Musicians

transcendent improvisation and artistry along with a prima donna attitude...

I get it. I don't like it when an audience that is supposedly there to listen is making noise, but some things can't be helped, and it IS possible for a musician to overcome outside distractions with practiced concentration and will.

I saw Olga Kern give a solo concert in a small church a few years back. When she started her showstopper, (Balakirev's Islamey, a notorious, fiendishly hard piece) a woman in the third row of the audience collapsed. Ms. Kern continued playing as an ambulance pulled up outside, and two paramedics, with walkie talkies squawking, wheeled a stretcher down front to take the poor woman away.

All of this was happening less than 25 feet away from her, and in her field of vision to the side. She never hesitated or missed a note. As a musician myself, it was the most incredible feat of concentration I have ever witnessed. So, Keith should have been able to handle a couple of people coughing or taking a picture while he's playing.