middletowneye: This Weekend at The Buttonwood Tree

Brrr! This weekend, come in from the cold to get a taste of the hot tunes we'll be hosting at The Buttonwood Tree! To start our weekend off, tonight Dana Takaki, ArleneWow!, and Vincent Tuckwood will be presenting "Ear Candy for The Soul," a rousing and heart-warming piece, full of passion and love. Then, on Saturday, we'll be having Karen Frisk and Bernard Purdie rouse our spirits with some powerful Jazz. This concert will also accompanying the Bernard Purdie's book-signing event. To cap our weekend off, David S. Chorney will be presenting his piece, The Ultimate Love Life of Chaos and Beauty. Hope to see you all there!

“Ear Candy for the Soul” Dana Takaki, ArleneWow! and Vincent Tuckwood

February 20 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm | $10

Ear Candy for the Soul’s Live at Silk City Music Factory CD is a rich feast of captivating vocals, acoustic guitar and violin blended together with passionate songwriting that invites the listener to sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. The powerful combination of ArleneWow! (songwriter, vocals, guitar) and Dana Takaki (violin) takes acoustic music to a pinnacle of beauty and expansive expression. Although both are classically trained musicians, the duo loves the flexibility and creative flow of pop artistry. Their latest release totally exemplifies this sentiment. Each song is a tapestry of many intense colors and weaves. A must have for collectors of all genres of timeless music.

The majority of Ear Candy’s release was recorded at Silk City Music Factory in Manchester, CT and is completely live with no overdubbing or corrections. The two last songs on the CD are an added bonus. “Si No Me Quieres” was recorded by Hugh Birdsall of the Reducers and Dogbite. This song marks the duo’s first recording together. The final track “Train Song”, was recorded by ArleneWow! at her mobile studio.

The players:

ArleneWow! has been singing and writing music since her early beginnings. Now an award winning composer and musician category winner of Connecticut’s Star On The Web, Arlene has earned her place among her peers. From an early age, Arlene’s love of music was apparent. At age 6, she began taking classical piano lessons and proceeded to teach herself guitar at age 12. Her fascination with singing and writing her own compositions led her to her love of recording and engineering. Arlene’s solo debut CD “The Red Is Becoming” has won her several songwriting awards as well as accolades from industry icons such as Gary Allan (drummer for Charlie Daniels Band) and Jason Rubal (producer for Dave Matthews Band, Nine Inch Nails and Mary J. Blige). Arlene has performed with bands such as Milk, The Unexpected, Vertigo, The Bridge and Little Queen “The Ultimate Heart Tribute.” Her vocal stylings have been described as powerful and passionate but yet angelic and transcending. Due to her Cuban heritage, Arlene is now focusing on composing songs in Spanish which will appear on the next Ear Candy For The Soul release.

Dana Takaki was born and raised in Berkeley, CA. She began classical training on the violin at age 7. By the age of 10 she was certain her goal was to play music professionally. Her life took a detour from the dreams of a professional career in music as she furthered her scholastics in Mechanical Engineering. Dana is a graduate of MIT and UC Berkeley. By age 30, she was a successful engineer in Silicon Valley. Upon the suggestion of her employer, she reentered the world of music performing with a local volunteer symphony. She accepted this challenge even though she had not played violin since college. This decision led Dana to practice the violin daily for several hours. Upon moving to Connecticut in 2001, Dana has performed with the New Britain Symphony, Waterbury Symphony, Bridgeport Symphony, Chorus of Westerly and other professional classical groups. More recently, she performs with Ear Candy for the Soul, The Rivergods, Small Town Concert Series and other local artists. Dana has recorded tracks on released CDs with Steve Elci and Friends, Lauren Agnelli, Nancy Parent and two Good Sponge Samplers. Even though she has played to many audiences, Dana truly enjoys playing to her local fans at area farmers markets.

Ear Candy for the Soul “Live at Silk City Music Factory Vol. 1″ can be found on iTunes as well as

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/arlenewowanddanatakakiea

LIKE them on Facebook for information on their upcoming shows!

Vincent Tuckwood is a story-teller working in fiction, song and verse. At any given point in time, he’s proud to be a father, husband, son, brother, cousin and friend to the people who mean the world to him.

He is the author of the novels: “Escalation”, “Family Rules”, “Karaoke Criminals” and “Do Sparrows Eat Butterflies?”, as well as the 2010 poetry collection, “Garbled Glittering Glamours”. His screenplays are “Team Building” , the screen adaptations “Inventing Kenny” (Family Rules) and “Certainty” (Do Sparrow Eat Butterflies?)

Karen Frisk Jazz Featuring Bernard Purdie Book Release & Concert

February 21 @ 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm | $35. for Book & Concert IN ADVANCE / Concert: $15. in advance / $18. at door / $25 Book cover price

We have an exciting evening lined up with the Legendary Drummer:Bernard Purdie!

7:00 – 8:00 pm Meet & Greet Bernard, Book signing session

Bernard “Pretty” Purdie’s new autobiography, “Let The Drums Speak” will be available for purchase and he will chat about it. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to meet and greet him!

8:00 – 10:00 pm Concert with Bernard Purdie and

Southern New England premier vocalist: Karen Frisk, vocals,

New England favorite: Kent Hewitt, piano… from Rhode

Island…

International artist: Dave Zinno, bass