The first year with First Student — Westport’s new school bus company — has gone well.
Now, the long-awaited bus tracking app is live. FirstView can be downloaded on any smartphone, desktop or laptop.
The app lets families track the location and direction of their child’s bus. Other features include customizable bus proximity notifications; custom alerts and messages, and multi-stop views.
Click here to get started. Questions? Call 888-889-8920, weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., or email support@firstviewapp.com.
==================================================
You may come to “Dante: Inferno to Paradise” for the subject.
You’ll stay for the music.
Ric Burns’ new 2-part series on the 14th-century poet airs this Monday and Tuesday (March 18 and 19) on PBS. Dante’s “Divine Comedy” — his account of a life-changing journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise — is one of the greatest works of art in Western history.
The 4-hour show was filmed across 6 years in Italy, England and the US. it includes paintings, drawings, manuscripts, frescoes, and interviews with scholars, writers, poets, politicians, clergy and historians.
But the 4-hour show soars on the beautiful, deeply moving soundtrack. It was composed by Burns’ long-time collaborator, veteran Grammy, Oscar and Peabody Award winner Brian Keane.
The very accomplished composer/musician is a 1971 graduate of Staples High School.
Brian Keane
Keane’s hauntingly beautiful score brings alive Dante’s life and work, in a hallucinatory, almost cinematically vivid way. It captures the depth and breadth of Dante’s experiences in the 3 realms of the afterlife.
“Dante” will stream for free on PBS for 2 weeks after the broadcast. It will then go to PBS subscription, and eventually pay-per-view.
Excerpts of the music score ere premiered at the Westport Library Orchestra Lumos concert earlier this month.
The single will be released March 22. The album follows a week later.
==================================================
St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow.
But the VFW Joseph J. Clinton Post 399 celebration begins soon: Noon today (Saturday, March 16).
It includes an all-you-can-eat feast, featuring (of course) corned beef and cabbage; $3 green beer, $4 Space Cat and $5 Guinness specials.
The $25 ticket includes lunch/dinner.
==================================================
There is a new date for the fundraiser to provide new AEDs in all fire, police and Emergency Medical Service vehicles in town.
Automated External Defibrillators are portable devices that deliver electric shocks to the heart during cardiac arrest. The current ones are reaching the ends of their useful lives.
On April 24 (5:30 to 10 p.m., Autostrada), the Westport Firefighters Charitable Foundation hosts its 2nd annual Whiskey Tasting.
The evening includes drinks, light bites, and a silent auction. The target is $75,000.
Many of us know people whose lives have been saved by AEDs. Any of us could be next.
Click here for tickets, and more information.
AEDs — with clear instructions on how to use them — save lives.
==================================================
When Amazon Fresh planned to open in the old Barnes & Noble — that’s the long-vacant store in the Angelina’s Pizza plaza, for you newcomers — they ran into some issues with their sign.
Last year, they bailed. The site became a “zombie store” — one of a number of Amazon Freshes nationwide that were abandoned, after being announced with great fanfare.
Now, Big Y is poised to take over the spot (which, intriguingly, started life as a supermarket — Waldbaum’s).
Their request for signage will be heard at Tuesday’s Architectural Review Board meeting (7:30 p.m.; Zoom).
There is no indication that there will be any issues with this proposal.
And — unlike Amazon Fresh — it looks like this store will actually open.
==================================================
Speaking of the VFW (as we were above): The John Lamb Show runs there every Sunday, from 6 to 8 p.m. And it’s free!
The Staples graduate plays jazz, Paula Gallo sings pop numbers, and there’s comedy (Stephanie Bass appears tomorrow), a trivia game, and a raffle.
The weekly series debuted last month, and is quickly gaining a devoted following.
Click here for more information. Questions? Want to donate raffle prizes? Email JohnLambMusic@aol.com.
John Lamb
==================================================
Next month, astronomy buffs across the world head to Texas. That’s where, on April 8, they can see a total eclipse along the totality line.
But Westport will be part of the event too.
The Westport Astronomical Society and its amateur radio station club (K1WAS) — along with other amateur radio operators and balloon enthusiasts — will help launch high-altitude balloons with cameras, sensors and radio transmitters, to capture the eclipse from a vantage point high above the Earth’s surface.
The WAS project is a collaboration with the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven, through the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project.
“We are thrilled to contribute to the scientific community’s understanding of this celestial event,” says WAS board member. Dan Wright. “These high altitude balloon missions will offer a perspective of the eclipse that is both breathtaking and informative, helping researchers study the Sun’s corona and the Earth’s atmosphere in new and exciting ways.”
Amateur radio operators and astronomy enthusiasts can follow the balloon’s location, and participate in related events and discussions. Details will be posted soon on the Westport Astronomical Society website.
The total solar eclipse, a rare event in which the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, will be visible across parts of North America. The sun is only 90% obscured in Westport and much of New England.
But the WAS will host a “watch party” at the Westport Library (April 8, 2 to 4 p.m.).
In Connecticut, the next partial solar eclipse is not until 2028. It will not obscure the sun anywhere near what we’ll see in April, though.
For that, you have to wait until May 1, 2079.
Mark your calendars now!
Here’s what the April 8 eclipse will look like. You saw it here first!
==================================================
Jolantha does not sound like an Irish name.
But Weston’s favorite pig is all decked for St. Patrick’s Day.
Swing by 70 Kellogg Hill Road Say hi. She’ll bring you luck!
(Photo/Hans Wilhelm)
One more sign that spring is near:
(Photo/Ben Gosseen)
Ivy Gosseen’s husband spotted today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature in their Regents Park yard.
She writes: “I love that there are clovers nearby, because we are just shy of St. Patty’s day!”
==================================================
And finally … in honor of next month’s Westport Astronomical Society event (story above):
(Today — and every day — “06880” serves up a potpourri of news, information and “stuff.” But we couldn’t do it without reader support. Please click here to help. Thank you!)
