Anita Ford Saunders Running For President of Middlesex County NAACP

  

Fall Session 2 Classes start at Oddfellows next week!

The second six week session of Fall Classes at Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown start the week of October 31, and there are lots of opportunities for kids ages 6 - 14 to learn acting, theater, dance and visual arts. Most classes meet one afternoon per week for six weeks. The Fall season culminates in a Share Day on December 10. Registration is now live, and space is limited in most classes.

Bus transportation directly from school to Oddfellows is available for any young people attending Middletown Public Schools. 

Kids ages 9 - 14 have the opportunity to be in a mini-production of Roald Dahl’s classic “James and the Giant Peach”. Participants must commit to two rehearsals per week and two performances. Rehearsals will be on Mondays and Thursdays - students ages 12 - 14 will rehearse from 4:15 - 6 pm; those ages 9 - 11 will rehearse 4:45 - 6 pm. Performances will be at 6 pm on December 9 and noon on December 10. Space is limited!

Kids ages 6 - 8 have something special to try every day Monday through Thursday. Kids can sign up for one day per week, or as many as all four. Mondays is “Fairy Tale Theater”; Tuesdays is “Intro to Circus (Circus I)”; Wednesdays is “Hip Hop Dance”; and Thursdays is “Complete Actor I” , an introduction to the world of the actor. All classes meet 4:45 - 5:45 pm.

Kids ages 9 - 11, in addition to the chance to join “James and the Giant Peach”, also have a daily selection of classes. Mondays offer “Into The Story”, an exploration of storytelling and creativity. Tuesdays is “Afro-Caribbean Dance”. Wednesdays offer “Circus II” or “Watercolor Painting “, and Thursdays feature “Theater Improvisation”. All classes meet 4:45 - 5:45 pm.

For young people ages 12 - 14, in addition to the “James and the Giant Peach” Mini-production, there are two exciting classes on a more advanced level. Both classes meet 4:30 - 6 pm. For the serious young actor, Tuesdays is “Advanced Acting: Michael Chekhov Technique”. Wednesdays is “Musical Theater”.

Financial aid is available for all programs. Additionally, Middletown kids can enroll in the Oddbridge Extended Day program, which provides bus transport directly from your school to Oddfellows, a healthy snack, and supervised creative activities before classes start.

To register, and for more information, contact info@oddfellows.org, call (860) 347-6143, or scroll to www.oddfellows.org.

1899: Our City Was Way Ahead of the Competition in the Development of Electric Cars

 Submitted by Gary Keating

OXFAM petition for CLIMATE Justice: It’s time for major polluters to take responsibility.

Elizabeth Wathuti, Kenyan Climate Activist.
Photo credit: Armstrong Too/Oxfam

     In her letter to global leaders at this year's UN Climate Conference, Kenyan climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti (left) calls for leaders of Earth's major pollution-emitting countries to step up & help to reduce substances that undercut and disturb climate processes. By reducing these emissions, polluters can help people in less developed countries which are most affected by extreme weather.

The OXFAM Effort

Oxfam* is a global organization with a history that goes back to the 1940s and efforts to alleviate famine during World War II. Oxfam today is an international organization with a record of global credibility and influence. OXFAM campaigns for equality among peoples and to end poverty and injustice. Join Oxfam America today and help to build a more just & equal future—together.
_____________________________

Click to sign Elizabeth's letter, the 

OXFAM Petition for CLIMATE JUSTICE Solidarity

When LOCAL is GLOBAL

     Climate processes are globally contiguous and overlapping. That means that local conditions make the rounds of the Earth & affect all of us, every day, every night, every minute. None of us is beyond the web of the Earth's climate (except rocket-riders in space). 

   Climate activist Elizabeth Wathuti's letter calls for leaders of Earth's major carbon-emitting countries to step up & adopt policies that help to reduce substances disturb climate processes & lead to extreme weather. By helping in this way, polluters can reduce harmful climate affects on people in less developed countries, which are most impacted by the climate crisis.

  

  Flag of EGYPT  

Boost Oxfam's campaign: Add your voice. Empower many voices.

     Call for climate justice by adding your name to Elizabeth Wathuti’s letter at the link below. Oxfam will send this message to world leaders at the 2022 UN Climate Conference in Egypt in November. 

     Please sign the petition and make your voice count. Send a powerful message of support for climate justice. Call for Climate Justice now. 

Click to sign: 
OXFAM Petition for CLIMATE JUSTICE Solidarity

*The name “Oxfam” comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942. The group campaigned for food supplies to be sent through an allied naval blockade to starving women and children in occupied Greece during the Second World War.

This weekend at The Buttonwood Tree

   

Dust Devil Heart
Friday
October 21
8:00 - 10pm   

Dust Devil Heart is an indie folk singer-songwriter duo based in Branford, CT, consisting of two women (Holley Anderson and Elise Morrison) who sing close vocal harmonies and play acoustic guitar and electric bass. They are often joined by a pedal steel player Spencer Luckey and other collaborators on strings and percussion. They have just released their first album of original songs called 'Dwell Time,' produced by Steve Rodgers in Hamden.
It is available on Spotify and all the streaming platforms

Visit their website at Dust Devil Heart
And see Buttonwood Calendar for more information. 

The Buttonwood Tree will be participating in the
Middletown Park & Rec's HALLOWE'EN giveaway
on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 11am-2pm. 

Saturday morning 
October 22

Align with Source

A Personal Development Workshop

Saturdays on Zoom, 10:30-12:15 

with Annaita Gandhy

This week's topic: 
 A World in Need of Your Wide-Open Heart

To sign up, email thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com Spiritual Guide Annaita Gandhy conducts meditations, workshops & classes for healing & empowerment. She guides us to a deeper understanding of self & the cycle of universal processes of spiritual & cultural change in a journey of Spiritual growth. 

     Now, as our world reaches new dimensions of transition, all of us must open our hearts to change. The change upon us now is the biggest change of all -- for we are coming together as One in Love, Forgiveness & Friendship. Humanity's time in the murky waters of ego, greed, fear, doubt, dis-empowerment, & separation is coming to a close. We must now engage the power within us.

     Can we put aside our own needs to serve others? Can we forgive others for their offenses? The transition to inner power is essential for reconnecting with your most awesome Self. This is the time that will test who we choose to be.

The first session is complimentary, $10/week for continuing sessions. 

Saturday Night

Sissy Castrogiovanni        

Saturday

October 22
8:00 - 10pm

Reserve Seat ($25)

“The audience was thrilled by […] smoothly rendered workouts of Mediterranean-inspired sounds led by bluesy vocalist Sissy Castrogiovanni..”
– DOWNBEAT Magazine 

Sicilian jazz award-winning singer, composer, producer and Berklee College of Music professor, Sissy Castrogiovanni is a most unique creative artist on the contemporary jazz scene. Rooted in the pleasurable intricacy of her Sicilian & Mediterranean influences, earthy African rhythms and post-bop Jazz harmonies, Sissy’s music finds a comfortable niche in the vast sea of jazz and world music. 

For more info, tour dates, discography, and upcoming releases, visit www.sissycastrogiovanni.com

Also connect with Sissy on 

Facebook     Youtube     Instagram     Spotify     Apple     

Reserve Seat ($25)

   

The _________________________________________
Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center
605 Main Street / PO Box 71
Middletown, CT 06457
www.buttonwood.org / 860.347.4957.

Weekend at The Buttonwood Tree ~ John Prine ~ MAGIC

John Prine Tribute Fundraiser   

   
Friday & Saturday Night 

A 2-Night Event

October 14 & 15 

7 - 10pm 

CLICK HERE TO Reserve a Seat

 

     The Buttonwood Tree is proud to present a WEEKEND of John Prine songs done by local performers who love his music and have been performing his songs for decades.

This show is a fundraiser for The Buttonwood Tree - with all proceeds going to support TBT programming. Your donation is appreciated & tax deductible. Thank you for your generosity!

PERFORMERS Include

Friday, October 14th, 7-10 PM:

Jon Swift, "Anything Goes" (Steve Azzario/Marian Bairstow), Bob Lee, Marc Lendler, Eric Shevchenko, Rick Johnson, Doug Mahard, Eric Von Koniger, Peter Menta and David Weinberg.

Saturday, October 15th, 7-10 PM:

Clayton Eles, David Coller, Cece Borgeson, "Soupeater" (Sue Hill & Peter Lehndorff), Jill Thompson, Eric Paradine, Stan Sullivan and Bob Gotta.

We're hosting this two-night show as a fundraising event to help us meet the rising costs of programming. The John Prine Tribute on both Friday & Saturday will have Bob Gotta perform some of John Prine's best loved songs, along with some of our area's finest musicians, including Stan Sullivan, an award-winning guitarist, and Peter Menta, also known as Washboard Slim! Come hear some songs you know & love & sing along if you wish! From 7-10 each night!

A two-time Grammy award winning singer-songwriter, John Prine's music changed the face of modern American roots music. He was known for an often humorous style of original music that has elements of protest and social commentary. He was also awarded the PEN New England Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence.  CLICK HERE TO Reserve a Seat

Saturday morning

Align with Source ~

Meeting Our World & Lives at The Higher Level

with Annaita Gandhy.

Online, via Zoom.
10:30am - 12:15pm. 

To sign up, email thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com

     Let us all hold only love in our hearts as we shower all key areas and our entire world with the purest love of Oneness. The Light within each one of us is required by Humanity, Our World and Earth at this time. More than ever before, our world needs your Light and unconditional Love!

     Do join us for our Saturday Morning Meeting of 'Align with Source ~ Living Life In JOY'. How Joyful is your life? Have you taken time to ask and see your purpose? What is your purpose? How often do you feel life is pulling you along or that it is an endless routine of day-to-day things? How much time do you have for what is meaningful to you? How much of what you do makes your heart expand in Joy? Making the transition of power from the outside to your own power is essential reconnecting with your most awesome Self.  See more about Align with Source on FaceBook at Align with Source ~ Live Life in Joy, Reconnect with your Power 

     

Sunday Afternoon

October 16
1 pm       Special MAGIC Show
               for Special Folks

____________________________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE TO Reserve a seat or call (860) 347-4957 for more info.

Partnered with PROBUS,

 The Buttonwood Tree presents a MAGIC SHOW on Sunday, at 1pm, specifically for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

      For more information about Probus, click here Hartford Probus or here Hartford Probus on FaceBook.

 

The _________________________________________
Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center
605 Main Street / PO Box 71
Middletown, CT 06457
www.buttonwood.org / 860.347.4957.

Buttonwood Tree this Weekend:

                                             

The
Night Shakers

Saturday Night 

October 8 
8 - 10pm 

Reserve Seat ($20)

        The Night Shakers’ music draws from legendary blues artists like Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Howling Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Freddie King. are all represented, along with lesser-known artists who helped shape the genre and newer musicians who’ve kept the blues flame burning through the decades.

        Their music appeals to a wide variety of ages with arrangements and performances, giving audiences a tasty helping of authentic roots music with jump and jazz blues and vintage Chicago-style blues. They play regularly across Eastern CT and Rhode Island. 

_________________________

The
Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center

605 Main Street / PO Box 71
Middletown, CT 06457

www.buttonwood.org / 860.347.4957  

Outdoor Music on Thursday Night

Hey folks!  Come support a home-grown concert, featuring musician Greg Ryan (one of the builders at Kidcity).  You'll hear amazing guitar and really cool songs - and see a few cameo performances from locals.

Outdoors, Thursday, October 6th, starting at 6 pm, behind Kidcity, under the truss that Greg built.  

The concert is free, but please consider contributing to the tip jar to support Greg's creative work.

Spielberg's AMISTAD, TOMORROW at The Buttonwood Tree

Free
Film Showing: Amistad  

   Amistad: A Story

   of Our Heritage.

  Thursday

  October 6
  @ 6:30 - 9:00  pm

Introduction at 6p by Charles A. Weisenberger,
                 Mellon postdoctoral fellow in Public History at Wesleyan University. 

 
     The Buttonwood Tree showing of Amistad contributes to the Amistad Journey to Freedom Community Day Celebration, “The Middle Passage and the Amistad Uprising: Stories of Yesterday and Today” on October 8th at Harbor Park when the Amistad ship will be open for tours. The Buttonwood Tree table at the event will feature information on Iddi Saaka, The Lost Tribe, words from the Wangunks, and the 4th Annual Middletown Middle Passage Ceremony.

     Amistad will be introduced by Charles A. Weisenberger, Mellon postdoctoral fellow in Public History at Wesleyan University, specializing in African-American history, slavery, and abolition in the early United States. He will provide historical context for the film and Connecticut’s history of slavery and abolitionism. The Buttonwood Tree doors will open at 6, and the film will begin at 6:30, after Professor Weisenberger’s introduction. The film is 2 hours and 30 minutes, and will end at approximately 9 p.m. Refreshments will be available to buy. The event is free.

Amistad (1997) was directed by Steven Spielberg and features Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Matthew McConaughey, and Djimon Hounsou in an Oscar-nominated performance. The film won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Original Score, Cinematography, and Costume Design.

This Home Energy Opportunity Is Knocking -- Click on text to enlarge

 

Free Environmental Film Screening on October 10 Focuses on Rights of Nature

We are excited to announce the next film in The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series!  We'll be showing Invisible Hand on Monday, October 10, 2022, Indigenous People's Day. The screening will be at 7pm at the Goldsmith Family Cinema, Jeanine Basinger Center for Film Studies, Wesleyan University, 301 Washington Terrace, Middletown, CT.  Directions and parking information can be found here. 

Invisible Hand is a film about the Rights of Nature. As described in the film's publicity materials, it tells stories about four communities working to defend the rights of nature:

• in Grant Township, Pennsylvania an ecosystem filed to defend itself in a lawsuit claiming its ‘right to exist';  
• in Toledo, Ohio a vote was passed to enact the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR), granting personhood to international waters;  
• in Standing Rock, North Dakota, an industry is using militarized force against indigenous tribes and allies who are fighting to protect Mother Earth; and  
• on the Pennsylvania and New York border the Seneca Nation of Indians is aligned with communities in the Triple Divide to stop radioactive fracking waste from entering Ohi:yo’ waters. 

The four, Grant Township, Lake Erie Bill of Rights, Standing Rock, and Defend Ohi:yo, are joined in an international fight to protect more than just water. They fight for their community, democracy, and for Nature as a living entity unto itself.

As always, the film is open to the public and free of charge. Wesleyan is a vaccinated campus and full vaccination is required to attend. In addition, masks will be required in the theater.  Please preregister at ctrivercoastal@conservect.org, and complete this form prior to attending.

We hope you can join us!  Please phone the Conservation District office for more information at 860-346-3282.

Also--please share/post this announcement.

The Elements: An Annual Environmental Film Series was begun in 2015. The series is co-sponsored by the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District, Middlesex Community College, Middletown Garden Club, The Rockfall Foundation, and Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts, College of the Environment, and College of Film and the Moving Image. 

Buttonwood Tree Weekend: SONGS: Halley Neal LAUGHS: Max Shultz, Jon Fletcher, Jacqueline Wall

Halley Neal
“Beautiful & Blue” Album Release
Show

Friday Night

September 30
 8 - 10pm

Reserve Seat ($20)

     Cause for applause!
     Celebrating tonight the release of her second album, "Beautiful & Blue," Halley Neal is a folk-pop singer and songwriter based in Nashville, TN. Inspired by artists like Joni Mitchell and Shawn Colvin, Halley’s sound combines inspirations of folk music from the 70’s & late 90’s that are deeply rooted in reminiscence. 

     Graduating from Berklee College of Music in 2019, Her success had been amazing! Halley was chosen to perform at Berklee’s Commencement Concert for its 2019 honorary doctorates--Missy Elliot, Justin Timberlake, and Alex Lacamoire, who also attended the show. In her final semester at Berklee, Halley collaborated with artist Plot Twist and her former band Rose & Kennedy on a single called “Lover,” which soon gained notable traction on Tik Tok and has since gained global acclaim, with covers by singers from all over the world.

     Shortly after graduation, Halley moved to Nashville, TN, where she was soon chosen as finalist for “Nashville Rising Song,” a premiere songwriting competition. In Nashville, Halley's backyard became a venue for bringing together a community of independent musicians. And in 2020, Halley became an official Guild Guitars artist, performing live with Guild & participating in Guild’s “Factory Sessions” YouTube series. Currently, Halley tours nationally to house concert and listening room venues, with 2022 tour dates soon to be announced. 

     Halley’s self-titled debut record, released in June 2021, blends sounds she picked up both at Berklee and in Nashville. She writes: “This record is certainly a culmination of all of the different sounds and ideas I’ve had floating around in my head for the last three years. It combines some of my favorite elements of classic rock, bands like Fleetwood Mac and Grateful Dead, with soft acoustic guitar and layered vocal ballads.” It also includes an acoustic version of the song “Lover," with Plot Twist &
Rose & Kennedy.

     Halley Neal’s newest single “If I Was Ready” might come as a surprise to some coming off the heels of her last two releases “So Damn Perfect” and “Isn’t That What A Friend’s For?”. Both beautiful folk songs that explore intimate spaces and illustrious acoustic soundscapes. Its concision turns the page on these slow burners, so assured in its pace its nearly ironic that the song contemplates readiness.”

—May Glaxis, All Ashore

Visit Halley’s website at https://halleyneal.com/

Saturday morning

Align with Source ~

Meeting Our World & Lives at The Higher Level

with Annaita Gandhy.

Online, via Zoom. 10:30am - 12:15pm. 

To sign up, email thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com

     Let us all hold only love in our hearts as we shower all key areas and our entire world with the purest love of Oneness. The Light within each one of us is required by Humanity, Our World and Earth at this time. More than ever before, our world needs your Light and unconditional Love!

     Do join us for our Saturday Morning Meeting of 'Align with Source ~ Meeting Our World & Lives At The Higher Level'. Do you feel that all you know is being pulled out from under you? That you perfected the answers to Life only to find the question paper has been changed so that you don't know which is up or down? Systems you know are suddenly replaced with high-tech you feel inadequately equipped to handle? You are not alone. Yes, our world is changing; in fact it has changed, forever. 

     But where are you going with this and how do you react? Are you re-active or pro-active? This is when to remember who you are. This is a time to embrace the Light body that is yours by Divine Right. A 5D reality calls upon each to trust Spirit, and it also calls upon us to act from that which our Spirit Self is familiar. Keeping your attention on the Light Within, strengthens Your Light which is more powerful than you can imagine so why not take that bold step in turning the switches of Oneness on! So consider all those aspects in life that keep you stuck and ask yourself, 'how does it serve you?' Let's do this together in Love and Light. 

     Our weekly spiritual meetings are each unique & offer a special place where you will find many answers that help unlock hidden truths & your direction. From 10:30am-12:15pm, each meeting closes with a meditation. Sharing during meetings is strongly encouraged and so on occasion we might extend slightly beyond the time stated. We request your understanding in this. To sign up, email thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com

Comedian Maxwell Shultz 

ft. Paul Kilmer & 
Jacqueline Wall

Saturday night

October 1 @  8 - 10pm

Reserve Seat ($15)

     Boston-based comedian Maxwell Shultz has been telling jokes about real life and observational obscurity. His first album, You Can Call Me Dad, was released October 22nd 2020 and is recording a follow up in November of this year. He has also been a DJ on WUML for the past 9 years, interviewing performers of all spectrums and walks of life. He runs the production company, Malice Comedy. 

Here is a link to his first album: https://maxwellshultz.bandcamp.com/album/you-can-call-me-dad

Find Maxwell Shultz on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as Malice Comedy on Instagram. 

acebookF InstagramI TwitterT BandcampM

     Jon Fletcher hosts local comedy shows and open mics around the Worcester scene. He has worked the door for both the Tempe Improv and Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy Phoenix. He is handy, a Mr-Fix-It, leatherworking funny man who has been making folks laugh seemingly his whole life. Whether it’s family or on a show, and regardless of whether they’re laughing with him or at him, he thinks life is better when you laugh. 

     Jacqueline Wall is a Boston based Comedian working her way up the New England comedy ranks. She’s funny, she’s witty, and she will leave you laughing with her comical takes on life.

_________________________

The
Buttonwood Tree
Performing Arts Center

605 Main Street / PO Box 71,
Middletown, CT 06457

www.buttonwood.org / 860.347.4957