Joshua Bell

Threads from more than a decade ago had people going back and forth on gay or straight for violinist Joshua Bell. He's now 43 and still single. Who's his b/f?

• In an experiment initiated by "Washington Post" columnist Gene Weingarten, Bell donned a baseball cap and played as an incognito street busker at the Metro subway station L'Enfant Plaza in Washington, D.C. on January 12, 2007. The experiment was videotaped on hidden camera; among 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him). Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his article on the Bell experiment.

• I didn't know who he was until that article came out, R1. My boyfriend at the time thought it was a big deal...interesting article.

• He's still gorgeous. He'll be performing Tchaicovsky's Violin Concerto with the New York Philharmonic in December. I wonder whether Bill Conti will be around to hear his creation played by Joshua.

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• going out with a steady for a while now. he's pretty straight but gay-friendly enough I'd say

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• That's an incredibly interesting experiment R1. I guess there are a lot of people that don't recognize talent until someone tells them to. I bet a number of those people passing by have previously stated how brilliant they thought he was.

• Any Bell thread always gets someone popping in to say that he's straight and dating a female. Is she a date or a faghag?

• He "dated" Kristi Dawn a few years back. That should tell you something.

• Gay/straight -- who cares? Watching that boy play the violin is a sexual experience. So hot.

• He could shed a few pounds around his waste, but he still looks good. His NY apartment was featured in Architectural Digest, it was to die for.

• Saw him on the street the other day. He wasn't looking so hot without makeup and styling.

• [quote] He could shed a few pounds around his waste, Oh, dear.

• "He could shed a few pounds around his waste" Shouldn't we all?

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• He is raising three kids, but isn't married to the mother. That seems really irresponsible. Or gay.

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• I just wish Alasdair Fraser looked like he does but played like Fraser a wee bit.

• Sorry I meant waist.

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• This is an announcement on his web site about the first child, Josef: [quote] Many years ago I had a girlfriend named Lisa Matricardi. We were together for seven years, up until 1999. Although we are not together anymore as a couple, we have remained close and I think of her as family. A few years ago we discovered that we both had a keen interest in having a child. Of course having a child takes two people, and since neither of us had a proper ‘significant other’ up to the task, we arrived at an unconventional but certainly not unprecedented solution. We decided to try to have a child together, even though we both knew that we would be living our separate lives outside of sharing our parental responsibilities (and our deep friendship of course). Does that seem like something that a straight man would write?

  http://www.joshuabellforum.com/jb/viewtopic.php%3Ft%3D3877

• And then, there's this: [quote] "It's an unconventional situation," Bell admitted of the decision he and Matricardi, a longtime girlfriend and now New York City violinist, made to have a child outside marriage. "I live an unconventional life," Bell said, by way of explanation. "I didn't see any other way to do it. [quote] "It's working out beautifully right now. It's great to have this anchor," said Bell. He doesn't live with Matricardi and Josef, but he's very much a part of his son's life. [quote] "I get to see him every day. But I have no sleepless nights."

  http://www.toledoblade.com/Music-Theater-Dance/2008/01/20/The-virtuoso-next-door-Superstar-violinist-Joshua-Bell-enjoys-football-video-games-too.html

• I read that article when it came out, and I didn't really think it was a fair test. A terminal is a busy place, folks aren't there just to be there. When I rode the train into San Francisco every morning, I never really had time to linger.

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• His father, Alan P. Bell, was a researcher at the Kinsey Institute and an expert on homosexuality.

• [quote]"He could shed a few pounds around his waste" [quote]Shouldn't we all? Yes...

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• I agree, r18. Art is a two-way street. You can't just throw it at people on the subway when they're on their way to work. But I don't think that was the writer's point: I think it was just more a piece to try to get people to think about context, which it certainly did and still does. It wasn't really a test or an experiment, in the sense that the writer wasn't trying to prove anything about commuters or Bell imho.

• I always wondered about Josh and Frankie Marino. They seem like bfs when the play together. Don't know if Frankie is gay though.

• What about Leif Ove Andsnes, the hot Norwegian pianist? Is Leif gay? He's got a BIG DICK face that just tells you that he'd be a fun fuck.

• He pings so loudly I can't believe he's NOT gay. He was recently appointed musical director of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, which is a fairly conservative outfit. Might that be reason enough to stay in the closet?

  http://www.asmf.org/about-us/music-director/

• he's straight, old school buddy of mine, he's straight. had a rough time in his twenties, got straightened out, is a bit on the unconventional side, but straight. lots of those in classical music.

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• Maybe he was still in the closet in his 20's. I can't think of any other ambiguously-oriented man I'm surer is gay.

• you don't run in Classical music circles, lots of sexual ambiguity there, it's encouraged in fact.

• I worked in Aspen one summer at the St Regis. Joshua stayed there for a week (on his way back from touring in Asia). He was playing at a festival in Aspen We hung out, played golf (go figure) and messed around He's gay (or bi)

• [quote]"I get to see him every day. But I have no sleepless nights." Sounds like a selfish prick to me.

• Does anyone know if the children were conceived by insemination or live cover?

• When I was a baby Lesbian, so very long ago, I had a magazine subscription for "National Geographic For Kids." He was featured in that magazine one time because he truly was a child prodigy. Honest to goodness, I though him gay then, and still do now. He pinged in print as a child!

• He still looks as if he's going to transition any minute into a woman.

• In one of the previous threads, someone wrote that he was looking like a menopausal Lesbian, and that could just see him with a fiddle in one hand and a cane in the other. I can't get that image out of my mind.

• He's ugly. Who gives a shit?

• I've worked at places that presented him and he is a TOTAL pussy hound. Sorry.

• Yes he has 3 kids, but he has found someone to raise them, he isn't...but he does provide a hefty check to her. When your gone over 200 days a year, thats NOT raising kids. Go home Josh and be the father you claim to be, crappy diapers and all. BTW, he is gay. A "bf bought him his new black porsch.

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• “You only live once, so I try to say yes to everything,” says superstar violinist Joshua Bell.

• Say yes to cock!

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• I'm in the classical music "world," and it's pretty universally known that Bell is bi. A number of my friends (female and male) have been hit on by him at parties. H also has a reputation for trying to set up threesomes (or more) with partners of either or both gender. My friends / colleagues always said they turned him down because he gave off a creepy "I'll fuck anything that moves" vibe, and because the only thing he seemed to care about when meeting new people was if they were fuckable or not.

• He's a cock/pussy hound

• [quote]it's pretty universally known that Bell is bi. I've heard that several times.

• A thread about Jamie Bell would have been better.

• who cares? Josh is more talented

• [quote]I'm in the classical music "world," What have you heard about Keith Lockhart, R39?

• [quote]Sorry I meant waist. Too late. You're illiterate.

• Keith is a schmoozer and loves attention.

• Keith has been married three times. They keep divorcing him.

• and he's not very well hung