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That was the brainchild of WaPo columnist Gene Weingarten. It was an interesting event. The result Weingarten hoped for was that nobody would recognize Joshua Bell's virtuosity and he would make only pennies. Then he would write a column making fun of the cultural idiocy of DC residents. That didn't work since Bell made serious coin for less than an hour, so the column turned into "idiots gave money to Joshua Bell for playing at a Metro station, like Joshua Bell needs money."
Most buskers suck. And they tend to be the angrier type of panhandler. they get mad if another busker is too close, if kids make noise around them, if anything competes with their performance. Plus, musical skills are not in abundance with these types. Most can barely bang out a tune on a guitar, let alone carry the lung capacity for a wind instrument.
The only decent true busker I've heard is a guy with Crossroads style guitar and amp setup at the corner of M and Wisconsin in Georgetown. He plays weekend nights until around 2am.
My last panhandler donation was a dollar to a guy who actually followed me into the pizza place next to my office at 11pm. I didn't mind that so much but in retrospect realized it was bad precedence to encourage panhandlers to bug people eating their dinner and paying for use of a seat and table.
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I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet
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