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Eagle-eyed viewers may have recognized a Westport connection during a segment on yesterday’s ESPN Sunday NFL Countdown sow. The fictitious exhibition — “Tim Brady vs. The New York Jets,” showcasing the quarterback’s Tom record — was filmed at MoCA Westport.
ESPN rented the space last week. They wanted a realistic museum setting for their tribute to Brady.
The “exhibition” features masterpieces like The Hit (2001), Brady The Starter (2001), The Monday Massacre (2010), Backing Up The Talk (2011), and a “poetic piece” entitled The Departure (2020).
Click below to see. MoCA begins 40 seconds in.
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COVID has taken some steam out of Steam.
The popular newish coffee-and-more place at the head of Railroad Place says that “due to current conditions,” their evening café will be closed until further notice.
However, it’s available for afternoon and evening rentals, events and meet-ups.
Steam will still be open weekdays (6 a.m. to noon), and weekends (8 a.m. to noon).
Here’s a bit of sweet news: They’ve added Ferrara Bakery cannolis to their usual menu of bagels, donuts, breakfast sandwiches, and Balthazar Bakery croissants and pastries.
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Don Memo customers, staff — and many strangers — are pulling together for Kelli Pulkkinen.
The popular manager and server at the downtown restaurant has been diagnosed with a rare type of leukemia. She is just 31 years old.
Don Memo owner Bill Taibe quickly added a new cocktail. The “Universal Donor” helps raise money for Kelli. It costs $14, and includes Casco Viejo tequila, aperol, sparkling rosé, lemon and rose syrup. Rosé and tequila are 2 of her favorite drinks.
Taibe told the Westport News she is “a rock star” and “a fireball”: vibrant, funny and full of energy.
“She’s just a fireball,” he said. “Kali is the kind of person that just gives it her all.”
He added, “It’s hard enough battling cancer. If we can make sure that she doesn’t have to worry about her paychecks and bills and stuff for the time being that’s one less thing, and she can focus her energy.”
Click here for the full Westport News story. (Hat tip: Matthew Mandell)
The Don Memo drink
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There was no rain yesterday morning.
But a full moon and high tide were enough to flood Compo Beach Road.
Compo Beach Road, at Quentin Road. (Photo/Tammy Barry)
Let’s hope this was the worst weather event of 2022.
Hey … a guy can dream.
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You never know what you’ll find at Baron’s South.
The other day, Wendy Crowther was walking off the path, in the woods near the Imperial Avenue entrance. She saw this messy scene:
(Photo/Wendy Crowther)
At first she thought it was a homeless encampment. As she got closer though, she realized the cans were rusty — but unopened.
She now thinks that months — or years — ago, someone stored supplies deep in an existing hole in the tree trunk. As time passed, more of it decayed.
Eventually the cavity collapsed, spilling the cache onto the ground. But who squirreled them away — and why — remains a mystery.
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If you’ve always wanted to know about the “Physical Properties and History of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds”: Here’s your chance!
Clare Burhenne — a Westport Astronomical Society member, and Ph.D. student at Rutgers University — will lecture on that very topic. The free event is set for January 18; click here for the Zoom link; click here for the YouTube livestream.
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Our daily Roundup “Westport … Naturally” feature has run a few photos of vultures recently.
Janine Scotti recently moved the Saugatuck River to a condo near the back of Compo Shopping Center. She was amused to see gulls circling the dumpster, a ways from the water.
This week though, they were bumped by a new flock of birds. Yep: vultures.
(Photo/Janine Scotti)
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And finally … well, you knew this was coming, right?
I think it was a new moon, not a full moon, but yeah, very high water!
I think steam is closing more because of the grouch that owns it. Has nothing to do w covid. I won’t ever go back there. His partner is sweet though.
Re: the rusty canned goods spilling out of a decayed tree in Barons South: like the abandoned vehicle in Longshore which was recently featured on 06880, the above captioned says something about our stewardship of open space. And it’s not especially flattering.
How sad to see the photo of unopened cans of food that Wendy Crowther discovered hidden in the trunk of a tree at Barons South. The cans that still have labels on them may have a expiration date on them so we could narrow down the time frame for when they were originally stored there.
But most probably it was a homeless person. Note that its location is a short walk from Gillespie Center. I worked as a homeless advocate for five years, back in the day, and I frequently saw this kind of thing. Either the person died or, perhaps because of mental illness, forgot about their hidden stash. But this has all the survival hallmarks of a person living on the streets.
It is quite possible it was hidden there by Tina Wessel a well know homeless woman who tragically died not far from this very tree in November 2016 after, allegedly, a town employee callously cut the power during a deep freeze to the nearby maintenance building that everyone knew she was living in.
Dan, I remember that you ran a lovely tribute to Tina reporting on her death and funeral.
https://06880danwoog.com/2016/12/09/westport-bids-tina-goodbye/amp/
Rest in Peace Tina. Your suffering is all over now and you don’t need to hide your cans of food anymore.
Thanks for posting that link, John.