Check out the backstory to Joshua's surprise appearence in D.C.

Can one of the nation's greatest musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? In this week's issue of the Washington Post Magazine Gene Weingarten sets out to discover if violinist Josh Bell -- and his Stradivarius -- could stop busy commuters in their tracks.

"...There is an interesting backstory to this event, and it reveals something enlightening about the nature of government bureaucracy, versus private industry.

I first got the idea for this story about two years ago, when I emerged from the McPherson Square Metro station on the way to work and saw a ragged-looking man playing keyboard. He was quite remarkably good, and no one seemed to be noticing him. He had maybe a buck or two in change in his open case.

I walked away kind of angry. I thought, "I bet Yo Yo Ma himself, if he were in disguise, couldn't get through to these deadheads." When I got to the office, I actually tried to reach Mr. Ma's agent.

Life intervened. Time went by, but this story idea always stayed with me. It was my friend Tim Page, The Post's brilliant classical music critic, who eventually suggested Joshua Bell. (Later in the game, Tim would also tutor me in classical music; he was actually at L'Enfant that day, whispering in my ear, explaining what the heck was coming out of that fiddle. Josh had given me no playlist in advance.)"
Read this entire article here.

Pearls Before Breakfast

As part of an experiment by the Washington Post, Joshua Bell performed as a street musician one morning in January. The result, published in the April 8 edition of the newspaper, is the buzz of the classical music world in the US and around the world. Click here to read Gene Weingarten's story, complete with audio and video.