Carbondale, being a college town, has the fortune of having numerous college bands. Being a music lover, I enjoy listening to all sorts of live music. And one of the things I like best about being in a college town with so many college bands is the variety of those bands. When you mix the excitement of a live band with the excitement of a lively crowd, you set the stage for some good times.

And when the band is playing outdoors, you get the full effect of the band’s instruments unlike listening to a band inside. Irregular indoor space, like that of most every bar, practically kills the full range of musical instruments. No bar in Carbondale has the acoustics to correctly handle live music. Being outdoors, however, is the natural auditorium for live music.

I feel for those individuals who are kept up at nights or can’t study because of the loud music of a live band. I assume everyone has had such an ordeal, even if the noise was not caused by a live band. But I also feel badly for the owners of Pinch Penny Pub. They now risk penalties because they bring live entertainment to the dreary bar scene. Would you call this noise pollution? Keep the live bands safe!

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I don’t think the Carbondale hearing officer (City Manager Jeff Doherty) will keep Pinch from having bands, but most likely the officer will force bands to stop playing at 10 p.m. For people like me, this may be bad. I enjoy late nights at the bars. Having to go to a bar to hear a good band at 6 p.m. would be too weird. Being forced to listen to a live band indoors after 10 p.m. would be worse.

It just seems to me that Carbondale is hitting hard on outdoor music. The controversy has been going on for years, and I am afraid that new city ordinances will squash a bar’s ability to entertain.