Since I am not naive enough to believe that anyone will actually click on the link and read the article, here it is in a nutshell. The Washington Post hired Joshua Bell, a world-renowned violinist, to play at a metro station, disguised him as a street performer, and watched what happened. Would people be amazed by the beauty of this man's performance, stop to listen, create a crowd of onlookers? Would the man be recognized as the musical virtuoso he is, would he make a load of cash? The answer to all these questions: no. Only a handful of people even looked at the guy, much less stopped to listen to his masterful playing, much less gave him any money. Would I have stopped? Probably not, because, as I have made abundantly clear, this city has eaten my soul alive.
This is what why.i.hate.dc had to say about it:
The other reason I'd walk right on by is that Washington gives its citizens cancer of the soul where the daily grind and death by paper cut slights and inconveniences make it impossible to appreciate anything. I thought that was just me. But this Post article seems to imply otherwise. It's everyone. I mean, check out those videos. The commuters look like cows going to the slaughter. Not even a virtuoso can brighten their day. Yeah, D.C. is awesome like that.I tend to agree.
P.S. I've added something new to my blog, which I realize no one cares about but which I am going to tell you about anyway. It's a link to my new reading log (see sidebar), in which I will critique and/or discuss books I'm reading. It's mostly for my own amusement but feel free to read if you like.
3 comments:
The reading log is a cool idea. I would do that but I'm afraid it would give away what an illiterate knuckledragger I am. I can only read one non-work-related book at a time, and it takes me forever to finish even short books. I just started Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie and so far it's awesome. So maybe next year I can write a good review for it.
Oh btw, a few months ago I wrote a short story based on a dream I had. If you like really, really bad writing (and really who doesn't?) you will love it. I'll email it to you.
Mike,
Thought I would share this with you - when I read my emails in Google (comments to the blog get emailed to me), Google displays advertising links based on the content of the email you're reading. When I was reading your comment, an ad for Walter the Farting Dog came up - not sure why. Anyway, sure, I'd like to read your story.
Sherman Alexie is awesome - I heard him speak at UPS while I was going to school there.
Walter the Farting Dog? How does Google know me so well?!?!
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