Cough! Cough!

A friend emails me asking if I'd like to go to Ego's on Thursday to listen to The Nortons. I write back, declining. I find myself listening to less and less music these days. One reason is that I'm getting sick and tired of coming home smelling like an ashtray. Another is that I'm getting sick and tired of getting sick.

So, instead, on Thursday, I'm going to visit the City Council, where there will be a public hearing on a proposed new no-smoking ordinance. It's scheduled for 6 p.m., but these things usually run late, sometimes considerably late.

I've talked to so many people who have dropped out from or cut back on the music scene due to the annoyance of cigarette smoke. It would be great to see a bunch of them out there testifying they are ready to return when the clubs go smoke-free, to counter the doom-and-gloom forecasts the smokers are sure to give.