A short video clip of Bob, The Dancin' Fool, of Bob's blog, dancin' with The Occidental Gypsies at The Buttonwood Tree, on July 16, 2011, and Love Is In The Air

There's a cool little music club right in downtown Middletown, Connecticut that gets great musicians in for jam sessions, weekly.  It's called The Buttonwood Tree ("TBT").  On July 16, 2011, I savored there a group of lively musicians and lead singer (the young man in the hat right in front of the microphone).  The Occidental Gypsies.  I loved their music so much that I couldn't help but get outta' my front-row seat, take the beat and sounds into my body, and DANCE.  TBT's a small venue, so I took myself to the back of the room to groove to it all.  A reporter for The Middletown Eye, Karen Swartz, was workin' the concession stand in the big room that night, saw this old grandude movin' to the groovin', and posted a short video clip on The Eye.  Karen apparently does a monthly feature called "Dancing Spotlight" and yours truly won the Runner-Up Spotlight last month for my impromptu performance which, at the time this particular clip was taken, I had no idea was being filmed, so this little spectacle was candid, not canned.  Later, when I realized Karen had her I-phone pointed in the direction of you-know-who, I did mug for the camera with some silly faces.  As anyone who's known me for a long time knows, spontaneous dancing came naturally, from my dear, uninhibited, now-deceased, mother, Helen Heydrick Dutcher, who caught that genetic trait from her wonderful, uninhibited mother, my grandmother, Helen Eyles Heydrick.

So, without further ado, here's a link to what might be called, for want of a better title, "Bob, the Dancin' Fool, filmed accidentally at The Occidental Gypsies' TBT concert":

http://middletowneyenews.blogspot.com/search?q=bob+dutcher

Now remember, because I only got the runner-up award, you have to scroll half-way down the linked page to get to the second-prize-winner, your faithful correspondent, Grandude.

And this little performance is nothing compared with The Dancin' Fool's infamous performance at the Mezzo Grill's disco, much later on the night of July 16 and detailed but, alas, without video proof, in my Bob's blog entry of July 22, 2011, to wit:

Saturday--attended a Buttonwood Tree performance by Occidental Gypsies, an excellent instrumental and singing group.  Then went to Mezzo Grill where I experienced for the first time the amazing Caribbean-inspired gigantic deck and bar area, followed by dancing in the upstairs disco, which had a really good black DJ from NYC.  As the only 61-year-old, uninhibited "old" man in the place, other than the bouncers, and also the only man in the club not on the lookout for picking up anyone, being a happily married man, I danced for two hours, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., with lots of people coming up to me to dance, mostly young women but also some guys whose girlfriends would not come out onto the dance floor.  I did have young men, white and black, coming up to me and offering to buy me drinks, although I'd had one beer in the outside area and only wanted water, which they got for me.  The question I mostly got asked by these guys, the white guys, that is, is, "Who ARE you?" i.e., how are you so free and uninhibited with that graying beard of yours.  When I explained that I'm a 61-year-old, happily married man, with four kids and a grandson, and internally very free after retiring from my 35-year-straight-jacket, but interesting, career as a trial lawyer, they fully understood and gave me high-fives, forearm bumps, and closed fist bumps, with smiles on their faces.  My advice to anyone who wants to do what I do on a dance floor when I'm all alone is this--just dance, let people come up to you to dance, make absolutely no attempt to ask anyone their name, tell them your name, or make any small talk, and keep your hands TOTALLY to yourself, and the message comes across, LOUD AND CLEAR, that you're there to DANCE and HAVE A BLAST, not pick anyone up.  No problems then ensue.  None at all.  Just one heck of a fun time for an "old" grandude.  Of course, when I saw Susie at Apple Rehab the next day, I tell all the details of what I've done, and she just gets a kick out of it.

Here's a link to the last song The Occidental Gypsies played that night.  Unfortunately, Annemarie Canatta,  TBT's mastermind, did not post one of the Gypsies' numbers featuring the voice of the lead singer, a soulful, sweet, but experienced young man with a very nice voice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DTl2kyQeFI

And, for good measure, here's a link to TBT's website:

http://www.buttonwood.org/

Because I had to take Susie for an emergency ultrasound at Middlesex Hospital to check her liver last night, STAT (as the doctors say in medical-ese), August 5, 2011 at 8 p.m., I had to miss what promised to be a lovely and touching performance by Love is in the Air (see below).  Oh well, that's what husbandly love for his wife is all about, and all's well that ends well, as the ultrasound did end well, as far as Susie and I know now.  About that, more anon, but first, Love is in the Air (unfortunately I can't paste the description of this dynamic love duo, except for their publicity photo, so you'll have to go to TBT website for August 5, 2011 if you want to know more about their act):

News & Happenings

AUG 5 2011

Love is in the Air at The Buttonwood Tree

by annemarie

In a recent Hartford Courant “Love Story” article, David Ryan Polgar, whose play“Some Kind of Modern Love” was at TBT in June, said that his wife Leslie Doane inspires him to write. The couple was married on May 22, 2010. We wish David and Leslie all the best and we are proud that David found a welcoming space for his budding art at The Buttonwood Tree.

The Buttonwood Tree offers an open space for all sorts of performing arts and community events—from a staged reading of a play like David’s, a musical performance or a weekly meditation group. Please feel free to contact us for more information at thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com. 

article, David Ryan Polgar, whose play“Some Kind of Modern Love” was at TBT in June, said that his wife Leslie Doane inspires him to write. The couple was married on May 22, 2010. We wish David and Leslie all the best and we are proud that David found a welcoming space for his budding art at The Buttonwood Tree.

The Buttonwood Tree offers an open space for all sorts of performing arts and community events—from a staged reading of a play like David’s, a musical performance or a weekly meditation group. Please feel free to contact us for more information at thebuttonwoodtree@gmail.com.