Tags for this video have been changed from 'joshua bell, violinist, washington post' to 'joshua bell, violinist, washington post, subway' - edited by EndAll

The violinist at 2:31 and 2:23 (right side of screen, brown hair, sideburns) is Joshua Bell. He is the violinist who actually played all the violin parts for the soundtrack. He is also featured in this video.

ah looks like i'm the arse thinking that Gene was a lady... i was reading too much into lines like "He's [Joshua Bell's] a hottie, isn't he?"...

@acl123 - Gene Weingarten wrote it. My understanding is that Gene is a male name. Other than that "Emily Shroder, Rachel Manteuffel, John W. Poole and Magazine Editor Tom Shroder contributed to this report".

Sounds like YouTube is your bag given your willingness to start trolling. Gene's not averse to dolling out the insults and curt replies so I'm sure he/she can cope with being called an arse.

Going back to the clip there are a million and one reasons why people might not stop and they don't mean the end of Western civilisation. And getting to work on time might help one cobble together the money to see the likes of Joshua Bell.

The problem is certain people are willing to see the worst in this when the reality is just far more mundane. Indeed Weingarten mentions it as well - context. We don't expect to see things out of context - and certainly not world-class violin playing in some dingy metro. As another commenter on the article suggested, there are ALOT of other factors in this situation that are competing for people's attention. This isn't about beauty and art being unappreciated - for me it's an experiment that tells us about psychology, group behaviour and the fact that life is tough for buskers.

Finally as much as I love classical music and opera, I do accept that not everyone else does. Let's not forget that before we start admonishing others.

[edit] It's worth noting that the article's publication was held over til two days before Bell was up for an award - as requested by his publicist.

um . . .Gene Weingarten is a man. Or at least he was the last time he stood up at a urinal.

Not his best piece, but I enjoyed the article. For better or worse, art is context. It may be 70 years too late for a Duchampian stunt like this one, but it hammers home (though ruefully) the point that the "art of Joshua Bell" is part artistic brilliance, part clever packaging, and part hype.

I love Joshua Bell's playing and have a couple of his CDs, but to be honest.. a subway isn't the best place to get attention.. most people need to get to somewhere asap that are passing through a transportation system

Yes, great article; I read the story in Washington Post Magazine on Sunday. I can't say I'm surprised that people were too busy rushing to their jobs to appreciate the fine performance. Admitedly, I never heard of Joshua Bell, but that story enticed me to find more perfomances of him.
I've been through the L'Enfant Plaza stop many times, (usually on my way to hockey games) I've ignored plenty of musicians!