Geek & Mild by Sean Sperte

Pearls Before Breakfast. An “experiment” wherein the Washington Post asked Joshua Bell, world-renowned violinist and prodigy, to don street clothes and play a set at a Capitol Hill metro stop. (Via David Russell.)

[Spoiler below.]

In preparing for this event, editors at The Post Magazine discussed how to deal with likely outcomes. The most widely held assumption was that there could well be a problem with crowd control: In a demographic as sophisticated as Washington, the thinking went, several people would surely recognize Bell. Nervous “what-if” scenarios abounded. As people gathered, what if others stopped just to see what the attraction was? Word would spread through the crowd. Cameras would flash. More people flock to the scene; rush-hour pedestrian traffic backs up; tempers flare; the National Guard is called; tear gas, rubber bullets, etc.

The “Flop of L’Enfant Plaza” went nothing like that:

As it happens, exactly one person recognized Bell, and she didn’t arrive until near the very end.

The article is brilliant(!), and well-worth the read.