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My favorite things Pennsylvania
Growing up, I regarded Pennsylvania as the most typical and most American part of the country; I loved it. I loved the mid-sized towns with old industrial and domestic architecture, I loved the museums of Philadelphia, and I loved the bridges of Pittsburgh. Of course this was before America moved South and I gave the honor of most American place to Knoxville, Tennessee.
This list didn't require much thought, and the candidates poured out right away:
1. Eugene Ormandy recording: He introduced me to so much in classic music and somehow I felt he would never let me down; I'll pick either his Beethoven 5th and 6th or his Shostakovich 10th.
2. Painting: The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins. and my second choice would be the Andy Warhol car crash or electric chair paintings. Mary Cassatt, George Catlin, Andrew Wyeth, John Sloan, Stuart Davis, and Keith Haring all deserve honorary mention. And I'm sure there are others. Wow.
3. Sculptor: Alexander Calder, but only the little ones, the more delicate the better. The big ones in plazas are garish and misplaced.
4. Book on free trade: Henry George's Protection or Free Trade remains a wonderful introduction to economics.
5. Writer: John Updike, or Benjamin Franklin. John O'Hara never clicked with me, though he was my grandmother's favorite after Shakespeare. I'll pick The Coup as my favorite Updike; I don't think he's written a good novel in a while.
6. Popular music: Todd Rundgren was remarkably talented, never quite fulfilled his promise, but Something/Anything remains a wonderful double album.
7. Jazz: Art Blakey, Keith Jarrett (The Koln Concert, or his Shostakovich), Erroll Garner, Earl Hines, and George Benston was good at the very beginning. Stanley Clarke is amazing to hear live. Wow. And that's not even counting jazzmen who played long stints in Philly, such as John Coltrane and Sun Ra.
8. Rap music: Schooly D, The Adventures of Schooly D, remains one of my favorite rap albums.
9. Stepdaughter: Yana (it feels funny to list her as a thing, but in the metaphysical sense yes indeed she is), who as of today is moved in at Franklin and Marshall. Boo hoo!
Note we haven't even touched the Amish quilts, Fraktur drawings, mighty rivers, the Barnes collection, fall foliage, sports, Reading, or philanthropy. Harrisburg, however, is a blight.
The bottom line: Almost certainly, Pennsylvania is better than your state. If you are a foreigner, and want to understand what made America great, study and visit Pennsylvania.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on August 24, 2007 at 06:32 AM in The Arts | Permalink
Comments
I love Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Plus, professor Justin Wolfers is at Wharthon (U of Penn), in Philly.
And you could have mentioned the Philly's painting museum (and the Rocky Balboa thing) and the Rodin museum (nearby).
Posted by: Chris Masse at Aug 24, 2007 7:01:53 AM
Just driving through it on my way to GMU from MI was amazing! The land and architecture are beautiful.
Posted by: Dan Smith at Aug 24, 2007 7:24:17 AM
When talkin' Pennsylvania, most folks conjure up images from south of I-80: Philly, Pittsburgh, Penn State, Amish. They're missing the best part of the Keystone State. The scenery of the PA Nothern Tier rivals anything on the east coast, even the Smokies.
Posted by: michael at Aug 24, 2007 7:55:20 AM
August Wilson.
Posted by: Bill Gardner at Aug 24, 2007 7:58:13 AM
Add RGM watches to that list.
http://www.rgmwatches.com/
Posted by: Chris Meisenzahl at Aug 24, 2007 8:08:13 AM
Schooly D! (Or was it Schoolly D?) You've earned my eternal respect for that reference.
But you can't list talk about Philly hip-hop without mentioning the legendary foundation, the Roots. And DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I wonder whatever happened to the latter.
Posted by: Jerry at Aug 24, 2007 8:20:37 AM
Reading is one of your favorite things, but Harrisburg is a blight? I assume you haven't visited in the last quarter century.
That said, Reading has fantastic Mexican and Salvadoran street food, at least until the nativists rise up and evict the only economic breath the city retains.
Posted by: Josh at Aug 24, 2007 8:21:48 AM
Band: Marah
Bar: Dirty Frank's
Coach: Joe Paterno
Medical Museum: Mutter
Basketball Game: Penn v Princeton
Beer: Yuengling
Oil Well: Titusville
Skateboarder: Ricky Oyola
My grandmother hated John O'Hara. She said his nickname was "Dirty John" because he never washed his face as a kid. She and many people in Pottsville (aka Gibbsville) never forgave him for writing about them in his books.
Posted by: Ethan at Aug 24, 2007 8:25:11 AM
Check out the Grand Canyon of the Northeast (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/Parks/leonardharrison.aspx)
For history buffs, I'm a fan of Benjamin Rush
(http://www.benjaminrush.com/)
And why do more folks not know more about Henry George? He was on target on many topics. Yes, the "single-taxers" think their land tax will solve all the world's problems, but despite the seemingly religious following of George today, his contributions remain important.
Posted by: Mike at Aug 24, 2007 8:30:50 AM
And don't forget Drake's Well, near Oil City.
Posted by: ellis at Aug 24, 2007 8:37:53 AM
Don't forget Fallingwater.
Posted by: gmf at Aug 24, 2007 8:51:12 AM
And the robots at Carnegie Mellon :)
Posted by: cmugrad at Aug 24, 2007 8:51:38 AM
Music: What about Philadelphia Soul?
Posted by: Ted Craig at Aug 24, 2007 8:57:15 AM
Music: What about Philadelphia Soul?
Posted by: Ted Craig at Aug 24, 2007 8:57:37 AM
Music: What about Philadelphia Soul?
Posted by: Ted Craig at Aug 24, 2007 8:57:42 AM
No mention of the lehigh valley or Bucks county housing Pearl S. Buck and Oscar Hammerstein(while he wrote Oklahoma!) or any of bucks county other interesting sites? Ringing Rocks? Also is this respect from a Jersey boy?
Posted by: KevinLin at Aug 24, 2007 9:04:54 AM
Harrisburg a blight? Yeah. OK. But hey, we've got a decent symphony. And ... point taken.
Posted by: Dtech at Aug 24, 2007 9:10:18 AM
Lancaster County also has such wonderfully named small towns as "intercourse"
(you can get an "I love intercourse" shirt there), Blue Ball, and virgin
all right close to each other. In Virgin I once saw one of the most
charming things I'd ever seen- a volly-ball game at the "Virgin days" celebration between
an Amish team and a team of (I think) Ecuadorians.
Posted by: Matt at Aug 24, 2007 9:37:00 AM
On the subject of Jazz:
1) Its George Benson, not Benston. I believe George Benston is a finance professor at Emory. Although maybe he plays guitar too. Benson, however, at one time was a great jazz guitarist, but then he basically invented smooth jazz (anybody who attributes smooth jazz to Miles Davis has no clue what they are talking about).
2) Michael Brecker and Christian McBride should be on your list. Two of the most influential jazz musicians in the last 20-30 years. Christian has played with nearly everybody, including that All-Star trio with Herbie Hancock and Jack DeJohnette. And more people were trying to play like Michael Brecker than John Coltrane a decade ago.
Posted by: Charlie at Aug 24, 2007 9:38:02 AM
Of course, one cannot forgo Quakertown, PA, my home town and home of the indoor flea market, the QMart. Albeit it's hickish name, you can find some of the best food and music in the state.
Also, if you enjoy Reading, Albright College's John Pankratz has a "Faces of Reading" project. http://www.albright.edu/FacesofReading/page2.html
The sports are great; however, being from near Philadelphia, we could really use a championship. The Phils are the first team to surpass the 10,000 loss mark.
Posted by: Nick at Aug 24, 2007 9:50:04 AM
Lets not forget I was born there, in Pittsburgh... :)
Oh, and the Main Line.
Oh, and F&M's beautiful campus
Oh, and Hershey (Milton that is)
Oh, and Ben Franklin for all the non-writer things he did. Truly one of the greatest Americans ever.
Posted by: David Kearns at Aug 24, 2007 9:57:33 AM
TV: The Office (setting Scranton, PA)
Posted by: Bob at Aug 24, 2007 10:00:00 AM
Thanks Tyler, I agree. Every time I go back to PA, I wonder why I live in ugly NOVA.
As for Harrisburg, I wouldn't call it a blight. Lots of tasty restaurants. T. Rooosevelt called the capitol "the handsomest building I ever saw".
Posted by: LB at Aug 24, 2007 10:03:11 AM
Presuming there's no need to go on about the Penguins and Steelers... how about Pittsburgh-natives Rusted Root, and Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails)?
And Tyler, how could you skip the "O" -- The Original Hot Dog Shop?
Posted by: Howard Fienberg at Aug 24, 2007 10:03:29 AM
Doylestown PA offers Henry Chapman Mercer's Fonthill, a bizarre castle-like home, as well as his Mercer Museum which highlights preindustrial hand-tools, vehicles and machinery.
Gettysburg is tragic, but enables you to immerse yourself in what a Civil War battle was like.
Posted by: John Kunze at Aug 24, 2007 10:18:05 AM
