Popcorn Eaters

Since we live in San Clemente, going to classical music concerts always involves a major drive. I’m used to it and I don’t mind a one-hour nighttime return on the Santa Ana Freeway.

But if I’m going to drive that far, and pay $50-$100 for a seat, I expect to enjoy the concert without being distracted by my fellow patrons.

My big gripe is popcorn. At the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago we went to hear an all-Beethoven concert--a couple piano concertos and an overture. Just after intermission, the couple next to us return to their seat with a two-gallon bucket of popcorn and proceeded to crunch it noisily until the end of the concert.

Did they come to hear music or did they come to eat popcorn? At the all-Tchaikovsky concert at the Irvine Bowl we suffered the same fate. Aside from the bad sound coming from the speakers, we had stereo popcorn eaters--two gallons in front of us, two gallons behind us.

Who are these people? And why can’t the management of both places turn off the popcorn machines for classical music concerts? It appears to me that just because the concerts are outside, people figure that the rules of etiquette for regular concert halls are suspended. They seem to think it’s OK to get up and walk to the bathroom during the middle of the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, and it’s OK to carry on a conversation with your date, and it’s OK to rustle your plastic bags, rooting around for a snack.

I think I speak for the majority of attendees when I say I come to hear the music! I come to close my eyes and drink in this glorious music played live. Turn off the popcorn machines!

R. CLARKE BLAIR

San Clemente