John, I was about to post the same thoughts ... While most of the homes have been there for decades, I'm sure many of the residents are fairly new - after the expansion of some of the restaurants to outdoor decks ... It's akin to moving next to an airport and complaining about the air traffic ...
Part of the problem is that the restaurants and marina are at the bottom of a hill, and the homes are on the hill ... While most of the restaurants have high wooden barriers to contain the sound and keep out the sound of the band next door, I think the sound rises up the hill which leads to the complaints ...
BTW, this will be the second or third time in the past few years that the town has reduced the acceptable decibel level ...

Forty years ago in the UK some places were installing these db monitors - still see them about. They indicate like any db meter, a series of green lights then edging into yellow, then finally into red at which point power to the stage is automatically cut. Nice, eh?

We played a dump one night where just one table was occupied by a loud crowd of about ten people. They were sat under the meter's mic and were triggering well into the yellows. We asked them to move to another part of the hall. They did, and all was fine after that.

124......thanks.....for that memory. I remember the situation clearly when I was doing the pubs. Them was really good days!

But I DID learn a lesson about volume this way. I was working at this pub on a regular basis. Being good wasn't enough for me....I had to bring in 2 huge Darburn (?...made in London) amps as my sound system when one alone would probably make your ears bleed. One day the pub owner said to me "we can't have you back." Me: "Why is that?" He: "We love your music, but........YOU PLAY TOO LOUD!"

Lost the account but learned a huge lesson!

Duhhhhhh....what's that? Couldn't find it in the dictionary!