Pic Of The Day #99

Posted on July 25, 2017 | 13 Comments

Waiting in the Staples High School auditorium lobby for last weekend’s production of “Working.” The painting is “Birth of the Blues” — one of 7 in a series by Staples grad, and noted artist/musician Eric von Schmidt. (Photo copyright Lynn U. Miller)

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13 responses to “Pic Of The Day #99”

  1. Diana Bell | July 25, 2017 at 9:12 pm |

    Yikes, that’s me! Not that I really mind but can one just take a photo of someone and post it? What if I’d told someone I was staying home with a headache?

    • Sharon Paulsen | July 25, 2017 at 9:28 pm |

      Oh snap, that could be embarrassing, LOL!

      FYI: I don’t know you, but I just love your glasses! Great colors … they pull tones right from the painting!

      It’s a great photograph, if you ask me.

      🙂

    • Sarah Bell | July 25, 2017 at 10:00 pm |

      Mother darling, if you’d told someone you were staying home with a headache, it would serve you right to be outed as a lying ratbag! XOX, your loving daughter! P.S. It is a great photo.

    • Dan Woog | July 25, 2017 at 10:46 pm |

      Public place is fair game! Your image can’t be used for commercial purposes (in an ad, for instance), or someplace you’d have a reasonable expectation of privacy (a public bathroom). As for telling someone you stayed home with a headache: Don’t.

  2. Kathie Bennewitz | July 25, 2017 at 10:22 pm |

    Love this! Lyn, Great pic!

    And to learn more about this mural and the entire WestPAC “Giants of the Blues” series by Eric von Schmidt (1931-2007), on view at Staples visit: https://collections.westportps.org/items/show/1208

    He was a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter. and also created albums covers for important musicians of his day, including Joan Baez & Cisco Houston

  3. Jaime Bairaktaris | July 25, 2017 at 10:24 pm |

    My favorite picture of the series so far. A fantastic snapshot

  4. Luke Garvey | July 26, 2017 at 7:20 am |

    Featuring the luminous Lady Diana.

  5. Julie Fatherley | July 26, 2017 at 9:45 am |

    I love Diana but my friends and I were overwhelmed by the paintings and
    those who had the forethought to honor Eric. My husband used to transport
    him to the hospital for therapy and had amazing experiences with him.
    I am sad that his home and family history have been lost to the archives of
    Westport but these paintings sing and glad that students can witness them.
    My neighbors used to attend his amazing “jam” sessions at his home and
    witnessed the progression of his paintings…how lucky are they?
    Julie Fatherley

  6. Buell Neidlinger | July 26, 2017 at 5:38 pm |

    had lots of fun with Ric von Schmidt in Cambridge, Mass. in the 50s and
    Nashville after that. last time i played with/saw him was at John Hartford’s house south of N’ville in 1998

  7. Marc Bailin | July 26, 2017 at 11:23 pm |

    What Staples Class was Eric von Schmidt? How did we not know that when we were at Staples in the late 1960’s. We LOVED his music! Still do!

    • Dan Woog | July 27, 2017 at 6:37 am |

      I’m not sure of the year — some time in the late 1940s or early ’50s, I guess. He served in the Korean War. Bob Dylan references “Ric von Schmidt” as the man who taught him “Baby Let Me Follow You Down” on Dylan’s 1st album, released in 1962. He says von Schmidt “lives in Cambridge. Ric is a blues guitar player. I met him one day on the green pastures of the Harvard University.”

  8. Bonnie Bradley | July 29, 2017 at 9:45 pm |

    My half-sister, Mary Lou Bradley, was the only child of my father and the daughter of Fred Lewis (creator and owner of Longshore, his Westport home), who divorced shortly after her birth. Her mother refused custody of the child, who seldom saw her again. Mary Lou lived with her Bradley grandparents down the street from us in Owenoke – a terrible situation for her which my father allowed. When I was about 10 years old, she desperately wanted to marry Eric von Schmidt after he proposed. They were very much in love. Eric lived in a barn on South Compo near the Steinkraus house at that time. My grandmother Minerva Bradley strongly opposed the marriage – I suppose because he was “an artist and musician” and my grandmother mistakenly had higher aspirations for her granddaughter.

    Mary Lou was a smart, sweet, funny, beautiful and gifted young woman but had a very difficult life. She later married Bill Colby and had four children. After several years they divorced. She spent most of her life in Florida, where she had a successful tropical fish farm on the West coast. My son and I visited her there once. No matter her many difficulties, my family always loved and helped her, as best we could. When she died in Florida our grandmother was long dead. My family arranged a memorial service at Christ and Holy Trinity Church in Westport for her and published the date. The family was all there but only one other person attended the service – either Paul or Mary Kowolsky – I don’t remember which.