Tickets are selling fast for the 3 concerts that are part of VersoFest — the Westport Library’s inaugural music-and-media festival.
(It may also be the first of its kind for any library, anywhere in the world. You read it here first.)
VersoFest includes a range of Connecticut music: rock, low-key African pop and blues.
It all kicks off Friday, April 3 (7 p.m., $40) with Lez Zeppelin. The tribute group — called “the most powerful all-female band in rock history” by Spin Magazine, and seen, heard and endorsed by Jimmy Page — delivers Led Zeppelin’s blistering arrangements and monstrous sounds.
Lez Zeppelin, with fan Jimmy Page.
The show also includes DJ Dan Soto’s all-vinyl, mostly 45’s set of R&B, blues and British Invasion music that was Led Zeppelin’s inspiration.
On Saturday, April 9 (7 p.m., $15), Chris Frantz presents 2 emerging artists.
Enid Ze
Enid Ze is a futuristic, low-key African pop band from Bridgeport. Their debut album Better is Gold was produced by composer/ producer/gear enthusiast Chris Ruggiero.
Daniprobably is a 3-piece New Haven-based indie rock band with a pop edge. Their song lyrics range from movies and quantum mechanics to falling in love on the dance floor. Daniprobably is a featured artist on the upcoming Verso Records vinyl compilation.
(There’s also a free Verso Records vinyl compilation launch party prior to the concert, at 6 p.m. in the Trefz Forum. Featured artists will attend; album art will be revealed, and session videos and album tracks will play on Verso’s great sound system. The launch party is free to everyone who registers for VersoFest.)
The final concert is Sunday (7 p.m., $30), with Selwyn Birchwood and Drop Party.
Selwyn Birchwood (Photo/Jim Hartzell)
Selwyn is a groundbreaking blues visionary, with electrifying guitar and lap steel playing. His group is rounded out by a baritone sax, bass, drums and keyboardist. Rolling Stone calls him “a remarkable, contemporary bluesman…a powerhouse young guitarist and soulful vocalist…a major player.”
Drop Party — the opening act — is an eclectic septet that switches gears seamlessly through ska, funk, jazz, and Latin, offering great dance music in every genre.
Click here for tickets to 1, 2 or all 3 concerts. Click here for more information on all of Verso Fest.
Admit it: You hear “RTM” all the time. And you don’t know a thing about it.
Well, for one thing, it stands for “Representative Town Meeting.” For another, it’s our special local legislative body.
For a third, Westport’s League of Women Voters is sponsoring a series of “Know Your Town” events. And — wouldn’t you know it — the first one is “Know Your RTM.”
Set for this Wednesday (March 23, 7 p.m., Westport Library Trefz Forum and Zoom), the all-star (and all-RTM) panel includes former moderator Velma Heller, who’ll discuss the body’s history; member Matthew Mandell (today’s RTM), and current moderator Jeff Wieser (why you should run for office).
For the first time ever, Inklings — the nearly 100-year-old Staples High School publication — earned a Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown award for Hybrid News. Only 16 other high schools in the country received that honor.
Inklings has won numerous Gold Circle Awards for individual reporter excellence, along with overall Silver Crowns. This is the first Gold Crown since switching to a magazine model — and it came in Inklings’ first year with the format.
“I think the change in layout and design spoke to our strengths,” says co-advisor Mary Elizabeth Fulco. ” I’m so incredibly proud of our hard-working students for achieving this national recognition.” The other advisor is Joe Del Gobbo.
Fast fashion — mass production of cheap clothing that destroys resources and pollutes the planet — is endemic.
On March 28 (6:30 p.m., Wakeman Town Farm), WTF sponsors a “Sustainability Forum.”
Panelists will discuss the effects of fast fashion on our environment, consumers and workers. Attendees will learn how to identify sustainable businesses, make smarter buying choices, and what it means to be a conscious consumer.
There’s also a spotlight on local sustainable clothing business, including Our Woven Community, The Exchange Project and Shop Tomorrows.
Meanwhile, a few yards south of the Town Farm, a group of Staples High School students is doing something about fast fashion too.
The school’s Zero Waste Committee is creating a pop-up thrift store, The EcoBoutique opens April 27 during lunch waves in the courtyard.
Whether you’re a student, parent or just a Westporter interested in the planet, you can help.
The Zero Waste Committee is collecting donations (gently used clothing, handers and bins) from March 28 to April 11, at Staples’ front atrium.
In addition to education the community about the importance of limiting fast fashion, and thrifting, funds from the pop-up thrift store will help the ZWC’s sustainability initiatives: composting, recycling and more.
Eurovision — the European singing contest that began in the 1950s, and brought fame to bands like ABBA — is coming to the US.
Instead of a variety of countries, our version — “The American Song Contest” — includes acts from all 50 states, plus US territories, possessions and Washington, DC.
The “06880” connection? Connecticut’s representative is Westport’s own Michael Bolton.
“The American Song Contest” starts tonight. Click here for more information, and to vote — hopefully for our neighbor. (Hat tip: Mark Mathias)
Screenshot from the “American Song Contest” website.
And finally … we usually say, “Spring can’t come soon enough!” Yesterday it snuck in, a day earlier than normal. Whenever it arrives, we’re more than happy to greet it.
The list of names associated with Westport’s local theater company is impressive:
Rock star songwriter Justin Paul (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “La La Land,” “The Greatest Showman”)
Playwright/screenwriter (“Braking Upwards,” “Dogfight”) Peter Duchan
Broadway veterans Mia Gentile and Jacob Heimer
Composer/performer/teacher/choir director Chris Coogan
Former Broadway performer Amiee Turner
Professional set designer Jordan Janota
Wesleyan University theater professor Robin Mazzola
Former off-Broadway and film actor Ben Frimmer
New York Theatre Company’s “New, Emerging, Outstanding Composer” Clay Zambo
Professional actress Haley Bond,
What is even more impressive is that the local theater company is Coleytown Company.
All those talented, experienced men and women have worked on — or are currently involved with — the middle school’s theater program.
As Coleytown Company celebrates its 25th anniversary, it’s time to shine the spotlight on this impressive institution in our midst.
As with any theatrical project, Coleytown Company has had its ups and downs.
In the 1990s, then-principal Jim Welsch asked 5th grade teacher Frimmer to reimagine the middle school theater program. Up to that point, it was a club with a parent helping out once a year.
Staging shows ranging from “Fiddler on the Roof” to “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” Frimmer created an environment in which young actors, singers, dancers, artists and tech kids can learn and grow.
Drew Andrade dances, accompanied by (from left) Eliza Walmark, Rima Ferrer, Emma Schorr. Cece Dioyka, Drew Andrade, Ava Chun, Kathryn Asiel, Keelagh Breslin in the 2019 production of “42nd Street.”
Recently, Coleytown Company has weathered a tough few years. Mold shut the school in 2017. CMS students headed to Bedford Middle School, losing their auditorium. Shows continued, but with a lessened sense of community.
Then came COVID. Like theaters everywhere, the middle schools’ stages went dark.
Last October, Coleytown Company returned with “All Together Now!,” a 15-song musical revue.
Now it’s all the way back. “The SpongeBob Musical” — the Company’s first full-scale musical in 3 years — debuts Friday, April 8 (7 p.m.). Shows continued Saturday, April 9 (7 p.m.) and Sunday, April 9 (1 p.m.).
The community’s help has been impressive. Middle school art teacher Linda Kangro, for example, leads a tech crew whose students actually design and build sets themselves.
Janota — the professional scenic designer working on an upcoming Netflix feature film — and her 18 students have used recycled materials donated by the community to create a coral proscenium, and platforms to build a “volcano.”
Remy Laifer and Jacob Leaf in the 2013 production of “Peter Pan.” The set was typically professional.
Coogan has spent over a decade directing the Coleytown Company pit orchestra. He loves this age group, because “they’re just discovering their voices, capabilities, bodies and acting abilities.”
This is Turner’s 4th show with Frimmer. Her focus is on getting students comfortable with their bodies after lockdown, and “helping them get used to being brave, loud and big with their physical movement.”
Zambo serves as vocal coach, when he is not writing or directing shows and ballets. Because “SpongeBob” was written for adults, he has done “some judicious editing.” But, he says, he works with middle schoolers the same as with professionals: “Keep it light and fun, take the work seriously, and try to bring out the best in everyone.”
Coleytown Company’s “Addams Family” brought out the best in everyone. The 2015 cast includesd (clockwise from left): Anella Lefebvre (Morticia), Georgia Wright (Gomez), Maggie Foley (Wednesday) and Oscar Hechter (Pugsley).
Wesleyan professor Mazzola — a costume-maker for 25 years, who met Frimmer 4 years ago — describes the upcoming show’s costumes as embodying “friendship, individuality and joy.”
That joy has been a hallmark of the experiences of former Coleytown Company actors, many of whom went on to success with Staples Players in high school, then beyond.
Duchan was in Frimmer’s first production: “Peter Pan.” He calls Frimmer’s accomplishments “extraordinary.”
Ben Frimmer (left) directs Emily Desser, Imogen Medoff, Shanti Wimmer and Nina Driscoll in the 2018 production of “James and the Giant Peach.” (Photo/Colleen Coffey)
Over the years, Paul, Gentile and Heimer have all returned from the Broadway stage to help Frimmer and their alma mater. In 2018, Company staged Paul’s “James and the Giant Peach.”
Bond calls CMS “a breeding ground for budding creatives. As a professional in the entertainment industry, I constantly cross paths with my middle schoolmates. They’ve grown up to be writers, actors, directors, filmmakers, technical engineers and designers.”
Current student performers echo the praise.
Haley Forman — Sandy in “SpongeBob” — says, “the theme of the play is working together. The students and staff are bringing that to life.”
Eli Abrams, who plays Perch Perkins, agrees: “I really like that you get to meet all these new people that are doing the same thing as you. If you need help with something, you can always just call them.”
Haley and Eli may or may not follow fellow CMS actors Justin Paul, Peter Duchan, Mia Gentile and Jacob Heimer to Broadway.
But they’re sure in good Company.
(For tickets to “The SpongeBob Musical” and more information, click here. Hat tip: Jordan Razza)
Carol Diamond — for decades one of Westport’s most active volunteers, and with her husband Ted, our town’s most noted centenarian couple — died of pneumonia on March 10, at Norwalk Hospital. She was 100 years old.
Her obituary calls her an “ad agency CEO, public housing advocate, writer, book editor and human rights activist.” It continues:
A gifted writer, she used her abilities and great intelligence to make the world and her community better and fairer. She mentored younger women, and served as a patient escort at a women’s health clinic.
Carol was as curious as she was compassionate. She loved books. and was constantly learning and exchanging ideas through book groups and clubs that she helped to organize. Fascinated by words — their meanings and origins — she was known to read the dictionary for pleasure.
It was a life of activism, engagement and connection. A former president of the Y’s Women, an organization that serves as a social and career network for women in Fairfield County, she also was a past vice president and treasurer of the Westport Library.
Carol and Ted Diamond on Veterans Green before the 2014 Memorial Day ceremony.
An active canvasser on the state and local levels since the early 1950s, she received the esteemed “Silver Donkey” award for her years of service to the Democratic Party.
Carol was born on Nov. 13, 1921, in New York City. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Smith College in 1942. As president of the political action committee, she brought Eleanor Roosevelt to campus to speak.
In 1944 she obtained employment with the Newark Local Housing Authority, surveying impoverished housing conditions in that city. Later that year she joined the Federal Housing Administration, working to create affordable living facilities for veterans.
In 1946 she married Theodore Diamond, to whom she would be devoted for the next 75 years. The couple moved to Westport in 1955, where they remained throughout her life, and where their sons went from kindergarten through high school. She loved Westport, and said. “I feel I have always lived here.”
In the 1950s and ’60s,Carol found a way to balance work and family life that could have been an early model for the women’s movement.
She worked for Westport radio station WMMM, broadcasting programs that highlighted community activities. She then served as a deputy director for a Bridgeport anti-poverty agency, before starting her own advertising firm. But she found time to attend every parent-teacher conference and recital — and to worry about (and check) her children’s homework.
Her marriage to Ted was legendary. They politicked together (when he campaigned for local government, she edited his speeches), protested together (demonstrating against the Iraq war and composing letters of outrage during the Trump years), and traveled the world together (visiting 120 countries on 60 trips).
They were inseparable; they were utterly engaged with each other, and as Carol said recently, the enforced isolation of COVID only brought them closer. “I fall in love with the same guy every morning of my life,” she said.
Ted and Carol Diamond in 2017, at a Bedford Middle School “town hall” meeting with Congressman Jim Himes.
In addition to her husband she is survived by her sons William and Jonathan; daughter-in- law Harriet; grandsons Theodore and Noah, and great-grandchildren Peter, June and Beatrix.
A celebration of her life will be held at the Westport Library on Sunday, April 3 at 10:30 a.m., followed by a reception at the Westport Woman’s Club.
Contributions in her memory may be made to the Westport Library.
But when it comes to restaurants, you know your onions.
Last week’s image — of a weathered, wooden finger pointing to an entrance — hangs (of course!) at Little Barn. It’s one of our town’s most popular dining spots, and one of our most iconic signs. (Click here to see.)
Ken Runkel, Rich Stein, Patti Brill, Lynn Untermeyer Miller, Seth Braunstein, Arthur Hayes, Janice Strizever, Pete Powell, Susan Yules, Jilda Mankas — and probably many more of you — nailed it.
So it’s back to a tough one this week. If you know where in Westport you would see this, click “Comments” below.
A full house at Toquet Hall enjoyed yesterday’s Triple Threat Academy workshop production of “The Breakfast Club.”
The cast — a mix of old and young — nailed the iconic (and now 37-year-old) movie.
Highlights included Michael Sharits — a professional actor and Triple Threat student — who jumped in as Claire’s dad with just 2 hour’s notice when a cast member had COVID exposure.
In addition, there were 2 Staples Players parent/child duos: Nick Sadler (Principal Vernon) and Cooper Sadler (John Bender), plus Jean Pitaro (Brian’s mom) and Josy Pitaro (Claire).
Triple Threat founder (and Staples High School graduate) Cynthia Gibb was in the audience, watching acting teacher/Juilliard grad Keith Contreras-McDonald’s production.
Cynthia’s mom Linde was there too. She’s in Triple Threat’s adult acting class.
For more on Triple Threat’s acting and improv classes for youth, teens and adults, dance classes, audition workshops, private voice lessons and more, click here.
The Westport Library gives so much to Westport. Here’s a chance to give back.
There are vacancies on the board of trustees. The Library seeks candidates with previous board experience. and expertise in finance, fundraising and development for non-profits; knowledge, expertise and understanding of trends in media and information technology, and entrepreneurs with experience in business, economic development and innovation.
Trustees must be Westport residents, and serve for 4-year terms beginning July 1. There are 20 members; half are appointed by the Representative Town Meeting, half by the Library Board itself. For more information about trustees’ roles, click here.
The Staples High School rugby team is ranked 9th in the nation, by Goff Rugby Report. Georgetown Prep of Maryland is 8th.
But the Wreckers traveled south, and demolished the Hoyas yesterday 45-7. The livestreamed match was watched by dozens of Staples parents, siblings and fans — and plenty of ex-pat former ruggers from South Africa and Australia — at Little Barn restaurant.
Congratulations to 1st-year head coach Neil Seideman and his excellent team on their 2nd win in 2 games. They opened the season with a 38-3 trouncing of Xavier-Middletown. (Hat tip: Terry Brannigan)
Speaking of sports: This weekend marks the return — after 2 canceled COVID years — of the Westport Soccer Association’s WIN tournament.
Over 160 teams from throughout the tri-state region compete indoors and outside, at Staples High and Bedford Middle School, and Wakeman. In 40 years of existence, the event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Coleman Brothers Fund. It honors former Westport athletes Scott and Keith Coleman, who were killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11.
Boys teams ages 9 through 19 played yesterday. Girls play today. Congratulations to the Wreckers of Westport, who won the U-19 championship yesterday, including a 6-0 thrashing of Dynamo in the final.
U-19 champions (front row, from left): Avery Mueller, Ben Tanen, Aidan Mermagen. Back row: Thomas Corridon, Brewster Galley, Bruno Guiduli, Jaden Mueller, Jesse Sanchez. Missing: Santi Alfageme, Jacob Greenberger. (Photo/Barry Guiduli)
Speaking still of sports: Chad Knight — for the former Staples High School and Little League World Series star — leads the Duke University baseball team in hitting. The 6-0, 220-pound catcher/designated hitter has a .350 average for the 11-8 Blue Devils. (Hat tip: Steve McCoy)
Bistro du Soleil is not just a great restaurant. It’s also an inspiring art venue. Westport artist Karen Silver Bloom — known for her unique collectible shadow boxes — is next up, at the popular Riverside Avenue spot. An opening reception is set for March 27 (4 to 7 p.m.). The shadow boxes will be on display at Bistro du Soleil on weekends through May 8.
Just announced: an interesting CNN+ and HBO Max project focusing on Westport’s own Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
Ethan Hawke is the director. Martin Scorsese is the executive producer. Deadline says, “The Last Movie Stars will celebrate the enigmatic personas, incandescent talent and love story of the 2 actors, who occupy a unique space in the Hollywood pantheon.
“Central to the film is a long-abandoned project that Newman, who died in 2008, commissioned…. (Stewart Stern interviewed) Woodward, Elia Kazan, Sidney Lumet, Karl Malden, Sidney Pollack, Gore Vidal, Jacqueline Witte and others for a planned memoir.
“He also interviewed Newman…. They discussed his youth, first marriage, romance and life with Woodward, personal demons, and the loss of his son Scott.”
Click here for the full story. (Hat tip: Dick Lowenstein)
Congratulations to Staples High School’s March Students of the Month.
Senior Olivia Marshall, juniors Lucy Dockter and Mirian Hurley, and freshmen Perrin Root and Ocean Banska were selected, principal Stafford Thomas said, for helping make their school “a welcoming place for peers and teachers. They are the ‘glue’ of the Staples community: the type of kind, cheerful, hard-working, trustworthy students who keep the high school together, making it the special place it is.”
Staples Students of the Month Perrin Root, Miriam Hurley, Lucy Dockter and Olivia Marshall. Missing: Ocean Bansak.
March is National Disability Awareness Month. Which means it’s a great time to let the “06880” community know about New Canaan Mounted Troop.
Executive director Sara Tucker — a Westport resident for 33 years — sent information about the non-profit youth development and therapeutic equestrian center.
Founded in 1939, it serves lower Fairfield County. Over that time, hundreds of Westporters have benefited from their time with the organization’s volunteers — and its horses.
Here, from the NCMT newsletter, is a story about one of those young people.
When Super Trooper Devin Sussmane, 27, started coming to New Canaan
Mounted Troop about 5 years ago, she was so shy she yanked her jacket over her face so no one could see her.
Now, she loves being at the barn so much she cries when it’s time to leave.
Devin lights up around animals, says mom Elaine Zapfel, and the horses “accept her without judgment.” They also don’t mind her enthusiastic embraces, which often scared the smaller rescue cats and dogs at another program she attended,
her mom said.
Devin Sussmane
The COVID pandemic has been hard on Devin, who doesn’t understand why beloved activities are interrupted. Although she doesn’t enjoy participating in most Zoom calls, she never missed a chance to see the horses at Troop — even if it was only through a screen.
Still, quarantine left Devin largely stuck at home with nothing to do unless her mom came up with reasons to leave the house. So when restrictions eased and NCMT offered Devin the chance to attend one-on-one equine care lessons during the summer, it was everything, her mom said.
“Having something like New Canaan that she can look forward to every week is more than I can say.”
Zapfel also calls Super Troopers instructor Stacy Gendels (a longtime Westport resident) “sent from heaven.” The two are so close that Devin visits Gendels at her home to play with her dogs.
“Certain people just get it, and Stacy is very good with Devin. She understands that Devin can be anxious and cranky, and she doesn’t treat her like a baby,” Zapfel said.
“Devin has a lot of anxiety, but when she is at Mounted Troop her anxiety is so much less — she’s able to function.”
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All those talented, experienced men and women have worked on — or are currently involved with — the middle school’s theater program.
“Having something like New Canaan that she can look forward to every week is more than I can say.”
