Tag Archives: Barbra Streisand

Roundup: Brian Lewis & James Beard, Blondinit & Passover …

Posted on April 3, 2025 | Comments Off on Roundup: Brian Lewis & James Beard, Blondinit & Passover …

Westporters know how talented Brian Lewis is.

Now the James Beard Foundation does too.

The Cottage‘s chef/owner was named yesterday as one of 5 nominees for Best Chef, in the New England region. The others are from Providence (2), Cambridge and Burlington, Vermont.

The winner will be announced on June 16, at a ceremony in Chicago. The Awards will be broadcast live on Eater. Click here for more James Beard information.

Chef Brian Lewis

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Speaking of restaurants: The Blondinit is (“06880” thinks) the only one in Westport offering a kosher menu for Passover.

Available for catering and in-house dining, and made with true Israeli flavors and 100% kosher ingredients, the half and full trays include appetizers (deviled eggs, smoke salmon, fried matzah, flourless potato latkes and matzah ball soup); dips; salads; entrees (baked chicken, mafrum, stuffed peppers, matzah-crusted sea bass and grilled salmon); sides, and desserts.

The catering order deadline is Monday (April 7).

Every dish is served with matzah, Israeli pickles and schug. Available in half or full trays for gatherings big or small.

Click here to order (use the “Passover” tab under “Order Online”), or call 203-557-3277.

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If it’s April, it must be time for the Minute Man Race.

One of Westport’s most popular traditions, the event — actually, a 10K run, 5K run, 5K walk and kids’ fun run, plus a Kids’ Zone with games and entertainment — returns Sunday, April 27 (Compo Beach).

All net proceeds benefit the Westport Young Woman’s League Grants program. Last year, they awarded $65,000 to 9 non-profits doing vital work across Fairfield County.

Now is the time to register.

And to sponsor and donate. All are welcome!

Click here for more information, and to register, donate and sponsor.

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Another great Westport tradition — the Day of Champions — is coming soon too. Mark your calendars: Sunday, May 18 (9 to 11:30 a.m., PJ Romano Field).

It’s Experience Camps’ morning of family competition and fun — and a major fundraiser for their efforts to provide free programs for children who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling or primary caregiver.

Everyone who has participated (and that’s almost everyone in Westport with an elementary school-age kid) knows it’s a great event.

They also know how much work it takes.

Volunteer sign-ups have begun. There are tons of tasks. Click here to help. Click here to learn more about Experience Camps.

The “En Fuego team”: on fire at the Day of Champions. (Photo/Amy Shapiro)

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This is also the time of year to clean out basements and garages.

CB Sportif and Northeast Community Cycles are collecting “pre-loved” bikes.

They’ll be refurbished, then given free to children and adults throughout Fairfield County who need — but cannot afford — themm.

Bicycles can be dropped off tomorrow (Friday, April 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Saturday (April 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at CB Sportif (1554 Post Road East). Tax receipts are available.

Questions? Call 203-586-3030.

New life for old bikes.

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Barbra Streisand celebrates her birthday at the Westport Country Playhouse.

Well — April 24 is her birthday. She’ll be represented there in “Me, Myself, and Barbra,” a tribute by Jenna Pastuszek.

She was inspired by a meeting with the singing star, who inspired her to embrace her inner Barbra.

The show is April 24 — Streisand’s birthday. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are $45 and $40; pre-show party and show tickets are $55 and $50. Click here to purchase, and for more information.

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Totney Benson reports: “Boats are retuning to the Ned Dimes Marina. There was one yesterday, almost 20 this morning!”

That’s quite an increase. At that exponential rate, the Compo Beach basin will be filled tomorrow.

(Photo/Totney Benson)

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Westport Police made no custodial arrests between March 26 and April 2.

They issued these citations:

  • Failure to renew registration: 15 citations
  • Failure to obey state traffic commission regulations: 15
  • Traveling unreasonably fast: 12
  • Driving while texting: 10
  • Reckless driving: 3
  • Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 3
  • Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 3
  • Failure to obey stop sign: 3
  • Failure to obey traffic control signals: 3
  • Speeding: 2
  • Disorderly conduct: 2
  • Breach of peace: 2
  • Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 2
  • Unreadable plates: 2
  • Interfering with an emergency call: 1
  • Traveling too fast for conditions: 1
  • Failure to insure a motor vehicle: 1
  • Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1
  • Failure to renew license: 1
  • Failure to display plates: 1
  • Improper use of markers: 1.

Texting while driving is illegal — even at a red light.

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For the last couple of weeks, we’ve introduced our “Westport … Naturally” feature by saying, “In a couple of weeks, this scene will look very different.”

Come on, spring! What are you waiting for?

Compo Beach (Photo/Patricia McMahon)

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And finally … in honor of the bicycle collection this weekend at CB Sportif:

(From restaurants and road races to volunteer opportunities, “06880” offers it all to you today. We do it every day too — 24/7/365. Of course, we rely on reader support. Please click here. Thank you!)

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Posted in Beach, Local business, Police, Restaurants, Westport Country Playhouse

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Buell Neidlinger: The Ace Of Bass

Posted on April 3, 2017 | 13 comments

He’s played and recorded with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, Elton John, Dolly Parton and Barry White.

He hung out with Pablo Casals — in Westport.

He’s 81 years old. He lives a continent away, near Seattle. In fact, Buell Neidlinger hasn’t been back here much since he left in 1955.

But he’s an avid “06880” fan. He comments frequently, primarily on music and looking-back stories.

And man, does he have tales to tell.

Buell arrived in Westport in 1938, at 2 years old. His parents rented a house on South Compo Road. (A few years later, his father worked with General Eisenhower’s staff in London, planning the Omaha Beach landing.) Buell’s grandfather lived nearby, on Thomas Road.

Buell went to Bedford Junior High, then St. Luke’s in New Canaan.

Pablo Casals was one of the first famous musicians Buell Neidlinger met. He would not be the last.

His first instrument was the cello. That led to his early encounter with Casals. The bass came later.

He spent one year at Yale. The McCarthy hearings mesmerized the country. Buell realized, “I was in school with the same type of people I was watching every day on TV.” College was not for him.

Buell floated around. He returned to Westport, working in Frank Zack’s “high-class haberdashery” downtown.

He sold aluminum windows. Meanwhile he practiced bass in a warehouse, playing along to records.

Max Kaminsky, a famous jazz trumpeter renting in Westport, convinced Buell to move to New York — perhaps the best advice he ever got. He backed Billie Holiday when she played clubs, during the last years of her life.

The first hit record Buell played on was Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

“We’d call the answering service,” Buell remembers. “They’d say, ‘you’ve got a session on Saturday, 10 a.m.’ That would be that.”

The custom of the day was for the rhythm track to be recorded first. Then came vocals, followed by horns. The “string sweetener” — with Buell — came last. The lead vocalist cut another track, this time singing along with the strings.

In 1957, Buell Neidlinger played at the Newport Jazz Festival with famed pianist Cecil Taylor. (Photo/Bob Parent)

Buell’s studio work led to a number of live gigs. He played with Chuck Berry, whose promoter was the first white man Buell ever saw with long hair.

He was on stage with the Carpenters — and can be heard on their famous version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

The Moody Blues flew Buell to London. They needed his acoustic bass.

It wasn’t all rock, pop and jazz. Buell also played with the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe.

The list of famous recording sessions rolls off Buell’s tongue: The Village People’s “YMCA.” The Eagles’ “Hotel California” and “Desperado.” He played with the 5th Dimension and Chicago. He was there the night John Lennon challenged Harry Nilsson to the screaming match that ruined Harry’s voice.

Buell Neidlinger (center), flanked by Roy Orbison and T Bone Burnett.

He met Whitney Houston when she was just 9 or 10. Her mother — famed gospel singer Cissy Houston — brought her to sessions. During breaks, Cissy and other backup singers sang church songs to their kids. “I’ve never heard anything like that,” Buell recalls.

Elton John played piano on his first 3 albums, while Buell played bass. Years later, Elton offered him $10,000 to perform in a Hollywood concert that included Leon Russell (whom Buell had backed on earlier club dates). Buell was honored — but had retired.

He’d gotten other calls too, like the one to play with Frank Sinatra in Egypt, for King Farouk’s birthday.

Sinatra is a huge name. So is Dolly Parton. He played on her “Coat of Many Colors.”

“What a voice! Buell says. “What a song! What a person! What a night!”

Among all the singers Buell backed, Barbra Streisand stands out. During one session, he played a Mozart composition. She did not like one note. “She changed Mozart,” Buell marvels.

Buell Neidlinger and his wife, Margaret Storer, on the Warner Brothers sound stage in 1993. The big blue trunk carried his 1785 Italian bass.

Buell — who for 27 years was principal bassist of the Warner Brothers orchestra — played on hundreds of movie soundtracks. His first was “Soylent Green.” His last was “Oscar and Lucinda.” In between were many others, including  “Aladdin,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Lion King,” “Shawshank Redemption” and “Yentl.”

Film recording has changed a lot, Buell notes. When he began, musicians worked up to 8 hours a day, for 10 days. For “La La Land,” he says, the orchestra played for just 4 hours, once. All the rest was done on computers.

In 1992, Buell and his wife, Margaret Storer, took their very first vacation: to Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. They liked it so much, they bought property there.

That’s where they live now. In retirement, he plays cello all day.

These days, Buell Neidlinger plays in a local coffee shop. He calls himself “Billy the Cellist.”

Though he hasn’t been back to Westport in decades, he remembers it fondly. “It was so beautiful,” he says. “It was like living in the wilderness — with amenities.”

He asks about local musicians, then answers his own question: “I hope Jose Feliciano is doing well. I did a session with him in L.A.”

Of course he did. He’s Buell Neidlinger.

The only man from Westport who has played with Pablo Casals, Brian Wilson, Duane Eddy.

And Ringo Starr.

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Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Looking back, People

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