In the ongoing battle of know-nothings vs. Houston's eternal reach for World-Classiness it appears the know-nothings are possibly on the verge of winning one. Granted, it's a little one.
Some Council Members not in Tune With Airport Music Contract. HoustonChronicle.com
City council is mulling whether to pay up to $600,000 a year for live music at Bush Intercontinental and Hobby airports, a service that Mayor Sylvester Turner has said would show visitors that Houston is both “a little bit country” and “a little bit chic.”
Council members were scheduled to consider the funding at their last two weekly meetings, but the item has been delayed twice following debates between those who say music improves the quality of airports and those arguing the money should go toward what they consider more pressing needs.
Status, by way of classical music if you will. And while it could be argued that the Houston Airport System's perception could be improved by better...um...food choices, perhaps, that would be wrong, apparently. The idea that having Puccini's La bohème wafting from behind you as your argue with the gate agent because your upgrade didn't go through adds a touch of world classiness to a city is silly of course. But this is Houston where silliness abounds. Granted, the fact that you're frustrated because you couldn't FIND the gate in the first place because the signs were old/outdated/substandard probably doesn't enhance your calm much, and even the gentle tones of Brahms Lullaby isn't going to do much to put you in a better mood*.
Signage, maybe a bar that serves something better than lukewarm Bud Light and reasonable dining options would help in most cases. And I don't know who decided that having "luxury" retail in an airport lends an air of classiness to the place but they should be fired forthwith and without further discussion.
To my mind there are far better uses for $600,000/year at Houston's sibling airports than this, and I say this as someone who actually flies out of there a LOT and who enjoys the 4-some sitting in the rotunda banging away at Beethoven's 7th like it's going to will my plane on the ground more quickly.
Unfortunately, this is Houston, and this is the Houston Chronicle so the people who like to angrily comment on newspaper sites are strutting about arguing against "taxpayer money" going to a group of symphony folks belting out Motzart's Requiem to the moneyed masses lucky enough to fund a plane ticket and not toward flood control, thus ignoring that the airport fund is a completely separate entity from the cities general fund. This flawed argument, obviously, allows those FOR the spending to dismiss out of hand the ramblings of those obviously less culturally and literally intelligent than them.
You know, people who understand Classical music only to the point they hear it on TV, in a movie somewhere, or the one symphony concert they attended because their employer gave them free tickets. Yup, THAT culturally elevated group of people.
Of course, walking though an airport and hearing Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights doesn't make one culturally elite, but it's enough for Turner to feel that the lack of Gergiev's Bolero is a dark mark on the city. Which is enough for this to be elevated to "news" status in Houston.
Which is sad, and is the REAL reason Houston will never, ever achieve the level of world-classiness that its ruling class so desires. Instead of realizing what makes Houston GREAT, we instead are given a copy-cat, watered down version of what OTHER places do, and are told to eat our world-classiness gruel and like it.
Nevermind that you often have no idea where you are, and the signs above your head spend more time pointing you to the United lounge than they do your gate. I guess lost with ambiance is better than just plain lost?
*Of course, pretty much ALL of this debate ignores the very real fact that people don't choose which airports to connect through, the airlines make those choices for them. How else can you explain the continued popularity of that Pit La Guardia?
