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Well, at least they weren't paid clackes. (not sure how to spell it).
STANDING AGGRESSION BY OVATORS
DENNIS ABRAMS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE - I attended a concert of the Houston
Symphony. The soloist, Louis Lortie, performed two piano concertos:
Tchaikovsky #3, and Prokofiev #1. He did, I felt, an admirable job.
The crowd, of course, gave him a standing ovation. I remained in my
seat, applauding at a level somewhere between polite and enthusiastic.
A woman in front of me, one of the standers, turned around, saw me
still sitting, and asked, "Why aren't you standing?"
I was startled by her question. Why should I have to explain my
response to the performance? I shrugged.
"Didn't you find the performance ecstatic?" she asked.
Not having achieved a verifiable level of ecstasy, I replied, "No, it
was OK."
"Just OK?" she asked.
"OK," I responded. "It was good."
"I guess it takes a lot to get you to stand up."
"Yep," I replied, hoping that would end the discussion.
She turned back to the stage, then back toward me, trying to
understand why I obstinately refused to go along with the crowd.
"You must be a Sagittarius," she said.
I would have liked to reassure her that the fault, indeed, lay in my
stars. But I answered truthfully: "I'm just picky."
She tried one more approach, "You must be very discerning."
I stifled the impulse to say "I guess you're not."
And blessedly, the ovation reached its end, and she left to enjoy the
intermission.
I was stunned: No longer content to give standing ovations to
performances that don't warrant them, the ovaters have begun to
question why others aren't standing too.