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6/11/09

Jumpers and trainers warm up in a ring at the 79th Ox Ridge Charity Horse Show at Ox Ridge Hunt Club.

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

This gloomy, dreary weather has left me too exhausted to come up with clever commentary on this assignment.  Despite getting stuck in a muddy parking lot, nearly dropping my camera in a pile left behind by a horse and getting rained on, I actually enjoyed the two hours I spent at Ox Ridge.   I’ve covered this event for years.  A picturesque location, an abundance of finely primped horses, talented riders and beautiful people.  It’s easy to walk away with a blue ribbon…for photography.

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6/10/09

Willie Byrd greets passengers on his CTTransit bus route from Norwalk to Stamford.  Byrd has been with the company for 15 years.

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

Advocate reporter Martin Cassidy and I rode the 8:10am bus out of the Stamford Transportation Center this morning for a story on the CTTransit proposed 40% fare hike.  Due to sever motion sickness, aggravated by an empty stomach, heat and looking through my camera, I was forced to exit in Darien and hitch a ride back on Willie’s bus.  Well it was my lucky day because here’s a man that prides himself on doing a good job.  He greets passengers with a smile, knows many of them by name and seems genuinely happy to be sitting in that seat.  I would gladly pay the extra fifty cents for another chance to ride along with Willie.

GO TO: Stamford Advocate for a video and Martin’s story on the fare hike

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Nick Casinelli, owner of Connecticut Cigar Company, enjoys one of his specialties in the cigar lounge on Bank Street in downtown Stamford.

Brian Defreese joins other members in the Connecticut Cigar Company lounge as they enjoy an evening of cigars, drinks and conversation.

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

As I leaned against the bar in the Connecticut Cigar Company, a dimly lit room with a group of cigar smokin’ men and Norah Jones playing in the background, I couldn’t help but text my colleague CP and tell him “I love my job”.  This place has mood and it’s not surprising that women have discovered it as well.  It seemed that differences in class, economic background and political ideologies were checked at the door.  It’s all about good cigars, your drink of choice and pure camaraderie.

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SEEN: A 55 Merc coupe. Dropped and chopped.

5/31/2009

Nice.

–CP

READ: Devon Lash’s story on the Wright Tech car show, and local reaction to Gov. Rell’s proposal to close the school.

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Chris Preovolos/Stamford Advocate

ABOVE: The Board Lords at Meera in Stamford.

MEERA: TASTE OF INDIA, 227 SUMMER ST., STAMFORD

The warm air of late spring, thick with cigarette smoke, wafted in and mingled with the residual aroma of curry at the Indian restaurant, Meera Friday night. But the heavy guitar riffs of the skate rock band, the Board Lords, could be heard from across the street. And down the block.

As we – a trio of Advocate staffers – exited the freshly-minted Barcelona Wine and Tapas Bar looking for a quick nightcap, it became readily apparent that we needed to figure out what, exactly, was going on inside the small Indian restaurant.

At the makeshift bar, owner Bharat Patel was serving up $5 bottles of Corona, Heineken and Kingfisher, an Indian lager beer, while the Port Chester-based band cranked out one original song after another, punctuated with the occasional Clash, Specials or Dead Kennedys classic.

“It’s really loud, isn’t it?” said Patel, shortly after a brief conference with a couple city fire marshals, “I like them, but it’s really loud.” Patel then proceeded to tell me that his favorite band is Deep Purple, pioneers of heavy metal.

But the show continued and between songs, lead singer Steve “MC-Rice” Moy told the crowd that two fire marshals “just came in and said you guys are all right. Compared to Hula Hanks, you are all right.”

Around one o’clock the crowd began to thin out and with the band’s set over, only the sound of a piped-in Bollywood soundtrack remained.

–CP

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ABOVE: Patsy Fabricatore, 85, looks at family photos on the refrigerator in the home that he and his sweetheart,  Rose Arena, 74, share.  The two met late in life after both being widowed and have been together for 14 years.

5/28/2009

On Tuesday, staff reporter Devon Lash and I ventured out to Virgil Street on the west side of Stamford, for the Advocate feature “The Dart”.  We knocked on doors, peeked in the window of a church and checked out the bocce courts at a little Italian social club.  All the time not knowing that our story was right inside the kitchen door of 46 Virgil St.  There we met Patsy and Rose, two people who have been lucky enough to get a second chance at love.  Look for their story on Monday.

Kathleen O’Rourke/The Advocate

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ABOVE: Fairfield Ludlowe’s Jonathan Servilla watches Westhill’s Stanley Paul’s home run sail over the right field fence at Westhill Tuesday.

5/26/2009

FCIAC tourney action. Yep, it’s that time of year already.

Ludelowe’s Servilla made a decent attempt at scaling the right field fence, but it was a fruitless effort as Paul’s towering home run ended up in the center field…the softball field’s center field.

–CP

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ABOVE: Senior Nicole Memale, hugs a teammate after scoring following her triple in the fifth against Wilton.

5/21/2009

Not once in the five years, eleven months and seventeen days of my employment at the Advocate have I covered a softball game at Westhill High School. Until today.

Sure, I’ve shot the team countless times, but never a home game.

Photographer Kathleen O’Rourke assured me the field was great for photography because of decent sight-lines but I found myself sitting in the dirt atop a couple of boxes of game balls and way too close to the on deck ‘circle’ for comfort. The last thing I need right now is to be nursing a fractured skull.

But this did provide for an up close experience of the game. Not only was I getting inside info from the shortstop – who at one point was reading signs for me – but I also could overhear the coaches and players.

When Nicole Memale was on deck in the fifth, coach Tom Pia stepped over and said “you are gonna put this in the outfield. Just wait for a pitch that’s a little outside and swing through.”

And she did.

Memale stroked an RBI triple into deep center and scored on the next at bat. She was elated. After the obligatory home plate congratulations, she settled into the dugout and said to nobody in particular, “that was exhilarating.”

As former Giants manager Roger Craig would say, “Humm baby!”

–CP