Fitzgerald (the other one) and his local inspirations

I often kid with people that the reason I both write and sing is because my grandfather was F. Scott Fitzgerald and my grandmother was Ella Fitzgerald.  They look impressed for a moment, and then the light dawns… I must be kidding.

Which of course I am.  I don’t think the two knew each other, and if they did, they wouldn’t be the right ages. Ella, born in 1917, was almost the same age as my Dad, who was born in 1919.  F. Scott was born in 1896, so he’s of an earlier generation.

But here’s something that’s true — I wrote a fun column about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his summer in Westport, Connecticut, which seems to have inspired The Great Gatsby.  Read it at Westport Patch.