I wonder how many people remember this name?

Art Ferrante, dead at 88.

I saw the obit and immediately blipped back to my early days on this Earth - probably 1973 or so - when my parents had season tickets to Blossom, the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra. They also got tickets to see other performances - I probably saw, but don't really remember, the Carpenters perform.

They had "lawn" tickets for most things - would bring a big blanket and we'd sit out in the gathering dark of a summer evening. Sometimes friends of our family would come along and we'd all sit in a big group, the kids running around the blankets and playing tag until it was time for the concert to start.

I think for the Ferrante and Teicher concert, they must have had tickets in the "shell" - I remember being indoors for it (maybe rain was threatening?). The biggest thing I remember of the concert is the two big grand or baby grand pianos on stage, set so the concave section of one fit against the convex section of the other.

I don't remember exactly what they played - it was probably "pops" or movie themes, those seem to have been the biggest part of the repertoire - but I can close my eyes and picture those two pianos.

Those evenings at Blossom are some of my earliest memories. And I think like many early memories they're probably a bit more gold-tinged than they otherwise might be, but I remember really enjoying going out there to hear music and watch the summer night fall.