apropos of nothing, he says his name's William ...

[antof9]

Entertainment from the blue couch:

The dogs next door (sometimes known as the Barky Barkersons) are named Scooby, Doobie, and Ponch. Which makes me chuckle. And also reminds me of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod ... which makes me smile and remember memorizing that with my mom. Which reminds me of The Sugar-Plum Tree, which I say to little people

Comments

I also read every word. It was an excellent and well-written article, and an

[jessibud]

astounding experiment. I am bummed beyond belief that I am unable to view the video clip. It just won't work.

But wow! Just wow! We have a ton of street musicians (aka, buskers) here in Toronto. In fact, I always mean to go to the (free) buskers auditions each year. Our buskers have to audition to get permits to play at subway stations and other locations. Some are astonishingly talented. Others, well, not so much. I have had a few favourites over the years, in my commuter days. One was a blues guitar player/singer, one was a folk singer, 2 played flute and guitar from the Andes. Amazing.

Have you ever heard of Loreena McKennitt? She sings and plays harp and is now world-famous. She started her career as a street busker in Toronto!
http://www.quinlanroad.com/homepage/home_more.asp

Thanks so much for this link. I really enjoyed it!

[havefaith1]

Thanks for that link! I had heard about this but no one who mentioned it could remember the violinist's name - arggh! This was a great story and I loved how they mixed science with philosophy and culture. Kant and classical violin and government workers - ain't life cool?

i would be interested to know how this violonist's take

[retc]

compares to what a typical street musician might make - i would imagine a typical street musician would know the audience better and know how to play to them

[pootski]

The last time I was in NYC, I was very impressed with the level of artistry of most of the "buskers" in the subway stations there. I consider myself to be a professional musician, but some of them were so good that I'd be embarrassed to play near them.