SQJ Taipei

I read A LOT.

I read books… magazines when I have access… and miles and miles of text on the web.

Lately… this single article has stuck in my mind. Although I didn’t cry… (really!) my eyes were wet at times as I read it. I’m not exactly sure why although I think that if you watch the video and see the people just blankly passing by such an obvious talent you might feel the same way. Those who did stop and listen are touching, too.

Pearls Before Breakfast by Gene Weingarten

I have rarely read accounts of an event as interesting as this… and although it is days later now… I keep thinking of how I would have fit into the scenario had I been there.

You really need to read the story but here’s the scenario.

Joshua Bell is an internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso and his concerts sell out with seats going for well over US$100. Somehow… the Washington Post arranged for him to busk at one of the DC Metro stations during the morning rush hour. There were discreet video cameras and reporters tried to follow up with many of the commuters. The premise was simple:

Each passerby had a quick choice to make, one familiar to commuters in any urban area where the occasional street performer is part of the cityscape: Do you stop and listen? Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? Do you throw in a buck, just to be polite? Does your decision change if he’s really bad? What if he’s really good? Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn’t you? What’s the moral mathematics of the moment?

On that Friday in January, those private questions would be answered in an unusually public way. No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities — as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

Again… here is the link to the story
Pearls Before Breakfast by Gene Weingarten

Here is a link to the transcript of a live chat with the writer of the story, Gene Weingarten

And lastly… and perhaps this is irrelevant… this is another interesting story written by Weingarten… about The Great Zucchini.

I am almost *sure* that I would have stopped to listen… but I can’t be certain.