Itzhak Perlman Story

This is my favourite musician's story. It goes that some years ago Itzhak Perlman , renowned violinist,  was booked to play at Carnegie Hall.  It was the middle of December and that evening,  New York was experiencing the most severe ice storm in a hundred years. To say the least, transportation options that evening were few, dangerous and understandably  chaotic.

All traffic eventually ground to a halt .  Taxis weren't able to navigate the treacherous streets. Street cars quit running.  All traffic was severely disrupted. Itzhak assessed the situation as he waited behind the curtain at the Concert Hall.

He peered through the sides of the curtain and saw what looked like about 30 brave souls that had some how managed to get to the Hall. It was obvious there wasn't going to be a concert that evening.

He asked some of the Hall attendants to open the curtain and give him a microphone so that he could personally thank the few people that came.He wheeled himself to the center of the stage and addressed the limited audience.

He began, "I would like to thank each and every one of you for making this challenging effort to attend the concert tonight .   It's obvious how the weather conditions have curtailed any chance of people getting here.You really  must be true "patrons of the arts" to brave such weather conditions  and some how get here. " 

"Again, I would like that thank you for your support. We are going to postpone the concert to another date.You will be notified when that concert will be held.  You will all be refunded the price of your tickets for tonight  and as a gesture of thanks you will be awarded the very best seats in the house for that designated performance. Again I thank you."  

As he was wrapping up his thank- you speech one of the disgruntled patrons interrupted with slurred speech .... "Well.. er...while we're here.. the least you can do is sing one number.

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