‘Talking Post Office Blues’ CD To Support Kevin’s Community Center

By Nancy K. Crevier

There are many kinds of “talking blues,’” said longtime Hawleyville resident Tom Dwyer, including those made famous by folk singers Woody and Arlo Guthrie and the legendary Pete Seeger. It was after Pete Seeger’s “Talking Union Blues” that Mr Dwyer, who has followed folk music his whole life, fashioned his own recent song, “The Talking Post Office Blues,” soon to be available on CD to the public.

A casual songwriter and rhythm guitarist with the Front Porch band that performs regularly in New York, Mr Dwyer is also a member of the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee that has spent the past year working to preserve the historic post office facility in that section of town. The post office closed temporarily February 14 of 2009, but is scheduled to reopen this spring in a nearby location off of Barnabas Road.

Committee and community members have strived the past several months to ensure that the post office reopened in a timely manner through persistent contact with the United States Postal Service, postings at the SaveHawleyvillePO website, updated emails to members, and the use of media to keep the facility’s reopening in the forefront of the community’s mind.

It was late last winter when the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee, headed up by Newtown resident Ann Marie Mitchell, organized an April soiree at DiGrazia’s Vineyard in Brookfield to celebrate the 165th birthday of the Hawleyville Post Office.

“Ann Marie mentioned to me that it would be nice to have some music for the party and I said that if I got a minute, maybe I’d write a song,” said Mr Dwyer. “I went home, sat down, and wrote this ‘talking blues’ song,” he said. “If Pete Seeger had been living in Hawleyville when we heard our post office was closing, he might have written this ‘talking blues’ for us,” said Mr Dwyer.

“The Talking Post Office Blues” tells the tale of how residents rallied to action to prevent the permanent closure of the post office in the Hawleyville section of town, and pays homage to Ms Mitchell, Congressman Christopher Murphy, and the many others who were instrumental in the cause.

“Everybody enjoyed the song when I performed it at the April event,” Mr Dwyer said, “but it was Ann Marie who arranged for me to have it recorded. That was a surprise.”

On February 8, almost a year to the day of the closing of the Route 25 post office, “The Talking Post Office Blues” was recorded at Angelthorne Music Company studio in Bethel, with the assistance of Angelthorne owner Rob Volpintesta. “It’s about four minutes, maybe five minutes long,” said Mr Dwyer.

As residents look forward to “our post office rebirth,” in Mr Dwyer’s words, the Save Hawleyville Post Office committee is reaching out to the community at large through the sales of the CD. “The Talking Post Office Blues” CD can be purchased online at savehawleyvillepo.com/blues, for a minimum donation of $5, all of which will go to support Kevin’s Community Center’s new primary and secondary care public outreach. The money will be used to purchase pedometers, sunscreen SPF 30, and tick removal kits for Medical Outreach educational seminars.

The CD is also for sale beginning Monday, March 15, at Papa Al’s Pizza and the Hawleyville Wine and Liquors, both at 23 Barnabas Road, and at the Hawleyville Deli, 26 Hawleyville Road (Route 25).

The reopening of the post office in Hawleyville is imminent, according to USPS spokesperson Maureen Marion, but as of Wednesday, March 10, she was unable to confirm the exact date. A final walkthrough of the facility at 23 Barnabas Road was expected on or before March 12.