A: John, take it straight from the Ace’s mouth: Not all are as holy as thou. When it comes to musicians on the Mall, Ace admits there is “a wide variety,” with everything from aging hippies with a penchant for James Taylor to the seventh grade fiddle prodigies. Each appeals to his own special demographic who, if they know what’s good for them, cast their votes with nickels, dimes and the occasional dollar. Remember, Tracy Chapman once haunted Harvard Square and look where that got her!
While it’s true that cities like Detroit, New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina, hold auditions for some of their street entertainment, Charlottesville City Attorney Craig Brown speculates that the measure is taken not necessarily to monitor quality but to control quantity. While such quality control might, in the words of Jurassic 5, captivate the party patrol, Charlottesville has not yet reached that saturation point.
More importantly, however, Brown explains, is that when it comes to the First Amendment, be careful what you wish for. “From a legal perspective,” explains Brown, “trying to restrict the freedom of expression as protected by the First Amendment…you get into content-based regulations.” Let’s not even think about where that could take us. Moreover, “If someone has the right to go and perform on the Mall, you can’t legally require them to sing on key,” says Brown.
There is, however, a little thing Brown likes to call a “noise ordinance.” This puts some parameters on our homegrown Joan Baezes by restricting Downtown noise levels during certain hours. According to Brown, Sundays through Thursdays, between 10pm and 6am, and on Saturdays and Sundays between 12:01am and 6am, the noise level cannot be more than 75 decibels at a distance of 10 feet from the source. Seventy-five decibels is approximately equivalent to the sound of a washing machine or freeway traffic, according to Noise Center for the League for the Hard of Hearing (really!), which frankly makes Ace think that’s either one loud washer or one quiet freeway.
But good, bad, or mediocre, Ace wants in on the glory: If you can’t fight ‘em, join ’em. So, keep your eyes peeled for Ace out there at Central Place belting out a rendition of “Everyday People.” Different strokes for different folks! And so on and so on and shooby dooby do…