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Seems like every time I've gone into a Starbucks recently, every single CD is marked down to $7.95. I heard that they're trying to give customers their coffeehouse experience back, and I'm hoping part of that strategy is reeling in Starbucks' focus on music sales. One of the reasons I rarely go to Starbucks anymore is because of the blasted music. I'm not talking about live music or background music while you drink your latte. But along with sipping my coffee, I'm usually trying to read, make phone calls or have a conversation with someone, and I always end up having to ask the manager to turn down the Carly Simon so I can hear myself think. I know this is America and there's money to be made, but get a grip on the merch madness already. According to this report ...

Ozzfest, the thunderous metal music festival that was held at Pizza Hut Park on Aug. 9 as a one-day, one-time destination event for 2008, recently announced that it grossed about $3.5 million.

Let's see. Divide that by an approximate attendance figure -- let's go with 29,500 -- and that's just short of $119 a person. Sounds about right to me, considering that tickets started at about $80 and the lines in 95-degree heat at PHP's vendor booths were prodigious throughout the 13-hour event.

That figure's no doubt bolstered by the $4.50 cost for a 20-ounce bottle of water at Ozzfest, which generally didn't allow attendees to bring in fluids of any sort. A number of folks were angered by that, believing that water should be free in such conditions since it's, you know, required to stay alive and all.

But think about it: if water's given away or allowed in, that would negatively affect the sales of other beverages, too. Bottled water can be a weapon as well (that's the reason you don't get to keep the cap if you buy anything bottled at a concert). And it was available free to the brave folks in the pits.

Seriously: conservative Frisco isn't progressive Austin, and Ozzfest isn't the Austin City Limits Music Festival (during which water is given away). Why would Ozzfest slap a dam on a perfect supply-and-demand-forged revenue stream?