Check out the story my sister sent--the quick version.
An even quicker "tease":
It's about Joshua Bell, one of the greatest violinists in the world, who played some of the most beautiful violin music ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million
Three days before, he had played to a packed house in Boston where only middling seats cost $100 apiece.
The question he and a Washington Post reporter wanted to answer: How would people respond?
For the complete story, complete with video, see the original Washington Post article: Pearls Before Breakfast. And, then, a follow-up, "story behind the story" article
This story got the largest and most global response of anything I have ever written, for any publication. I am still wading through more than a thousand emails.What do you think?. . .
[B]ut there's one [question] I'd like to pose:. . . [M]ore than 100 readers so far have told me that this story made them cry. It was not a reaction I anticipated, at least not so universally, and it has somewhat taken me aback. Can those of you who had this reaction try to explain it?
Oh.
And an alternating super-sped-up and regular-speed video of the entire, 45-minute experiment (2:36):
