Karen Romano retired yesterday, after more than 30 years at Staples High School. She worked in the library, special education, and as the invaluable, loyal and wonderful secretary to the principal.
In fact, she worked with 7 Staples principals — and made them all look good.
Ah, the stories she could tell!
Karen Romano
COVID and the cold will limit trick-or-treating tonight.
But that doesn’t mean there’s a shortage of creative costumes.
For instance, 8-year-old Julian Hinojos is a recycling container. He’s got a solar panel hat, and a costume made out of recycled materials found around the house (and in the recycling container).
Julian’s dad works in solar energy. Julian too is very concerned about the environment. He will make sure none of his candy goes to waste!
Julian Hinojos (Photo/Hilary Nordholm)
Some homes will welcome trick-or-treaters tonight. Others will just keep the lights off.
Here’s one creative way to say “sorry, we’d love to have you — just not this year!”
(Photo/Lee Emery)
The other day, “06880” gave a shout-out to a group of swimmers. For nearly 30 years, they’ve met at Compo Beach — at 6 .m. They swim a mile or so — and they do it from May to November.
Yesterday, before dawn, they celebrated Halloween. I’m surprised no one wore a costume from “Frozen.” (Hat tip: Paula Koffsky)
(Photo/Markus Marty)
And finally … trick or treat! NOTE: This is “Jumpin’ Gene Simmons,” NOT the lead singer of Kiss.
In a first for Staples High School sports — and perhaps for any team anywhere in the country — the boys soccer team broadcast last night’s match at Norwalk on a drive-in movie screen.
With a limited number of spectators allowed due to COVID at most schools — and Norwalk banning even parents — the Wreckers have livestreamed all their games this year.
GKess Films of Cheshire provide high-def quality video. WWPT-FM students provide play-by-play; alumni athletes, former coaches and other soccer aficionados add color commentary.
Cars filled with parents, siblings, younger players and random soccer fans headed to the Remarkable Theater Imperial Avenue parking lot for tailgating, and the game. They honked their horns and flashed their lights when Haydn Siroka and Alan Fiore scored early goals, and when Sebi Montoulieu saved a penalty kick.
Staples won 2-1 — their 3rd consecutive victory — and perhaps a new tradition was born.
A scene from the big screen at the Remarkable Theater. (Photo/Neil Brickley)
Good news from the Westport Library!
Starting Monday, November 9, they’ll expand hours, institute cart-side pick-up, and will offer access to the media studios, Maker Space and Children’s Department (by appointment).
New hours are Monday through Friday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Saturday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The Library will remain closed on Sunday.
Patrons can browse for materials in the Library, place them on hold remotely, or do so by calling 203-291-4807. Items placed on hold can be picked up in the tent outside the building at any time during operating hours. This replaces the current curbside pick-up arrangement.
Delivery services will continue for residents who are homebound or in a high-risk category that prevents them from visiting the Library.
The Library is also adding printing services to its 3 Express computers. and will reintroduce loans from in-state Libraries.
Shopping in the Library store will continue in person or virtually by appointment. Click here to schedule.
The Library will continue to limit the number of people in the building to 100 at any time.
Tony Award-winning actor and noted director James Naughton is also a noted animal advocate. He writes:
Having lived in Weston for 43 years, and been raised in Connecticut, I count myself very lucky to have shared this wonderful, woodsy environment with nature’s creatures.
Just in the last 6 months while sequestered, we were entertained daily by a couple of foxes raising their 5 little kits in our yard, then a family of groundhogs and a raccoon family. Owls hoot in the woods , hawks circle overhead, and we watch out for fawns crossing the roads.
When some of these animals aren’t so lucky — hey are orphaned or encounter an automobile they (and we) are lucky to have a place to take them right here.
Dara and Peter Reid created Wildlife in Crisis, and have been its stewards for over 30 years.
Normally, they take in 5,000 animals a year. This year they’ve taken in an unusually large number of creatures–and they need our help.
They’re a 501C3, and depend on charitable contributions. Click here, and watch a 10-minute video of them releasing back into the wild some of the animals they’ve raised or rehabilitated.
It’s inspiring, and a delight to show to your children and grandchildren. Then please: Make a donation.
Jim Naughton with a baby possum.
Speaking of famous Weston residents: This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most popular Christmas songs of all time. The other day, singer-songwriter Jose Feliciano popped into a Norwalk TV studio to talk with Telemundo about the jazzy, jangly classic.
Click here to see. The interview is in Spanish. But if you don’t speak it: no hay problema.
The song — and Jose’s exubertant personality — are universal.
Want $10,000?
Saturday (October 31) is the deadline to apply for a Westport Young Woman’s League Super Grant.
They’re awarded to local organizations working in areas like food insecurity, education, and health and wellness.
Despite the impact of COVID on fundraising, the WYWL continues to support our community. For a grant application, click here. To learn more, click here.
Halloween is not yet here.
But Christmas is, at Anthropologie downtown.
Can spring be far behind?
(Photo/Amy Schneider)
And finally … thanks to Jose Feliciano and Anthropologie, “06880” officially kicks off the holiday season:
In 1985, almost 4,000 people crowded into Longshore. They were excited to hear Hall & Oates. The duo — known for smash hits like “She’s Gone,” “Rich Girl” and “Private Eyes” — were about to perform, as part of Westport’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Except no one told Hall & Oates. A local nanny — claiming to represent the group — scammed the town.
Fortunately, the crowd got a bit of music. A local band called Pseudo Blue stepped on stage. It was their first paying gig.
Not bad for a bunch of Staples High School students.
Cary Pierce, in the Staples HIgh School 1987 yearbook.
Cary Pierce remembers that day well. He and his good friend — fellow rising junior Doug Dryburgh — were in Pseudo Blue.
The band did not last beyond graduation. But in his first year of college, Cary met Jack O’Neill. They formed their own duo: Jackopierce.
They shared stages with Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, Sheryl Crow, Lyle Lovett, Matchbox Twenty and Widespread Panic. They performed in clubs and at colleges across America — and before 500,000 people at the Texas Motor Speedway.
Thirty years later, they’re still going strong. Jackopierce has just released a new single. “Young & Free (The 80s Song)” is an homage to growing up listening to Joan Jett, Joe Jackson, General Pub, Pretenders and Book of Love.
In fact, the song mentions 85 bands and singers — Flock, Till Tuesday, Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, Big Country, Devo, Smithereens. You name it, they’re there.
But it’s the first line that is of particular interest to “06880.”
Cary sings:
I remember lying on my bed
Borrowed guitar across my chest
Mean streets Westport, Connecticut
The New Wave running through my head
My sister dated drummer boy
Parents’ basement we made some noise
The Call, the stage, the lights, the girls
Who doesn’t want to rule the world?
Cary Pierce today. He has not changed much.
“Young and Free” channels Cary’s youth. For years, he and Jack have joked about growing up on the “mean” suburban streets. (Specifically Greens Farms, Cary notes.)
Its influence on Cary is strong. It was here that he learned to play guitar and keyboard. At Staples, he and Dryburgh started an annual Band Bash that grew to include a dozen groups.
He listened to New Wave bands on WLIR. He watched the new sensation — MTV videos — at his friend Matt McClellan’s house.
Cary figured he’d go to a small New England college like Wesleyan. But, he says, “my guidance counselor had a better handle on my grades.” She suggested Southern Methodist University.
Cary had never been to Texas. But he fell in love with the Dallas school, and applied early decision. “It was the best decision I ever made,” he says.
He was involved in theater program and journalism. But his time there was most defined by his collaboration with Jack O’Neill, who he met in 1988, on one of his first days on campus.
They quickly learned covers of songs by the Eagles, Jimmy Buffett, John Denver and James Taylor. They played fraternity and sorority dances, then branched out to colleges across Texas and Oklahoma.
Fans who heard them told friends and siblings. Soon Jackopierce was driving 9 hours to play at the University of Kansas, and flying to gigs at the University of Michigan. They’d sell 100 CDs, which paid for the trip.
Jackopierce, on stage.
Jackopierce’s first record — independently done — sold 45,000 copies. An attorney in Nashville got them a contract.
The label connected them with T Bone Burnett. The legendary producer (Los Lobos, Gregg Allman, Roy Orbison) helped move them from “earnest frat boys” to appearances on Rosie O’Donnell and Conan O’Brien, and stories in Rolling Stone.
Their first album with Burnett sold 100,000.
So did the second. Not seeing any growth, Cary says, “the label yawned.”
Management talked Jackopierce into a farewell tour. Jack moved to New York. He and Cary did not speak for 5 years.
“It was my first divorce,” Cary says. “I didn’t see it coming. It was painful. I learned a lot.”
Five years later, he went through an actual divorce. He felt “completely broken.” But then — providentially — Jackopierce reunited.
That was 2002. They’ve been together ever since.
Jack O’Neill (left) and Cary Pierce.
Jackopierce has devoted — even rabid — fans. They’re all across the country. Most don’t know Westport.
But Cary does.
“I have no idea if people there will be offended” by the winking “mean streets” reference, he says. He hopes not. He still loves the town.
“I had no idea what I had back then. It’s an incredibly beautiful, very privileged place. I had an old 14-foot Boston Whaler. I’d go from Longshore to Peter’s Bridge, get a sandwich, then head to Cockenoe. It was la la land.”
“Young & Free” has been released in “a strange time,” Cary says. COVID has canceled live shows. He and Jack are marketing it the old-fashioned way: grassroots, by themselves.
They’ve contacted all 85 artists mentioned in the song: Depeche Mode, Billy Bragg, Hooters, Toto, Blondie, Men at Work…
Now all of Westport can enjoy Cary Pierce’s musical trip down memory lane too.
“Young and Free (The 80’s Song) is available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora and Amazon Music. Click here for links.)
Mark Potts has written for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and — while he was a Staples student — the school paper Inklings.
Last night he reconnected with his alma mater. He writes:
Several years ago an unexpected storm deposited me in Kansas, sans ruby slippers. But my hometown is Westport. Once upon a time I was part of the team that launched radio station WWPT, and playing in the pit band for a Staples Players production of “Oklahoma” is one of my favorite high school memories.
So being able to sit in distant Kansas on Sunday evening and listen to the charming, expertly performed WWPT/Staples Players radio production of “The Wizard of Oz” was a great treat.
Bravo to all involved on a delightful piece of entertainment. It just proves, once again, that there’s still no place like home.
Behind the scenes at “The Wizard of Oz.” Plastic separated the actors from each other, in the Black Box Theater.
Alexandra Korry did not have a high profile in Westport. But when she died at 61 recently of ovarian cancer, the New York Times took note, with a long, admiring obiturary.
It called her “a trailblazing Wall Street lawyer whose potent legal and moral rebuke as head of a civil rights panel helped spur the abolition of solitary confinement for juvenile inmates in New York City.”
She was one of the first women elected partner in the mergers and acquisitions department of the prominent law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. She was also committed to public service, as head of the New York State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Her committee’s reports “criticized the New York City Police Department’sstop-and-frisk strategy, intended to reduce the proliferation of guns, arguing that it was disproportionately directed at Black and Hispanic people.
“And it concluded this year that disparities in state and local funding of education should be considered a civil rights issue because they denied equal opportunity to students in poorer, Black and Hispanic school districts.”
Click here for the full obituary. (Hat tip: John Karrel)
Alexandra Korry (Dick Duane for Sullivan & Cromwell)
Gene Borio sends along this photo:
He explains: “I didn’t know what this was until a woman walking nearby said it was weird: Every pumpkin on her block had been attacked by squirrels. 76 years on this planet, and I’d never heard of such a thing. Neither had she.”
Two religious institutions’ coat drive for Person to Person is nearing an end.
Clothing should be bagged, and sorted by gender and age (adult or youth). Donations can be dropped off in a blue bin labeled “Coat Donations” on the side elevator entrance at Saugatuck Church, or The Conservative Synagogue.
And finally … after more than 50 years on the road, Arlo Guthrie has retired from performing. The 73-year-old son of Woody Guthrie has suffered strokes.
He’s best known for “Alice’s Restaurant.” But his 5 decades of work go far beyond that 20-minute Thanksgiving garbage dump talking classic.
I saw him at the Westport Country Playhouse many years ago. He was the consummate performer. And I really loved that great head of white hair. (Hat tip: Amy Schneider)
Back in the day — the mid-1950s — Betty Lou Cummings was a Michigan State University cheerleader — one of the first female cheerleaders in the entire Big Ten.
After moving to Westport, she became a cheerleader for Westport. She volunteered with a host of organizations — the Westport Library, Senior Center, CLASP Homes — and led the fall Apple Festival for 2 decades. She was elected to the Representative Town Meeting.
In the 1990s, she served as Westport’s 2nd selectman. She ran as a Republican, with Joe Arcudi.
In 2011, the Republicans gained control of several town boards and commissions, after a 14-year hiatus. “We’re back!” Betty Lou told WestportNow.
Now 86, Betty Lou Cummings still cheers for causes that are important to her. Yesterday, Michigan State played Rutgers in football. She dressed in green, gamely grinning through the bad loss.
She also cheered for her presidential candidate. But the longtime Republican is not supporting President Trump.
She’s a Joe Biden fan — as the sign outside her Saugatuck Shores home proudly shows.
In fact, the former Republican 2nd selectman is now a registered Democrat.
When Staples Players fans around the world turn in to tonight’s broadcast of “The Wizard of Oz” (6 p.m., WWPT, 90.3 FM; for the livestream, click here ), they’ll enjoy an old-fashioned radio broadcast, complete with sound effects, music and local ads.
Actors who normally perform on stage have been rehearsing — via Zoom, and occasionally together — for weeks. But other members of the high school’s award-winning troupe have been hard at work too.
Players head of computer sound effects/sound designer Brandon Malin sends along these behind-the-scenes photos. Here’s the live sound effects equipment in the WWPT-FM radio studio:
And here is the control room, where all the magic happens:
(Photos/Brandon Malin)
Painting With a Twist — the fun, quirky, do-it-yourself-together spot in the Julian’s Post Road shopping center near South Maple — is closing. Their last day after 7 years is December 12.
In a note to their fans, they say “the plaza where we are located is being converted for another use.”
They add:
We have had such fun, rewarding experiences with all of you and we carry so many happy memories of helping you celebrate your personal milestones, your festive gatherings with friends and family, and your creative nights out. We hope we have given all of you an escape from your cares and some joyful, festive time that has inspired you and uplifted your spirits.
The artists and I will all miss seeing your smiling faces and spending time in our beautiful studio, surrounded by all our colorful art and all the great music that ignites the soul.
But we still have almost 2 more months! So we hope you’ll come and enjoy some time with us. Plan your girls night out, holiday party, company team building event, date night, child’s birthday party, or just join a public class to forget your concerns and have some fun!
If you’d rather, you can paint in the comfort of home with one of our Twist at Home kits.
And finally … Jerry Jeff Walker died Friday, of complications from throat cancer. He was 78.
Best known for writing “Mr. Bojangles” after spending a night in a New Orleans drunk tank — though the song was not, as many people think, about the legendary tap dancer/actor/singer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson — Walker was also an enormously influential figure in the Austin music scene. He helped create “outlaw country,” popularized as well by Willie Nelson and others.
Hey, Westport kids (age 5 to 13 ). If you’ve wanted to be in an amazing Staples Players production, here’s your chance!
Players’ radio theatre kicks off with “The Wizard of Oz” this Sunday (October 25, 6 p.m.) — and they want to hear your best munchkin voice.
Send a recording of you saying “follow the yellow brick road!” (munchkin-style). Players’ senior officers will pick 5 winners. Those recordings will be played on air during the live “Wizard of Oz” broadcast. (Click here for details.)
Winners also receive a $10 gift card to Saugatuck Sweets.
Click here, then click the blue “Submit Recording for Munchkin” button to upload your file. Include your name and phone number in the recording. The deadline is 6 p.m. Friday (October 23).
Need inspiration? Click below.
This Saturday (October 24) is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
You can celebrate with the Westport Police Department. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., they’ll be at the Senior Center collecting unused and/or outdated pills and patches. Vape pens are okay if the batteries can be removed.
If the vape pen battery cannot be removed, try an electronics chain store. Also not accepted on Saturday: liquids, needles and sharps.
The service is free and anonymous — no questions asked. For more information, click here.
PS: A year-round collection bin is located in the lobby of Westport Police headquarters. Prescription drugs can be properly disposed of there at any time.
The good news is: This Saturday (October 24) over 100 Westport kids will take part in the 10th annual Window Painting Contest. They’ll vie for prizes in 3 categories: Scariest Artwork, Best Halloween Theme, and Most Original.
The more good news; 48 businesses all around town — shops, restaurants, services, delis, fitness centers and more — have offered up their windows.
The bad news: That’s not enough. The sponsoring Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce needs at least 20 more, to fill the demand.
They plead: Please donate your business window! You’ll do the town a service. In fact, it will be the perfect Halloween “treat.” Click here to register your window.
This Saturday (October 24), the United Nations turns 75 years old.
For over 50 of those years, Westport has celebrated that birthday with colorful flags. They fly every UN Day on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge. That’s fitting: its namesake founded by the local United Nations Association, and Westport’s’ UN International Hospitality Committee.
On Saturday (11 a.m., Town Hall front steps), a public ceremony marks United Nations Day. First Selectman Jim Marpe, Hospitality Committee vice chair Bill Hass, and Staples High School Model UN president Lucas Slater and vice president Aidan Rogers will speak.
Special guest speaker Aye Aye Thant will discuss the importance of the UN. She should know: The Westport resident’s father is former UN Secretary General U Thant.
After the event, a bipartisan expression of support for the UN takes place at the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge. Marpe and local legislators will gather near the flags of UN member countries — which have flown there proudly, for decades.
(Photo/Jeff Simon)
Mike Burns spotted this sign on Compo Road South, near Longshore.
Finally, a candidate we can all agree on!
The Westport Public Schools’ guiding principles include social and emotional awareness, sincere kindness, principled thoughts and actions, and constant learning.
Several students have been selected, for embodying those principles. They are Caroline Caggiano, James Dobin Smith, Rachel Greenberg, Colin Konstanty, Natalia Maidique and Kyla Race.
Congratulations to all!
Three honorees (from left): James Dobin-Smith, Colin Konstanty, Caroline Caggiano.
How foggy was it last night? Very, as Andrew Colabella’s shot of the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge shows:
And finally … in honor of Staples Players’ “Wizard of Oz” radio broadcast (see story above):
Posted onOctober 20, 2020|Comments Off on Roundup: High School Mock Election, Playhouse Video, More
Bipartisan politicians gathered in front of Staples High School yesterday. The mission: introducing a statewide initiative to educate Connecticut students about the voting process.
All week long, the state Department of Education is partnering with the lieutenant governor to hold a virtual mock election.
Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz headed the dignitaries. She noted that 20% of all 20-year-olds vote in elections — but 80% of 80-year-olds do.
First Selectman Jim Marpe noted that Westport has already received 9,500 requests for mail-in ballots for the presidential election. So far, 4,700 have been returned, via mail or the Town Hall drop box.
State Senator Tony Hwang said that his parents — who escaped from communist China — knew that the ability to vote was “foundational” to a democracy.
Will Haskell graduated from Staples in 2014. Four years later, he was elected to the State Senate. He said that young people are underrepresented in Hartford and Washington, but that “all voices are valued.”
State Representative Jonathan Steinberg — another Staples grad — added that “young people want to be engaged, in positive ways.”
From left: 1st Selectman Jim Marpe, Staples High School principal Stafford Thomas, State Senator Tony Hwang, Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, members of Staples’ Social Studies Honor Society, and State Representative Jonathan Steinberg. Also in attendance: State Senator Will Haskell, and Westport 6-12 social studies coordinator Lauren Francese.
Saturday’s Remarkable Theater screening celebrating 90 years of the Westport Country Playhouse was a smash.
Response was so great — both at the Imperial Avenue drive-in and online — that it will remain available on demand through tonight (11:59 p.m.). Tickets are $25. (Ticket-holders from Saturday: Your unique link is also live through tonight.)
The Playhouse is just $20,000 of their goal for the event. Funds help make up for the loss of the gala this year. Click here for an on-demand ticket, and to make additional gifts.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities is hosting a series of online discussions called “CCM CARES – Getting Comfortable With The Uncomfortable.”
CARES stands for “Communities Advancing Racial Equity Series,” On the panel today (Tuesday, October 19, 6:30 p.m.): Westport 1st Selectman Jim Marpe.
To register, click here. You can watch without registering on Facebook Live. (Hat tip: Peter Gold)
First Selectman Jim Marpe
And finally … on this date in 1973, Richard Nixon fired Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus, after they refused to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. After what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Cox was finally fired by Robert Bork, the #3 man at the Justice Department.
Comments Off on Roundup: High School Mock Election, Playhouse Video, More
Remember when the family gathered together on Sunday night, sharing dinner while listening to a drama or musical on the radio?
Neither do I.
But Westporters — and anyone else with an internet connection — can enjoy evenings in the coming weeks. Staples Players presents 3 radio shows.
And 3 local restaurants are offering special meal deals, to spice up the fun.
This Sunday (October 25, 6 p.m.), tune in to “The Wizard of Oz.” Little Barn has created a special menu including Wicked Witch Wings, Tin Man Tacos, Munchkin Burger (kid-size), Emerald City Cocktails and more.
Click here and choose “Order later” for October 25. Scroll down to the “Wizard of Oz” menu (after “Entrees”). NOTE: Glinda the Good Witch says you can order from the whole menu if you like!
Little Barn is not in Kansas anymore. Then again, it never was.
On November 8 (6 p.m.), listen to “Pride and Prejudice” whilst dining on Pemberley’s prime rib dinner, complete with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and sticky toffee pudding. It’s all courtesy of (of course) Fairfield’s Gruel Brittania.
Gruel Brittania’s sticky toffee pudding.
Then on November 22, gather round the hearth for the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The comes from a classic Westport spot: Dunville’s.
Call or text Dunville’s owner Steve Carpentieri (203-247-3113) with your order for:
George Bailey’s Yankee pot roast dinner for 4 (potatoes, carrots, celery, pearl onions. mixed greens salad)
Uncle Billy’s smoked St Louis ribs with fries and coleslaw
Mary Hatch’s seafood stuffed sole with mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables and hollandaise sauce
Mr. Potter’s New Bedford day boat sea scallops with sautéed spinach, white beans, garlic, extra virgin olive oil.
Dunville’s Yankee pot roast.
Menus are available on the restaurants’ websites within a week of each show. Order ahead; quantities are limited.
(The 3 radio shows can be heard on WWPT, 90.3 FM. For the livestream, click on www.wwptfm.org.)
The current hybrid model — 2 days in person, 3 out for middle and high schoolers; morning and afternoon sessions for elementary-age youngsters — will continue at least through December.
Superintendent of schools Tom Scarice announced that decision last night, at a Board of Education meeting. It was driven by an uptick in coronavirus cases — a trend expected to rise this fall.
Public sentiment is divided. But Scarice called this “the prudent” and “correct” approach, based on current infection numbers, future models, the ability of educators to adapt to both in-person and distance learning, and input on how the hybrid model has worked so far.
Sure, it rained earlier this week. But Aquarion has announced a mandatory irrigation ban in southwest Fairfield County. The area — including Westport — has hit its 3rd “drought trigger” this fall.
Effective immediately, the ban includes automatic irrigation systems and hose end sprinklers. (Hand-held watering, soaker hose and drip irrigation continue to be permitted for new plantings.)
The ban will help ensure “an adequate water supply for everyday needs, and give reservoirs time to recover for the spring,” the water company says.
Last Friday, Hugh Jackman stopped by the Remarkable Theater.
Okay, the Australian actor was not actually at the Imperial Avenue parking lot.
But he did send a special message, introducing a screening of “The Greatest Showman” (and it had nothing to do with the music, by Staples High School graduate Justin Paul).
A video message from the movie’s creator and screenwriter Jenny Bicks also greeted the audience. The screening was in support of Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities.
The Milken Institute Global Conference is in the midst of 8 days of inspiring talks and panels. This year’s topics are (of course) the global pandemic, and social injustice.
And (of course) it’s virtual. Over 4,000 of the world’s leading thinkers have tuned in.
There’s a solid Westport presence at the prestigious, 22nd annual event.
RTM member Kristin Schneeman is a director at FasterCures, part of the Milken Institute. Théo Feldman is an associate director, innovative finance there.
Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio was featured in a conversation, while the hedge fund’s CEO David McCormick spoke on a panel called “Leadership: Moving Beyond Conventional Thinking.
Feldman adds: “During last year’s Global Conference in Beverly Hills, I met a fellow Westporter: Russell Sherman. We realized his sister — Suzanne Sherman Propp — taught my daughter at Greens Farms Elementary School. And his niece did a play with my other daughter.”
As the weather turns cool, a pair of local religious institutions are sponsoring a coat drive for Person to Person.
Clothing should be bagged, and sorted by gender and age (adult or youth). Donations can be dropped off in a blue bin labeled “Coat Donations” on the side elevator entrance at Saugatuck Church, or The Conservative Synagogue.
Speaking of help: last week’s Longshore Ladies 9 Hole Golf Association annual fundraiser brought in plenty of groceries for the Westport Woman’s Club food closet. The event also raised over $1,170, which will go to gift cards for food insecure Westporters.
Donations for the Longshore golf food drive.
And finally … in honor of Hugh Jackman’s Westport “appearance” (and Justin Paul’s music):
Driving While Black — a 2-hour documentary — premieres nationally on PBS tonight (Tuesday, October 13, 9 p.m. EDT).
The film explores the history of race-based restrictions on mobility in the US, including slavery, segregation, the very real dangers of traveling in many parts of the country, the construction of highways through politically powerless black neighborhoods, and the current dangers of “driving while black.”
The Ric Burns project was fast-tracked after the deaths of George Floyd and Jacob Blake this summer.
Working at that furious pace was Brian Keane. The 1971 Staples High School graduate scored the music.
Keane — an Emmy-winning composer with 20 nominations — has worked on most of Burns’ films. He’s also adept with music from many cultures, having scored the only Academy Award-winning Chinese documentary ever (“The Blood of Yingzhou District”).
Keane is noted too for his work with Turkish music and Omar Faruk Tekbilek (he sold out Carnegie Hall in 2018, and similar venues worldwide). He also scored Grammy-winning Irish music with the Chieftains, and produced Linda Ronstadt singing Mexican tunes.
Just as important for Driving While Black, Keane scored the music to Henry Hampton’s films.
He was America’s first major Black documentarian. his 1980’s multi-part television show “Eyes on the Prize” is a classic.
In the 1980s and early ’90s, there were few minorities in television production. Hampton used his fame to hire top documentary professionals — mostly white — to mentor inexperienced Black men and women who wanted to learn the craft.
Keane was one of those mentors.
Brian Keane
Though the Driving While Black budget was small — and the turnaround time quick — Keane was eager to participate. The chance to influence millions of viewers, the timing and the subject’s importance all resonated.
Most of the musicians working with him were Black, and old friends. Singer Janice Dempsey told him, “music has no color.” As he worked, and talked, he realized that — without exception — his Black friends and the film’s musical collaborators have been affected by institutional racism.
Because of the rich history of black music in America — gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, hip hop — and because many of his musician friends had been out of work due to COVID, Keane decided to use PBS’ limited budget to hire great musicians.
He forwent his usual fee, opting to make “a soundtrack that would raise awareness further, but would also be compelling musically.”
The main theme took a 1947 Alan Lomax recording of Black prisoners singing while working in a chain gang. Keane set it to African and hip hop beats, scoring it with modern urban jazz elements, a viola de gamba to connect to colonial times, sound design, and tension atmospheres.
He says, “It gets across the point the film tries to convey: Racism has been part of America throughout its history, and still very much is today too.”
It includes Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker, jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut, Grammy-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker, gospel artist Ada Dyer, and emerging socially conscious artists like Kyla Imani and Jermaine Love Songz.
Marion Meadows performs too. His cousin was shot 27 times and killed by police last year. The video of the incident was lost.
But this would not be an “06880” story without more local connections. Former resident play on the soundtrack too: Dan Barrett (cello) and Murali Coryell (electric guitar).
(Click here to download Brian Keane’s “Driving While Black” soundtrack.)
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