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Girl Talk concert at CU floods police with noise complaints
University apologizes, investigating acoustics
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University of Colorado and Boulder police departments were flooded with calls Saturday night from neighbors complaining about noise coming from a welcome-back concert for students on Farrand Field.
The annual, free New Student Welcome Concert — which this year featured mash-up artist Girl Talk — drew a record-breaking 7,000 students, said CU police Cmdr. Brad Wiesley. Even though the concert ended at the planned time of 10:30 p.m., Wiesley said, “We got a fair number of noise complaints.”
Calls came not just from neighbors on University Hill but from residents in south Boulder, where the concert’s music speakers were aimed, Wiesley said.
“The sound hopped over buildings to the south side of town,” he said.
Even some people who live south of Table Mesa Drive — nearly three miles from the campus — reported hearing the music.
Wiesley didn’t have an exact number of noise complaints related to the concert, but he said there were a few dozen. Boulder police dispatchers reported taking at least seven calls complaining specifically about Farrand Field or CU.
The welcome concert — which has been running for several years — had its largest-ever turnout this year. About 4,000 people attended last year, Wiesley said.
During the concert, Wiesley said, a mosh pit formed near the front of the stage. Some students received cuts and bruises, a few people were taken to detox for excessive alcohol consumption and at least one person was taken to the hospital needing stitches in her head, Wiesley said.
Police are still investigating what happened in that case, but Wiesley said the injured woman might have been hit by a flying object in the crowd.
CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard said the university is looking into the complaints that resulted from Saturday’s concert and investigating why so many people heard the music.
City and CU officials walked the campus Saturday during the concert with sound equipment to check noise levels, Hilliard said.
“Every one of them registered well below the decibel level that makes them a nuisance, according to city statute,” he said.
CU officials are looking into the possibility that the design of the bandshell used for the concert influenced the way the sound carried off campus.
Depending on what CU officials gather from their sound study and community input, Hilliard said changes could be in store for the event’s future.
“Before we announce changes and plans, we need to do a much more careful study of what happened,” he said.
CU’s Program Council, a student-run organization that provides entertainment for the campus community, sponsored the concert.
Rande Kamolz, Program Council production manager, agreed that the excessive-noise complaints might have been the result of strange acoustics, and a shift in the location of the main stage might have had an impact.
“The stage used to be pointed more toward the youthful side of the Hill,” Kamolz said. “Now it faces the more residential-homeowner part of it.”
Regardless of the cause, Hilliard said, the university aims to be a positive part of the community.
“We did everything we could to make it a safe and fun event for people, but it sounds like there are issues we need to consider here, and we want to be a good neighbor,” Hilliard said. “If this was a disturbing thing in the lives of our neighbors, we apologize. That was not the intent.”
Posted by meatpieandtatters on August 25, 2008 at 2:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It was totally obnoxious. We were hiking up by NCAR and could hear the young whelps chatter throughout the day. It was a definite buzz-wrecker to our contemplative solitude!
Posted by moresmilesplease on August 25, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You live in a college town, and they stopped at 10:30pm... Get over it.
Posted by windpower on August 25, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Sounds like a violation of City of Boulder Noise Ordinances Section 5-3-8, B.R.C. 1981. Wondering if the prairie dogs were covering their ears.....
Posted by johnbarleycorn on August 25, 2008 at 2:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh jeeze people...it was Saturday night. Did we interrupt your viewing of Lawrence Welk or something?
Posted by ogghead on August 25, 2008 at 2:38 p.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by ziggle on August 25, 2008 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm not a fan of late night noise, but a one-time-a -year concert that ends by 10:30 isn't something worth getting in a twist about. Sometimes roads are closed for footraces or bike races, and even less frequently CU has an open-air concert. It is all part of the deal when you live in a university town -- and face it, the University was here long before any of us were.
Posted by connie on August 25, 2008 at 2:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that people who can't abide young folks should not move to a college town. Get over yourselves - Boulder is home to a major university and students are not nuns.
Posted by bkean on August 25, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
>>You live in a college town, and
>>they stopped at 10:30pm...
>> Get over it.
ditto!!!
Posted by Manioca35 on August 25, 2008 at 2:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
>>Did we interrupt your viewing of Lawrence Welk or something?<<
lol - get over it you old farts.
Posted by ogghead on August 25, 2008 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Welcome to town kids.
Posted by xyz on August 25, 2008 at 2:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
1) "It started at 7 p.m., he said, and organizers were granted a special permit to continue the concert until 10:30 p.m."
Show was over after 11, not 10:30. DC, were the organizers given any sort of noise citation for violating their permit?
2)"Still, the event — which has been running for several years — never before has seen so many complaints, which probably were the result of the larger-than-ever turnout, Wiesley said."
It was not crowd noise Wiesley, it was the amplified music noise.
3) Rande Kamolz, Program Council production manager "It's not a matter of whether we're too loud," he said. "We were within the campus and city guidelines."
Um, yes it was a matter of too loud. CU was definitely violating Boulder noise laws. But, being CU, they have a different max threshold then the local taxpayers who support the U.
4)"During the concert, Wiesley said a mosh pit formed in front of the stage and some students had to be treated for "cuts and bruises," but no major injuries were reported. A couple people were taken to the detox center for excessive alcohol consumption, he said."
Sounds like a good thing for the U to sponsor. DC, are all these people going to be okay?
The concert idea is a good one. But it doesn't need to be that loud. The University is telling the students that being good neighbors/citizens isn't important.
Way to start the year, Program Council!
(DC how is the Program Council funded?)
Posted by jackjester on August 25, 2008 at 3:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We live right next to Fairview High School and could hear this event clearly all night long.
Having said that, we didn't mind - it was Saturday night and we live in a college town. I think it's healthy for the culture of our city to be able to have events like this happen from time to time.
Perhaps it is time for those so sensitive to a one time event's impact on the community to consider buying some earplugs or move. After all, approximately half of the city's population are CU students..... where would Boulder be without the tax receipts from all of those out of state students?
Posted by Chris_Thatcher on August 25, 2008 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard the concert as far south as Chambers Drive in South Boulder-- that's right near the southern city limit!
Posted by reluctantskeptic on August 25, 2008 at 3:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Music in a college town on welcome back weekend? What next? Singing and dancing?
Complaints of this type highlight the incredible selfish entitlement attitude of many aging Boulder hipsters. If 10:30 PM is too late for people to hear parties, you've officially crossed over into being grumpy old men (and women). And get off my lawn!
Posted by Stephen on August 25, 2008 at 3:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I could hear it North of CU. Main complaint is that it was just really BAD music. Is that really what college students are listening to now? Not surprised they were all drunk...
Posted by kowles_524 on August 25, 2008 at 3:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Let's not miss the point, which is that this band "Girl Talk" sucks bad. I mean real bad.
These guys aren't musicians, just dudes who jump around and yell, wear sweatbands, and pull mad wool.
Forget the fact that this was an obvious community noise nuisance, which it was. Anybody who defends that show is a cultural cretin.
Keep your garbage music in your IPODs and your Tahoe XLs.
Posted by kowles_524 on August 25, 2008 at 3:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
PS - ReluctantSkeptic, that was a real pathetic post, you don't know WTF you are talking about.
Posted by intheknow on August 25, 2008 at 3:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I heard the music as far South as Tijuana.
Posted by BoulderMath on August 25, 2008 at 3:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I have great hearing and I didn't hear it. I live off of Lehigh in South Boulder.
Posted by bkean on August 25, 2008 at 3:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Complaints of this type highlight the incredible selfish entitlement attitude of many aging Boulder hipsters"
This statement is 100% accurate.
Posted by noboresident on August 25, 2008 at 4:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the music is too loud, you're too old.
Posted by xyz on August 25, 2008 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"here we are now, entertain us"
Posted by potbelliechef on August 25, 2008 at 4:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I happened to be flying over Boulder at an altitude of 100,000 feet and I could clearly hear every whiner above carping about how their mellow got harshed. Seriously, if this were a weekly thing, everyone would have a legitimate complaint. But it isn't, so you don't.
Posted by Manioca35 on August 25, 2008 at 4:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Not a "band" people. Not a band.
Posted by wgstrand on August 25, 2008 at 4:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Looking at the slideshow is funny. I wonder what the parents of the girl in the last picture would think about their little darling being off at CU...
Posted by potbelliechef on August 25, 2008 at 4:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
wgstrand - The parents would be thanking their lucky stars that none of the photos of them behaving like, well, college kids, exist anymore.
Posted by Rise_Against on August 25, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Lame! Let the kids have some fun!
Posted by hershalsavage on August 25, 2008 at 4:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Having said that, we didn't mind - it was Saturday night and we live in a college town. I think it's healthy for the culture of our city to be able to have events like this happen from time to time.
"Perhaps it is time for those so sensitive to a one time event's impact on the community to consider buying some earplugs or move. After all, approximately half of the city's population are CU students..... where would Boulder be without the tax receipts from all of those out of state students?"
ditto! .... although I will agree the band could have been better.
Posted by xyz on August 25, 2008 at 5:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think anyone is objecting to the concert (excepting maybe the bad).
No one seems to be objecting to giving the students something to do since they have to show up in August. (Although, I thought that more of them would be in Denver making history.)
The objection is not even that it was loud at Farrand, but that it was too loud too far from Farrand. Okay, and that the CU spokespeople in the article come off as smarmy.
I think that we can all agree that CU has a reputation to maintain.
Posted by The_Insinuator on August 25, 2008 at 5:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
At least they weren't dumping plutonium dust into the city's water supply.
Posted by sidd on August 25, 2008 at 5:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe all you complainers should move to Broomfield where young people are repressed and can’t do these kinds of fun things.
Then it can be so quiet you can enjoy the wonderful sound of hwy 36 and on good nights you can even hear the sweet whine of I-25.
Posted by rungreger on August 25, 2008 at 5:23 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I just wish I was in college with parents who were paying my bills and complaining about noise.
Posted by RoseFromTheDead on August 25, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a bunch of old fogeys. I closed the windows facing campus, put "Woodstock" in the dvd player and turned up the surround sound.
But Frank Zappa was right when he wrote, "Kids today wouldn't know good music if it bit them on the @$$"."
Posted by johnny.sunshine on August 25, 2008 at 5:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
At Millennium Park in Chicago, where concerts are held surrounded by 30- and 40- and 50- (and 100-) story buildings full of neighbors, the new Frank Gehry designed bandshell has a computerized system of speakers designed so that there's a delay of exactly the time it takes sound travels from the stage to the spot of each speaker. The upshot is, they don't need large speakers pointing from the stage, and another set far away from the stage, they can have small speakers set throughout the crowd that amplify the sound seamlessly, aimed /at/ the crowd, not projecting over it. Music sounds a lot better, and the neighbors are so happy that that neighborhood is getting awfully expensive. That might work here too, and it might be a good project for some student engineers to work on.
Posted by pstream on August 25, 2008 at 6:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I could hear the Rolling Stones up on Enchanted Mesa when they played in the 70's at Folsum Field. Was way cool. Chill people. There are more important things to worry about.
Posted by mse on August 25, 2008 at 7:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I live close by and wanted to relax that night and watch a movie. It was difficult. This will not be the only loud event, remember the nighttime football games? I survived the so called music which was just noise to me by the time it reached my place.
What I am worried about the hearing loss by suffered by he students so close the source of the noise. They may have lost some hearing. Isn't that even more important? I've already lost some of mine from loud concerts over the last 50 + years.
I think CU needs to do some world class science on what they are subjecting the students too. Ah', but maybe they are?
Posted by BoulderHippy on August 25, 2008 at 7:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The crime is the music they were listening to not how loud it was.
Welcome freshman. In the next 4 years you will learn how to become drug addicts and corporate whores.
If only kids knew the old Boulder. The women were so hot and friendly it was ridiculous. Beer and rock music were the norm. No mosh pits and plenty of free sex.
A homely looking freshman class this year that is for sure.
Posted by MuddyOne on August 25, 2008 at 11:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
welcome to boulder - where jets greet our mornings and music floats through the evenings. and a panty-bunched lot to complain about it all, every step of the way.
Posted by BlindLemonFishStix on August 25, 2008 at 11:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I called at 10:30 and the noise was still in full swing. I live over 2 miles from campus and I could hear some moron yelling "Woo Hoo" at the top of their lungs at full amplification. It was far louder than any football game or other event that I have heard in a long long time.
The dispatcher told me to call the program council and she warned me that their voice mail was already full. I seriously doubt that the complaints were as low as reported by the DC.
Posted by inmyriver on August 25, 2008 at 11:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"We lived in a paper bag in the middle of the road!!!!" Can we have a "who had it worse" contest? OK fine, it was annoying, but come on. Who among us has not moshed and crowd-surfed in an underage drunken stupor to a really crappy band?
Posted by PCR on August 26, 2008 at 12:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
i'm just pissed i missed Girl Talk :(
Posted by HeadFulloTricity on August 26, 2008 at 12:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This kind of zanieness has got to STOP! I saw the whole thing. The band didn't have no speakers, no drummer. no geetar, no van. No van MAN! It was a guy with a laptop. A freakin laptop peoples, and a guy, had one of those fancy puters you see peoples gots at the Starbucks. He got one of them and it makes music.
We may have been visited by an outer space person. He's probably one of those ancient space travelers who makes things like pyramids and crop circles and sat-lite Tee Veee and things that make you go sleep. No what else? Ya no those pretty girls at CU? They seemed to like him, real good.
Go Gillis!
Posted by BoulderHippy on August 26, 2008 at 5:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Ya no those pretty girls at CU?"
Pretty freshman CU girls are about as rare as responsible Republicans these days.
When this video was made is when the girls were hot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGhlUz...
It's a sad day when all the members of Skid Row had cooler hair then 90% freshman girls at CU. You didn't think the freshman were not going to get razzed did you?
Posted by dont on August 26, 2008 at 7:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Get off my lawn."
Give it a break, geezers.
Posted by brianc on August 26, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
@dont:
"Get off my lawn."
Give it a break, geezers.
---
Yes we are geezers, so make my day ya punk kids. (Reaching for my Glock)
Posted by MK_Love on August 26, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You guys are in a college town. Deal with it. However, does anyone else just wanna hit some of the kids in these pictures? Really makes me about sick to death of going to CU.
Posted by boulderjen on August 26, 2008 at 8:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I wonder how many of the people complaining are transplants? Or if the people realize loud, crazy concerts have been going on in Boulder for decades. Do you think people were this pissed off when Cream played in Boulder at Folsom field in the 70's? Get a life, if your seriously mad that there was music you didnt like playing on a Saturday night, you need to look at what your mad at in your own life. You complainers suck and your single handedly ruining what's left of Boulder.
Posted by native on August 26, 2008 at 8:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe all you complainers should move to Broomfield where young people are repressed and can’t do these kinds of fun things.
Ever hear of Broomstock sidd? Don't send them to Broomfield, we don't need no stinking complainers!
Posted by Manioca35 on August 26, 2008 at 8:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How ironic that you "kids today don't know what good music is," or "that isn't even MUSIC!" people are the same people who listened to music that caused the SAME reaction among the old folks in the...what?...30s?, when you were in college.
Posted by Bing987 on August 26, 2008 at 10:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay, so let me get this straight; A concert that can be heard clearly three miles away is not loud enough, when measured at the source, to be in violation of Boulder's noise laws.
But barking dogs and non-standard mufflers are concerns where police feel the need to write up tickets for noise violations.
Hmm.
Posted by fractured2 on August 26, 2008 at 11:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
the funny thing about all this, which anyone who was actually at the show will surely vouch for, is that the volume of the show on ferrand field was not loud at all.
Posted by lucretia on August 26, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the issue is that just because this is a college town doesn't mean college takes over ever aspect of life in Boulder. Those of us who have a life in Boulder full time are really sick of the bad rap that the college has for parties. So it is a 'where there is smoke, there is fire' kind of thing. There are many college towns across the US that don't try to take over the entire town while school is in session. Boulder is not Boulder because of CU!
Posted by BoulderConfidential on August 26, 2008 at 12:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Puh-leese let the kids have fun. Are those like
BlindLemonFishStix for real? I mean didn't most of us go to some concerts in college during orientation? How many campuses are on an island away from the community? Afraid to let the fresh bloom of youth interrupt your demeaning old thought processes on an occasional basis?
Let it be.
Posted by grandjacques on August 26, 2008 at 1:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
One thing that always gets overlooked in these debates about noisy students, decible levels, and times of day is this: Boulder has an ordinance against "Disruption of Quiet Enjoyment of Home," the text of which can be found at (http://www.colocode.com/boulder2/
chapter5-9.htm. How it works is this: if you are being disturbed in your home or your yard by loud noise from a party or concert or anything else, you have a right to call the police and have them issue a written warning to the noise-makers. Then, if there is a recurrence within ninety days (including a recurrence even one second after the warning is issued), you can have the police issue a court summons if you are willing to sign a complaint. And you don't have to complain while the noise is going on. Under this ordinance, decibel levels and times of day don't matter. If it's disturbing you, it's disturbing you, and you can have a written warning issued for the first occurrence and a court summons for any recurrence within ninety days. Bottom line: anybody who was disturbed by this noise can call the police and have a written warning issued to CU; and if they are disturbed again within ninety days by noise emanating from CU, they can call the police again, sign an complaint, and have a court summons issued to CU. You can get further information (and verification of these facts) by reading the ordinance or calling police dispatch at 303-441-3333 and asking to speak to an officer about the "Disruption of Quiet Enjoyment of Home" ordinance. I hope anyone who was disturbed will call the police and insist that a written warning be issued to CU and, if there is a recurrence, will call again and sign a complaint against CU. These are your rights under the law, and the law doesn't care if you are an old fogey or an eighteen-year-old who is just trying to get some studying done. Sounding off in these forums does no good at all. If you were disturbed, call the police and ask that they carry out the provisions of the "Disruption of Quiet Enjoyment of Home" ordinance against CU: first a written warning, then a court summons for any recurrence. Remember: under this ordinance decibel levels don't matter and times of day don't matter. And you don't have to complain while the noise is going on: you can complain and have a warning (or a summons in the case of a recurrence) issued after the fact.
Posted by sduffy294 on August 26, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank goodness I went to all of those loud rock concerts during college in the '70s because I didn't hear anything!
Posted by suxyq on August 26, 2008 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Why do so many people suck? Get over yourselves, get a life and have some fun (or at least let the 7000 kids who crowded into farrand do so).
Posted by RoadTrippin on August 26, 2008 at 4:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a bunch of whiney old farts. It's a college town. Get over it. Stop complaining; and get a life! (Or just move into some retirement home already.)
Posted by Mousterian on August 26, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This issue answers two questions:
1) There ARE too many over paid lawyers living in Boulder now.
2) There are still Republicans living in Boulder also.
IF IT'S TOO LOUD...YOUR TOO OLD!!!!!!!!!
Let the young pups have their fun.
Posted by windpower on August 27, 2008 at 9:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I can see that we are now approaching the same number of comments that were posted when that WWII airplane flew over Boulder for a few minutes at 7am a while back; many posted similiar comments on that issue by both youngsters and oldsters (I am middle age) so I guess noise control is a universal topic with no age barrier. Although there is no question in my mind that City of Boulder laws were violated, specifically 5-3-8 BRC 1981, and the sponsors of the event should pay a fine at the least in my opinion, and work to improve this situation before next year's event, I think the majority of the city's population, (people who actually live here vs. outside commentators) would like to say welcome back students! You are an important part of the Boulder community but you should also keep in mind that Boulder is not only a college town, but also a resort based community with many persons using our city as a base for skiing, visits to the Rocky Mountain National Park, metro area cities, etc. and home to many senior citizens whose rights are just as important as yours.
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