Comments on: Trying to Cut Through the Fog http://coreythompson.com/2007/04/trying-to-cut-through-the-fog/ ...but I'm right!...and coming to you live, at times Thu, 18 Mar 2010 22:15:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: MrCorey http://coreythompson.com/2007/04/trying-to-cut-through-the-fog/comment-page-1/#comment-1839 MrCorey Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:12:31 +0000 http://coreythompson.com/?p=760#comment-1839 @ Michelle: I read that blog entry. I see her point. Its too bad that she missed the reporter's point. I seriously don't think that the goal was to see how well he did as a busker. I think that the goal was to see if anybody stops to pay attention to the little or the nice things in life. Instead of music, this could easily have been a flower growing in a crack in the sidewalk. Its true that a good busker gets paid well because they are good at gathering attention and focussing it on themselves. If they didn't, then they would likely have to find another way to live. My take on this experiment was to see if good music played well would be recognized. There's no way that results could have been determined if there was good music played over a good sound system. We already tune that out as "noise" regardless of what it is. I wonder if there would have been a better reaction if there had been a good jazz guitarist playing good jazz (but not popular).<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1839','MrCorey'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('1839','MrCorey','@ Michelle: I read that blog entry. I see her point. Its too bad that she missed the reporter\'s point. I seriously don\'t think that the goal was to see how well he did as a busker. I think that the goal was to see if anybody stops to pay attention to the little or the nice things in life. Instead of music, this could easily have been a flower growing in a crack in the sidewalk.\n\nIts true that a good busker gets paid well because they are good at gathering attention and focussing it on themselves. If they didn\'t, then they would likely have to find another way to live. My take on this experiment was to see if good music played well would be recognized. There\'s no way that results could have been determined if there was good music played over a good sound system. We already tune that out as \"noise\" regardless of what it is.\n\nI wonder if there would have been a better reaction if there had been a good jazz guitarist playing good jazz (but not popular).'); return false;">Quote</a></div> @ Michelle: I read that blog entry. I see her point. Its too bad that she missed the reporter’s point. I seriously don’t think that the goal was to see how well he did as a busker. I think that the goal was to see if anybody stops to pay attention to the little or the nice things in life. Instead of music, this could easily have been a flower growing in a crack in the sidewalk.

Its true that a good busker gets paid well because they are good at gathering attention and focussing it on themselves. If they didn’t, then they would likely have to find another way to live. My take on this experiment was to see if good music played well would be recognized. There’s no way that results could have been determined if there was good music played over a good sound system. We already tune that out as “noise” regardless of what it is.

I wonder if there would have been a better reaction if there had been a good jazz guitarist playing good jazz (but not popular).

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]]> By: James http://coreythompson.com/2007/04/trying-to-cut-through-the-fog/comment-page-1/#comment-1838 James Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:14:57 +0000 http://coreythompson.com/?p=760#comment-1838 For a large amount of people who attend concerts, operas and theatre, the sole motive is 'to be seen', nothing more and nothing less. The actual performance [to them anyway] is irrelevant. It's all about status in society. If there had been signs noting this as a special event they would have stopped. People like to say 'I was there' if they believe it will give them some more credit in the status stakes. I sat and watched a guy busking in London when we visited the other day. He was excellent, not only because he was a great musician, but because he was alive with what he was doing. I gave him some money because he entertained me and made me smile. It's all about enjoying the moment and not about doing it because everyone else is doing the same. I was the only one watching him most of the time I was there. Funny... You can just see people stopping and listening to buskers all over the place now, once this story gets around. They won't want to miss out again will they? :)<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1838','James'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('1838','James','For a large amount of people who attend concerts, operas and theatre, the sole motive is \'to be seen\', nothing more and nothing less. The actual performance [to them anyway] is irrelevant. It\'s all about status in society.\n\nIf there had been signs noting this as a special event they would have stopped. People like to say \'I was there\' if they believe it will give them some more credit in the status stakes.\n\nI sat and watched a guy busking in London when we visited the other day. He was excellent, not only because he was a great musician, but because he was alive with what he was doing. I gave him some money because he entertained me and made me smile. It\'s all about enjoying the moment and not about doing it because everyone else is doing the same. I was the only one watching him most of the time I was there.\n\nFunny...\nYou can just see people stopping and listening to buskers all over the place now, once this story gets around. They won\'t want to miss out again will they? :)'); return false;">Quote</a></div> For a large amount of people who attend concerts, operas and theatre, the sole motive is ‘to be seen’, nothing more and nothing less. The actual performance [to them anyway] is irrelevant. It’s all about status in society.

If there had been signs noting this as a special event they would have stopped. People like to say ‘I was there’ if they believe it will give them some more credit in the status stakes.

I sat and watched a guy busking in London when we visited the other day. He was excellent, not only because he was a great musician, but because he was alive with what he was doing. I gave him some money because he entertained me and made me smile. It’s all about enjoying the moment and not about doing it because everyone else is doing the same. I was the only one watching him most of the time I was there.

Funny…
You can just see people stopping and listening to buskers all over the place now, once this story gets around. They won’t want to miss out again will they? :)

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]]> By: Corey http://coreythompson.com/2007/04/trying-to-cut-through-the-fog/comment-page-1/#comment-1837 Corey Tue, 10 Apr 2007 17:14:21 +0000 http://coreythompson.com/?p=760#comment-1837 Thanks for the heads up, Michelle. I'm going to read that article now. If you want to comment again here, be sure to use the same email address that you used for this comment to avoid moderation :wink:<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1837','Corey'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('1837','Corey','Thanks for the heads up, Michelle. I\'m going to read that article now. If you want to comment again here, be sure to use the same email address that you used for this comment to avoid moderation :wink:'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Thanks for the heads up, Michelle. I’m going to read that article now. If you want to comment again here, be sure to use the same email address that you used for this comment to avoid moderation :wink:
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]]> By: Michelle http://coreythompson.com/2007/04/trying-to-cut-through-the-fog/comment-page-1/#comment-1836 Michelle Tue, 10 Apr 2007 14:24:33 +0000 http://coreythompson.com/?p=760#comment-1836 There is a great response to the Joshua Bell article by a NYC subway musician in her <a href="http://www.SawLady.com/blog">blog</a> She interprets the situation differently from the Washington Post reporters... I thought you might find it interesting.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('1836','Michelle'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('1836','Michelle','There is a great response to the Joshua Bell article by a NYC subway musician in her <a href=\"http:\/\/www.SawLady.com\/blog\">blog<\/a>\nShe interprets the situation differently from the Washington Post reporters... I thought you might find it interesting.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> There is a great response to the Joshua Bell article by a NYC subway musician in her blog
She interprets the situation differently from the Washington Post reporters… I thought you might find it interesting.
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