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													ERIN GIBNEY PHOTOS
ERIN GIBNEY PHOTOS

For most people, the idea of a small-town girl living a double life as a musician is nothing more than an entertaining plotline, one reserved for fictional characters like Hannah Montana. For Southington native (and former Camp Sloper counselor) Erin Gibney, however, that idea has become reality.


Erin will be returning to Southington to perform at the Apple Harvest Festival on October 4th. During an interview with the Southington Outsider on September 25th, she said that after living in Nashville, Tennessee for 8 years and growing her career in the music industry, coming home “feels like Hannah Montana taking off the wig.”


Hometown Roots


As any Southington native who has left town could tell you, your roots stay with you no matter how far you stray. Erin echoed that sentiment: “I have a lot of nostalgia for Southington, and it has wormed its way into my songwriting and nearly every song I’ve put out. I feel so closely tied to it, and have had so many really defining moments that happened there.”


Much of Erin’s songwriting focuses on significant experiences, such as her breakup with her longtime Southington High School sweetheart. She also joked that there may be some influence in her songs from “some nights at 75 Center,” referring to the restaurant that was once located at that address downtown.


Her passion for performing also began during her time in Southington. She fondly remembers partaking in local competitions like ‘Connecticut Icon’ at just 13 years old. “I just loved it. I loved everything about it. I loved telling stories on stage, and it carried me through high school – it’s what brought me to Nashville.”


When asked if she had any lasting memories from the Apple Harvest, aside from the fritters, she revealed, “one of my first times on stage was actually at the Apple Harvest Festival. It’s so funny because back then I remember walking on stage and thinking it was the scariest thing in the world. I was shaking in my boots.”


“But now,” she added, “after 3 years of being on tour, it’s just an exciting feeling.”


Rise To Fame


Erin, left, with her family
Erin, left, with her family

After graduating from Southington High School, where she was class secretary, Erin moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University. Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Erin graduated in 2021. She signed with her current label, Rock Ridge Music, in 2020. Navigating a new city and a blossoming career posed additional challenges, especially for a 19-year-old. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget the bad moments when you’re living in the good moments,” she reflected.


“In this town you face a lot of no’s. You face a million no’s to every one yes, which can be really hard when you’re young.”


Even now, after releasing multiple successful singles and wrapping up her first headlining tour, there are still days that can feel difficult. “The hardest thing is keeping at it on the hard days. I wish I could go back and tell myself to stay positive even on the hard days because the needle does move every day, even when you feel like it doesn’t.”


“Still, I’ve always wanted to be a pop country singer,” she added. “It was always my dream. Coming up in the industry definitely had its growing pains, but I learned a lot through it, and I love my life here in Nashville.”


Looking Ahead


Erin will be releasing her new single, Risk, which is about her high-school breakup, on October 17th. “I’m really excited to release something that’s fresh and new. It’s very upbeat.” You can get an early preview of Risk during her performance at the festival October 4th at 7pm.


As far as what lies ahead for Erin, she says that she’s excited to see what’s in store given the trajectory of her career so far. “At this point, I feel so committed to my career that I’m just excited to watch it grow. I would love to be playing stadiums even if it’s just as an opener. I can promise you that even 10 years from now, I will still be playing. I will still be touring and doing the thing that I love.”


When asked if she thinks she’ll continue keeping the spirit of Southington alive in future songs, or return to the festival again, she confidently responded, “Oh, definitely!”

 

Kevin Harvey									PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS
Kevin Harvey PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

The two weeks starting September 21st have been designated “Paving The Path Forward To End FTD Weeks,” according to a declaration recently signed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont.

 

Behind that declaration lies the story of a local family tested to it limits by what has been called “The cruelest disease you’ve never heard of” – Frontotemporal Dementia, or FTD.

 

In 2005 Esther and Kevin Harvey were living in Wolcott with their three grown children Meghan, Keith, and Shannon. Kevin was working as a cost-analyst for the State of Connecticut. Life seemed more or less normal.

 

One day that year Esther’s mother passed away. At the funeral one of her friends expressed a concern: “Kevin seems very distant.” At first Esther thought she was referring to the fact that Kevin sat in the back row. No, the friend replied, he is acting distant. Esther recalled that her husband, who was usually a very caring person, had not come straight home from work after hearing of his mother-in-law’s death. It seems like an indication – but of what?

 

Unusual behaviors began to pile up. He would promise to add his daughter to the family car insurance plan after she passed her driving test, then fail to do so, repeatedly. Did this mean he was losing his memory? He went to a formal wedding dressed in an outfit from the 1980’s that had holes in it. Was he depressed?

 

Things came to a head in October of 2006 when he was sent home from work. His behavior had become erratic; he seemed to have an impulse to put inedible things like pieces of paper into his mouth. Soon he was put on administrative leave. Esther was told to have him visit a work-related psychiatrist.

 

The psychiatrist referred him to a neurologist, who after taking one look at Kevin recommended that he visit a neuropsychologist with expertise in diagnosing rare behavioral disorders. There were some false starts along the way to the correct diagnosis – sleep apnea and male menopause had to be ruled out first. But eventually Dr. Brett Steinberg of Cheshire found the answer.

 

Kevin, the family learned, had a behavioral variant of Frontotemporal Dementia. While some of its symptoms resemble those of Alzheimer’s, it is not primarily a disorder of the memory. Instead, the loss of neurons in the front half of the brain causes changes to a person’s behavior; their language, emotion, and executive functioning can all undergo abrupt shifts.

 

Medical professionals are able to diagnose the condition, but cannot yet pinpoint the underlying reason for the neuron loss. All that is known for sure is that genetics plays some role. The upshot, tragically, is that there are few effective treatments for the illness, and no cure.

 

The best that families can do with a loved one who is suffering from FTD is prevent them from harming themselves or others while treating that person with as much love and dignity as possible.

 

Basic functions like mobility can become serious problems. One day Kevin went to the supermarket and exited through a different door than the one he had entered. Confused and unable to find his car, he reported it to the police as stolen. The family made the difficult decision to take away his keys. Although Kevin resisted the decision, they felt they had no choice.

 

Because Kevin could still walk, he liked to go for strolls. Unfortunately he would walk into neighbors’ houses looking for food. Soon that freedom too had to be curtailed.


Through it all, the family kept doing everything they could to keep Kevin active and engaged and to spend time with him, especially on occasions like his birthday:


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Kevin spent the last 19 months of his life at the LiveWell facility in Plantsville. He died on January 26, 2012, at the age of 57, a beloved son, husband, father, and grandfather.


*****

 

FTD is a relatively rare condition that is believed to affect some 60,000 Americans -about 1 in 6,000. Esther, however, kept hearing about people who were afflicted with the disorder – another Southington resident, or the husband of an old high school friend. Eventually she and her children helped organize the Connecticut Frontotemporal Dementia Foundation.

 

Now in its 13th year, the foundation has raised and donated over $600,000 to organizations that work on drug discovery and caregiving. Beyond that, it offers a support group for family members of people suffering from FTD. The group meets online on the third Sunday of every month from 6 to 7pm, and is available as needed at other times to offer advice, sympathy, and help with identifying resources.

 

The foundation also seeks to make more people aware of the disorder. Awareness spiked in a dramatic way recently with the announcement that actor Bruce Willis had been diagnosed with FTD. Esther is careful to note that Willis has the PPA variant of the disorder, which affects the left brain and leads to loss of language and speech, rather than the behavior variant, which Kevin was suffering from.

 

Southington residents Lewis Schassler and his wife Kathleen are also wrestling with the disorder: Kathleen has PPA and rarely speaks. It was through the FTD support group that Lewis got to know Esther. He later invited her to give a presentation before the town’s Commission for Persons with Disabilities. She did so, and at the end of a 40-minute long speech, the commission, moved by her story and impressed by her knowledge, broke into applause.


Esther with Lewis and Kathleen Schassler
Esther with Lewis and Kathleen Schassler

Lewis has been working with the Commission to create a list of persons in town who have disabilities. The hope is that this list will prepare first responders to better meet their needs in crisis situations. The survey can be found by clicking here.

 

Esther credits another support-group member, Steve Batte, with the idea of asking the state of Connecticut to create an FTD-awareness week. She pitched the idea to State Representative Christopher Poulos, who worked to make the Governor’s proclamation a reality. At a ceremony held in the library last Monday, Poulos presented Esther with the signed text of the proclamation:


Keith Harvey, Shannon Macca, Meghan Roscoe, Esther Harvey, and Rep. Christopher Poulos
Keith Harvey, Shannon Macca, Meghan Roscoe, Esther Harvey, and Rep. Christopher Poulos

In her thank-you speech she summed up the story of her family's experience with FTD:

 

“My family and I are elated by Governor Lamont’s proclamation. FTD is a sick disease and as you all know, Kevin had the behavioral variant which shook my children and me to our core. With every struggle came strength, with every challenge came courage, and when it became time to provide Kevin with a new way of life, then came love – love with the dignity and respect Kevin so rightly deserved.”

 

 

This article has been updated to correct Kevin's age at the time of his death and the length of time the foundation has been operative.

	Nick LaRosa										PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS
Nick LaRosa PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

After a brush with fame as a contestant on the cooking show ‘Chopped,’ chef Nick LaRosa moved home to Southington with his family and set up the restaurant Noto Americano, which is now a fixture of downtown Plantsville. Running a restaurant is a full-time job that requires long hours in the kitchen. Why add to his plate by opening a new Italian market in town?

 

“Because I’m a glutton for punishment,” he jokes. “I love what I do."


"My business partner, Frank LaRosa, has been wanting to do something like this for a while. We thought the town needed it, there was a niche, and when this place opened up,” he adds, referring to the former site of Tokyo Japanese Restaurant on Queen Street, “we fell right into it.”

 

The shelves of the Noto Americano market are stocked with Italian imports - brands of coffee, olive oil, canned fish, and sweets not generally available in chain supermarkets. In one corner stands a cooler for fresh produce, hand-made pasta, various salumi (including capicola or ‘gabagool'), and cheeses; in another, a selection of Italian and locally-made sodas. The idea is to offer patrons one-stop shopping so that they can pick up everything they need for a meal in one place.


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New tariffs on imports have made the task of balancing quality and affordability a tricky one. Nevertheless, the LaRosas are confident their feel for the market will allow them to adjust. They plan to add more shelves and products over time, and monitor customer preferences – the check-out counter has a suggestion box – to adjust their inventory.

 

The market offers much more than groceries. When the Outsider visited Chef Nick, he was busy chopping up cucumbers to make pickles for Noto’s full-service deli. Customers can order to-go portions of lasagna and pasta, stuffed breads, various salads, and garlic bread. Pizza can be purchased by the slice for $5 – “big slices, like a quarter pizza,” Nick emphasized.

 

The deli will also carry club sandwiches and a wide variety of grinders made with locally baked bread and authentic Italian fillings. The market has six booths where patrons can stay to enjoy their purchases.


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LaRosa’s sous chef is Gracie Stanley, who learned her craft at the upscale Millwright’s Restaurant in Simsbury. Stanley's specialty is baking; she will be responsible for Noto’s in-house pastry selection, which will include, among other things, cookies, eclairs, and cannoli.

 

Asked where he first learned how to cook Italian cuisine, Chef Nick cites his grandmother and extended family:

 

“It was definitely my nonna for sure. While growing up we had large parties and families. I was always the guy in the kitchen with my aunts and my uncles helping prep. I was a fat kid back then.”

 

Noto, the city in Sicily where the LaRosa family is from, provided the inspiration for the name Noto Americano, which means 'American Noto'. The wallpaper in the shop was designed by Plantsville-based Legendary Graphix to evoke the look of Italian street graffiti.

 

All of the market's recipes for prepared foods are Chef Nick’s own. As an exclusive for Outsider readers, he has shared his formula for 'No Nut Arugula Pesto':


garlic (minced) 3 tablespoons

basil (picked) 2 oz (use scale)

arugula (picked) 6 oz (use scale)

parmesan cheese 1 cup

salt 2 teaspoons

ground black pepper 1 teaspoon

extra-virgin olive oil 3/4 cup


"Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until incorporated, date, cover, and place in cooler."

 

Noto Americano is located at 172 Queen Street. It will be open 11 to 7 every day of the week except Mondays. Its first day of business will be Friday, September 12th.


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