Tuesday 17 March 2009

Reading Amanda Palmer's old blogs makes me happy in a time of school-induced unhappiness.

She is such a magical creature. So much passion, so little restraint. Maybe she overshares sometimes but I love it, I lap it up because it feels like truth when little else does. Sometimes I just want to BE her, to take everything in my stride and be spontaneous and shout and sing and wear outrageous, not entirely fashionable, things! Oh to be free. Enjoying her hastily and regularly Macbook-ed musings on art, small tragedies, perception... It's all about perception, isn't it really? All of it!

"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?"

- The Huffington Post

...are you dead my friends, or just comfortable? I'm so tired, everything I do lately is absolutely sporadic. Every emotion, every gesture, every spurt of academic dedication defiantly followed by sullen adolescent lethargy... It's not balanced, it's bipolar. My eyes are welling with instant coffee. As of tomorrow I am regulating my internet time UBERSTRIKT. Disconnection is nigh! Sing and clap your hands! I want to be a tree in a forest, big and old-smelling, dying every autumn in a blaze of colour then you know how it goes... Life cycle etc. I want a million little animals living inside of me, eating me but sustaining me at the same time. Um and I never want to be sarcastic again! Or be late. Shit, I'm late already...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

[url=http://seghan.ru/go.php?sid=35][img]http://s002.radikal.ru/i200/1001/f0/0ddd2280d906.jpg[/img][/url]












[url=http://wcsoius.biz.co.nl/]buy cigarette [/url]
buying marlboro cigarettes buy cheap capri cigarettes online where to buy cigarettes cheap
[url=http://deuaexj.naheliegend.de/sitemap.html]cigarettes buy best [/url]
buy cigarettes from a buy cigarettes in prague buy cigarettes wholesale europe
[url=http://uvfaquc.akzentuiert.de/]buy rothmans cigarettes [/url]
can you order cigarettes online buy cigarette packaging supplys buying wholesale cigarettes
[url=http://vjzvmeu.il.gp/sitemap.html]buy some candy and cigarettes [/url]
buying marlboro cigarettes buy vogue cigarettes to buy tax free cigarettes
[url=http://botziho.485.at/sitemap.html]electric cigarette where to buy [/url]
buy cigarettes wholesale uk where to buy artificial cigarettes buy cigarettes indian reservation arizona
[url=http://botziho.485.at/]cigarettes ordered on internet illegal [/url]
buying cigarettes online faq buy electronic cigarettes online fake cigarettes to buy
[url=http://mlwqdwu.xn--baldmglichst-8ib.de/]buy electronic cigarettes in canada [/url]
minors not penalized for buying cigarettes ordering cigarettes indian reservation buy cigarette cases in
[url=http://cauvzah.weinend.de/]buy cheap cigarette online [/url]
buy cigarette to resell order cigarettes samples online order american cigarettes shipped to canada
[url=http://mlwqdwu.xn--baldmglichst-8ib.de/sitemap.html]dad buys my cigarettes [/url]
buy used cigarette boats europe buying minors cigarettes lowering the age of buying cigarettes
[url=http://ubpscsn.pro.ac/sitemap.html]order japanese cigarettes [/url]
cigarettes canadian order from u s buy euro cigarettes buying tax free cigarettes online

Refurbished Computers said...

Wow the story was great. And I am surprised when I saw the name of Josha Bell and the most puzzling thing was he was sitting on metro station and the people's were so busy in their schedules that no one even noticed.