The campaign to lessen plastic straw use in Westport no longer sucks.
The Whelk, Jesup Hall, Kawa Ni, Amis, Viva Zapata, Dunville’s and the Black Duck have all joined in. Dunkin’ Donuts is in the process of phasing them out.
Now comes news that a place that serves many more customers a day than all of these combined — well, maybe not Dunkin’ — has joined the crusade.
RTM member Andrew Colabella tells “06880” that he heard from Deborah VanCoughnett, director of dining services for Chartwells, the company that runs food services for the Westport schools.
Andrew says they’ll severely limit plastic straw use when school starts later this month.
None will be on display. However, students who need one — for example, those with physical disabilities — can simply ask a cashier.
Andrew thanks fellow RTM member Kristin Schneeman, school superintendent Dr. Colleen Palmer, Bedford Middle School principal Dr. Adam Rosen and student Michael Rossi Pontoriero, and VanCoughnett for their work on this project.
It’s an important step forward. But bigger issues lie ahead.
Like plastic bottles.
Yesterday, I got an email from Samantha Henske.
Last year — as a 5th grader at Kings Highway Elementary School — she started a drive to eliminate single-use water bottles. She and her Workshop grouop sold reusable BPA-free water bottles to 400 KHS students. With the money raised, they bought a water filling station for the school.
Samantha Henske, and plastic bottles.
As she worked on the project, Sammi learned not only about environmental effects of plastic bottles (one year of manufacturing uses enough oil to fuel a million cars; a bottle in a landfill takes up to 450 years to decompose; plastics that get into fish and other sea creatures can end up as microplastics in our bodies), but that chemicals in BPA can lead to neurological difficulties and increased growth of cancer cells.
Now — as she enters Coleytown Middle School — she’s moving forward, townwide. Next month, she meets with 1st Selectman Jim Marpe and Westport’s Green Task Force.
This is a sibling effort. She’s doing the research; her sophomore brother Spencer is working on design and technology.
The result is a Change.org petition. The goal is to eliminate single-use plastic water bottles in all of Westport. To sign — or learn more — click here.
As previewed earlier this week, Paul Newman made a special appearance today at the Westport Farmers’ Market.
The movie star/blue-eyed idol/race car driver/food purveyor/philanthropist — and, for 50 years, our neighbor — is unfortunately no longer actually here with us.
But a life-size cutout of him stood under a tent, in the bustling market on Imperial Avenue.
Dozens of shoppers of all ages stopped by to pose for a photo. Many had stories. A camera crew from Newman’s Own Foundation — the Westport-based charity that in over 35 years has given away more than $530 million — recorded Newman-related memories.
It’s a Foundation project, for use as a video and on social media.
If you missed him today, don’t worry. Paul will be back on Thursday, August 16 (10 a.m. to 2 p.m.). His eyes will be as blue as ever.
BONUS STORY: I was one of the many Farmers’ Market-goers today who shared a Paul Newman story. Here’s mine:
It was the 1970s. Early one summer evening, some friends and I were playing pick-up soccer on the front field at Coleytown Middle (then Junior High) School.
Suddenly, a helicopter hovered overhead. We scattered. It landed.
Out stepped Paul Newman. He wore shorts — and carried a briefcase.
“Hi, boys!” he said cheerily.
The helicopter whirred back into the sky. And, with a wave, one of the most famous actors in the world walked around the corner to his home.
“06880” does not usually promote Levitt Pavilion concerts. There are too many good ones — rock, jazz, military bands, kids’ shows, you name it — and by now, most people know how to find the shows they like.
But the Levitt does not usually showcase Gullah music. So here’s a little promo for this Saturday’s event (August 4, 8 p.m.).
And — because “06880” is “where Westport meets the world” — there’s a great local connection.
Ranky Tanky is the group you’ll want to hear. They celebrate Gullah culture — the unique evolution of West African slaves shipped to the South Carolina coast to work the low country rice plantations.
Because they were so skillful, the slaves were kept together — not separated, like those from other parts of Africa. The culture they created continues today.
Ranky Tanky celebrates Gullah life through spirituals, poems, children’s songs and lullabies, combining them with fresh, jazz-inflected music. It’s special, unique, and well worth seeing and hearing.
Ranky Tanky, in the low country.
The band is hot. Their first album zoomed to #1 on the Billboard, Amazon and iTunes jazz charts. They’ve headlined the Spoleto Music Festival, played Carnegie Hall and been featured in Downbeat. Terry Gross interviewed them for “Fresh Air.”
But the world would not have heard about Ranky Tanky without the passion of a local couple.
Last year, Steve Ruchefsky and Rondi Charleston started Resilience Music Alliance. The goal is to empower artists and creators who explore, challenge and celebrate the human condition of (you guessed it) resilience.
At the Spoleto Music Festival, Steve Ruchefsky and Rondi Charleston presented Ranky Tanky with plaques commemorating the #1 performance of the first release on the Westporters’ label, Resilience Music Alliance
Ranky Tanky — the name comes from a Gullah phrase meaning “work it” or “get down” — has performed all over the country, and are booked well into 2019.
During a summer when — thanks to a superb Historical Society exhibit –Westport is examining its African American past, and our town’s connection to slavery, Saturday’s Levitt Pavilion show is timely and important.
And if all that is not enough to draw you to the Levitt for Ranky Tanky, try this:
Westporters of a certain age remember Paul Newman as one of the most famous movie idols of the 20th century — and our neighbor.
The man. The legend. The US postage stamp.
Younger Westporters — and their counterparts all around the country — know him as a salad dressing, popcorn and lemonade guy.
Lost in all that is the fact in 2006 that Paul Newman — who, don’t forget, was also a race car driver, and the founder of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp — teamed up with Michel Nischan to start The Dressing Room.
That superbly named restaurant next to the Westport Country Playhouse was Fairfield County’s first farm-to-table restaurant. And — thanks to the star power of its 2 owners — it helped kick-start a whole new way for local residents to look at food.
Here’s something else many folks don’t know (or forgot): The Playhouse parking lot was the original site of the Westport Farmers’ Market. The location was convenient and open. Both Newman and Nischan helped plant the seed, and watched it grow.
This September marks the 10th anniversary of Paul Newman’s death. To honor this remarkable man — one who during his 50 years gave tons of time, energy and money back to the town — the Farmers’ Market has created a special project with Newman’s Own. (The charitable foundation is one more of his legacies.)
Paul Newman often shopped at the Westport Farmer’s Market. He was a particular fan of the locally produced honey.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at this Thursday’s Farmers’ Market — and also on Thursday, August 16 — everyone is invited to share their memories of Paul Newman.
Newman’s Own will bring a life-sized cutout of their founder to the Market (now bigger than ever, at the Imperial Avenue parking lot). Video equipment will be on hand to record stories and tributes.
Clips may be shared by Newman’s Own Foundation, in a video and on social media.
Can’t make it to the market? Submissions can be emailed: social@newmansownfoundation.org.
There must be a million Paul Newman stories in Westport. Let’s start those cameras rolling.
I’m a sucker for beautiful harmonies. Meaningful lyrics. And local singer/songwriters who should be international stars, but for whatever reason never move beyond a too-small circle of loving, devoted fans.
In the 1970s it was Carlson & Gailmor — Rob and Jon, the Staples High School graduates whose “Peaceable Kingdom” album is one I’d still run into a burning building to save, but who Polydor Records never knew how to promote. They’ve both moved on to long, separate musical careers. But they should have reached a worldwide audience.
For well over a decade, it’s been the Wiggins Sisters. Like Carlson & Gailmor, their music is so much better than so much of the garbage that is (and was) out there. It’s astonishing too few people know (and love) them.
The Wiggins Sisters
Unlike duos like the Righteous Brothers, Mizzy and Casey Wiggins are actual siblings. They learned to sing harmonies from their dad, on family road trips throughout their native Midwest.
Their influences range from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell to Motown and the Rolling Stones. There are strong strains of Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, the Avett Brothers, Emmy Lou Harris and Linda Ronstadt too.
In the 1980s, the sisters pursued separate careers. Casey attended the Musicians Institute and performed in Los Angeles. Mizzy went to the University of Texas, immersing herself in the Austin music scene.
In 1993 Casey and her husband Chuck moved to Westport. They embarked on a business venture with singers’ brother Steve — founder of Oxford Health Plans.
When Mizzy and her sons came to Wilton the next year, the sisters quickly picked up where they’d left off — singing and writing — as teenagers. They were part of the folk revival of the ’90s, performing at song swaps in Greenwich Village and on the Northeast coffeehouse circuit.
The Wiggins Sisters, in the studio.
They won songwriting awards, and released their debut album, “The Wiggins Sisters.”
Westport has always supported their music. Bob Hertzel gave them an early gig, at the Westport Arts Festival. They played at many First Nights, and the Levitt Pavilion — one of their favorite venues.
Their second album, “Minnesota,” was produced by Lloyd Maines, of Dixie Chicks fame. It received widespread praise, and radio airplay.
Both albums feature actual songs — not “tunes.” The sisters write and sing of their lives in Minnesota and Texas; of growing up and moving away; of meeting old friends and lovers; of living lives in America today.
The sisters traveled and performed extensively. But they never became, say, the Dixie Chicks.
Meanwhile, each woman was raising 3 children. As they became teenagers — and Casey and Mizzy’s mom suffered a stroke in 2004 — the women pulled back from writing, recording and touring.
Mizzy became a certified yoga instructor, and earned a doctor of nursing in philosophy degree. Casey tutored at Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport, and is a board member of Positive Directions.
But good music has a way of sticking around — and surprising. “Minnesota” won the Best Americana Album award at the Independent Music Awards in Nashville in 2009 — 10 years after its release.
That motivated the sisters to go back in the studio. It was time to record the many songs that had piled up over the years.
It took a while. Mizzy moved back to Austin in 2015, to be near her children and teach at her alma mater.
Casey traveled to Texas several times. The sisters recorded 16 songs at the famed Zone Recording Studio, with ace Austin musicians.
Twelve of those tracks — plus 2 from earlier demos — became their new album. Like previous efforts, the songs range from Appalachian-style ballads to blues, from country to folk to rock, from tender to tough.
It’s called “Fairfield County.” The title track was written by Mizzy about leaving this area, and ending a chapter in life.
“Many people our age relate to that,” the sisters say. “They become empty nesters, and transition into a new and different phase.”
Casey and Chuck still live in Westport. “My ties here run deep,” she says. “I’ve made lifelong friends in Westport. So have my children.”
Mizzy and her husband Jeff moved again, to Rhinebeck, New York.
The Wiggins’ father, Tony — their musical mentor — died in June. He had lived for many years in Wilton.
“Fairfield County” caught the ear of WFUV DJ John Platt, who invited them to his “Sunday Supper” radio program. The women were also part of the station’s “On Your Radar” showcase at Rockwood Music Hall this month.
The Wiggins Sisters at WFUV-FM.
The album is selling well. I think it deserves to sell really well — like, at Taylor Swift levels.
But even though “Fairfield County” is not platinum, the Wiggins Sisters continue to do what they love. They’re already working on a follow-up.
“We’re on a roll,” they say. “Once the music is out there, we just hope the songs move someone, somewhere, in some way.”
They sure do. And if you’re one of the too-many people who have not heard of the Wiggins Sisters, click here. Or go to iTunes, Spotify, Amazon or CD Baby.
Whether you’re from Fairfield County, Minnesota, Texas — or anywhere else — these 2 women deserve to be heard.
Last December, Lynsey Addario was named Fox News’ “Power Player of the Week.”
This week, she did it again.
It may have been a slow news week. Or maybe Chris Wallace really likes the Staples High School graduate, who has gone on to earn both a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur genius grant.
The “Fox News Sunday” host says that Lynsey Addario takes “riveting photographs that bring the savagery of the front lines into your home.”
Addario claims she is “not brave — just committed.”
Wallace listed the places Addario has worked: Afghanistan. Iraq. Libya. Darfur. South Sudan. Somalia.
She goes there, she says, because it is “fundamental to document” what occurs in those war-torn places.
After photographing skeletons and devastated villages, Addario goes home. There, she tries to explain war — and her work — to her 6-year-old son.
It’s still July — but the November election is just 99 days away.
Senator Chris Murphy came to Westport Democratic Party headquarters today, to inspire volunteers for down-ballot races.
Will Haskell — a recent college graduate, running against Toni Boucher for State Senate in the 26th district — introduced the senator, noting that he’d knocked on doors during Murphy’s first US Senate run.
Murphy is only 44 years old. But that’s twice as old as Haskell. Acknowledging the introduction — and his own early days in politics — Murphy said: “I was Will Haskell!”
US Senator Chris Murphy, earlier today at Westport Democratic Party headquarters.
Dozens of former Staples High School runners — along with friends and fans from the Westport road race series and Pequot Runners — came from as far as California today to honor Laddie Lawrence, and his 50 years of coaching.
It was supposed to be a surprise. But when you’ve touched as many lives as Laddie, the secret was bound to get out.
Still, it was a wonderful and emotional afternoon. In half a century as the town’s running guru — including not only Staples cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and the summer and fall races, but also Thursday evening age group meets — Laddie has created a community of runners of all ages and abilities.
Former Staples teammates from his Class of 1964 were there. So were rival coaches — and Paul Lane, the former Staples coach who first introduced him to track. Parents came too. But most of all, there were runners, present and (recent and distant) past.
Laddie’s Staples classmate, artist Miggs Burroughs, gave him a special gift: this lenticular photo of him, back in high school and today.
He’s won an insane number of championships. His athletes have become All-Americans, and earned college scholarships. But today was a time for everyone, of every speed, to gather together and say “thanks” to a mentor and friend.
Best of all: This was not goodbye. Laddie is not retiring.
Actually, knowing him, he’ll coach another 50 years.
Laddie Lawrence: forever young, and forever loved.
The Staples High School-to-Broadway pipeline is well-established, and longer running than any hit show.
So it was no surprise to see 2007 graduate Mia Gentile on stage yesterday at Bryant Park. The “Kinky Boots” star was part of the weekly free outdoor concert series, in the heart of Manhattan.
What made her performance special was the photographer shooting it. Jack Bowman — a Staples Players star 8 years after Mia — was on assignment for TheaterMania.
Mia Gentile performs songs from “Kinky Boots.” (Photo/Jack Bowman for TheaterMania)
I’m sure there were other Westporters in the audience — perhaps even onstage.
And I know there are many other Mias and Jacks, waiting in the middle and elementary school wings.
(For all of Jack Bowman’s Broadway in Bryant Park photos, click here.)
Westporter and 1979 Staples High School graduate Tommy Greenwald writes:
Internist, cardiologist, clarinetist, bagpiper, banjo player, guitar player, handball player and dog lover Jonathan “Pal” Greenwald died yesterday. He was 82.
A longtime resident of Westport, Dr. Greenwald was a graduate of Hamilton College and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. He had a solo practice in Norwalk for nearly 50 years.
Dr. Jonathan Greenwald
His many patients loved him for his intelligence, compassion, sense of humor and willingness to accept many forms of payment, including oranges and paintings.
Dr. Greenwald also played in a myriad of musical ensembles, including the Westport Community Band, Oriskany Rhythm Kings, Norfield Wind Quintet and Fairfield Pipe and Drum Corps.
In recent years he relished teaching music to children at the Roosevelt School in Bridgeport.
But what he loved more than anything was his family: his wife of 60 years, Dr. Barbara Kellerman; his children Kenneth and Thomas; his daughters-in-law Ellen Greenwald and Cathy Utz; his grandchildren Charlie, Joe, Jack, Jessica and Jake; and his siblings, Dr. Anthony Greenwald, David Galt and Leah Greenwald.
In lieu of flowers or donations, please consider doing one of the following:
Pet a dog
Listen to Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony, Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing,” or Chicago’s “25 or 6 to 4”
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