Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
GMA: Adam Lambert, No; Chris Brown, Yes
Report: Wife Scratched Tiger Woods' Face, Chased His SUV; Update: Police Unable To Interview Couple Today
Family Gets Early Christmas Gift From Ellen DeGeneres
Street Artist Proposes on Subway Signage
Things not to leave behind in a taxi: $500,000, 184-year-old violins on loan. The NY Post reports on one musical prodigy, Hahn-Bin, who did just that yesterday after a trip from Lincoln Center to Chinatown. He called 311, who "put him in touch with NYPD Detective Ming Lee and Taxi and Limousine Commission officials Azam Kifaieh and Sam Shady. Hahn-Bin then waited—for 15 tense hours—as the NYPD and TLC scoured GPS records to figure out which cab driver dropped him off" (though CityRoom reports it only took one hour to actually track down the instrument). The driver was contacted while off-duty at his home in New Jersey, and told them he had indeed found the instrument, which Hahn-Bin has since been reunited with. TLC Commissioner Matthew Daus declared musicians to be the most forgetful fares, saying, "There are enough instruments left in taxis to start a small orchestra." Official protocol for cabbies who find an item in their cab is to take it to the nearest police precinct "without delay."
$500K Violin Lost and Found in Cab
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebookComments (33) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Newsmap
Contribute
This is like the third "priceless instrument left in taxi story" I've heard. What the fuck? It must be one of those professions where a great deal of common sense must be sacrificed in order to excel.
It seems every 18 months or so there is another story about some absent-minded, usually Asian, classical music geek forgetting the tool of their trade in a taxi. They might be a wiz with Mozart but not too bright in practical matters. I wonder who ties their shoelaces for them.
It's funny because it's bigger than a regular hat.
Yeah a lot of prodigies and overachievers may be talented but they don't have any street smarts.
You ppl act like u've never accidentally left something somewhere before.
One thing I've always wondered is "how many fuckin' violins did Stradivarius make?" With the amount left in cabs, I would think supply and demand would make Stradivarius violins cost much less than they actually are.
I'll tell you one thing. I've never lost anything near $500k. I'll be too petrified to let in out of my sight or hands.
It helps that you've never owned anything worth $500k.
Really? I wouldn't even let a $2000 laptop out of my sight, and I've had a few of those. With a half-million dollar item, I wouldn't let go of it at all.
BTW, just so you know, this wasn't a Strad. His are considered the best of the best, but he wasn't the only master violin maker.
I tend to feel like anything "extra" you're carrying is liable to be easily lost. If you automatically check for something instinctively, like a purse for a woman or a wallet for a guy, you won't lose that thing.
My fiance automatically checks his pocket when he gets up, and he's never lost his phone, keys or wallet. His briefcase on the other hand ... well he stopped carrying one because they were getting expensive to replace all the time.
Last week this genius fell asleep on the subway while in the possession of a $60k violin bow and wouldn't you know it when he woke up it was magically gone. Dude, if I was carrying anywhere near something that valuable I wouldn't be able to sleep at all. I'm sure he's not getting any sleep now.
Wasn't this the plot of D.C. Cab?
Life imitates art yet again.
I'm glad that someone has finally recognized D.C. Cab as a piece of art.
HA!!!
Yet another reason to always get a receipt from the driver.
Very true. But, the absent-minded types will, of course, misplace that, too.
for ease of use, you can just gloss over what ides writes and assume it's either a) racist b) violently asserting the death of somebody or c) both
Just stating observable facts. Too bad if that conflicts with your politically correct fantasy world. Enjoy your state of denial.
Black people are animals and Asian people are bumbling effete idiots? I guess you get your facts from a eugenics textbooks from 1930. Enjoy being a troll though
Those are your words, not mine. You're projecting.
They should have it that all concert musicians with extremely valuable instruments on loan to them have the locked cases handcuffed to their wrists at all times when they are outside of their homes or places of performance.
A handcuff-case is an invitation for demanuation.
Is this a new version of 'Jewish Lightning'?
these guys aren't really geniuses. They are more like idiot savants. They are really good at one thing but quite lacking in all other areas. I do think that there is a glut of asian child musical prodigies who aren't going anywhere. They need some severe emotional trauma like Mozart and Beethoven. I think they need beatings. Mozart and Beethoven had traumatic childhoods and you could really feel the pain and suffering reflect in every chord of their music. All I hear from these asian kids music is "My fast track parents put me through nurturing music school and liberal arts programs and Now they've lent me a $500,000 violin". I'm telling you man, beatings.
If you think Asians don't beat their children, it's pretty clear that you don't have any Asian friends.
^Sadly very true
Yeah the parents of the guys who deliver my food do but not the musical prodigy parents. those kids proably just get "do you feel uncomfortable? How about we play in G instead"
Cut off their ears!!!
No, those parents are the nuttiest. Play 'til you bleed.
LMAO.
I think they need beatings.
Most Asian parents have no problems smacking their kids. From poor to rich.
Mozart and Beethoven had traumatic childhoods
Beethoven yes. Mozart? No, he lived a charmed childhood. I would say there is essentially no deep agony in his music except in his masses and the Requiem.
these guys aren't really geniuses. They are more like idiot savants
Woah, forget your wallet, lose your keys, and bam! you get demoted from genius to idiot savant. Good one. Einstein frequently couldn't find his way back home. By your reasoning then I guess he was an idiot savant and not a genius.
It used to be the the discipline in the Russian-Jewish homes that created the great musicians.
fun fact: anecdotal evidence about a few people = license to generalize about several BILLION
Funny, all I get when I step into a cab are the "Bombay bagpipes".