IIRC, there was SOME recognition—
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
“As
it happens, exactly one person recognized Bell,
and she didn't arrive until near the very end. For Stacy Furukawa, a
demographer at the Commerce Department, there was no doubt. She doesn't know
much about classical music, but she had been in the audience three weeks
earlier, at Bell's
free concert at the Library of Congress. And here he was, the international
virtuoso, sawing away, begging for money. She had no idea what the heck was
going on, but whatever it was, she wasn't about to miss it.
Furukawa positioned
herself 10 feet away from Bell,
front row, center. She had a huge grin on her face. The grin, and Furukawa,
remained planted in that spot until the end.
"It was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen
in Washington,"
Furukawa says. "Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and
people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters
at him! Quarters! I wouldn't do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this
could happen?"
When it was over, Furukawa introduced herself to Bell, and tossed in a
twenty. Not counting that -- it was tainted by recognition -- the final haul
for his 43 minutes of playing was $32.17. Yes, some people gave pennies.”
