The Punk Who Plays the Drums in His Garage Down the Street from My House

My husband and I live on a relatively quiet street all things considered. There seem to be a lot of families with kids who live on our street and our neighbors tend to keep to themselves. We moved in about a year and a half ago and we have only met a handful of our neighbors which, I suppose, is fine with us. We live a pretty quiet life and keep to ourselves too so it works out OK.

We moved to Austin from Chicago and compared to the almost constant noise of a big city (sirens, loud car stereos, screaming drunks, demented raving) our neighborhood is downright sleepy. With kids living on the block there is a certain amount of noise when school lets out and when the kids are playing in the street. But, in general, our neighborhood is pretty quiet with one notable exception: the teenage punk with the drum set.

About 5 houses down the block from us lives a kid who apparently aspires to be the next Tommy Lee. The first time I heard this kid and his no-talent band mates making noise was in the summer. I was in the backyard in the early evening hours serenely enjoying a glass of wine and a Jack Reacher novel. I assumed at the time that the practice session that I was unfortunate enough to witness was a one-time occurrence. I mean, it’s a quiet street and I would think that the other residents on this street would object to obscenely loud noises. But I was wrong.

Over the past several months I have heard this kid “playing” the drums on his own or in the company of his fellow aspiring musicians at least once a week. They are not improving their skills with practice that is for sure. I have been tempted to walk down the street and complain to him and/or his parents. But I have not done so yet because I had hoped that someone else, maybe someone who lives next door to this kid for instance, would complain. My husband and I don’t really know the lay of the land politically in our neighborhood so we would rather not introduce ourselves as “The Complainers”. As far as I can tell no one else has talked to the family about the crazy-loud practice sessions. The question is: why?

We have a homeowner’s association (HOA) so a logical step would be to write to them about the little pest. As newcomers to the neighborhood we wonder if there is something we don’t know about this kid and his family that protects him from neighbor’s complaints and police intervention. Is his mom the President of the HOA? Is his dad “connected” if you know what I mean? Maybe they are in the witness protection program and are allowed to do whatever they want as long as they show up to testify?

I don’t know what the deal is with this kid yet but I am starting an investigation as soon as possible. I plan to quiz the neighbors I have met about this situation. The only problem is that I don’t feel that I know any of my neighbors well enough to go knock on a door and ask, “Hey, have you complained about the stupid punk with the drums yet?” No, I am going to have to wait until I see a neighbor on the street and then I will have to strike up a conversation about the weather or something and then work in a question about the kid with the drums.

What about this kid’s parents? Don’t the drums bother them? Don’t they care that their kid is bothering their neighbors? Believe me I am going to get to the bottom of this. I hope that once I figure out what to do about this situation that I don’t become known as the cranky neighbor that everyone hates because they complain all the time. But I really want that kid to quit playing the drums in our neighborhood. The saga continues……