My wife and I went to the Slack Key Guitar Festival last weekend, and the sound was so loud and actually painful in the third set of music.

I asked people around me if they found it to be painfully loud, and everyone said yes, way too loud. So, I went to the man at the mixing board and told him. I watched him for a good five minutes before I went over, and not once did he look at the crowd.

I have experience running sound for bands on the mainland, and if anyone was to ever complain to me, I would listen and try to understand.

What happened next was appalling. The sound man left his board, pursued me to my seat next to my wife, and harassed us. Proceeded to lecture me on aloha, standing over us in a very intimidating manner, while tapping his iPad like that mattered.

I am hard of hearing and had to remove my hearing aids because the sound was so loud, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but that didn’t matter because the show was ruined for us.

Not the first time I left because of terrible sound. Went to see comedian Ron White, and had to leave because the sound was insanely loud.

Nobody at Maui Arts and Cultural Center was using DB meters to check sound levels. Hearing damage shouldn’t be a concern for comedians or guitarists.

Don’t think we will be going to shows there anymore.

Carl Gordon

Haiku