Joshua Bell's " Stop and Hear " Project

" Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.
By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10

HE EMERGED FROM THE METRO AT THE L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION AND POSITIONED HIMSELF AGAINST A WALL BESIDE A TRASH BASKET. By most measures, he was nondescript: a youngish white man in jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt and a Washington Nationals baseball cap. From a small case, he removed a violin. Placing the open case at his feet, he shrewdly threw in a few dollars and pocket change as seed money, swiveled it to face pedestrian traffic, and began to play.


It was 7:51 a.m. on Friday, January 12, the middle of the morning rush hour. In the next 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by. Almost all of them were on the way to work, which meant, for almost all of them, a government job. L'Enfant Plaza is at the nucleus of federal Washington, and these were mostly mid-level bureaucrats with those indeterminate, oddly fungible titles: policy analyst, project manager, budget officer, specialist, facilitator, consultant. "

-Gene Weingarten

FULL ARTICAL : READ IT !!! really amazing !

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html



Joshua Bell's Short documentary ( including an appearance in Sesame Street)



Joshua Bell playing Rachmaninoff's Vocalise !



My Interpretation :

Last Sunday , Pastor used this as a parable to show us about God's Blessings ....

Joshua Bell is a world renowned violinist ( ex child prodigy as well ) ...Selling out various seatings when he performed ....

But he was totally ignored in the subway ( except for only a woman - towards the end who stopped long enough to appreciate his music ... )

Btw , he's playing Kriesler's Music ( a world renowned composer ) on his STRADIVARIUS violin ( that violin cost a few million and it's made in the 1700's ) and yeah...that violin was previously owned by KRIESLER himself 0.0

Joshua Bell said , " During my concert / performance , i get annoyed when i hear cellphones going off and people coughing.. But when i was in the subway , i actually begun to appreciate when people threw a dollar bill into my violin case rather than their spare change . During performances , i do not have to worry about people accepting my presence because they ALREADY accepted my presence , but in the subway....it's different ..i actually begun to feel stressed a little and with butterflies in my stomach .. "

I felt that the concert / orchestra hall / performance hall represents church .....where a lot of people actually felt the most blessings that are poured out to them there ....

and the subway represents places outside church.....where most people finds it hard to get the blessings and feel God's love....

BTW , JOSHUA BELL'S REALLY TALL ... 183cm and quite handsome and cute ( for a musician ) haha xD

The beautiful day...
9:40 PM