Weaponizing the jukebox

[Bunk McNulty]

I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover" set in Chicago. He interviews Bruce Cameron Elliot, the guy who runs the Old Town Ale House. When a big biker crowd shows up and starts getting rambunctious (in their own inimitable style) he gets them out by playing opera on the jukebox. "You'd be amazed, when you get a group of people coming in that you don't want, like some bikers come in and start really gettin' rough and starting to cause problems, you'd just walk over and put on opera. It's funny, cause they just start fidgeting, and then pretty soon all of a sudden they just "I hate this effing bar", and you know, out they go."

 

[Shalto]

A friend of mine once loaded up Darryl Braithwaite's riding with the horses multiple times in a row just to watch how the bar reacted. Apparently there is some concern at second time round but much more significant at third time round. Eventually the staff reset the machine.

 

[Michedelic]

Not a new concept; years ago I read about either an outdoor mall or a municipality with pedestrian-oriented shopping district that had a problem with unruly teenagers(imagine that)congregating and harassing the other people walking around, until management took to blasting classical music through the muzak type speaker system. Did the trick.

 

[callofcthulhu]

 

[Passinwind]

View attachment 4212735 I was watching an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "The Layover" set in Chicago. He interviews Bruce Cameron Elliot, the guy who runs the Old Town Ale House. When a big biker crowd shows up and starts getting rambunctious (in their own inimitable style) he gets them out by playing opera on the jukebox. "You'd be amazed, when you get a group of people coming in that you don't want, like some bikers come in and start really gettin' rough and starting to cause problems, you'd just walk over and put on opera. It's funny, cause they just start fidgeting, and then pretty soon all of a sudden they just "I hate this effing bar", and you know, out they go."

One of my favorite hangouts in Seattle used to play opera at last call regularly to clear the house, it worked quite well. The owners took it ito the next level by making Mondays Opera Night and the regulars just learned to either love or ignore it. It all fit in with the "Sorry We're Open/Yes We're Closed" sign in the window and a number of other nuances I can't really talk about here on TB.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I played “Disco Duck” on a jukebox over and over at a “regular “ bar just to annoy the patrons sitting at the bar...

good times...

 

[Ostie]

The opera might work on me, but the Merle Haggard and Texas Tornadoes would keep me hanging around like a bad smell.