[Dave G]

Gene Weingarten today won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for the article he wrote last year about commuters mostly ignoring Joshua Bell as he played for tips outside a subway stop in Washington DC.  His article provoked this interesting thread, "A Sad Commentary," about whether this signified the decline or the fall of Western Civilization (or something like that).  I don't know about that, but I do know that when I commute on the DC Metro system these days, I always give a second look and a buck or two to anyone who's playing outside the station.  Some of the players are pretty good (I really like the sax player who's often outside the Farragut West station) and it's real, live music.

Dave

[darrenyeats]

Yep I give money too when my journey is enhanced by some live music. I remember a guitar-only version of Fields of Gold on a London underground platform that was magic.
Darren

[jimdgoulding]

Livin in the sticks these days, I don’t use much underground rail.  But I used to visit major cities that do quite a lot.   I remember thinking in New York that the street musicians I had heard on that day were better than a lot of musicians with record contracts.   I think they add something to moving around any city and put money in their portable banks, too.

[riffer]

On the other hand,

There was a "musician" at the station where I would wait for my bus who would replay the same hackneyed version of "Those where the days" every three to five minutes as the Subway let off passengers and they passed by.  I'll tell you, after listening to this for 20 minutes or so, five days a week, I was rarely in a charitable mood 

[darrenyeats]

Bah humbug. 

[Woodsea]

A pulitzer for that?  Damn, I need to start writing.  I remember giving a buck to the spoon man whilst waiting to go see a concert at the Seattle Center oh so many decades ago 

[Wind Chaser]

A pulitzer for that?  Damn, I need to start writing. 

You've got over 1100 posts here in the public domain.

[ooheadsoo]

It was pretty educated musicological writing.  Glad it got recognition.

[BrianM]

I sort of objected to Josh Bell's stunt at the time, since it seemed designed to "prove" what everyone already knows, i.e. that people on their way to work are too busy and preoccupied to stop and pay attention to quality violin playing.  Music is my life, and I could certainly see myself acting the same as those commuters on a given day.  One might argue there's a time and a place for everything.

[BrianM]

...That said, I like to think I would recognize Joshua Bell if I walked by, even if he was in a baseball cap.  And hearing the D minor chaconne in the subway would be kinda novel.

[*Scotty*]

Great art that edifies the soul should probably be made time for. Here was the opportunity for a personal concert by a virtuoso for free in a unique setting and the sole requirement on your part is your time. If you pass it by to take your place on the threadmill in the ratrace of your life this sort of bespeaks of a severe sort of tunnel vision which has effectively cut you off from any number of distractions including this one. This begs the question, what else did you miss while you were in your own little world commuting to work. I think the sad thing is that people did not recognize the talent that was present,those same people won't make time to enjoy a rainbow when it happens or anything else that is unexpected and unscheduled.
I moved to the D.C. area in May of last year and I can see that the overcrowding and the pace at which people live their lives has damaged them in ways that they don't even comprehend and they are completely unaware of it. 
I hope he comes back for a return engagement.
Scotty