A Weekend to Wonder, Woo, and Wind Down

The final 2 performances of "HeAVEN", the new play by Middletown resident Jenny Lecce, will take place tonight and Saturday night at 8 p.m. in the Hole in the Wall Theater, 116 Main Street in New Britain. The story of 3 unemployed factory workers who enter a contest to win a mobile home and who have to spend Labor Day Weekend living on a billboard resonates loudly in this country's current recession. For more information and reservations, call 860-229-3049.

Tonight at 7:30, The Buttonwood Tree welcomes New London's Total Bolsheviks, a trio of musicians who play what they dub as "Avant Chamber Music" or "noisy art rock." One might compare their efforts to the music of The Soft Machine or Mission of Burma, especially in their experimentations. Composed of Scott MacKenzie, Mark Warren and Brian P. Smith, the trio blends guitars, percussion, "cheap" keyboards and other electronics into an aural stew. Joining them will be Teenage Night Hawks. To hear the headliners before you see them, go to www.myspace.com/thetotalbolsheviks. For more information, call 347-4957.

Saturday night, The Buttonwood presents its annual Valentine's Poetry Night. Curated and hosted by Terri Klein, this year the theme is "Valentine's Secret"and is tied into Greg Dyro's provocative photographic display adorning the walls of the intimate performance space. In addition to a nominal $3 donation, bring a non-perishable food item and do good while having fun. Take heart and take part, the event begins at 6:30.

Sunday morning, "folk crooner" Dave Downs performs at 11 a.m. in Brew Bakers, 169 Main Street. Downs, who accompanies himself on guitar, has fashioned a repertoire on works from the great American composers of the 1930s and 40s as well as his personal observations of the world around him. For more information, call 852-0034.

John Basinger returns to The Buttonwood Tree Sunday at 2 p.m. to begin his journey through John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost." Basinger has committed the work to memory and brings the vivid images to life. For more information, go to www.paradiselostperformances.com/. You'll be amazed.