"What is beauty? Is it a measurable fact (Gottfried Leibniz), or merely an opinion (David Hume), or is it a little of each, colored by the immediate state of mind of the observer (Immanuel Kant)?" -- such was the question posed by writer Gene Weingarten in his Pulitzer Prize winning story "Pearls Before Breakfast," documenting a stunt in which violin virtuoso Joshua Bell -- who regularly sells out concert halls at more than $100 a ticket -- dressed as a street musician and performed some of the world's most beautiful and complex violin concertos for 45 minutes, on a 300-year-old Stradivarius, and was virtually ignored, as a busker in a Washington, D.C., Metro station. You can listen to it here.
L.A. Times reporter Steve Lopez found the Julliard-trained cellist Nathaniel Ayers playing a battered violin, for real, on Skid Row, and documented the brilliant musician's descent into schizophrenia in another award-winning series that became the basis for the movie "The Soloist."
Dick Van Dyke did a comic turn as a one-man band in Mary Poppins.
And then, there's this guy . . . click here.
Buskers play anything from buckets to, well, see for yourself . . .
The guy in the picture above was tucked back in a courtyard at the Cathedral of Barcelona.
If life has a soundtrack, buskers are a big part of it -- along with crickets, coquis, June bugs, and bull gators. I've been blessed to have seen some of the world's great cities, and heard some of the world's great street musicians firsthand. And, a good street musician is always worth a good tip - you've tipped for much less. So the next time you hear a busker knocking themselves out - particularly if they're really good at it. Break off a buck, or two, or ten. And consider yourself that much richer.
Oh ... and I've been listening to the Joshua Bell link as I wrote this ... OMG! Grab a cup of coffee and give yourself a treat.
The good stuff:
Crystal perfect moments
Sudden love
arboretums
The hanging gardens in the Land Pavilion at Epcot
Park Guell
Airboat Rides
eagle nests
Nutella crepes
curling up with a good book
playing a musical instrument
Is the guy busking with a street cone really playing it? How?! If it's for real - that's amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou might find this blog of a musician in the NYC subway who tells what happens when she plays the musical saw in he subway: www.subwaymusicblog.com
Oh man, she's great! Thank you! I love saw music. I've just never seen it busked. It's a natural. I have no idea who you are, or how you stumbled upon my corner of the blogosphere, but welcome, and thanks for stopping by. And thanks for the gift of the great NYC busking blog.
ReplyDeleteAs for the traffic cone guy. I have no idea whether he's playing it or not. The video seemed pretty raw and real, but that cone sounded a lot like a baritone horn.
ReplyDeleteOf course, as a guy who plays a raisin box trumpet, I'm not one to cast stones.
ReplyDelete