New Yorkers Finally Shut Up

Picture this: New York City on a Saturday night. Action, bright lights, hustle and bustle. The hub of international nightlife in the city that never sleeps. "Let's get loud!" seems to be the call to action for young people hitting the crowded streets and nightclubs. But there is one nightclub in the center of this dizzying carnival where young people gather not to get loud, but to get quiet.

The Quiet Party is a weekly event held in New York City where hundreds of clubbers go to get silent. They listen to very low volume jazz and nature sounds, played every five minutes with silence in between. At the front of the party only low volume talking is allowed and in the back of the party people just communicate by writing notes. So, would anybody really show up to a party like this? "It's amazing" say Paul Rebhan and Tony Noe, creators of the Quiet Party. "We've been packed with people from day one. This is something people have been searching for. It's a cultural phenomenon".

Indeed, this seems to be a timely issue. New York's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg has instituted a crackdown on noise, and noise complaints have been rising dramatically over the past several years. "I love living in New York, but it's gotten to the point that I wear earplugs when I walk around", adds Noe.

The Quiet Party was conceived by these two friends one night when they tried to find a quiet bar in which to have a conversation, but could not. "We decided then that New York needs more quiet", says Rebhan.

So what do the creators of the Quiet Party do when they are not being so quiet? Paul Rebhan is an artist and entrepreneur who shocked the art world in the 1990's by hanging his own painting in New York's Museum of Modern Art. Tony Noe is a singer and songwriter who can be heard on the radio and occasionally, even turns up the volume on his guitar.

Amelia Nyquist conributed this piece to PRAVDA.Ru

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