symphony? Excuse me, but [bleep] that. That is just way more white noise than I like in my concert experience. I predict that if this becomes a serious trend, lots of people will stay away from the concert halls -- especially if orchestras don't lower their ticket prices after firing their annotators and program publishers. The whole idea is just galling, even for someone as rough-around-the-edges as me.

Okay, now I think I will puke.