Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 23, 2023

My ears give me a constant susurrus piggybacking on a hum. Too bad it doesn’t have a tricksy beat.

They say the item found most often in NYC sewers these days are those wireless earbuds.

Once I was in an electronics store when someone cranked up a stereo, and cranked it UP and UP, until the windows were rattling… We looked around and saw a guy, bopping to the music, with headphones on. That weren’t jacked in. He looked up, notice us, realized… tossed down the phones and ran out of the store.

Did Caulfield just jump to conclusions about Mr. Spaetzle’s comments?

Have one grocery store that plays oldies on senior discount day.

Ooh — thanks for the reminder — today is Senior day!

My local grocery store plays music, and I’ll frequently get annoyed if they interrupt a song I like with an announcement. I wouldn’t classify the songs they play, Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” for example, as Muzak though.

Oh, I know about wireless. I just refuse to spend hundreds of $ on something I’m guaranteed to lose.

I am a new hearing aid user. I thought I would hate them – I don’t. I can listen to music from my phone through Bluetooth. No one else can tell what I’m listening to until I start singing along.

What grocery store doesn’t have muzak?

They still pipe in music in the stores. It’s seldom Muzak, usually some Sirius station. But I’ve wondered why they don’t just put a bunch of songs on a flash drive and set it to random, like everyone else.

I’m hesitant to take a radio transmitter, albeit a small one, and essentially shove it inside my skull.

Just as soon pass on any current music in stores. Muzak might have been boringly melodic, but it certainly beat the shrieking and thumping that passes for store music nowadays. Hard to think when aisles echo with a beat and volume that jumps like an ekg monitor.

I’m reminded of a MAD Magazine article titled “You Know You’re Getting Old When….” that had the entry “…you hear the anthem of your youth as Muzak in an elevator”.

At least it wasn’t an iPod he was using

I wonder what kids will have when Caulfield is a senior citizen.

I hate to think what that sound level was doing to their ears when the ear-buds are plugged in.

Our grocery stores still pipe in music, though not Muszak.