Lazlo Gardony-Marco Pignataro Jazz Duo, New Leaf Irish Band, and Women's Day Art Reception This Weekend at The Buttonwood Tree

The Laszlo Gardony-Marco Pignataro Jazz Duo

March 8 @ 8-10 pm, $15

Details here/Reserve seats

New England’s world-class musicians, Laszlo Gardony (piano) and Marco Pignataro (saxophone) will perform unique takes of South-American and Caribbean standards as well as originals and jazz standards with arrangements especially suited for the duo. They have toured the Dominican Republic as a duo and have played major festivals (Rochester Jazz Festival, Cambridge River Festival) together.

Hungarian-born Laszlo Gardony has delivered soulful improvisations and compositions to great critical acclaim in 26 countries. Winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, Gardony has been called “a pianist worthy of praise within the highest pantheon of performers” by Jazz Review and “a great pianist” by Dave Brubeck. He has released 11 albums, including his sextet’s new live album, “Life In Real Time” which has been named by the Boston Globe as one of the Top 10 Jazz Albums of 2015. He has been featured with the Boston Pops, the Utah Symphony and The Smithsonian Institute’s “Beyond Category” Traveling Duke Ellington Exhibit. A Bostonian for over two decades, he currently serves as Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music.

About Laszlo Gardony

About Marco Pignataro

Pignataro performs and tours internationally with several musical groups, including the Marco Pignataro Jazzet and the Eddie Gomez Quintet, which is featured in the widely acclaimed recent CD Per Sempre (BFM Records). Marco Pignataro is a multitalented saxophone player, composer, and educator originally from Bologna, Italy. He has shared stages with artists such as Eddie Gomez, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone, John Patitucci, Rufus Reid, Kenwood Dennard, Antonio Sanchez, Laszlo Gardony, Ben Street, Billy Drummond, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, and Jon Faddis, among others. Pignataro’sCD, Sofia’s Heart, was also produced by jazz legend Eddie Gomez and features Pignataro’s compositions and arrangements. 

Pignataro was the director and cofounder of the Jazz and Caribbean Music Department and was the chair of the Jazz Saxophone Department at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He was also a board member of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), the president and founder of the IAJE chapter of Puerto Rico, and faculty at the University of Veracruz International Summer Jazz Seminars.

His column, “Style & Influence,” was regularly featured in the quarterly magazine Jazz Improv. Pignataro is a D’Addario Woodwind Performing Artist and endorser for Applied Microphone Technology Wireless System and for Mauriat and Lupifaro saxophones.

Aligned with Source: A Personal Development Workshop & Meditation
March 9 @ 10:30-12 pm

Topic: Allowing Divine Order
We often like to be in control of life, & others. But how much control do we really have?
Details here
Official Facebook Page
Suggested Donation: $10 (Give what you can)

New Leaf Irish Band 

March 9 @ 8-10 pm, $15

A pair of tickets to our Benefit Celtic show with TEMPEST on April 5 will be given away during this concert! Reserve your seats today!

New Leaf is John Tabb on button accordion, Kira Jewett on fiddle and Adam Braunschweig on guitar, vocals and anything else he happens to bring on a typical evening - could be harmonica, tenor banjo or even an octave mandolin.  Together they play traditional tunes with tight, driving rhythm, interspersed with Adam's unique take on Ireland's song repertoire.

John Tabb is well known throughout southern New England for his box playing and leads weekly sessions at the Irish Cultural Center of Western New England. He has performed with The Healys, The Dustmen and his dad Chris Tabb, and appears on the recording Apples in Winter. Kira Jewett started playing classically when she was just three years old, but fell in love with the music of Ireland in her 20s and studied extensively with the virtuoso fiddler Brian Conway. She is the 2003 All-Ireland fiddle Slow Airs Champion. Singer/songwriter Adam Braunschweig is talented in many genres and on many instruments, and makes his living as a music educator. 

Details here/Reserve seats

Check out their website for more information: https://www.newleafirishband.com/

International Women's Day Art Reception

March 10 @ 2-4 pm

Celebrating International Women’s Day is a tradition at The Buttonwood Tree! We believe in the invincible power and spirit of women and take this time to recognize that. The event is free and a perfect opportunity to meet the talented local artists of this month's exhibit.  

Featuring Art By:

• Jenavieve Hawks

“Art has always been my passion and I have been creating it my whole life. I learned to draw before speaking and can always be found doodling on something. Art has been my way to cope, celebrate, and transform all that life has offered me…. including the seemingly ‘negative’ events. Creative expression has taught me that even the greatest pain can transformed into the most beautiful work of art.”

• Michele Gargenti

You can find all of my current artwork on my Facebook Page: Indigo ANGEL Prints. During my childhood and well into my adult years, I struggled with expressing myself creatively. I really enjoyed drawing but I was completely terrified of sharing my work for fear of being judged or ridiculed. Even though it has taken me many years, I have finally found the courage to be able to share this part of myself with the world, and it feels so liberating. If I had to share one life lesson it would be to never let fear stand in your way of accomplishing your goals and dreams. Be fearless, be courageous, be proud of who you are and share your talents with the world!

• Diane Szymaszek

My name is Diane Szymaszek. I am a retired art teacher having taught in the Meriden school system for 37 years. In retirement I am active in my Unitarian Universalist Church especially in social justice issue particularly immigration. anti-racism, and environmental causes. Occasionally I teach at Gallery 53 here in Meriden.

• Lori Tripp Jacinto
• Pamela Hartz Miller
• Maria Louise
• Carole Dubiell

This annual event offers art by local women to be displayed for the month of March. The reception will also feature music by Greg Gaylord on piano. TBT Performing Arts Center is located at 605 Main St, Middletown, CT 06457. Details here.

The Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center is located at 605 Main Street, Middletown. There is ample, free parking behind It's Only Natural market. Refreshments, viewing of Buttonwood's Art show, the bookstore and refreshments are all open and available. Call for info: (860) 347-4957. If you want to see what events we have lined up for the month check our website's event calendar here.

Meet Your Greens March 21 with Lori Brown

The Rockfall Foundation hosts its next Meet Your Greens environmental networking event on Thursday, March 21st at Tavern at the Armory in the Inn at Middletown, 70 Main Street. Join for drinks and conversation 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The guest speaker will be Lori Brown, Executive Director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV). CTLCV is a bipartisan, statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting Connecticut's environment by making environmental issues a priority for our elected leaders. Lori will give a brief talk on the major environmental issues and initiatives facing Connecticut in the current legislative session and how they relate to the national and global landscape.

Lori Brown has been the Executive Director of CTLCV since 2000. She has prior experience as the Communications Director for the New York League of Conservation Voters, as a consultant on projects with the Federation of State Conservation Voter Leagues, and as Chapter Director for the Sierra Club’s Manhattan office. Lori has organized multiple public education and grassroots lobbying campaigns, and has worked on political campaigns for pro-environment candidates across New York and Connecticut. She served most recently on the boards of the Farmington Land Trust and Recovery Wing, a wildlife rehabilitation clinic. She is a resident of Bloomfield and was one of the founding members of the on-going resistance to Niagara Bottling and water commodification in the state and nation.

Join us for socializing and to hear the guest speaker!

January Green Drinks at Perk on Main

For those of you not familiar with Meet Your Greens: Middletown Green Drinks, this monthly event provides networking opportunities for anyone who is interested in making connections and exchanging news about emerging environmental issues to help keep Lower Connecticut River Valley communities green and growing. An official location of Green Drinks International, this informal monthly gathering of people drawn from the community, nonprofit groups and the business world offers time to brainstorm ideas and plant seeds for collaboration. All are welcome and there is no admission fee, unless otherwise noted. For more information, please visit our website.

Composting Workshop -- March 18 @ 7 p.m.

John Hickenlooper, former Middletown resident, enters Presidential race

 John Hickenlooper, a Wesleyan graduate from the class of 1974, will announce this morning that he is running for President!

More here.   

And for a little extra reading, here is Hickenlooper’s talk from the 2010 commencement at Wesleyan, as he received an honorary doctorate.

Opinion: About Those Green Street Conversations

The following was submitted by Bobbye Knoll Peterson. Peterson has been extensively engaged within the Green Street neighborhood.
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The future of the building at 51 Green Street has been much belabored recently. The voices that have risen to the top seem to have created a narrative that this conversation is only about St. Vincent DePaul and Middletown Green Community Center. What has been lost in the cacophony of what is right for the space and the neighborhood is the voice of many of the residents in nearest proximity to 51 Green Street.

After Wesleyan University vacated the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center space, the City laid out a process for request for proposals (RFP) for new use of the building at 51 Green Street. St. Vincent DePaul (SVDP) was one of the three groups who submitted a request for the space. SVPD followed the steps the City laid out and was fairly awarded the space. Where the process went wrong was the lack of direct engagement with the twenty plus families who live on Green Street. Yes, there were community meeting facilitated by NEAT and attended by a few members of the Common Council, but there was no targeted recruitment of residents on Green and Ferry Streets and SVDP, though invited, was not in attendance. Direct engagement with residents on Green Street should have been a priority in these conversations. City leaders and those with proposals to utilize the space should have participated. SVDP has not shared their plans for the space with residents on Green and Ferry Street and allowed them the opportunity to express concerns, ask questions, and give feedback.

The voices that came out of the existing process have become those of advocates for the Middletown Green Community Center, another group that submitted an application in response to the RFP. MGCC is an idea to create a grass-roots, community-driven learning center in Middletown that focuses on information technology, healthy living, and the arts. Advocates for MGCC have claimed that the “state of the art” facility at 51 Green Street should be awarded to them. While in theory I certainly support art, technology, and healthy living spaces, I simply don’t see a path to sustainability in the current plan for MGCC. A few of the key facts in the MGCC argument for how they can provide programming and why the are the right choice are fundamentally flawed.

1. 51 Green Street is no longer a state of the art arts and technology space. 15 years ago Wesleyan university invested in making the space state of the art. The technology was never replaced or upgraded in the subsequent 15 years. Anything that was there at the end of the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center was obsolete or nearing obsoletion. Furthermore, the majority of what was there when the space was the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center has been removed. The argument that it would be a waste of resources to utilize this space for something other than an Arts and Tech space is incorrect. 
2. MGCS does not have a monetary commitment from Wesleyan University. The proposed budget and plan for programming laid out in the RFP by MGCC requires some funding from Wesleyan University. The University has not committed to providing this funding. The current budget laid out by MGCS is not realistic. As someone who was involved with the Green Street Arts Center as they worked diligently to try and find ways to make the space sustainable, I am confident that the budget on the MGCC web page is not a viable plan to support the programming proposed. MGCC has failed to demonstrate a financial commitment from anyone that would support the proposed programming. The partners that MGCS has named don’t have the budget or capacity to support MGCC proposed programming. 
3. MGCC asserts that the loss of Green Street Teaching and Learning Center  left a hole in arts programming in the North End of Middletown and City wide, when in fact, Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater runs a vibrant youth arts program just a couple of blocks from the Green Street Space. Oddfellows has always provided generous scholarship support to participants in need and offers a variety of arts based programming after school and on weekends. The City recently acquired the building at 128 Washington Street that house Oddfellows programs investing in arts programming in the North End.  
4. MGCC has used an “us vs. them” narrative that is unfair to residents. After the meetings on Wednesday night supporters of MGCC were overheard saying “we stopped them”. Vilifying the staff, volunteers, and patrons of SVDP is not a healthy narrative for the neighborhood and doesn’t express the views of many of the residents in that area. 

MGCC has centered this unsustainable vision and minimized the voices of many those whose voices should be magnified in this conversation. Residents have been promised something that does not exist, and to continue to allow them to lead the conversation does a disservice to the residents of Green and Ferry Street. To move forward in this conversation we need to be very clear that unless MGCC can present a plan that demonstrates commitment and funding that they no longer have a stake in the conversation. We need to center the voices of North End Residents on Green and Ferry Street.

Residents in surrounding areas to 51 Green Street have valid concerns about the programs at St. Vincent DePaul being relocated to Green Street. These concerns should be heard before any plan moves forward. To ignore the concerns of the neighbors and move forward sets the stage for an adversarial relationship that does not need to exist. Residents should not be made to feel like the move of programs at SVDP to 51 Green Street is yet another thing that the City has done “for the neighborhood” without real input “from the neighborhood”.

In another example of residents being portrayed as against one and other, some supporters of SVDP have painted this as a “Not In My Back Yard” (NIMBY) argument.Trying to make this a typical NIMBY argument is unfair. This is not about residents being concerned with “those people” suddenly being in their neighborhood, as has been suggested.This is not a neighborhood that is worried about something sullying their pristine view. This is a neighborhood that has a unique location, a unique set of challenges, and has earned the right to question the motives of the City and any potential partners. This is the same neighborhood that was sold a boat full of promises about the management, care, and upkeep of Wharfside Commons and has seen nearly none of them fulfilled. This neighborhood has the right to be concerned. Their concern may very well have nothing to do with the patrons of the soup kitchen. It might have everything to do with promises that haven’t been kept in the past and concern about a process that has been flawed.

I believe that no vote should occur on Monday evening and that the Mayor, members of the Common Council, and leadership at St. Vincent DePaul should have an opportunity to have a facilitated conversation with residents of Green and Ferry Street. The neighborhood should have a chance to express concerns and SVDP should have an opportunity to present their plan and listen to feedback from residents. This doesn’t have to be a display of who can bring out the most folks to a council meeting, when it can simply be a conversation between neighbors that is long overdue.

Bobbye Knoll Peterson

Former Director of the North End Action Team
Former Advisor of the After School Program at GSAC
Former Lots of things at Oddfellows, including Director of After School Programs
Former Ice Cream Scooper Extraordinaire.

Spring is Coming...Order CT Native Plants and Support Local Conservation!

It may still be cold and wintry, but it’s not too soon to plan for spring planting! The Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District’s 28th annual plant sale fundraiser will take place Friday, April 26th and Saturday, April 27th from 9:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and Sunday, April 28th from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at Westbrook Outlets in Westbrook, CT. Now is the time to take advantage of the wide variety of CT native shrubs, ground covers, evergreen tree seedlings, flowering perennials, ferns, grasses, and culinary herbs offered in our 2019 sale. Whether you'd like to enhance your landscape with natives, grow your own berries, have an herb garden, provide food and cover for wildlife, attract butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds, promote pollinator health and survival, improve drainage with a rain garden, or protect water quality by planting a waterside garden…you won't be disappointed in our selection! 

This year’s list features some new plants, including New Jersey Tea, Meadowsweet, a dwarf selection of River Birch, Golden Raspberries, Balsam Fir seedlings, Wild Ginger, Chocolate Joe Pye Weed, and Pennsylvania Sedge; and we are offering flowering perennial landscape plugs for the first time.  We are also carrying the popular Collins Organic Compost again. 

 

Our webstore is now open for shopping. You can also download a copy of our 2019 brochure and order form on our website, and find photos and more detailed information about our extensive selection of plants. Our online store has a larger assortment of perennials than our printed brochure, so we recommend that you have a look!

Quantities of certain plants are limited, so don’t miss out—reserve your plants by sending in an order, and order early for the best selection! Orders are due April 5, 2019. There will also be plants available the days of the sale if you want to come and browse.  If you have questions or would like to receive a hard copy of the brochure and order form, contact the District office at 860-346-3282.

The Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Middletown, works to conserve the natural resources in the lower Connecticut River watershed and coastal areas through technical assistance and education. All proceeds from the plant sale support our conservation work. For more information about District programs and services, visit our website at www.conservect.org/ctrivercoastal.

A Busy Council Meeting Monday

The next Common Council meeting, on Monday, March 4th, has a number of items sure to be of interest to a significant number of residents. This includes the city's sale of its Green Street school building, $60,510 in funding for a City of Middletown Pride Event, and a change to the ordinance regulating the use of city fields by sports teams.

As at all Common Council meetings, there is an opportunity for public comment. The meeting begins at 7PM, in City Hall. The complete agenda, with supporting documents, is HERE.

Sale of the Green Street School to Saint Vincent de Paul
The Green Street School building is currently vacant, and Mayor Dan Drew has proposed selling it for one dollar to the Archdiocese of Norwich for use by its Saint Vincent de Paul of Middletown organization. The Mayor's proposed sale requires approval by the Common Council.

The Economic Development Commission reviewed three applications to purchase the building, and sent its recommendations to the Mayor, who chose the Archdiocese of Norwich over a proposal from the Community Health Center and a proposal from a new group calling itself the Middletown Green Community Center. Saint Vincent de Paul proposes to use the building to expand its services of providing food, counseling, training, and other support to the neediest members of our community. It would also sell its current building on Main Street to a for-profit entity.

When the city considers the sale, purchase, or improvement of any city-owned land, state statutes require a review of this action by the Planning and Zoning Commission. At its meeting on Wednesday evening, the  Commission voted 6-1 against giving a favorable report on the sale of the city building to Saint Vincent de Paul (full disclosure: the author is a member of the Commission, he voted with the majority). It did so after hearing from residents in the neighborhoods near the Green Street building that moving Saint Vincent de Paul to Green Street would be severely detrimental to the quality of the residential neighborhood. The Mayor had apparently not consulted with the residents of the neighborhood before making his decision.

When the Finance and Government Operations Commission reviewed the proposed sale on Wednesday evening, there were not enough votes to endorse the proposed sale to Saint Vincent de Paul.

The proposed sale is currently on the agenda for Monday's Council meeting. If it is not removed, there will likely be a large turnout of people on both sides of the proposed sale to Saint Vincent de Paul, as there was at both of the municipal meetings on Wednesday. As a consequence of the Planning and Zoning vote, Common Council approval of the Mayor's proposal will require a 2/3rds positive vote: 8 of the Council members would need to vote "yes". 

City of Middletown Pride Event
The Mayor is asking the Council to approve an appropriation of $60,510 for an event to bring greater visibility to our City's community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (or questioning) and others. The event would take place on June 15th of this year, and include a parade on Main Street, and events on South Green, Union Street, and Harbor Park. The Pride Event would be co-hosted by the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce.

There was a wide-spread support for this expenditure at Wednesday's Finance and Government Operations meeting. In addition to support from the Chamber of Commerce, more than a dozen people spoke in favor of the proposal, they included a teacher and students from Middletown High School, students from Middlesex Community College, a Board of Education member and a Common Council member.

City Fields

The city fields ordinance has been submitted by Mary Bartolotta. It was the subject of an opinion piece published Tuesday in The Eye. 

The proposed 5 page ordinance establishes 3 levels of priority for use of the city's athletic fields, it would replace a far more complicated set of rules for the use of each of the city's fields. A separate resolution establishes the fees for each field.

According to the proposed ordinance, a subset of previously established city leagues and teams, and all schools in the city, would get first priority, there would be no consideration of whether the athletes on the teams or schools are residents of the city. Other teams would get second priority, but only if more than 60% of the athletes are city residents. Teams with fewer than 60% of residents, and all for-profit leagues, would get third priority.

The first priority teams would use the fields without any fees, the second and third priority teams would have to pay for the use of the fields for games. In the past, lower priority teams have been unable to get playing time.

The first priority users include not only the city's current soccer, baseball, football, cheerleading, lacrosse, and softball teams, but also the regional Vinal technical high school, and the private Catholic high schools Mercy and Xavier. Vinal allows extensive use of its fields by city leagues. Mercy and Xavier do not pay city taxes, have many students who are not residents, and do not generally allow use of their fields by city residents. 

This ordinance would discriminate among non-profit teams, giving first priority only to some existing teams in the city. Moreover, if a new league, for example for girls field hockey or coed ultimate (frisbee), were to be formed, it would be a second priority user even if all of the athletes were city residents. This, and the lack of a residency requirement for the teams given the highest priority are both puzzling. 

Andre Drummond Gives $15,000 to the YMCA

From the YMCA
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The Northern Middlesex County YMCA is pleased to announce that we have received a $15,000 grant from the Drummond Foundation. Funds received from Drummond support teen programs including, Andre’s Allstars, a program open to youth over the age of 12 which currently provides support to over 30 participants.

“Giving back to the city of Middletown is something I take pride in,” said Andre Drummond.

“Growing up as a kid, I didn’t have an athlete who came into town and help to start programs for my peers and me. The YMCA gave us somewhere to go and work on all of our skills both on and off the court. I give back because I want the kids of future generations to have better opportunities of doing great things with their life. I encourage kids to challenge themselves each day, and critique their work on and off the court. With focus and hardwork, you can create the unimaginable. I am fortunate enough that I am in the position to give back to a place where it all started. Thank you.”

 “For many of our teens the YMCA is a second home; they come almost every day and are able to have positive experiences with peers and staff alike,” explained Michele Rulnick, President/CEO of the Northern Middlesex County YMCA.

“Without Andre Drummond’s support, we would not have the ability to generate this level of engagement essential to our mission of youth and community development. We are excited by the possibility of creating more programs, which extend our impact into our community, made possible by the creation of our Teen Team. We look forward to continuing to enhance the Andre’s Allstars scholarships through programs at the Y, in the schools, and throughout the community."

All participants receive a complimentary membership. The funding has also provided an opportunity for additional programming such as basketball skill clinics and S.T.O.R.M.Y Nights (Spend Time Out Relaxing at the Middlesex Y), a program designed to bring middle school kids into the Y for supervised activities on Friday evenings. Many Andre’s Allstars scholarship recipients have also participated in YMCA youth basketball leagues.