Dear Tell All: I have a problem that I'm sure a lot of Madison renters can relate to: My upstairs neighbor will not give it a rest with his acoustic guitar. Between the repetitive riffs and the corresponding foot stomping, it feels like I'm living in a never-ending open mic night. He mostly plays songs from the Beatles and Bob Dylan, and is especially fond of the Beatles' "Across the Universe." Sometimes he plays it on a loop for hours at a time while singing along loudly in an out-of-tune, near pubescent screech. It's gotten so bad that I've become convinced that the refrain to this famous song is actually a subliminal message, translating to "psycho-loser-douchebag."
I understand that "nothing is going to change his world," but is there anything I can do to get him to quiet down? I did leave him a note letting him know that I can clearly hear every note he plays. After that he did start waiting until mid-morning for his "rehearsals," which means that I now can sleep in a bit on the weekends. But he's just gotten louder when it comes to playing in the afternoons and in the evenings. I'm starting to think he might actually like the attention he receives from his captive audience. Now I'm stuck with the choice of either leaving my apartment to get some peace and quiet or blasting my own music just to avoid hearing him.
At the very least, is there any way I can get my neighbor to learn some new music? The times may be a'changin, but unfortunately my neighbor's taste in music (like his taste in basic human awareness) is not.
Please help before I'm forced to listen to "Across the Universe" for the 12th time today...ugh, it just started up again. "Psycho-loser-douchebag.…"
Crabby Road
Dear Crabby: It's time to take extreme measures, in this order: 1) Complain to the landlord, 2) gather a posse of disgruntled neighbors to confront John Lennon Jr. or, if those don't work, 3) buy him a book of easy-to-play Green Day songs. At least it'll be a change of pace.
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