The word of the day is "bitter"

The suburbs are supposedly a peaceful haven where people move to get away from the noise, hustle and bustle of the big city. I guess it's that rather mistaken identity that prompts the uptight citizens of certain suburbs to write well-worded but still bitter letters to the editor about what some would see as a rather prominent cultural event coming to their city and billing it as nothing but "vulgar noise".

That is what a husband and wife from Shakopee (who each wrote a letter which got published) called Soundset '09 which took place on Sunday, May 24 - Memorial Day weekend. Soundset, if you didn't know, is an all-day rap/hip-hop festival which took place at Canterbury Park. It is one of just a few venues in the Twin Cities where outdoor concert events take place and if these sticks in the mud have their way it wouldn't happen there again.

I'm a huge music fan and I've lived near outdoor events which I didn't attend. I loved sitting on my deck listening ot the music off in the distance. It always made the bland sameness of the suburbs seem alive but the letters by Kathy and Cliff Stafford give me the impression that they would only be happy if everyone in the city shut their mouths and simply played canasta only to call it a night by 8 PM.

Sure, to many hip-hop is just noise but I'm fairly certain that the music of their generation was called noise by their elders as well. It's a never-ending circle and these "forward-thinking" citizens who want their peace and quiet can keep on bitching because I'm fairly certain that while there are plenty of others who feel the same way, the hundreds of thousands of dollars this event brought in trump the backwoods views of two people who complained about some homegrown Minnesota hip-hop which is far from vulgar. Form your own opinions and listen to some Brother Ali, Atmosphere and P.O.S.

But if you can't stand the "noise", go inside (like almost all other suburbanites), close your windows, turn on a fan and the TV and that should pretty much cover up the "noise".

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