BOOK REVIEWS Musical Service: The Life and Times of small town was no longer the center of the Franklin Silver Cornet Band American life by the time of Baum's arrival By Peter Greene and departure defines the scope, the (Xlibris Corporation, 2006) beginning though not the end, of Greene's B/W photos, pp. 422, $34.99 softcover history. While the mayors, employers, and civic Some say that a thorough enough description and band leaders of Franklin and Venango of any single thread in a society can lead to an County march across these pages in detail, understanding of that society's entire Greene never fails to insert a paragraph tapestry. This certainly applies to Peter situating his narrative in the greater scheme Greene's engaging history of the Franklin of things, with admirable and often Silver Cornet Band of Franklin, Pennsylvania. humorous precision: In the process of detailing the 150-year-old 1905 had its share of firsts, from the institution's waxing and waning fortunes, first Rotary Club to the initial produc- membership, leadership, sources, and travels, tion of novocain. In McKeesport, Greene includes a fair sketch of local, Pennsylvania, the first true movie the- ater opened. On a somewhat loftier regional, and national history as well as an level, Einstein proposed his Theory of examination of popular music's history and Relativity. But in Franklin, the biggest performance. event on the horizon was the 1905 Old Franklin, Pennsylvania, sits on the Home Week, the first such civic event Allegheny River in Venango County about an attempted here. hour northeast of Pittsburgh. For its first The Silver Cornet Band itself falls into hundred years, the site of present-day the category of the town band, which came Franklin hosted forts for the French, British, into being in response to a demand for "music that and Americans. It became a small agricultural required the audience to be community, then one of the "three sisters of neither musically sophisticated nor quietly oil" with Oil City and Titusville when the attentive." During much of the band's black gold rush hit in the 1860s. Greene history, that meant playing a preponderance sprinkles his chronicle with the fortunes of of marches with an occasional admixture of these oil tycoons (later industrialists and show tunes, overtures, novelty numbers, and business people) who sometimes were vocal feature songs. Other characteristics of supportive of small-town institutions, and the town band included a primarily amateur sometimes not. Herb Baum, who was sent to standing, though support was frequently Venango County in the 1990s to dismantle sought for uniforms, travel, and sheet the last of the local oil companies-Quaker music. The town itself customarily supplied State-was vocal in his disdain for Franklin's rehearsal and storage space of varying backwardness. Greene judges Baum harshly: quality as well as a stipend for the summer "It was not enough to give us an economic concert season that took place, weather kick in the breadbasket; Baum belittled our permitting (and it often didn't), in a series whole region, our lives, our culture" That the of town center bandstands. 52 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I SPRING2007 Concerts were not the bands only finally open membership to anyone, no and repertory at frequent points in its function, however. They were called on matter the gender, race, nor age, at about the 150-year history. The book is a precious for most important community events, same time as the rest of society-the 1960s. commodity for the town of Franklin and for including factory openings, picnics, and Greene picks out the key components current and former band members, but at parades on every conceivable occasion in a contributing to the band's survival, including 400+ pages, it is slightly longer than the time when "there was no such thing as mass a core of dedicated players who kept it going general reader might prefer. entertainment." War time could be taxing through hard times, a leader who could vary Greene's history of the Silver Cornet and not every member was thrilled to march repertory and maintain a good musical Band is a monument to his own participation down Main Street each time a soldier headed standard, and a strong relationship with the in the life of Venango County, both as band off to war. head of the high school music program, who member for 30 years and as journalist and The Cornet Band survived the Swing in many instances funneled in a stream of teacher. Painstakingly researched, exhaustive and Big Band eras, and Pop music in all its young players. The band's inclusiveness is one in detail, and loving in its attention to small forms-from jazz to the crooners to the of its defining characteristics. Though its town realities, Greene's volume transcends British Invasion, rock, soul, and hip-hop. In standards of inclusion evolved in tandem the genre of volunteer-written institutional the process it became a self-acknowledged with general social norms, members-once history and will hold a place of honor in the anachronism with pride in just that fact- accepted were in for life, whatever the very milieu he so reveres as well as being a "What we do is quaint. It's backward."- musical consequences: "At no point in our resource for researchers in the areas of music combined with a sense of wonder at what the history have we ever told an aging or ailing or history and the American small town. band continues to mean to each member and just plain not-so-gifted player that it was time to Franklin. for him or her to step down." On this front, Christopher M. Jones teaches French and Membership evolved from an all-adult, Greene is faithful to his sources, providing a conducts research on popular song at Carnegie male format to include high school boys and literal snapshot of the band, its membership, Mellon University. SENATOR JOHN HFINZ His-i'oizy ('ENTEiz BOARD OF T jw S TE L _S Dan D. Sandman, Andrew E. Masich, The I Chairman, President & CEO, Costa Board of Trustees Senator John Heinz Center Beve John F. Bitzer, J History Vice Chairman, Esther L. Barazzone, Ph.D. "1a Board of Trustees Nadine E. Bognar SaStan Ron Davenport,Sr,, Chuc Vice Chairman, Suzanne W. Broadhurst Board of Trustees Commissioner J. Bracken Matt Sigo Falk, Burns, Sr. Franc Treasurer, Esther L. Bush Torre Board of Trustees Robert Barensfeld, Joseph L Calihan Jean Secretary, Estelle F.Comay, Esq. Robe Board of Trustees Mrs. James F Compton Willia * Legal name histori l Societyof WesternPennsylvrona WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I SPRING2007 53 BOOK REVIEWS THE SPECTATOR AND THE The Spectator and the interest to the areas he feels "are at once TOPOGRAPHICAL CITY Topographical City essential to any understanding of Pittsburgh, singular in their scope and qualities, and By Martin Aurand representative of the spaces and visual (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006) experiences of the topographical city." 150 illustrations, 248 pp. $29.95 hardcover Though these choices are subjective, Aurand spends just over 200 pages successfully With its richly illustrated pages, Martin convincing readers, via innumerable re- Aurand's The Spectator and the Topographical sources and works of visual art, that these are City floats the reader down Pittsburgh's the three spaces vital to the spectator's rivers, backwards through time, to a place understanding of the city. with three doors labeled "In View of a Golden Throughout the book, he parallels Triangle," "Scenes From the Turtle Creek Pittsburgh with older cities' topographies; Valley," and "Oakland and the Complex Martin Aurand theirs' being primarily concerned with Vista." By breaking the city into these three spiritual matters and Pittsburgh's dedicated "terrestrial rooms," Aurand directs specific to industrialism and capitalism: "In Pittsburgh, the steel industry and the tower substitute for the church and the dome." Thus, the tone is set for the examination of a secular, single-minded Pittsburgh that is the precedent of our topography. "In View of the Golden Triangle" documents the struggle to deconstruct Grant's Hill and the subsequent race to build amongst capitalists Henry Clay Frick, Henry Oliver, and Henry Phipps, among others. This competition culminates with the U. S. Steel Building, but the history of what we view in the city as spectators isn't the only focus. Aurand shifts his interest to how downtown is viewed from inside the FEAR, city: from Point State Park to Market Square to Mount Washington. Of the latter, he con- X cludes: "[Through] the act of viewing, the .....nTHINr._N IIJ spectator, who identifies with the view and .............1.111111111M stands suspended within it, sees and assumes BUTA CLOSED MIND his or her place within the topographical so city." It is his focus on how people define oll I ]III V V You have the confidence to offei neliv deas, themselves through Pittsburgh's topography Toeinbrace chinoe. Tocreate s(onethkog oul of nothinq. that sets this book apart from other historical Sniop, people cAl th it iisky You ( all it i(! Ajodhooq. works on the city. www.setonhill.edu 54 WESTERNPENNSYLVANIA HISTORY I SPRING2007 "Scenes from the Turtle Creek Valley" Carnegie Technical Institute, now Carnegie influences, from Italian villas and gardens to of the University of focuses largely on the relationship between Mellon University, and the role the site's Thomas Jefferson's design railroads and the steel mills within the valley, topography played in the construction and Virginia to Piero della Francesca's use of but again Aurand injects his perspective of viewing of the campus. Aurand's close linear perspective in his painting View of an century.