Archive for the ‘Fairfield’ Category
Passenger details terrifying moments
The above photo was taken inside one of the trains that collided at the Bridgeport/Fairfield line Friday. Photos were taken by passenger Helen Dodson of Fairfield.
The above photo was taken inside one of the trains that collided at the Bridgeport/Fairfield line Friday. Photos were taken by passenger Helen Dodson of Fairfield.
Helen Dodson usually drives from her home in Fairfield to her job in the public affairs department of Yale University in Fairifield. But, on Friday, her daughter was in town and wanted to use the car. So Dodson took the train, making her one of the many people who was on board of one of the two trains that collided at the Fairfield/Bridgeport line Friday evening. Above are some photos she took from the inside of the train after the collision.
Dodson, who was on the train from New Haven, said she knew something wasn’t right when the train began slowing down after the Bridgeport stop. Shortly thereafter, “you heard sort of a screeching sound and it just jolted to a stop.” Dodson said she saw clouds of dust and the lights went out in the car. Then someone came on the PA system asking if there were any doctors or nurses on board. “No one knew what was going on,” Dodson said. “We were just sort of stunned walking around.”
Passengers were then asked to evacuate. Dodson said she was lucky — she wasn’t hurt, and didn’t see anyone who was badly injured. Mostly, she just saw people who were scared. “A lot of people were in shocking,” she said. “They were crying and very upset.”
Hector Santiago: The man of ‘no’
Leaning over a railing of the Fairfield train station Saturday afternoon, Hector Santiago looked from a distance like just another prospective train passenger, waiting for the rest of his party to show up at the station. But Santiago wasn’t a sad passenger waiting for a train that wasn’t coming. He was the man of ‘no.’
Santiago, district manager for Metro North, was posted at the train station for much of Saturday mainly to tell people that there would be no train. Service to and from that station, and other, was suspended following a train derailment and crash at the Bridgeport/Fairfield line Friday evening. Santiago was one piece in a multi-faceted warning system, which also included a long PA announcement about the suspension and an illuminated sign announcing the suspension.
Luckily for him, Santiago didn’t see a lot of angry commuters while standing vigil on the platform.
“Things have been pretty slow,” he said. “I’ve been noticing a lot of people swinging by who seem to know the trains are suspended, but are looking for a contingency plan for Monday morning.”
So far, Santiago said, he isn’t aware of a contingency. He said he’s been referring most people seeking a train into New York to the South Norwalk station, where train service was still running. But he only saw a few people who didn’t seem aware of the suspension.
One of the few groups who ventured to the station Saturday afternoon was one led by Deirdre Colon of Wolcott. But Colon wasn’t a frustrated commuter looking for a train. She was just a frustrated mom who left her car at the train station on Friday and boarded a train to New York to take her son to an audition for an AT&T commercial. She and her son Gemini, 11, were supposed to be on one of the trains that crashed, but they took a later one because Gemini wanted to stop and visit the Empire State Building after his audition.
“I saved everybody’s life,” Gemini declared.
Deirdre said it became clear that something was wrong when the train was delayed, but train personnel weren’t telling passengers anything. “Nobody really knew what was happening, but if you were on Facebook, you saw what was going on,” she said. She said she was on the train for an hour and a half and “I was starting to get claustrophobic.”
Eventually, the train stopped in South Norwalk, and her husband came to pick her up.
Poll: What is your Plan B?
Rail service is suspended on Metro-North’s New Haven Line between New Haven and South Norwalk indefinitely, leading many weekend tourists and regular commuters alike to seek alternate transportation.
Loading ...‘Standing Ovation’ set for May 4; Meier receives ‘Gratitude of a City’
From the desk of arts writer Phyllis Boros.
A few things about Maestro Gustav Meier, who ended his 41-season tenure with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony with an extraordinary concert Saturday night at the Klein:
1. Just in case you missed the Editorial Page on Sunday (4/21),the Post’s “Gratitude of a City” editorial is attached below. … short and very, very sweet.
2. Saturday’s GBS concert (4/20) at the Klein turned out to be one of the most touching events seen in Bridgeport in a long time. The packed theater was full of appreciative music-lovers who gave Meier and orchestra round after round of applause. The guest pianist — Vanessa Perez of Venezuela — was sensational during the first half; the second part of the program was all-GBS & Gustav performing Brahms Symphony No. 1.
For an encore, the orchestra & the maestro performed the rousing overture to the “Marriage of Figaro,” by Mozart (Gustav’s favorite composer).
3. Now that his “work” is done, Meier will fly in (from his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan) to “party” at a “Standing Ovation” gala in his honor on the evening of Saturday, May 4, at the Patterson Club in Fairfield.
For tickets, and more info, contact Alex Morr, GBS executive director, at 203-576-0263 or visit www.gbs.org.
Gratitude of a city
Bravo, Maestro.
After 41 extraordinary seasons wielding the conductor’s baton with the Greater Bridgeport Symphony, Gustav Meier is calling it quits.
At age 83, he’s lost none of the gusto that he brought to performances in Bridgeport, but has decided the time is right to put his tie and tails away and pursue other projects, including, perhaps, the writing of a memoir.
Times are never easy for cultural institutions, particularly in a city like Bridgeport with its mix of urban problems.
The Swiss-born Meier, though, added the grace notes of elegance and sophistication to the song of the city and certainly was instrumental through the sheer force of his personality in helping to keep the symphony, truly a community symphony, on its feet.
We thank him for his commitment to the city and its symphony and wish him well with his plans.
Steve McCurry visits Greenwich gallery 4/18
You many not know his name, but chances are you know his photos.
For decades, photojournalist Steve McCurry has been traveling the world to document the human experience in all its beauty, chaos, diversity and struggle — a mission to which he remains committed.
Many of his magazine photos have become iconic, such as “Afghan Girl” (National Geographic, June 1985), with stunning, penetrating eyes who he photographed in a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. That image was subsequently named as “the most recognized photograph” in the history of National Geographic and has been frequently used on Amnesty International brochures, posters and calendars.
In celebration of his life’s work, Cavalier Galleries in Greenwich has mounted a 30-year retrospective that runs through May 6. On Thursday, April 18, the gallery will host an evening public reception for McCurry.
Cavalier Galleries is at 405 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich. Reception: Thursday, April 18, 6 to 8 p.m. Free. www.cavaliergalleries.com; 203-869-3664.
NOTE: FOR A full interview with the photographer, see Sunday’s Pulse, April 21.
Art-lovers invited to 3 new shows
By Phyllis A.S. Boros
Rabbits aren’t the only thing hoppin’ at this time of year.
For arts lovers, spring means the beginning of a new gallery/museum season throughout the region.
And in the next few days, three major shows will be opening in the region. So it’s time to get out the calendar and join the social whirl — and see some great art in the process.
City Lights Gallery
From Thursday, April 11, to Thursday, May 23, Bridgeport’s nonprofit City Light’s Gallery will present “Sketch.”
“The first manifestation of a good idea is usually a quick sketch,” explains curator/gallery director Suzanne Kachmar.
“The synthesis of thought or observation transposed to paper through immediate marks — made with simple tools — is a sublime marvel.
“This exhibit will consider the creative thinking process through sketches, drawings, renderings and plans of artists and designers,” she added.
Artists featured from throughout the region include Tom Brenner, Janice Bielawa, Robert Gregson, Carol Heft, Charlie Walsh, Rebecca Schwartz, Joel Spector, Greg Van Antwerp, Mary Witkowski and students from Housatonic Community College.
Also on view will be a working cartoon (a preliminary sketch) for one of the many murals and large-scale paintings created by the late Bernard Riley in preparation for his now-famous mural on the second floor of the Burroughs-Saden Library in downtown Bridgeport.
For hours and other events, visit www.citylightsgallery.org; 203-334-7748.
Bellarmine Museum
The streets of New York are fodder for “Excavation: Recent Photographs by Stanley Greenberg” at Fairfield University’s Bellarmine Museum of Art Friday, April 12, through Friday, June 14.
According to the museum, “ ‘Excavation’ is the artistic culmination of critically acclaimed architectural photographer Stanley Greenberg’s quest to walk every street in New York City, documenting the typologies (such as little streets, rocks, buttresses and empty spaces) he encounters while traversing the island in search of remnants of a forgotten urban past.”
The show will feature nine large format black-and-white images and about 50 smaller color photographs.
The artist, born in 1956, explores “that which is hidden in plain sight,” the museum notes.
Among exhibition sponsors are the Whole Foods Market, Moffly Media, Fidelity Investments, the Robert and Mercedes Eichholz Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Greenberg has authored four photography books: “Invisible New York: The Hidden Infrastructure of the City” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998); “Waterworks: A Photographic Journey Through New York’s Hidden Water System” (Princeton Architectural Press, 2003); “Architecture Under Construction” (University of Chicago Press, 2010) and “Time Machines” (Hirmer Verlag, 2011).
Upcoming: Saturday, April 13, is Family Day from 1 to 4 p.m., with activities planned for children age 4 and older. The museum also will be open April 13 to the public from noon to 5 p.m. Free admission.
For additional information and events: visit www.fairfield.edu/museum; 203-254-4046.
Crash in Southport
“Hide ‘N’ Seek,” an exhibition of new paintings by urban street artist John “Crash” Matos, is at Southport Galleries in Fairfield.
Matos, 51, considered among the pioneers of the graffiti art movement of the 1970s, will be on hand to meet with guests.
For directions: 203-292-6124; www.southportgalleries.com.
pasboros@ctpost.com; http;//www.twitter.com/PhyllisASBoros; www.ctpost.com/boros/
Connecticut Air & Space Center to stage panel discussion on pioneer aviators
We just received this press release:
Andrew King, Executive Director of Connecticut Air & Space Center will conduct a panel discussion on Gustav Whitehead and Chance Vought that will focus on the accomplishments of both aviation pioneers with emphasis on the recent recognition of Gustav Whitehead being the first to fly a controlled, powered aircraft.
Chance M. Vought was the founder of the company that designed and produced the Corsair fighter-bomber, one of the most successful war planes of World War II.
Also planned are discussions on the many aircraft that were developed and built in the Stratford and Bridgeport are, the current restoration of a Corsair fighter and the possible restoration of a Sikorsky flying boat by CASC.
The panel will include CASC board members Andrew King, Andrew Kosch, noted Whitehead expert; Chris Soltis, museum curator; and Ed McGuinness, the Corsair restoration project manager.
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- Whitehead’s flyer
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- The F4U Chance-Vought Corsair
The panel discussion will be held Sunday, May 5th, at the Stratford Library, 2203 Main St., beginning at 2 p.m. All are welcomed to attend.
