I got one of these chain letter emails. But this one I found rather interesting. I did a bit of research, something I hate I do. I had to, though. I wanted to make sure the story was legit. And it turns out it is. The Washington Post ran it, and Snopes says it's true.

Here it is:







How many other things are we missing?

NOW...HERE IS MY PROBLEM WITH ALL THIS. It does make you think, but...

First, if you would've thrown Jimi Hendrix in a subway station in 1965, with his crazy hair and headband, and a small amplifier, I'm guessing people would walk by him, too. Mostly because society isn't filled with musicians, so we don't appreciate some elaborate arrangement Hendrix or Bell is playing.

Second, in the subway, people are in a hurry to get where they're going. Sometimes people stop and appreciate things. It's why I loved that scene in The Visitor where the bored professor first hears the immigrant playing bongos in a park with others. Or the scene in The Prince of Tides, when Streisands son plays, against his will, for football coach Nick Nolte. And it's a thing of beauty. Yet it's in a train station, and people walk by, in a hurry to get where they're going.

Also...this proves another thing I've always said. With music, so many people just want to go to the "event". I remember thinking it was cool that the Eagles got back together and reunited. When I saw the ticket prices, I didn't bother to go. My friend that did, was peppered with questions from me about what songs they did. And he wasn't even sure. He said he was just there to hang out and for the thrill of it all.

I had another friend buy his wife tickets to the Rolling Stones for their anniversary. I said, "That's a gift you want, not a gift for her." He claimed she loved the Stones. And as we sat there playing Scrabble and his wife pulled up, I said that she probably couldn't name five Stones songs by their actual titles. She named two.

And with classical musicians, or someone like Yo Yo Ma, Josh Bell, that blind dude that sings opera...they start to get this buzz and people pay $100 a ticket.

It's almost the same thing I've been saying about abstract art for years. If your 5-year-old does a piece with swirling colors everywhere, you put it on the fridge with a magnet. It stays there for a few weeks. You may ask your kid what it is, and he says "Lucky in the Sky with Diamonds" (the inspiration of this song died recently, in her mid-40s). Yet, if your dad isn't John Lennon and writing a song about that picture...or it doesn't say Jackson Pollock in the corner, the painting gets thrown away.

And you'd pay $20 to go into the Guggenheim to see a Pollock.


David Dodd Sept. 30, 2009 @ 1:38 p.m.

Sure he does, magics. Cigars, remember?


PistolPete Sept. 30, 2009 @ 10:41 a.m.

Somewhere right now,a kitten is getting his legs broken. WAIT! You'll figure out the humor of that when you'll least expect it. It could be while you're driving to the AM/PM for a pack of smokes on your way to work or it could be the moment your a** hits the cold toilet seat two hours after getting drunk with friends. It'll come though. It'll come...


Josh Board Sept. 30, 2009 @ 4:38 p.m.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes a pussy cats legs being broken, is just an animal getting it's legs broken.


rickeysays Sept. 30, 2009 @ 4:48 p.m.

I would listen to a violinist. I'd also appreciate abstract art if I liked it. I hate these kind of studies though, because they're so misleading. You put a violinist in front of a bunch of people in a hurry to catch a train, who don't know anything about music, and besides which have their shields up (those shields people who live in cities and ride public transportation develop), and then act surprised when they don't all fall at his feet. It would be like putting a Pollock painting in front of you and then acting surprised when you don't swoon. You don't know what you're looking at any more then they know what they're hearing.


Josh Board Oct. 1, 2009 @ 10:39 a.m.

I've told this Pollock story before...but Howard Stern was making fun of Robin Quivers, his news gal. She paid $250,000 for a Pollock, and he said it was just a mish-mash of colors that even he could do. She went on and on about how his paintings "speak to her" and she could definitely tell one of his from the master.

Stern put her to the test, painting one in his style, and taking a photo of it. He showed her photos of 5 Pollock paintings, along with his. And asked her to pick out his. She guessed wrong. TWICE!

He then said something like "I'll give you a deal. Since you obviously liked mine more than two of the Pollocks here...I'll sell it to you for $75,000. That's less than you'd pay for a Pollock."


Josh Board Oct. 2, 2009 @ 1:16 a.m.

I think it would've been funny, if someone recognized the instrument and not him. They could say "I see you're working for tips. I'll give you $200 for that Stratovarious you're playing."


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