50 Things I Love About Philly In No Order Particularly - #47

(Like the title says, this is a list of things I've loved about philly, in the 17 years I've lived in this area. Also, like the title says, they're in no particular order. It's also not an inculsive list. These were just the first fifty that popped into my head. I'm gonna dish one up fresh, weekly. Also, I've started at the "bottom" to keep you tuned in. It's part of my nefarious plan for readership. Mwa-ha-ha-haaaaa.)


Cheap Orchestra Tickets

Back in the day, before the whole “Avenue of the Arts” thing, the cultural center of Philly didn’t have a whole lot of centralization. There were the theaters on Chestnut Street, and a few on Broad Street, of course. There was no Kimmel Center yet – it was a distant dream - and the Philadelphia Orchestra was forced to play in the old opera house, the Academy of Music.

The Academy is a beautiful old building – it was built in the 1850’s – and it has that ornate Ormandy feel to it inside, if you know what I mean. But it was built as an opera house, and it definitely had some drawbacks as an orchestra home. One was the acoustics.

The best seats in the house were also the worst ones. You know: the nose-bleed seats. Only a person like me (I have very, very short legs) could sit semi-comfortably in those seats. And Riccardo Muti didn’t look nearly as impressive bouncing around from a mile up.

But the sound in those seats was phenomenal. Lots of connoisseurs (and I ain’t one of them) would purposely sit up there. They used to get really, really mad when plebeians like me would sit in the section. But when I was a college student, I could afford those best seats in the house, because they went for $5. That’s right. A five-spot could get you a fantastic seat. All you had to do was wait in line outside the hall, like a bum outside a soup kitchen. Hey, I was poor, and not too proud. I took perks when I got ‘em.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the best in the world. I heard all sorts of guest stars, Brahms 4 more times than I care to remember, and got to see a little Muti hair flipping around. I think he even walked past me once.

Oh, you can still see the orchestra in the summer out at the Mann, if you know the right place to get the tickets, but it’s not to be compared to the bargain of the old days.

Ok, I’ll stop now, before I break into Memories from Cats…

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