A Pilgrim’s Digression

Among other podcasts I listen to regularly is NPR’s Story of the Day [link will open iTunes]. Usually, I don’t have a problem with NPR programming, but sometimes the bias is just a bit overbearing.

No, I am not talking about political bias. I have no problem with NPR’s politics. Their political reporting is the best of the best, as far as I am concerned. I am talking about their artistic bias in favor of the quirky, avant garde, and often outré.

For example, yesterday the Story of the Day was titled A Captive Audience for Subway Hip Hop by John Kalish.

The story concerns a group of young people (I use the term “young” loosely; at least two of the men are in their early 30’s) who entertain themselves by hopping on subway trains and ferries and freestyle rapping. They may be having fun, but the question is, are they entertaining other people?

Of course the crux of any good NPR “arts” story is that the reporter must go into the story with little or no appreciation of the art in question, in this case rap music; but he or she must end the story by finding “a new appreciation of the hip hop scene.”

I find the whole transformation of skeptical reporter to true-believer to be just a bit too pat. The story itself is rather unbelievable–not so much that young people would do something like this, but that apparently, no one minds. All of the citizens of New York riding this subway train with the reporter and his posse are just fine with a group of young rappers taking over a subway car. That’s what I find hard to believe.

This whole “new” genre of improvisational art is the brain child of a 33 year old Hip Hop entrepreneur called “Kid Lucky,” who is the owner of a company called “Beat Boxer Entertainment.”

Despite having advertising agreements with major corporate sponsors such as Verizon and Google, Kid Lucky apparently feels that Hip Hop has become too commercial. Thus several times a month, he gathers a group of 20-somethings and they all pile onto the subway and “entertain” the masses of commuters.

Kalish is effusive about the “trance-like, communal vibe” that is established between rappers and passengers. And he is amazed that no one really has any complaints.

Asked for her opinion, one woman offers, “It’s interesting…it’s what makes New York, New York.” Whoever said New Yorkers were rude or impatient obviously didn’t know what they were talking about. Apparently, New Yorkers are quite tolerant of public disturbances on their morning or evening commuter train.

For that’s really what this is, is it not? Disturbing the peace? Most metro rail systems have rules prohibiting this kind of behavior. And for good reason.

I ride commuter rail almost every day. When I think of what I enjoy about it, it’s not the pleasure of interacting with interesting people, or listening to someone else’s music. I enjoy the peace and quiet, the opportunity to read or listen to my iPod in my own little bubble of relative tranquility.

One of the things I loved about the Paris metro was that any kind of disturbance or conversation at a volume above a whisper was met with icy glares by the Parisians. The French know how to keep a metro train quiet with just a few stares of smug derision.

Thus, on American rail, I am annoyed when someone several feet away has their Walkman or iPod turned up so loud that I can distinctly hear every word of the song they are listening to.

I am made irritable by people who think that because they are on a train, they must shout into their cellphones, so that we can all be privy to them telling their spouse that they are on the train and will be home soon.

I have been known to leave a car and enter another, if I get on and there is a group of loud, obnoxious teenagers on the train.

I do not ride a train expecting or desiring to hear several young people rapping loudly and, in some cases, profanely.

Indeed, Kalish remarks that “several of the rappers…used words that are not usually spoken in polite company, like the captive audience in this subway car, which included young children.”

Asked about the profanity, Kid Lucky remarked that he doesn’t advocate censoring rappers. “I let off on a tirade myself if I feel like it, you know,” he says.

Kid must be unmarried and childless, as anyone would be who is 33 and still known by the nickname Kid. Everyone is all for free speech, until one has children.

Again, I just can’t get over how easily New Yorkers accept this kind of disturbance. I know I am old and grouchy, and growing older and grouchier by the day, but I find it frankly unbelievable. I know how Washingtonians would respond to something like this on our Metro; I don’t believe it would be stood for. But this is New York! Rudeness may have been invented in Paris, but it was perfected in New York. Did anyone Kalish interviewed have anything rude or cutting to say about this subway entertainment?

Apparently not. Kalish comments that “A number of the older folks who came within earshot of the Hip Hop performers seemed open to these young people rapping in public, even if they didn’t necessarily like what they heard.”

One older woman, Sheila Rowan, was riding with her two granddaughters, and her sole comment was, “I think it’s a great idea because they have something to say.”

Babe, we all have something to say. Maybe Ms. Rowan had something to say, but did not want to be rude or seem anti-intellectual, or un-sophisticated. And so instead she made her innocuous comment about “having something to say.”

Maybe that’s the real difference between generations. Eventually one realizes that just because you have something to say doesn’t mean that you should always say it. Self-control is a good thing.

Just because Kid Lucky thinks he’s an artist who has invented this brilliant, new form of avant garde public art doesn’t mean he should inflict that art on captive passengers. True, they aren’t entirely captive–they can switch cars, as I have done.

But we live in a society where everyone from radio talk show hosts to every kid with a My Space page inflicts their wretched taste, trite opinions, and shallow philosophy on everyone else.

Enough already. Leave us the subway, at least. We all need our very own Fortress of Solitude, even if we can only inhabit it for a few minutes each day, as we commute to work.