Would you stop for this?
 

This guy can play.

The article is way long, but the gist is this: An incredible violin soloist plays some of the most enduring music ever created on a 300 year old Stradivarius in a metro station in D.C. His case is open for donations like any other street performer. Will people stop and watch, will they give him money? Just the night before he had played to a house where the so-so seats were $100 each.

The answer - he made $32.17 in 45 minutes, but that's only because one lady actually recognized him and gave him a twenty. No one else really stopped to listen. They had jobs to get to. They were listening to iPods and thinking about work. One lady led her child away.

In the article they say not to judge people too harshly, as he was "art without a frame", but this still kinda gets me.

Its similar to people I know who don't like going to concerts because the songs don't sound the same as it does on the albums.

Music, for me, has always been about the moment.

I wouldn't stop. But I also wouldn't pay $100 to watch him play in a concert hall.

Street musicians are just adding more unwanted noise to my life (but thats because all music is, to me, just noise). Particularly in subway stations where the acoustics and competing noise are generally horrible and anything that causes people to stop moving in large groups is an annoyance.

The arrogance of the article is somewhat grating as well. Because the writer feels that classical music is the most beautiful thing. Because the performer has played to European heads of state. Because they deign to put these on display for the unwashed masses. Because of all that somehow we're obligated to stop, listen, pay, and screw up our schedules (if I'm delayed five minutes at the BART station in the morning I arrive at work almost 30 minutes later). That somehow "beauty" (whatever that word means) trumps any circumstance.

Somehow it rings of bitching because you put a billboard of a Shakespearean sonnet on an I-5 billboard and nobody pulled over to read it. "That's one of the great art forms by one of the masters of the language, you heathens!"

Move the man out somewhere where the context isn't specifically designed to keep people moving and see if he attracts a crowd. Rather than trying to interrupt these unappreciative drones when they have something that must be done, go to where they relax for lunch and see if the response is better.

Not that I want to quibble, but it actually says,
But I didnt know this until I read the whole thing, because I was honeslty interested. And, have now watched all the video.

yes, I would stop. I stood outside a blues club not all that long ago as a guy played guitar. I think I stood there nearly a half hour talking to the guy listening to him play. Yes, I tipped him. it wasnt $100, but it wasnt pennies either.

I took my daughter to see Joshua Bell play. Dude worked it out. My daughter thought he was swell.

I agree. When I worked in downtown San Francisco, there would often be noontime performances in various outdoor eating spots. They usually gathered an appreciative audience.

Yeah context is everything - this article (which I admittedly didn't read) sounds like a set-up. I rarely tip street musicians, becasue when I encounter them, I'm off to do something else. On the other hand, I often will tip a band or performer I enjoy during dinner.

All one has to do is look at the crowds that gather around the hacks performers in DTD to see what a difference context makes.

I thought about mentioning DTD as an exception to my exception - where the outside dinning space is filled with a cacophany of piped in music and over amped "live" performances.

I would stop... but then I'd never get to share a special moment with Alex. Plus I'd probably recognize the artist.