Slow Down! Read this through!

reply to post by Free4Ever2


nice sentiment, stop and smell the roses, but this link is as much rubbish as the ATS 'man on the street' videos. both deal with busy people with places to go, they are enroute, they have purpose, they have appointments. sticking a mic in the face of a busy New Yorker (insert any city you wish) do you really expect them to break from the day and share their POV on what interests you? good luck.

take a stroll through one of the many parks throughout The Big Apple on a Saturday or Sunday and you will find all sorts of people enjoying the sight & sound of street musicians of all sorts.

i do enjoy your message: carpe diem. live in the moment. smell the flowers, look at the clouds, enjoy how wonderful your meal is. just don't do it in the path of people who are busy at the moment.

I am completely baffled as to how many people completely and totally missed the POINT of the message and are trying to rationalize it.

Imagine instead of advertisements in billboards, magazines, and TV there were enlightening and thought provoking messages like this one? Messages that would maybe just MAYBE make some people question their priorities and values in life and MAYBE possibly do a little re-adjusting. Instead of just the same ole song and dance...

For those who completely missed the point, the message is about how something as simple as context can completely change the "perceived beauty" of anything...

If your context is predominantly go go go you will miss things that would otherwise be amazing.
Instead of the same ole song and dance of the subway rush to work/school...people could have stopped and dare I say it, been LATE for wherever they were going and had a much different day.

This isn't just about musicians in subways, its about everything everywhere and how people/society has become nothing more than a horse with blinders on taking those rich arseholes in the very expensive carriage wherever the hell they want to go...

Wow, that's an exasperating story to read. It just goes to show us how blind we all are. We are all caught up with our own lives, selfishly going about out own business, we become blind to whatever beauties may be around us. There is a reason why all those children stopped and noticed. That is because their hearts are still pure, their minds not yet bogged by the ways of this world. Their eyes are not veiled by the distractions of everyday life.

Personally, this made me remember the verses from Matthew 18:1-4:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

Originally posted by starless and bible black
Personally, I wouldn't subject the violin to those cold temps. I wouldn't do that to a solid body guitar either.

$32 bucks in an hour, and no one even stopped to listen? Not too bad.

$32 is pretty good for one hour of work. I should really play my acoustic guitar more often, maybe then I'll have enough confidence in myself to play on the street. I envy street musicians and always throw them a dollar or two.

S&F. Maybe one good (or bad) thing about having Native American blood like me is I am never in a hurry no matter where I'm headed or how late I am lol. I guess that's "Indian time" for ya. Anyway I love street performers and have even made a few pathetic attempts with my no talent behind to jam with them. The crazier they were, the more fun it was lol..

Years ago I had my family along with several neighbor families out to the local amusement park which was to be demolished soon. We were there on the last day of the park. Along with tens of thousands of families.

People going here and rushing there. Every one busy busy busy. Rushing. I had stopped to rest late in the afternoon and watched everyone going about having fun in the waining hours of the park. They were all so intent.I had chosen that particular bench because my best friend was already sitting alone on that bench.

As I looked around I thought " I could get away with murder here and no one would notice.".

I looked at my friend who was not so much sitting as slouched, almost reclining on the other end of the bench.
Having at the time a rep of practical joker, I got up, walked up to my friend, laid down on him and started humping. He freaked. But of the thousands surrounding us as I was watching the crowd no one noticed save one teenager who found it quite silly.

And silly it was, but I had just performed my own little experiment in crowd consciousness and learned a thing or two.

And yes, we remained friends.

reply to post by Free4Ever2


Thanks for posting a nice lesson to us all.
I have always believed in the saying:

"Life moves pretty fast,
If you don't stop and look around once in a while,
You could miss it"

Thanks for reminding us. I would like to add this Poem called "Life." I think the second verse is very relevant to the subject of your thread, hope you like...

Life

LIFE, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall ?

Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly !

What though Death at times steps in
And calls our Best away ?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway ?
Yet hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair !

Charlotte Bronte

PEACE,
RK

reply to post by Rigel Kent


Thanks for that poem it was incredibly relevant my friend

Thanks again

Originally posted by jaydeePNW
The point is clear. Some people careless about violin though. Just like fine wine. I could taste a $1,000 bottle and a $2.99 bottle and not tell the difference. It all tastes like ass to me. I have been hiking in the woods a lot lately taking photos of everything. I walk real slow and listen to whats around me and see all kinds of stuff. Most of the people I see on these trails are power walking or even jogging on the lighter trails. They notice nothing.

Your post has irony written in it, clever -- I assummed it was done purposely

Similar to the saying one man garbage is another man's treasure. That I believe is the point you were trying to make, am I right?

reply to post by Free4Ever2


I don't make it a habit to quote the bible for answers but Mathew 7:6 totally fits:

"neither cast
ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them
under their feet"

Originally posted by Free4Ever2
www.photoblip.com...

It begs the question doesnt it !

what would you say is the answer>

 

Please do not create minimal thread-starters that simply ask people to check out a link or video.

Mod Note: Starting A New Thread ?... Look Here First.

edit on Wed May 25 2011 by Jbird because: (no reason given)

I think this is an argument against copyrighting music.

Clearly if some random guy was able to make 32 bucks an hour playing on a street corner, musicians do not need to have their music copyrighted and sold by mega-record companies for gagillions of dollars.

reply to post by Free4Ever2


$40 an hour...incredible

second line

I think the majority of people couldnt recognize good music if it stood in central station and slapped them in the face.....oh wait that did happen.

Let's say I dont find this music "beautiful", if it is not part of my culture of what I consider music that I like, I can see how I and others wouldnt care who was playing. Just like someone from lets say, Mexico, can be heard by millions in latin america, but if he plays in NYC subways, it would be considered "noise". Did they even take into account how many people they suspect actually like that kind of music in that area? Or did they assume everyone in the world likes voilin playing?

lmao great post. goes to show classical music while amazing on many levels can be really boring. ive seen, i'll assume much lower level musicians(pardon the judgement) have an entire subway crowd clapping and cheering along.(tho neva with a violin or classical music). begs the questions is a 3.5 million dollar violin really worth 3.5 million? how many people enjoy classical music because someone else said it was better? would anyone still listen to it if it wasnt rated as the greatest music eva? personaly as a wanna be guitar player i love lots of classical though ive moved on and so hasnt music since the last 400 years. all other forms of music evolve while classical the closer you can play it to sound just like it would have 400 years ago is the acme of all things, and apparently worth 100 dollars a ticket. id maybe pay 100 dollars to watch top level classical musicians doing something new/improvised/clever etc.classical has become like stairway to heaven, great song ! in a lot of peoples top 10 for greatest song eva. cept nobody eva wants to hear it again??

reply to post by Free4Ever2


Does not apply.

I often stopped to listen to the Boston Street Musicians when I was working in Boston.. If I like what they were playing or admired their skill I dropped a buck in the hat.

OH and I am just about tone deaf Or at least "Musically challenged"

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.

Hello lamppost,
What cha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo, Feelin' groovy.

Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you, All is groovy.

Artists Simon and Garfunkel

Supafly - Moving Too Fast

Originally posted by Sly1one
For those who completely missed the point, the message is about how something as simple as context can completely change the "perceived beauty" of anything...

Or.... is the message that the emperor has no clothes?? Is it that this violin player is only a master because the annointed few have decided it is so, and the masses of concert-goers are assuming that what they're hearing must be really good because the venue would not allow otherwise?? If people are just walking by this master playing on a multi-million dollar instrument and they don't even take notice, it begs the question as to whether the music and playing is really as great as he and his contemporaries like to think it is. I'm sick and tired of people justifying this kind of stuff by saying "you just don't understand" or "you need to take the time to appreciate this". I have pulled my car over to appreciate a fine sunset, and I have stopped work to observe a majestic storm rolling in. But I would have walked right by this violin player, while I appreciate certain music that is not my idea of art (to each his own).

That violin has a very interesting story of its own:

THE GIBSON STRADIVARIUS: FROM HUBERMAN TO BELL

The Gibson Stradivarius, one of the world's great violins, is now owned and played by Joshua Bell. In 1985 this instrument resided incognito for months in the Danbury home of Edward Wicks, where its "owner" Julian Altman, who was on his way to jail, had brought it for safekeeping. Within months of his imprisonment, Altman was near death from stomach cancer. On his deathbed, according to his wife, he divulged that the violin he had played for nearly 50 years was the Gibson Stradivarius that had been stolen in 1936 from the Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman. The fascinating story of the Gibson Stradivarius has been told before. www.joshuabell.com...)

I use this experiment to stimulate discussion about 'expectation' for a class. Our brains are hard wired to see what we expect to see. We naturally exclude things that we are not expecting or things that don't fit into a paradigm that we have already constructed.

Thanks OP - it was good to be reminded of this!