Top violinist plays at subway station, no one notices

[KoolAidKid]

A long read, but interesting. I searched for 'bell', 'joshua', and 'violin', so hopefully not a repost.

Washington post article

 

[MichaelD]

Not surprising at all. It's a SUBWAY in a major city in the USA. Speaking as a native New Yorker that rode the subway to school, work, play etc: Jesus himself could set up shop in NYC subway and juggle a naked Jessica Biel, flaming coconuts AND play the violin and nobody would notice.

I guess the dude test drove his ego...he gambled and lost.

 

[CPA]

who gives a rat's ass about some violin player?

 

[kranky]

I wouldn't buy a ticket to hear him play, so I don't know why I'd pay just because I happened to walk by him playing on the street.

 

[manowar821]

That's kind of sad.. I don't even follow violinists very much, but even I know who Bell is.

 

[yllus]

Interesting. A Gemini award-winning artist (the Canadian Grammies, you could say) performed at the Yonge/Bloor subway station here in Toronto a day after his win and multiple people stopped to shake his hand, buy a CD and get it signed by him.

 

[Ephemeral]

If they were original pieces I would most likely enjoy the show and throw a few bucks in, but seriously, what do you expect during the morning commute.

 

[aswedc]

shows how relevant classical music is these days outside the elitist type, if a pop act had been playing down there i bet there would have been a crowd of hundreds.

 

[Accipiter22]

that's sad. I wonder if people didn't notice, or if they just didn't want to throw money at the guy. I would've liked to listen

 

[amish]

Originally posted by: manowar821
That's kind of sad.. I don't even follow violinists very much, but even I know who Bell is.

 

[glutenberg]

Originally posted by: manowar821
That's kind of sad.. I don't even follow violinists very much, but even I know who Bell is.

But would you know what he looks like?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I guess we can deduce that most people in Washington DC have no class.

BTW-I would have noticed. Both my parents were musicians so I have a healthy admiration for fine classical music and I'm particularly fond of the violin and the cello...I also like oboe music (maybe because my Mom played the oboe-I might be a tad biased).

 

[Mucho]

He should have played in the buff.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Not surprising at all. It's a SUBWAY in a major city in the USA. Speaking as a native New Yorker that rode the subway to school, work, play etc: Jesus himself could set up shop in NYC subway and juggle a naked Jessica Biel, flaming coconuts AND play the violin and nobody would notice.

I guess the dude test drove his ego...he gambled and lost.

I have to be honest and say that if he was juggling a naked Jessica Biel I would be late for work.

There were some interesting letters in the paper the following Saturday after that originally appeared in the Post's magazine talking about how they picked one of the absolute worst spots to try that unless the goal was to prove that he would get little notice.

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: CPA
who gives a rat's ass about some violin player?

Apparently not you. :roll:

I actually know Josh Bell personally. This was not an ego thing, just a fun experiment to see if people would notice. Kinda interesting to read about/watch.

And to those calling classical music "elitist" and whatnot...hey, if you're not into the music, that's fine, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

 

[nakedfrog]

I thought this was a really interesting article.

 

[glutenberg]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: CPA
who gives a rat's ass about some violin player?

Apparently not you. :roll:

I actually know Josh Bell personally. This was not an ego thing, just a fun experiment to see if people would notice. Kinda interesting to read about/watch.

And to those calling classical music "elitist" and whatnot...hey, if you're not into the music, that's fine, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

Hehe, it's kind of ironic that you say this with your sig right below.

 

[EvilYoda]

I would've recognized him and stopped...and asked him if he was lost.

 

[Slew Foot]

He should have worn really baggy shorts, and oversized basketball jersey covered with a pile of gold chains while making incomprehensible noises with a vinyl record player.

 

[MagicConch]

Now that the article is out they should get a fairly bad violinist to play in the same spot and see how much me makes

 

[Saga]

That was the longest and most irritating thing I have ever tried to read in my life.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: aswedc
shows how relevant classical music is these days outside the elitist type, if a pop act had been playing down there i bet there would have been a crowd of hundreds.

If I saw them in the MTA station, I'd probably just think they were impersonators and walk on by...if I even looked in their direction

 

[johnjohn320]

Originally posted by: glutenberg

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: CPA
who gives a rat's ass about some violin player?

Apparently not you. :roll:

I actually know Josh Bell personally. This was not an ego thing, just a fun experiment to see if people would notice. Kinda interesting to read about/watch.

And to those calling classical music "elitist" and whatnot...hey, if you're not into the music, that's fine, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

Hehe, it's kind of ironic that you say this with your sig right below.

Haha, did you bother to read that it's a Frank Zappa quote? It's tongue-in-cheek, obviously, given the source.

 

[ghostman]

I live in NYC and take the subway daily. There is almost always a musician/dancer/pan handler at some point during my commute. Some of them are rather talented, but I don't give them money or stand around to watch their performance (I've only given money twice - once to a singer/guitar player who actually sang really well, the other to a old Chinese man who coincidentally played "Happy Birthday" on my gf's bday). Subway performances are a dime a dozen, so this would really have to stand out if it were to get my attention.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: glutenberg

Originally posted by: johnjohn320

Originally posted by: CPA
who gives a rat's ass about some violin player?

Apparently not you. :roll:

I actually know Josh Bell personally. This was not an ego thing, just a fun experiment to see if people would notice. Kinda interesting to read about/watch.

And to those calling classical music "elitist" and whatnot...hey, if you're not into the music, that's fine, but you don't have to be a dick about it.

Hehe, it's kind of ironic that you say this with your sig right below.

Haha, did you bother to read that it's a Frank Zappa quote? It's tongue-in-cheek, obviously, given the source.

No, the "-Frank Zappa" at the end of it totally confuses the hell out of us non-classical-music-listening riff raff