Nile Rodgers’ Journey: From Disco To Abbey Road

Posted on March 24, 2018 | 6 comments

Nile Rodgers seems to have done it all.

The 65-year-old Westporter/musician/ producer/ composer/arranger  has performed or produced for everyone from Sister Sledge (“We Are Family”) to Duran Duran, David Bowie, Madonna and Britney Spears.

He’s earned Grammys for Record of the Year and Album of the Year (for Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories”).

Those of us a bit older remember his guitar work with Chic (“Le Freak”).  Nearly 40 years later, he played at President Obama’s final White House party. It lasted until 6 a.m.

Nile Rodgers has even been honored as the Westport Library’s “Booked for the Evening” star.

But now he’s got a new gig: chief creative advisor at Abbey Road.

The legendary artist joins the most legendary studio on the planet. He’ll record rock and pop stars, while also mentoring up-and-coming performers.

Rodgers — who told the BBC he dreamed of working at Abbey Road ever since he heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — says that every day at work, he sees people recreating the road-crossing made famous on the Beatles’ eponymous album.

But, he adds, the studio remains cutting-edge. “I’m an audio fanatic. I want my new stuff to sound amazing.”

He’s already worked with Bruno Mars there.

It really must be “Something” to watch the 2 stars “Come Together.”

(For more details on Nile Rodgers’ new project, click here. Hat tip: Alan Hodge.)

Nile Rodgers outside Abbey Road Studios. (Photo/Jill Furmanovsky for BBC)

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Library, People

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Pic Of The Day #340

Posted on March 23, 2018 | 1 comment

The Westport Library’s Transformation project continues (Photo/Lynn U. Miller)

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Posted in Library, Pic of the Day

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Students, Selectmen Speak In Hartford On Bump Stock Bill

Posted on March 23, 2018 | 5 comments

More than a dozen Westporters traveled to Hartford today. They testified before the Judiciary Committee, supporting a bill that bans bump stocks and related rifle accessories.

Alert “06880” reader Jaimie Dockray reports that at least 11 students were at the state capitol. Lily Kane testified. Kaela Dockray submitted written testimony. She and her mom had to catch a train to Washington for tomorrow’s March For Our Lives.

First Selectman Jim Marpe and Third Selectman Melissa Kane both testified. “They were awesome,” Jaimie Dockray says.

“The chairman of the committee asked their party affiliations, knowing they are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. When asked if they agreed on this issue, they emphatically answered ‘yes.’ They said their only problem was keeping their combined testimony to under 3 minutes.”

Lily Kane is interviewed at the Capitol. (Photo/Jaimie Dockray)

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Posted in People, Politics, Teenagers

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Beloved Shoe Repair Shop To Close

Posted on March 23, 2018 | 24 comments

M&M Shoe Repair is not on Main Street.

The owner is not leaving because of high rents or lack of business.

But the closing of a small Riverside Avenue shop has caused a big ripple in town.

M&M Shoe Repair is at 265 Riverside Avenue — right next to Jr’s Hot Dog Stand.

The last day is April 14. Owner Rick Masone is moving to Georgia, to be closer to his kids.

“Oh noooo!” one person posted on Facebook’s Westport/Fairfield Community Board page.

“So sad,” another added.

Other customers chimed in:

  • “He provides top notch service, and is a great guy.”
  • “He always did a wonderful job.”
  • “He is the most honest person.”
  • “A huge loss to our community.”

It’s one thing to lose Chico’s, or Jack Wills.

It’s another thing entirely to say goodbye to a good — no, great — hard-working, honest and very talented shoe repair man.

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Posted in Local business, Media

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Friday Flashback #83

Posted on March 23, 2018 | 14 comments

Buell Neidlinger — longtime “06880” reader and commenter/Westport native/world-renowned musician/all-around good guy — died last week. He was 82 years old.

Three days before his sudden death, he emailed me a suggestion for a Friday Flashback.

He sent a few pages from an old cookbook he’d found. “The New Connecticut Cookbook, Being a Collection of Recipes from Connecticut Kitchens” was compiled by the Woman’s Club of Westport, and illustrated by Connecticut artists. It belonged to his mother.

Buell’s pages did not include a publication date. But — judging from the car in the illustration, which may or may not be parked on a stylized version of Main Street — it was early in the papacy of Pope Pius XII.

Why that example? Because the preface (below), by literary critic/ biographer/historian Van Wyck Brooks — a Westport resident — notes that as Cardinal Pacelli, “the present Pope has been a visitor here.” Pius XII was Pope from 1939 to 1958.

Brooks mentions two other famous visitors to Westport, separated by more than a century: the French gastronome Jean Anthelem Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), and Luigi Pirandello. The Italian writer and poet attended a performance at the Westport Country Playhouse. That was sometime between 1931 — when the summer theater opened — and 1936, when Pirandello died.

The pages that Buell sent are fascinating. Then again, everything he did for “06880” was.

This one’s for you, good friend.

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Posted in Arts, Friday Flashback, People, Westport Country Playhouse

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Staples Freshman Battles Gun Violence

Posted on March 23, 2018 | 9 comments

The Parkland massacre — and a subsequent assault rifle scare at their own school — affected, then galvanized many Staples High students.

Audrey Bernstein and Kaela Dockray met with Florida survivors, and began speaking out. Over 1,000 students participated in last week’s walkout.

Elana Atlas took to the internet.

She’s just a freshman — though you wouldn’t know it from her activism.

Elana Atlas, at work.

First, she composed 3 letters. One is for Republican legislators. Another is for Democrats. The third is for President Trump.

Though each is different, they share the same message: The founding fathers gave all of us rights to life and security. They did not give anyone the right to an AR-15.

“I am not asking you to ban all guns,” Elana writes. “I am asking you to ban the ones that are not necessary, that aren’t our right to have, the ones that are meant for mass killing. These include all automatic and semiautomatic guns, as well as bump stocks.”

Her letter ends, “We are fed up with thoughts and prayers. The time for change is  now.”

Elana distributed the letters to friends across the country, and asked them to pass it on too. She called them templates, which anyone could revise as they wished.

But she wanted even more people to see her letter — and learn about gun issues.

The result is ActionAgainstGunViolence. The strongly researched, well-presented website, is a go-to site for anyone interested in facts, resources and action.

Elana Atlas’ website includes these heartbreaking texts between Parkland High School student Matthew Zeif and his younger brother Ben.

Elana has collected background information on the epidemic of school shootings; texts sent by terrified students in the midst of gunfire; counter-arguments to the “right to bear arms” clause; links to gun safety organizations; advice on how to start your own movement — and of course, her letter templates.

She even cites all her sources. Her teachers have taught her well.

Now — like students all across this town and country — she is taking everything she’s learned in school.

And turning it into action for her country.

(Click here to visit Elana Atlas’ website.)

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Posted in People, Politics, Staples HS, Teenagers

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Pic Of The Day #339

Posted on March 22, 2018 | 1 comment

Earlier this week — before the snow — a tree was reflected in a Post Road West office building. (Photo/Amy Schneider)

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Posted in Environment, Pic of the Day

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Marching? Send Photos!

Posted on March 22, 2018 | 15 comments

This Saturday (March 24), Westporters will join millions of other Americans, in rallies against gun violence (and the politicians who enable it).

There are “March For Our Lives” marches of every size, and nearly every location.

Westporters will gather at 6:30 p.m. in the Bartaco parking lot, then head over the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge to Main Street.

The biggest event is in Washington, DC. Others in New York and Hartford will draw area residents too.

The “06880” tagline is “Where Westport meets the world.” If you’re marching anywhere, please send photos to dwoog@optonline.net. Include caption information, and any other details.

And if you’re going to the Ruger demonstration — or will be part of a counter-demonstration there — we’d like to see those images too.

In 2012, protesters on the Post Road bridge raised the issue of gun violence. This Saturday, they’ll cross it — for the same reason.

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Posted in Media, Politics

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Another Chain Store Leaves Main Street

Posted on March 22, 2018 | 11 comments

Swezey Jewelers lasted several decades on Main Street.

Jack Wills is gone after less than 7 years.

The British-based clothing retailer is done here. Today, employees are clearing out the merchandise.

“They’re closing this location” is all one worker said.

Jack Wills has 70 stores in the UK. It expanded to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in 2010, then to Westport, Boston, Chatham (Massachusetts), New Canaan and Philadelphia.

The New Canaan store closed in 2016, after less than 4 years.

The Westport closure does not appear to be related to the new SoNo Collection — the mammoth mall set to open in Norwalk in October 2019. Click here for this morning’s “06880” story, on the effect it may have on Main  Street.

Jack Wills’ Main Street store.

 

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Posted in Downtown, Local business

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New SoNo Mall Looms Large

Posted on March 22, 2018 | 20 comments

If you drive through Norwalk on I-95, it’s impossible to miss.

A 700,000-square-foot mall is rising inches off Exit 15.

Artist’s rendering of the SoNo Collection mall.

It won’t open until October 2019. But — with its size, its freshness, and its retailers like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s — the SoNo Collection seems to pose a direct threat to Westport’s Main Street.

Matt Mandell disagrees.

The executive of the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce told the Fairfield County Business Journal, “We offer an open-air experience instead of an enclosed mall. People come to Westport for a change of pace.”

Westport Downtown Merchants Association president Randy Herbertson adds that the mall offers “opportunities” for our town.

“They are focusing on mid-tier to aspirational retailers, and only 6% devoted to food service which will most likely be fast-service casual (chains like Olive Garden).”

That will “further accentuate our opportunity to provide a more upscale, specialty, open-air and experiential shopping, dining and living district that will complement this offering.”

Main Street is open air — not enclosed.

But, Herbertson says, to attract new merchants and downtown residents — and continue drawing investments like Bedford Square, the new Elm Street property, Belden Place, the former Save the Children complex, and the building that’s replacing Bobby Q — “we need to prioritize stronger cooperation and co-investment between our town and commercial interests.”

It’s already started, he says, through a constructive meeting he attended with First Selectman Jim Marpe and his team, Mandell, and area developers, landlords and merchants.

Meanwhile, the clock ticks down toward October 2019.

(Click here for the full Fairfield County Business Journal story. Hat tip: Scott Smith)

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Posted in Downtown, Local business, Organizations, People

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