De nada, amigo.

In reply to this comment by maatc:
Thanks! (again)

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
*promote

Thanks! (again)

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
*promote

It's a diploma, i'm not sure how it translates over there either, I guess it's like half of a degree. I'm nearly there, two more units to go

You were always my favourite K, you know that. But in the end, I just couldn't compete with the copious amounts of male sifters you are getting through. I am merely a woman after all. I mean, if it were just sex I think I could have got by ya know, maybe, possibly...

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
How have you been? Have you gotten your diploma/degree yet? (Forgive my ignorance. I'm not sure what you are studying for translates to in American academics.) You know you're still my favorite British chick here. I still don't like it even when gay dudes start talking to you, though I'm sure you've already proposed marriage to other mansifters by now. Probably number 487 already.

Oh well; I'm still glad I could be in the first dozen. Or two.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Thanks mate, great memory! Loved it

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
If memory serves me, you are fond of buskers. Therefore you might like this, because it's also British:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-machine-street-performer

How have you been? Have you gotten your diploma/degree yet? (Forgive my ignorance. I'm not sure what you are studying for translates to in American academics.) You know you're still my favorite British chick here. I still don't like it even when gay dudes start talking to you, though I'm sure you've already proposed marriage to other mansifters by now. Probably number 487 already.

Oh well; I'm still glad I could be in the first dozen. Or two.

In reply to this comment by alien_concept:
Thanks mate, great memory! Loved it

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
If memory serves me, you are fond of buskers. Therefore you might like this, because it's also British:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-machine-street-performer

Thanks mate, great memory! Loved it

In reply to this comment by kronosposeidon:
If memory serves me, you are fond of buskers. Therefore you might like this, because it's also British:

http://www.videosift.com/video/Guitar-machine-street-performer

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Bath, English, Street performance' to 'Bath, English, Street performance, busker' - edited by kronosposeidon

God, I adore buskers

My favourite! *promote

Just found more video of the same incident: http://www.videosift.com/video/Bruce-Springsteen-plays-Dancing-in-the-Dark-with-a-busker

Also some info on the guy that Bruce joined here: http://www.youtube.com/user/streetJoJo

Donations are not compulsory. I went charter because It's the most entertaining thing on the net for me. I don't have cable and it's cheaper than netflix. Y'ever tossed a quarter or a dollar to a busker because he or she made the street sound good? It's like that for me. The hard work is evident and it's not festooned with advertising and pop-ups. I've given to public radio too. Same idea. I'm still waiting for my Siftbot tote bag.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Armless-Busker

Dupe.

*Discard

You know, choggie, I think I appreciate karaidl’s wit just as much as you, because I’m a bit of a clown myself and therefore I take notice of the finer points of Mr. K’s intricate humorous stylings. And you know what else? YOU can be a funny bastard too at times. I think I understand many of your tangential, virtually indecipherable remarks, but even if I don’t I still recognize the talent that lies behind them.

Now that I’m done with the blowjobs I’ll say this: Kindly shut your fucking piehole. This is a ROAST, and at ROASTS people often say the most obscene, shocking, and tasteless things to shame the roastee, and through this process we humiliate ourselves too because we’ve all said such debased things. In other words we all wallow in the muck, and have a good laugh in the process. You know, because it’s a FUCKING ROAST. Sorry if this isn’t your cup of tea, love; I guess we can’t all live up to your lofty standards of skewering.

Rottenseed: This karaidl bloke is up for proper roasting today.
Me: By Jove, we’ll give him what for. A sound thrashing, indeed.
Rottenseed: It will be a jolly good time. I might even make a scandalous reference to the Prime Minister!
Me: Gadzooks! That will be a sticky wicket! An oblique reference to the buskers at Piccadilly Circus would be a toff more shandy, savvy?

Yes, that is what a proper roast should be like. On Uranus.

Spare us the ongoing critiques. We all like karaidl, and have all turned out to show him our appreciation. We’re doing our best to make this enjoyable, while you seem to be doing your best to piss on all of us for trying. If I wanted ceaseless criticism I’d have never left Catholic school. Enough already. I ain’t in the mood for this shit right now, and most likely I won’t be in the mood for it later either.

title is inaccurate, "jerk" is a really inappropriate tag, but upvote for musicians being entertaining in a public space.

would like to know how many votes this would get if the title was "buskers play next to man having a conversation in a cafe" and the tags were "jerks with violins playing cliche music we all heard a million times before".

FYI, this is *not* a concert - stop calling it poetic justice.

That video was made in Covent Garden (London, UK), where during weekend various buskers show off their skills and get (quite) a few quids from tourists.

That very spot shown in the vid is known to have musicians on violins, it's been like this for years. It is however, NOT a concert. The tables and chairs are part of a coffee shop, and just like any other coffee shops people are free to chat and talk on the phone as they please.

So, not a concert. Guy was well in his rights to chat on the phone.

@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.

to be honest, violin is a vile sound. but then i've heard of other musicians getting ignored when busking. The best busker i ever saw was a guy in ireland that had a guitar made out of cardboard and he just made the sound up, the guy got a crowd going. :-)