The Washington Post took a world-famous musician who played some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made ($3.5 million) and they put him in a subway station to play to people passing by. What do you think happened? Nothing. No crowd gathered, no one clapped when a song was done, no one cared and he only made $32 from tips.
“At a music hall, I’ll get upset if someone coughs or if someone’s cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change.” This is from a man whose talents can command $1,000 a minute.
Its a long article but you can skim through it. [Link]
7 replies on “Pearls Before Breakfast”
I guess if Picasso was a street painter, he would be selling caricature pencil portaits for $1 each also.
Well at least he had an early reallity check!
Well what would he expect for GOD sake a crowed who would appreciate his $3.5 million violent !?
vice versa this could mean we save money by not going to concerts but take the subway… 😛
the moral of the story is why the hell would you strive to build a freakin violin that would cost 3.5 million!!!!!! on a side note, this just shows that either people don’t appreciate good music anymore or that we are still living in a fantasy thinking modern music is not valuable and that for music to be classy and refined it has to be pre-historic
They didn’t build a 3.5mil violin. It was built in 1740; and then owned by Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962). The violin itself is considered a piece of history, thats why it is worth 3.5mil.
oh, i thought it would be jewel encrusted, like those million dollar bras