Yes, as amazing as it may seem, the original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of
Popular Science has not been forgotten. On Sunday afternoon, I attended a
musical tribute to the original Buhl Planetarium, on the front steps of the
original building.

This was part of a musical tour of the North Side, which included four specific
North Side attractions (mini-concert at each site lasted about ten minutes):

1) Original Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny/Allegheny Regional Branch of
Carnegie Library--this was held inside the lobby of the New Hazlett
Theater/Carnegie Hall, which adjoins the original Library. The mini-concert was
a tribute to Andrew Carnegie and the Library building.

2) Original Buhl Planetarium--on front steps of original building. Amazingly,
this was not a tribute to the Children's Museum. They only mentioned that the
Children's Museum now occupies the building. However, it was specifically meant
as a tribute to the original Buhl Planetarium!

3) West Park--including the National Aviary, Civil War Monument, and Lake
Elizabeth Island. Two flutists played from up in trees, in front of National
Aviary, sounding like birds!

4) Mattress Factory Art Museum.

When the tour guide brought us to Buhl, from the Library, he introduced this
concert by saying that the concert would be inspired by former exhibits at Buhl
Planetarium, starting with a meteor that was displayed for many years. I
immediately corrected him: meteorite.

The four performers (three on the front steps and one near the Allegheny Square
Fountain) began by singing, "I am a meteorite. I am a metorite..."

They also sang about other Hall of the Universe exhibits such as "Aurora
Borealis," "Jupiter," the planets including Mercury, and "Window into Space."
Particularly with the specific name of this last exhibit, I suspect they may
have done some research on my web site.

They concluded the concert by putting the lines to music, from the Biblical
inscription on Buhl Planetarium's west wall. This is the inscription that still
exists on the building (but is difficult to see due to the construction of the
Children's Museum's new "Nightlight Building"). Here is a photo of the
inscription:

http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/Buhl-InscriptionW.JPG

All of the performers were quite young, probably in their 20s. So, it is
interesting that they were probably much too young to have ever visited the
original Buhl Planetarium. It is amazing to think that the 20th anniversary of
the closing of Buhl Planetarium is next year!

Here is the Post-Gazette article that announced this musical tour of the North
Side, which was funded by the Grable Foundation:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10176/1068067-388.stm

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < siderostat1989@... >
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* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
< http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
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* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
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* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
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