Soon after arriving in Westport, they started their own version of the long-established, worldwide tradition of celebrating Robert Burns’ birthday: January 25.

Robert Burns

“It was a great excuse to have a party during the post-holiday lull, when everyone is feeling a bit down,” Morag says.

Burns suppers range from a few men sitting around the fire reading poetry — “very boring,” Morag admits — to the other extreme: “full revelry and Scottish dancing.”

Most of the Grassies’ events include dancing, plus lively speeches and performances of poetry and song.

Burns suppers everywhere feature “the ceremonial piping in of the haggis” by a piper and bagpipes; the “Address to a Haggis” (a lively Burns poem about the virtues of haggis-eating), and of course, eating haggis.

Never had haggis? Here’s what you’re missing: a savory pudding of a sheep’s or calf’s offal, suet, oatmeal and seasoning, boiled in a bag.

Mmmmmm good!

The Grassies’ had a smae challenge when they first arrived in the States: it’s illegal to import haggis. (“The logic of this still defeats the intelligent mind,” Morag laments.)

Haggis.

After much sourcing and testing, they found a butcher in Maine who makes an authentic haggis under license from a butcher in Glasgow — the Grassies’ home city.

There are 3 other producers in the US, Morag reports — in New Jersey, Florida and Texas — but “none are a patch in the beans meat haggis from Maine.” Whatever that means.

This was the 5th year for the Grassie Burns supper. Many friends attend, but only 3 have made it to every one. All are from Westport: David and Sherry Jonas, and Roy Marmelo.

Roy’s wife Maite missed one. Jonathan Ewert is another active Westport participant.

What 3 well-dressed Westporters wear to a Scottish dinner.

“The biggest challenge for Neil and me is clearing out the house so we can get all 44 people seated, with room for the piper to move around, and then serve the 5-course dinner,” Morag says.

She cooks it from scratch, with help from friends who “peel potatoes and turnips for the traditional haggis, neeps and tatties course.” Of course.

Contributors this year included Sherry Jonas, with Heather Lyons (a Westporter originally from Glasgow) and Jane Morrison (a Westporter from, of all places, England) preparing shortbread for dessert.

This year’s program promised — right there, between one course of haggis, neeps and tatties, and another of poached Scottish salmon, wild race and salad — “intercourse entertainment.”

I can’t believe I missed that!

Little bits of Burns poetry are interwoven throughout the night. “You’ll be surprised how many you know,” Morag says.

There are speeches about poems like “Immortal Memory” (it tells a little about his 13 children, many of whom were illegitimate and/or called Margaret). Guests also talk about his socializing and death at age 37 (the two are linked).

Poetry, bagpipes, dancing and haggis. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Well, what about Westport chowder?

Or, as the organizers of this Saturday’s Chowdafest (February 4, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.) call it: chowda.

In just 4 years, the annual event — a fundraiser for the Connecticut Food Bank — has grown from a couple of hundred Westport people at the Unitarian Church to a few thousand (from throughout Fairfield County) at Bedford Middle School.

The format is perfect: a chowder chowda, soup and bisque competition between restaurants. Everyone judges.

Da Pietro's always draws a crowd at Chowdafest.

For $6 ($2 for those under 12) you get a spoon, ballot and pencil. Then — life is hard — you sample over 30 different offerings from 23 restaurants. They cover the coast, from Stamford to Mystic, making it the largest Chowdafest in New England.

But the local guys do fine. Last year’s winners included Mansion Clam House and Southport Brewing Company.

Westport restaurants competing this year include the Boathouse, Blue Lemon, Bobby Q’s, Da Pietro’s, Dunville’s, Mansion, River House and Tavern on Main.

Bobby Q's is a Chowdafest fixture.

There are 3 categories: Classic New England Clam Chowder, Creative Chowder (anything else), and Soup/Bisque. New this year: a blind taste test among chefs, and a “Critics’ Choice” given to the overall favorite.

Because it’s held the day before the Souper Super Bowl, volunteers and servers wear football jerseys, eye black and referee outfits. Sacred Heart University’s marching band provides entertainment.

It’s a great family event. Kids particularly enjoy receiving chef hats, stickers andtemporary tattoos. They take their voting privilege seriously (a good lesson this election year, no?).

“What’s cool is that Sam and Suzy Sixpack — all of us — determine the winner,” says head chowdahead Jim Keenan. “It’s not a panel of people who don’t represent us.”

In just 3 years, the money raised has funded over 30,000 meals.

Hopefully, some of them were chowder chowda based.

(For more information click here, call 203-216-8452, or email chowdafest@optonline.net)

Mon dieu!

While that’s not the extent of my French ability, it’s close.

It’s all ALM’s fault.

If you didn’t go to school in the 1960s, you missed out didn’t miss anything. ALM was a language instruction method rooted in rote repetition. Wikipedia says it was “discredited as a teaching methodology in 1970,” but those of us who suffered through it then (and after) in Westport have it seared in our brains.

“Où est Sylvie? A la piscine.”

“La neige est belle aujourd-hui.”

And something about mounting a balcony. Plus, of course, Monsieur et Madame Thibault.

Other victims students from that era have similar ridiculous and basically useless sentences embedded in our memories, crowding out anything remotely resembling vocabulary, grammar or the rest of the French language.

Which is not to say that learning French at Long Lots Junior High School was not memorable.

My 8th grade teacher was Carmen Delgado. A large, imposing and very loud woman, she was — as her name implies — not French, French-Canadian or even Cajun, but rather Puerto Rican.

Louis Pasteur, a French scientist who gained fame for inventing a cure for rabbis.

English was probably her 3rd language, which is why she said such things as “Louis Pasteur invented a cure for rabbis.”

At least that is understandable. What were 13-year-olds to make of “Daniel, what is it you are staring at? The moon of Valencia?”

I have obviously remembered at least as much English from Mademoiselle Delgado as I have French.

Also cemented into my cerebrum is a play we produced, “Astérix et Cléopâtre.” Based on what Mademoiselle assured us were very popular French cartoon figures, it probably broke every licensing law in the books. How she had the cojones to charge admission — it was only $1, but back then that was real francs — to watch us mangle the French language is beyond me. Yet that was part of Mademoiselle’s charm.

As it turns out, I have not had many opportunities to show off my lack of French. I have traveled to 5 continents, and over 3 dozen countries, but only one of them was French-speaking. (It was France, of all places). It did not snow there, and I did not need to know that Sylvie was at the pool, but I managed to eat, drink and find the bathroom (salle de bain).

I even was able — thanks to Monsieur et Madame Thibault — to know which door to use.

The snow is beautiful today. Is that Monsieur Thibault on his bicyclette?

Leslye Headland

Leslye Headland — a Class of 1999 alum — caught the eye of Deadline Hollywood. The entertainment blog gave a shout-out to the “Sundance Lucky 13“: a baker’s dozen of actors and directors earning “new or renewed buzz” at the famed film festival.

Writer Brian Brooks said of the writer/director of “Bachelorette“:

Her plays have caused a stir Off-Broadway, all based on the Seven Deadly Sins. She kicked them off with “Cinephilia” (lust), followed by “Bachelorette” (gluttony) now morphed into the film starring Kirsten Dunst, Isla Fisher, and Lizzy Caplan which debuted at Sundance Monday. Her next play, “Assistance” (greed) is set to open in New York soon. Her seven deadly may all make it to the screen.

Congratulations, Leslye, on your theatrical successes. Though it seems you’re also describing the current crop of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination.

Those were the days!

Well, yeah. In many ways they were — especially around here. We had a real-live Main Street, with actual grocery stores, hardware stores, and merchants who knew your name. Kids romped in the woods free from parental worries.

And Westport was growing rapidly. Every day, it seemed, another family moved in. Many were arts-types: novelists, TV writers, playwrights, admen. They were drawn by the town’s reputations as an “artists’ colony” — and as each one arrived, more followed.

Starting this Sunday (January 29), you can revisit those days. The Westport Historical Society presents 2 exhibits looking back on that golden/scary era.

“Next Stop: Westport, The Inspiration for 1950′s TV & Film Writers” takes its title from “A Stop at Willoughby,” one of “Twilight Zone”‘s most memorable episodes. In it, an ad executive on his way home to suburban Westport repeatedly finds himself in a pastoral town called Willoughby — in 1888.

Westport’s role in “The Twilight Zone” was no coincidence. Rod Serling wrote the episode when he lived in Westport.

Fellow residents included novelist Max Shulman, whose Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! satirized life in a suburban town when the Army selects it for a missile base. (Which actually happened here; the subsequent film led Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward to move to Westport.)

It was quite a time. There were so many creative types, says Linda Gramatky Smith — the daughter of “Little Toot” creator Hardie Gramatky — that there were regular writer-vs.-artist basketball and softball games.

The Historical Society exhibit features all that, and more — like Sloan Wilson’s novel The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, which was set here (the subsequent movie, starring Gregory Peck, was filmed here), and the final year of “I Love Lucy,” when the Ricardos and Mertzes move to town.

Video of a different kind will be shown at the WHS too. “The Cold War in Our Backyard” — a fascinating, chilling (and at times laughable) film compilation by Lisa Seidenberg, including everything from instructions on removing radiation from food to the still-frightening “Twilight Zone” episode on barbarism in a fallout shelter — will play in a continuous loop. (You can also click here to see it.)

Nearby, images and artifacts will recreate the fears that filled that “golden” era.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” Charles Dickens wrote.

He didn’t live in Westport.

But so many other famous writers did. Starting Sunday, the Westport Historical Society shares their stories with the world.

(The exhibit’s opening reception is this Sunday, January 29, 3-5 p.m. Click here for more information, or call 203-222-1424.)

Kyle Martino and Eva Amurri. (Photo: Jeff Vespa/Wire Images via ESPN Page 2)

The 1999 Staples graduate’s October wedding to actress Eva Amurri –  Susan Sarandon’s daughter — was covered by People Magazine (in a story written by, of all people, Kyle’s classmate Jen Garcia).

Last week, as an ESPN2 analyst covering the Major League Soccer college draft, the former national team player gave a shout-out to Staples soccer. He told a national TV audience how much he enjoyed the camaraderie with his teammates, and hearing the cheers of the large crowds on the Loeffler Field hill.

In between, Kyle served as a cupcake judge.

Last Sunday, the Food Network featured him in an episode of Cupcake Wars. (Never seen the show? Each week 4 of the country’s top bakers face off in  elimination challenges. The sweet prize: $10,000, and the opportunity to showcase their cupcakes at the winning gig.)

In Kyle’s episode, the winner took cupcakes to the Major League Soccer championship game in Los Angeles.

Kyle — one of the league’s most popular players during his career with the Columbus Crew and LA Galaxy (where his teammate was the even more popular David Beckham) — told ESPN Page 2:

I probably ate 5 entire cupcakes. Each cupcake was like a 3-course meal. Hey, if I had stayed off sweets, I probably would still be playing soccer.

I was blessed with a good metabolism. Younger, I was running 8 miles a day and still able to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. But that was then. These days, I might be the only ex-professional athlete who gets winded going up the stairs.

The other day he picked up The Bannerman Solution, by John R. Maxim.

Published in 1989, the novel’s hero is Paul Bannerman, a covert agent. Suddenly, according to Maxim’s website,

death is running in Westport, Connecticut — one in a nationwide network of secret “halfway towns” where the country’s most dangerous former agents have been “retired.”

At war with powerful elements within his own government — a war not of his making — Bannerman has been lured to this place of yard sales, minivans, commuter trains and murder. The plan is for Bannerman and those he ran to die here, quietly. But Bannerman has other plans.

Denise says much of the action takes place at Mario’s — hey, covert agents like steaks and martinis too. The book also highlights “the town librarian.”

Maxim’s next book — The Bannerman Effect — is also set in Westport.

Hidden behind a Maginot Line of safe houses and front operations in quiet Westport, Connecticut, are Paul Bannerman and his elite group of contract agents. They don’t look any different from their neighbors. They run restaurants, a medical clinic, a travel agency — until something big brings them out of retirement.

Two more novels — Bannerman’s Law and Bannerman’s Promise — don’t mention Westport (at least, Maxim’s website doesn’t). But then — a decade later — came Bannerman’s Ghosts.

Paul Bannerman was back — and back in Westport.

They’re called Bannerman’s People, and they could be the bartender, the gardener, or the librarian–but, in fact, they’re former operatives who’ve “retired,” en masse, to the sleepy, affluent community of Westport, CT. It’s the peaceful life they crave–and they’ll go to any lengths to protect it and one another.

Now a Machiavellian entrepreneur sets his sights on one of their former associates — a “ghost” named Elizabeth Stride, long rumored to be dead — Paul Bannerman and his neighbors must mobilize. Very quickly they discover that their mission is about much more than fealty and friendship, as they find themselves in the midst of a terrorist’s deadly game.

According to his bio, Maxim was an advertising executive who lived in Westport.

John R. Maxim

One night, sitting in the bar car on his commute home, he decided to quit and try writing. (Presumably he stopped at Mario’s too, to fortify his decision.)

His first novel, Platforms, sold within 6 months — without an agent. Bannerman soon followed. (And Maxim moved to Hilton Head.)

Denise McLaughlin — whose husband picked up The Bannerman Solution at the train station (across from Mario’s) — wondered if I knew anything about the series. I don’t. In fact, I’ve never heard of it.

Ask me about The Swimmer. Or Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! Or The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit – all stories set in Westport (and all later made into movies).

They were written decades before the Bannerman series. But somehow Maxim’s novels never seeped into the Westport oeuvre, the way those other tales did.

Then again, what happens at Mario’s, stays at Mario’s.

Back in the States you perform for Mayor Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion; write songs for P. Diddy, Usher, Paris Hilton and the Roots, and record with Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti and Ja Rule.

What’s another good subject for a song?

How about Westport?

Michael HarPaz

Michael HarPaz wrote “Westport Boy” — “I’m a Westport boy from the city/Who moved out here for lawns that were green and girls that were pretty/And lots of European cars” — back in 2004. He’s performed it around the world — including Israel — and, he says, audiences appreciate it wherever they are.

The theme — work hard, have dreams, grow up, have kids, move out of the city, start a new chapter in your life, it’s not bad/just different — resonates “universally,” Michael says.

So what does a Jewish boy from the Detroit suburbs, who as the lead singer of hfive played to sold-out arenas throughout Israel, know from Westport?

Westporter Avi Kaner’s sister Celia is married to the son of Michael’s parents’ closest friend. (Of course!)

Avi — Westport’s new Board of Finance chairman — and his wife Liz moved here in 1996. They convinced Celia and her husband to follow them from San Francisco a few years later.

“Avi’s goal is to get everyone in the world to move to Westport,” Michael said by phone from Israel, where he is finishing the score for a film. “He says it’s the coolest place for a young person living in New York to move to.”

Michael didn’t take the bait, but he enjoyed spending weekends here. “It’s a very gracious community,” he said graciously. “It really is an awesome place.”

Michael HarPaz (bottom) in his hfive days, on the cover of an Israeli magazine.

On one of those trips, Michael sat down at Avi’s grand piano. He started singing an extemporaneous song about Westport. There were lines about successful urban guys who loved New York, but got married, had kids and moved here. They bought SUVs, with PlayStations in the back and jelly beans on the floor.

“Westport Boy” — “Now we’re soccer moms and Sunday ballet dads/And so I give my kids the youth I never had” — started as “a joke,” he admitted. But he went home, developed the chorus and hook around his friends with similar backgrounds, and created “a romantic love song” about a place. “It’s kind of like Billy Joel singing about Long Island,” Michael said.

His friends “chose the executive route,” while Michael took “the artsy, bohemian way.” Those friends — scattered now in suburban Chicago, Marin County, wherever — may not know Westport exactly. But they all relate to “Westport Boy.”

“As a singer/songwriter, this is what I do,” Michael explained. “Some of the best songs just hit you.

“This is not ‘Stairway to Heaven’ or ‘Hotel California,’” he acknowledged — presumably referring to those tunes’ popularity, not their artistic merit.

“But it was the right chemistry. The right vibe.”

“I’m a Westport boy from the city/Who moved out here for lawns that were green and girls that were pretty/And lots of European cars…”

——————————————–

To listen to “Westport Boy,” click below:

For more information on Michael HarPaz, click here and here.

Click below for a YouTube video of Michael performing at a Birthright event in Israel, in 2008:

Nancy Diamond and Carole Schweid couldn’t be happier.

The women are co-founders of a decade-long lunchtime program — the deliciously named Play With Your Food — that combines a gourmet lunch, professional readings of intriguing plays, and a stimulating post-performance discussion.

After a quick but entertaining and challenging 90 minutes, it’s back to work for everyone.

As with most off-the-wall or why-didn’t-I-think-of-that ideas, “Play With Your Food” developed casually. Nancy and Carole were young mothers serving together on the PTA Cultural Arts Committee. They discovered a shared desire to do something theater-related that would bring people together during the winter.

And they both loved food.

Carole Schweid and Nancy Diamond, Play With Your Food founders.

They knew Westport is a community that supports the arts, has good restaurants — and a pool of professional actors who love challenges.

The challenge was finding one-act plays equal to their vision.

To find good material, Nancy and Carole read a lot. They travel to one-act festivals around the country. They prowl book fairs and libraries. Now — with Play With Your Food a firm fixture on the local arts scene — people send suggestions to them.

The plays range from comedies and romances to mysteries and musicals, from classics to unpublished works. Despite the wide variety, all share one element: The audience must leave in an uplifted mood.

The appeal of Play With Your Food, Nancy says, is broad: “lunch, a social connection with others, and intellectual or emotional stimulation.”

Plus, Carole adds, “You don’t have to travel. This is all home-grown.”

Carole chooses 3 plays — 10 to 20 minutes each — for every program. (The series runs from January through April.) They may be short, she says, but “not light or fluffy.”

A typical scene from a Play With Your Food event.

In the beginning, most plays were “middle of the road,” Carole says. Now, “some are a little more challenging to the audience.” And the post-play discussions have become a bit deeper and more insightful.

Over 10 years, there must have been some flops. Right?

The women laugh. “Truly, no,” Nancy says. “Some plays are not as strong as others, but no one has ever walked out saying they wished they’d gone to the diner.”

Ah, dining. The restaurants that cater — a different one each month — are as varied as the plays themselves: Bobby Q’s. Blue Lemon. Da Pietro. Matsu Sushi.

Play With Your Food food.

“We like surprising audiences with little jewels of plays,” Nancy says. “And there are culinary surprises too. The food is very good — this is not tuna fish and potato chips.”

Next month, Play With Your Food celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a gala celebration. “Two for the Road” is set for Saturday, January 28 at Dragone Classic Motorcar Company. There will be catering from more than 20 great restaurants, followed by a “rousing show” created by Carole.

Professional actors will perform scenes from “My Fair Lady,” “42nd Street,” “Mack & Mabel” and Play With Your Food comedy favorites.

The event will celebrate a decade of success — and provide financial support for the series to continue.

“We can’t believe it’s been 10 years!” Nancy marvels. “Carole and I had young kids when we started. Now they’re all out of the house.”

So, back then, who came up with the spectacularly clever name “Play With Your Food”?

Nancy and Carole can’t quite remember.

But they do know this: “When something’s right, it’s right. We want to help people smile with our food and plays. And the name does, too.”

The event started out in Westport, at Toquet Hall and Town Hall.  Last year it was held at Fairfield’s Community Theatre.

Sounds like a good move.

The Bijou — in downtown Bridgeport — is a beautiful, historic theater in an up-and-coming neighborhood.  Shifting the festival to a bigger, hipper location can only help the city, the festival, and everyone associated with it.

The festival showcases the work of local youngsters — and those from as far as Sweden, Israel and India.  It also includes thought-provoking panels, speakers and workshops.

Each year’s long planning process brings together teenagers from throughout Fairfield County.  The involvement of Bridge Academy — a Bridgeport charter school — is particularly important, and beneficial.

But keeping the name “Westport Youth Film Festival” is nice.  Our town no longer has a theater.  At least we can put on a show.

(For more information search “Westport Youth Film Festival” on Facebook, call 203-222-7070, or email evan@westportartscenter.org)

Yet I would have been humiliated had I been at Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History Museum recently.  The event was the 14th annual Paleo-Knowledge Bowl, and I am definitely not as smart as 20 teams of 4th through 6th graders.

Especially the Wilton Library team, which included Westporter Charlie Colasurdo.  And which won the entire shebang.

The day-long event includes questions about paleontology that Ph.Ds would stumble over.  It begins with a written exam — say, “Name the 2 Connecticut dinosaurs known from skeletons that were discovered in a Manchester sandstone quarry in the late 1800s”* — but that’s not even the most fun.

Charlie Colasurdo, with his way-cool trophy. (Photo/Josue Irizarry)

Throughout the day the 20 teams are whittled down to 16, then just 3.  Each question is read twice.  Team members confer, and announce their answers in front of a live audience.

For the final round this year, a Yale proctor wheeled out a Deinonychus skull.  The judge asked why its antorbital fenestra — that’s the skull opening between the eye and nostril, dummies — was particularly large.  He read off a battery of possible answers.

Charlie and his teammates conferred.  They were excited — because, unlike you and me, they knew that orbital spaces helped the dinosaur see at night.

Still, the team — competing in its 1st-ever Paleo Bowl — was surprised to win the whole shebang.

“We couldn’t believe that all our hard work got us to the final round,” Charlie said, channeling his inner Super Bowl athlete.  “Some of the questions were tricky, but our team was really well prepared by Mr. Fennell.”

For the past 5 months Darrell Fennell, a volunteer coach,  and his daughter Katherine — along with the Wilton Library staff — coached the team for several hours a week.  They explored dinosaurs, fossils, paleobiology, geology and more, through presentations, discussions and demonstrations.  There were even field trips to the Peabody.

In addition to a behind-the-scenes peek into Peabody’s vertebrate paleontology collections, the winners walked away with a trophy, family memberships to the Yale Peabody Museum — and a special prize of rare fossils.

After my own experience with the History Channel quiz show, I’ve set my sights on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

Charlie Colasurdo, will you be my phone-a-friend?

(*Answer:  Anchisaurus and Ammosaurus.  Duh!)

Not exactly falalalala or roasting chestnuts, is it?

But that’s the best way to describe “Striking 12″ by GrooveLily — a musical presentation at the Westport Country Playhouse on December 10.

It’s a great show — but, sponsors say, the toughest part is describing it to the potential audience of families, kids, and basically everyone in Westport.

Finally, someone came up with this:  “‘Striking 12′ is to Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘Little Match Girl‘ as ‘Rent’ is to ‘La Boheme.’”

Or try this:  “‘Striking 12′ is a cross between a concert and a theater piece.  It brings the spirit of ‘Match Girl’ into contemporary New York.”

And:  “It’s a concert-with-a-story, band-is-the-actors musical, with hauntingly beautiful songs and a funny, heartwarming story….part rock concert, part musical…the hippest holiday show in recent memory.”

If that sounds like PR, it is.  I haven’t seen “Striking 12.”  But I trust the people who have.

They love the show.  They think GrooveLily — the band that plays, mixing electric violin, piano and drums to create new music with roots in classical, musical theater, jazz and rock — is way cool.

David Roth — who, as director of Staples Players, knows a thing or two about satisfying an audience — says, “I first heard about GrooveLily from someone who was obsessed by them.

“Now I listen to them a lot, and use them in my directing class.  It’s one of the most creative and different mixtures of theater and music I’ve ever seen.”

Supporters of the show want to spread the word to everyone in Westport that — despite the hectic holiday season — this is a show not to miss.

Writing on the Playhouse blog, Chad Kinsman says:

It’s not kid’s music, but music that is accessible to kids and adults, and everyone in between!  One of the hardest things about planning a family outing during the holidays is trying to find something everyone will enjoy, and I can safely say “Striking 12″ is just that. Younger patrons will enjoy the story, tweens and teens will like the band’s sense of humor, and everyone will love the songs.

He continues:

There is the poignancy (of “Match Girl,” but unexpectedly mixed with musical comedy, pop-rock tunes, old-fashioned uplift, and the little salesgirl whose holiday spirit can’t be matched.

Inside the clever lyrics and great melodies are important life lessons.  It’s a touching, family-and-friends-affirming show perfect to help spread the holiday spirit to you and yours.

I hope I’ve done a good job of conveying the excitement of “Striking 12.”

If not:  bah, Humbug!

(For tickets to the December 10 4 and 7 p.m. performances, click here.)

He’s at every Wrecker football game.  He’s been to dozens of concerts, from Springsteen and Jimmy Buffett to Sugarland and Kenny Chesney.

He takes a full course load, but really enjoys TV production.  He’s an active member of the Photography Club and Best Buddies.

He loves the Yankees and — to his Giant-fan father Brett’s dismay — the Patriots.

He hosts a popular Tuesday afternoon show on WWPT-FM.  Calling himself “The Wy-Master,” Wyatt develops a theme each show; finds an eclectic assortment of music fitting that theme, then writes out a script tying it all together.

Not bad for someone who — because of cerebral palsy — cannot use his extremities.  And is unable to speak.

Wyatt Davis, at the WWPT-FM controls.

Wyatt has been a well-known and popular Westporter for years.  He and his twin sister Kate were born 14 weeks prematurely.  Nearly a decade ago — as a 1st grader at Coleytown Elementary School — Wyatt’s spirit impressed Pete Caliguire, a member of the Staples football staff.

Pete invited Wyatt to be on the sidelines of the big Thanksgiving Day game against Greenwich.  Since then, he’s a regular presence at games, practices, even film sessions.

Wyatt was active in the Coleytown variety show, and in middle school became adept at using an adaptive camera.

All the while, he was in a “power chair.”  A technological marvel, it’s got a laptop and speaking device.  With very limited motor skills, Wyatt controls his world by moving his head.

At the end of 8th grade, Wyatt went with his class to a Staples orientation session.  Media production teacher Mike Zito found him, and got him involved.  The rest — as WWPT listeners know — is history.

In addition to concerts, Wyatt attends as many big sports events as he can.

Each of Wyatt’s shows has a theme — colors, the seasons, whatever.  Using iTunes he, his father and sister choose 14 to 16 songs.  Then, Wyatt and his aide Sharon Magera — an amazing woman who has been with him since 1st grade — make the final selection, and burn a CD.

He imports what he wants to say into his computer.  When the show begins, the device speaks Wyatt’s words.

“The Wy-Master” is one of WWPT’s most eclectic shows.  Wyatt’s tastes range from U2 to Duke Ellington.  “The genre doesn’t matter,” his father explains.  “In our house, if the music’s good we listen to it.”

Wyatt has always loved music, his father says.  He sits in on his sister’s guitar lessons.  And every day, he listens to his fellow broadcasters’ shows on ‘PT.

Brett says that Wyatt’s opportunities and experiences at Staples are “beyond incredible.”

His mother, Vicky, adds:  “Hopefully after graduation, a job at a radio or TV station can be part of his life.  Meanwhile, almost every day, something different or wonderful happens.”

The next wonderful thing might come this Saturday.  Members of the WWPT  staff travel to Naperville, Illinois, for the Drury Awards — an annual recognition of excellence in high school broadcasting.  The Staples radio station is national finalists in 12 categories — more than any other high school station in the country.

One of the nominations is for “Best News Feature Story.”  The subject is “The Wy-Master” show.

It aired as a newscast on WWPT earlier this year.  It was produced by Hannah Foley, Eric Gallanty — and Wyatt Davis, “The Wy-Master,” himself.

A little snow doesn't stop Wyatt Davis from enjoying the slopes.

(Wyatt Davis’s show airs every other Tuesday, 12:30-1:30 p.m., on WWPT-FM, 90.3)

Famous people — including fictional TV characters — live here.

Downtown is grappling with the loss of mom-and-pop shops.

Real estate is expensive.

Residents are affluent, worldly, well educated, and overwhelmingly white.

The politics lean toward the liberal.

Welcome to Westport, Connecticut — and Mill Valley, California.

Separated at birth? Mill Valley, California...

They may not be exact replicas of each other.

But they’re close.

Joggers, bikers, yoga practitioners, nature walkers:  check.

A much-loved library, highly regarded schools, community theater and arts festival:  check.

Texting while driving:  big check.

There are differences, of course.  While both have spectacular views, Westport counters Mill Valley’s canyons and redwoods with lush greenery and Colonial-era stone walls.

Mill Valley’s 20-minute commute to San Francisco blows Westport’s hour-long (with luck) ride to New York City out of the water (the Sound, not the Bay).

...and Westport, Connecticut.

For every Jack Kerouac who lived in Mill Valley, Westport’s got an F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Mill Valley has been home to Dana Carvey, Jack London, Jerry Garcia, Huey Lewis and Robin Williams.

Westport residents have included Paul Newman, Robert Ludlum, Ashford and Simpson, and Michael Bolton.

B.J. Hunnicutt of “M*A*S*H” lived in Mill Valley, supposedly.

“I Love Lucy’”s Ricardos called Westport home, fictionally.

West has a hyperlocal blog, “06880.”  Mill Valley has a hyperlocal blog, “Mill Valley Life.”  They share the same combination of celebrity and aargh-itude.

In fact — former Westporter Rod Serling would appreciate this — “06880″ is the creation of Dan Woog.  Who visits, and has close friends in, Mill Valley.

And “Mill Valley Life” is the creation of Liz Ewen Greer.  Who lived in Westport, way back in the 1960s.

DEE-DEE dee dee DEE-DEE dee-dee…

(Today’s post appears simultaneously in “06880″ and “Mill Valley Life.”)

Amazing music — not just Charlie Karp (above) and his Westport Heritage Blues Band, but “Connecticut’s premier Zydeco band,” “Girls With Guitars,” much more.  The entertainment — like the barbeque — was smokin’.

People having a good time.  There were plenty of Westporters — and plenty who are not.  Music, food, beer, pig races and street performers brings out everyone.

Did I mention food?  Some of which you sure won’t see at the Westport Farmers Market.

And more people having a good time.

If you missed yesterday’s event, don’t worry.  Blues, Views & Barbeque continues today (Sunday, September 25), starting at noon.

There’s a special pie-eating contest at 3 p.m., and a rib-eating contest right after.

Kudos to the Westport Downtown Merchants Association, and all the sponsors, for this great event.

Coming on the heels of last weekend’s Slice of Saugatuck, we’re getting spoiled.

Hopefully, Green’s Farms has got something cooking next Saturday.

We’ve got McMansions up the wazoo, and a town-owned country club with a wonderful inn overlooking Long Island Sound.

Quite a place to sing the blues.

But the blues will be wailin’ this weekend — and down-home barbecue will be served — at (hey, this is still Westport) the Levitt Pavilion and library.

It’s the 4th annual Blues, Views & BBQ Festival.  And — believe it or not — we don’t have to import our bluesmen (and women) from the Delta.  They’re right here in Fairfield County.

Many of them even have Westport ties.

Crispin Cioe gets ready to wail.

There’s music all weekend long.  But the highlight is Crispin Cioe’s Westport Heritage Blues Band (Saturday, 2:20 to 3:35 p.m.).  A musician who has toured and recorded with the Rolling Stones, J. Geils and Albert Collins — and a 10-year Westport resident — Crispin has mined the local music scene for the best bluesmen, r-and-b artists and rockers.

And he’s put them all together in one band.

Charlie Karp dropped out of Staples to play with Buddy Miles, Jimi Hendrix and Love.  It was a great career move:  40 years later, he’s still playing and recording, fronting great bands like White Chocolate and Dirty Angels.

David Hull is from Stratford, but  lived for a while in Westport.  He too played with Jimi and Buddy; he now plays regularly with James Montgomery.

Drummer Kevin Hupp has played here often, including the legendary band Slo Leak with Charlie Karp and studio legend/former Westporter Danny Kortchmar.

John “Ratso” Girardi owns a recording studio in Stamford, and is a Levitt Pavilion favorite.

Special guest Rocky Lawrence is a Bridgeporter.  But listen to this:  He spent the last 10 years with Honeyboy Edwards, a Delta blues guitarist who died last month at 95 — and who played with Robert Johnson.  Rocky will be featured in the Westport Heritage Blues Band’s tribute to that legendary bluesman.

The Buddy Miles Express plays Finnish TV in 1971.  Charlie Karp takes a blistering solo around the 2:52 mark.

So is Westport ready to replace Mississippi and Memphis as a true blues capital?

Not hardly.

Still, the musical spotlight shines here this weekend.  And even thought it’s at the Levitt Pavilion, not some smoky juke joint, that’s fine.

“There’s a tradition of great blues musicians who developed here.  Some still live here,” Crispin says.

“People are drawn to this music.”

Even if they drive Land Rovers, and park them in 4-car garages.

(The 4th annual Blues, Views & BBQ — presented by the Westport Downtown Merchants Association — runs Saturday, Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 25 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  In addition to music, there are barbecue competitions for backyard chefs and kids; a food court; a “Kids’ Corral”; rib and pie eating contests — and pig races.  Click here for more details, including ticket prices.) 

A “Playboy After Dark” show.  Charlie Karp is the very long-haired guitar player.  David Hull is the American flag-shirted bassist.  Hugh Hefner is the host.

Or — to put it another, perhaps more maritime way — the original business center of Westport blew the long-time reigning champ out of the water.

The 1st annual Slice of Saugatuck Festival — the brainchild of area resident Matthew Mandell, with the collaboration of dozens of restaurants and stores — drew thousands of residents to that pizza slice-shaped, still semi-Italian, and fairly funky neighborhood.

EMTs eat well, thanks to the Saugatuck Rowing Club's Boathouse chef.

Free food (and beer, wine and margaritas) were a main attraction.  But there was much more:  music, kayaking, hairstyling, fire truck sitting, fly fishing, tae kwan do, people-watching…

In other words:  fun.

Down Under offered free kayaking, on a gorgeous afternoon.

I’m a native Westporter.  I’ve always loved Saugatuck.  But until today — when I strolled its very stroll-able streets, and wandered its alleys and shortcuts — I didn’t really think about how much is packed into that small space.

The range of restaurants — from the Black Duck to the Boathouse; Mansion to Mario’s; Rizzuto’s to Tarry Lodge and Viva’s — is remarkable.  There’s room for Saugatuck Grain and Grape, plus Saugatuck Wine & Spirits.

And — as the 2nd phase of redevelopment begins — there’s even room to grow.

Of course, new projects are planned for downtown too.  From the Church Lane restaurant/retail complex to National Hall across the river — and, at some point, whatever replaces the Y — new restaurants and businesses could bring refreshing energy to that much-maligned area of town.

Riverside Avenue or Main Street?  The real fight may just have begun.

Music was a key element of Slice of Saugatuck. This duo performed outside Rizzuto's Restaurant.

Outdoor tables were a prime attraction at Tutti's.

Near Mario's, this bench bore a sign: "Yankee's Fans. Bullpen bench from the original Yankee Stadium. $7,500. See Fred."

The line was long outside Tarry Lodge. Great appetizers served by roving waiters eased the wait.

Martin Short

The visual of the comedian talking about his upcoming performance in Westport was compelling.  But he chatted calmly, while wigmakers buzzed about preparing him for his new role in “How I Met Your Mother,” as Marshall Eriksen’s new boss.

Short will be here on Saturday, September 24.  The event is Homes With Hope‘s 4th annual “Stand Up” benefit.  Guests “stand up” for the services the organization provides to the homeless, at the same time being treated to great stand-up comedy.

It’s a formula that works, and one that Short likes.

He’s always wanted to help people — he was pre-med until he realized he liked the idea of being a doctor more than actually being one; then he switched to social work, before giving in to his inner actor.

This is not just a fly-in-and-fly-out appearance.  Short knows all about Homes With Hope.

“It’s an amazing organization,” he says.  “I love doing events like this.  People are in a good mood, and they commit to doing good things.”

There’s nothing funny about homelessness.  But Martin Short is a very funny man.  From “SCTV” and “Saturday Night Live” through “Three Amigos” and “Father of the Bride,” he’s entertained audiences for decades.

Now he’ll use his gift of laughter to help Westporters stand up against homelessness.

(Martin Short will perform at the Westport Country Playhouse.  Holders of $200 and $150 tickets enjoy a 7 p.m. plaza reception with cocktails, “short” ribs, “short” cake and more.  $75 tickets are also available.  The event includes a live auction.  For tickets and information, click here.)

How can you tell which is which?

Watch closely when they perform.  If someone passes out from dancing too hard, the doctors give CPR.

The lawyers give out business cards.

Badum-CHING!

Give it up for DNR. (Photo courtesy of Paul Teoh/Matsu Sushi)

Seriously, folks, DNR truly gives back to the community.  This Saturday (Sept. 10, 8 p.m.), for example, the band plays its 2nd annual “Tribute to First Responders Everywhere” at the Levitt Pavilion.

The timing is perfect:  The next day is 9/11.  The concert is free, but donations are encouraged.  All proceeds go to Westport EMS — our own superb first responders.

The entire weekend, in fact, is dedicated to remembering 9/11, and collecting funds for Westport EMS.

This Friday (Sept. 9, 8 p.m.) features Civil Twilight, a South African alt-rock trio.

And Sunday (Sept. 11, 7 p.m.) brings the Fairfield Counts.  They’ll tailor their swing/big band program to honor the 10^th anniversary of 9/11, allowing for reflection, tributes, and celebrations of life.

As is traditional on closing night, concert-goers are urged to bring canned goods for the Women’s Food Closet.

So a doctor, a lawyer and a musician walk into an outdoor music pavilion…

Sometimes they’re lovely, architecturally significant treasures.  Usually they’re outdated, 51-year-old split levels.  Almost always, the commission says “yes.”

But what will they say when REO Speedwagon fans learn that 157 Riverside Avenue is may be bulldozed into oblivion?

The ’70s rock band — best known for “Keep On Loving You” and “Take It on the Run” — released their 1st album in 1971. The most popular track was “157 Riverside Avenue.“

Yes, that’s our 157 Riverside Avenue.  REO Speedwagon stayed there — directly across from Bedford Junior High School (now Saugatuck El) while recording in Bridgeport.  According to Wikipedia, that song “remains an in-concert favorite.”

(They’re still touring.  On September 15, you can catch them at the Kansas State Fair.  Little River Band too!)

But back to 157 Riverside.  Nick Thiemann — an attorney who lives next door — recently wrote to the Historic District Commission.

He does not object to the demolition.  However, he said:

While it would not appear that Washington slept there, it does seem as though someone did.  Whether this historical significance is relevant to your deliberations is a question you must determine.

Over the years that I have lived here (since 1968), I have been asked periodically if this is “really the REO Speedwagon 157 Riverside Avenue.”  Not often to be sure, but probably more often than neighbors of many the other houses you have designated as historically significant.

Okay.  It isn’t Big Pink.

But its ours.

And REO Speedwagon’s.

“06880″ readers?

157 Riverside Avenue -- hidden by trees, like a true celebrity house.

We flew into town on Sunday, had to find a place by Monday
Tried Bridgeport and Westport, ’til we found a place that we thought would do
157 Riverside Avenue.

Saugatuck River’s flowin’, mother nature’s colors were showin’
So cold, so rainy, we couldn’t help feelin’ blue
Not enough time, too many things to do.

We met a young girl on Main Street, wanted to just pass her by
She was homely, so lonely, she said, “can I make love to you?”
We shouted 157 Riverside Avenue.

It’s over, Miss Lena, we’re leaving, such a pleasant stay, I must say.
So nice, so easy, we hate to say goodbye to you
At 157 Riverside Avenue.

“06880″ reader Terri Gatti Schure sent this “open letter” to Sally White — the beloved (and longtime) owner of Sally’s Place.  It’s one of the last independent “record” stores in America — and Sally puts the “mom” in mom-and-pop shops.

Terri writes:

Dear Sally,

You were the topic of conversation at our recent Staples High School 40th reunion earlier this month. Several of us reminisced about you, and the memories were so fond and profoundly deep. We all agreed that your love of music came from the heart.  You had such passion — not just for the music itself, but for what the music created for us emotionally.

The incomparable Sally White

In 1967, the highlight of my Saturdays was going to Klein’s and listening to whatever you had on the “record player.”  You’d guide me through the latest and best artists, albums, top 10.  I could walk in and give you 2 or 3 words in the lyrics, and you knew exactly what song it was.

So it seemed fitting that this past Saturday, while in town to celebrate my Staples reunion, I would stop by with a dear classmate to see you.  Plus, I had these 2 songs I hadn’t been able to find…

Even though I hadn’t seen you in 40 years, you were the same old Sally.

And those 2 songs? One was about not paying the rent – an old R&B tune.  You wrote some notes in your spiral notebook — just like you did 40 years ago — and promised to do some research.  If anyone can find the song, it will be you.

The other song was more of a memory.  I told you that I recalled my mother sitting at the kitchen table in the dark,  in the late ’50s, smoking a cigarette, listening to this haunting song on the radio.  I could only recall that it had something to do with the earth being bitter.

You ran around the counter, grabbed a research book and then a CD, and said, “here it is!”

You took the CD out of the cellophane — not even caring that I might not buy it — and put it in your player.  “’This Bitter Earth’ by Dinah Washington,” you said.

As we listened to the song I was overcome with emotion, lost in the memory of my mother that night.  I looked at you through teary eyes, and of course yours were teary too.  That is what was always so special about you.  We could share a small piece of our heart with you, and you loved us all, because the music made it possible.

It was a pleasure and an honor seeing you again.  I want to thank you for sharing your music with me this past Saturday, as well as all those many, many Saturdays over 40 years ago.

Warmly,

Teri Gatti Schure

You don’t see a lot of black guys running in Westport.  But what I always noticed about him was his presence.   He wasn’t particularly fast, but he had grace and style.

One day I asked someone who he was.

“Ashford,” he said simply.

As in Ashford & Simpson.

Nick Ashford died yesterday in New York, of throat cancer.  He was 70.

Nick Ashford

He and his wife, Valerie Simpson, bought a 7.5 acre property on the corner of Cross Highway and Bayberry Lane in 1974.

They sold it in 2007.  Their impressive home became a tear-down — replaced by an even larger one.

According to Emily Hamilton Laux, who lived across the street, Ashford & Simpson used it primarily as a summer home.

Every 4th of July, there was a fantastic party.  Limos deposited a who’s-who of the R&B world.  Guests wore white linen — and bands like KC & the Sunshine Band  performed.

“People would walk around the neighborhood,” Emily says.  “We knew we couldn’t crash the party, but we’d listen to music better than anything you could hear in the best club anywhere.”

Ashford & Simpson were not active participants in Westport life — beyond jogging, eating out in local restaurants and going downtown — but those of us who knew they were here always included their names with pride.

“Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward live here,” we’d say.  “And Harry Reasoner, and …”  We’d add a few more names.

Then we’d say:  “And Ashford & Simpson.”

They were our little connection to Motown.  The duo wrote “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” and “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand,” among many others.

As performers, their biggest hit was “Solid as a Rock,” in 1984.

Ashford & Simpson were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.

Nick Ashford always seemed larger than Westport.  He was in town, but not part of it.

Then I’d see him jogging, and I’d realize he was just another middle-aged guy who lived here and worked hard, trying to keep in shape.

Just a middle-aged guy who happened to write an important chunk of America’s impressive songbook.

Sugar pie, honey bunch…

Of course.  Anyone of a certain age (mine) knows without thinking that those are the only words that follow “I can’t help myself.”

Just as everyone at our reunion — or any other one, anywhere, from that era — understands instinctively that the only thing boot heels do is “wander.”  And — as Doctor Doctor Mister M.D. says — all you really need is good lovin’.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brian Keane and Charlie Karp rock on. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

One of the many highlights at Saturday’s reunion was the band.  All were members of our Staples Class of 1971.  Billy Sims, Rob McClenathan, Bubba Barton — each with non-music jobs now — joined Mike Mugrage, Brian Keane, Jeff Dowd, Billy Seidman and Charlie Karp to play some of what Cat Mother and the All Night Newboys know is “that good old rock ‘n’ roll.”

Mike toured and performed with James Brown, Ronnie Spector and Orleans. Brian is a multiple Grammy and Emmy Award-winning composer.  Jeff is an opera singer based in Germany.   Billy teaches music at NYU.

Charlie never graduated from Staples.  He dropped out a few weeks into 10th grade, forsaking algebra and gym for touring and recording with guys like Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles.  He’s now back in this area, playing with great bands like Slo Leak.

These guys sometimes played together at Staples.  They were in different groups too.

Linda Satin, Carissa Simon, Margaret Hart and Bonnie Housner channel the Supremes. (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

On Saturday night — with the addition of former Orphenians Bonnie Housner, Margaret Hart, Julie Aldworth McClenathan, Kim Plaut, Linda Satin and Carissa Simon as singers, all of whom had the “Stop!  In the Name of Love” hand motions down pat — they brought us back to a time when music was not only real and good, but a shared experience.

Everyone who went to school in the 1960s and 70s listened to the same songs at the same time.  We heard them on transistor radios, car radios, turntables at parties.

Just a snippet of the most obscure tunes — “I’m Your Puppet,” “Hitchin’ a Ride,” “Indiana Wants Me” — brings back powerful memories of precise places, people and the funny/outrageous/bizarre/typical/illegal things we were doing at those moments.

So as I listened and danced Saturday night — Mustang Sally, you been runnin’ all over town — I said to myself:  “Man, you are one lucky guy to have grown up when you did.”

Jimi Hendrix, back when music was music.

And then I thought about music today.  When the Class of 2011 has its reunion, they will not have actual music to listen to.

Nor will they have classmate bands from high school to play it.

Nor experience the joy of growing up sharing the same music, at the same time and place, during a transformative time in their young lives.

I threw this sad fact out at a friend from Burr Farms, Long Lots and Staples — a guy I haven’t seen in decades, but who because of our time together long ago, I’d reconnected with instantly.

He didn’t buy it.

His kids — in their late teens and early 20s — love the Beatles, Doors and other groups we also loved, he said, back in the day.

Suddenly, I felt fine.

In 2051, I realized, alums attending their own 40th reunions will listen to the same music we did.

Eighty years before.

It hasn’t created much buzz — yet.

It’s not Festival Italiano.

But a “Slice of Saugatuck” festival scheduled for September 17 may draw many Westporters down to that old, diverse, now rapidly redeveloping neighborhood.

The Westport News reports that the event — organized by RTM member and area resident Matthew Mandell — will include food from 22 restaurants and caterers,  from Riverside and and Railroad Place out to Saugatuck Avenue; wine from Grain and Grape and Saugatuck Wine & Spirits; kayak rides at Downunder; fly fishing lessons at Westport Outfitters, and tours of the Saugatuck fire station.

September is a perfect time for a festival near the Saugatuck River. (Photo by Bobbi Liepolt)

At the same time, word on the street — Riverside Avenue — is that Doc’s Cafe will close at the end of October.  One door closes, another opens, as my Italian grandmother used to say (if I had one), but losing what is arguably Westport’s funkiest “coffeehouse” is the yin to Slice of Saugatuck’s yang.

For Westporters who can’t (or won’t) venture across the bridge to the Slice event — or for anyone into street fairs — here’s another bit of news:  Blues, Views and BBQ returns to the Levitt Pavilion September 24-25.

Sure, it’s clunkily named.  But the annual event — featuring, this year, music from Otis and the Hurricanes, River City  Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, and the Westport Heritage Blues Band starring Charlie Karp and Crispin Cioe (plus many others), and lots of mouth-watering food –  has become an early fall, not-to-be-missed downtown staple.

On consecutive weekends next month we’ll celebrate one festival in a traditional Italian neighborhood, then another honoring the decidedly un-Westport (but very welcome) traditions of blues and barbecue.

They say the 3rd time’s the charm.  Anyone ready to resurrect the Apple Festival?

So when her bosses planned a New York City open casting call, Ilana wanted to make sure her home town heard about it.

The call is for this Friday (August 5, 9 a.m.-noon) at Sutton Place (1015 Second Ave.).

Anyone with skills, “personality that pops” and a passion for cooking — chefs, line cooks, caterers, home cooks and “culinary enthusiasts” — is invited.

The bait:  the chance to host your own show on Food Network.

Other qualifications include extensive food knowledge, and “lots of energy and enthusiasm.”

Interested reality show hosts should click here for info; then click the tab for a downloadable application.  Bring it, plus 2 photos of yourself and a resume, to the casting call.

A batch of homemade brownies couldn’t hurt either.

Unless I made them.

(Interested, but can’t make it on Friday?  Click here for info on submitting a home video.  Questions?  Email:  fns8NYC@gmail.com)