A Charismatic Band Will Highlight This Year’s NYS Fundraiser

By Shannon Hicks

Three years after its core members began playing together, local band Charisma has played everything from small pubs and bars in Fairfield and Litchfield counties to society weddings in Manhattan. This month the band is getting ready to be one of two players at the 6th Annual Newtown Youth Services Dinner Dance Auction, which returns to the Fireside Inn on Saturday, March 12.

The event is the largest annual fundraiser for NYS, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1979 to, according to its website, “improve the quality of life in our community … with programs and services for young people and adults, [and] with a philosophy reflecting the enthusiasm, hope and creativity that are the promise of children.” The group receives funding from the Town of Newtown, the state’s Department of Education, Newtown Board of Education, United Way of Northern Fairfield County, private foundations, and community support.

NYS offers programs for young people including 4H; a Job Bank, which has given countless teens their first job opportunities; High School Youth Advisory Board, which acts as a link between NYS and the town’s high school-age community; Middle School Youth Advisory Board (YAB), a middle school level group with the same objective, and its offshoot, Kids Care Club, the local chapter of a national service group (in May 2000 the Newtown MSYAB was honored as National Kids Care Club of the Month).

NYS also offers Newtown Youth Creating AIDS Awareness (NYCAAP), a peer education group that provides high school students with leadership opportunities, teaching experience, and opportunities to participate in service projects for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families; Sib Shop, a support group for siblings of children with special needs; summer nature programs, a special weeklong offering that focuses on the fun of learning about nature; Super Sitters, a five-week baby-sitting course; Girl Power, a weekly crafts group; and Youth Garden — Growing To Learn, also a summer offering, where young gardeners meet at and work in the NYS Garden on the grounds of Fairfield Hills.

For adults, NYS is just as helpful. The organization offers lectures or guest speakers, support groups for new mothers as well as for mothers of children of most ages, Fathers’ Night events, and PIE (Parents Idea Exchange), a monthly parenting newsletter.

NYS even benefits the community at large, many of which occur each May. Activities and events that celebrate all ages include an annual talent show, Outstanding Youth Awards, and The Gail Smith Awards.

Next weekend’s fundraiser will include a full buffet dinner, dancing to live music by Charisma and the band Eye Contact (fronted by the Newtown-based chiropractor Dr Richard Coopersmith), performances by the celebrity impersonator Mark Verselli, silent and live auctions, and more.

Live Music

Mitch Taub says it is hard to define Charisma’s style.

“We do a lot of stuff — R&B, funk, old and new Top 40, dance music, all of that,” Mr Taub said last week as the band gathered for a weekly rehearsal. “We play rock if we’re at a club, and jazz and dance classics if we’re doing a wedding. We play to fit a setting.”

Songs include everything from Maroon 5, Sheryl Crow, Macy Gray, Coldplay, Pink, and John Maher to Clapton, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Steppenwolf, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and dozens of others.

Charisma’s members are Mr Taub on bass, drummer Bob Bonvin, vocalist Kathy Buda, guitarist Peter Obre, and keyboard player Gustavo Mori. The group performs two or three shows every month, averaging 30 to 40 shows each year.

Last weekend the band was in Manhattan, playing for a wedding at the Union League Club.

The group has previously been featured at 59 Bank Street in New Milford, The Red Door (formerly Fat Daddy’s) in Watertown, J.C. Hooks in Waterbury, and Molly Darcy’s and Jim Barberie’s, both in Danbury.

For anyone interested in a preview of the band before the NYS event, Charisma will be at Stonebridge Inn in Milford on March 11.

“There isn’t a big live music scene any more,” says Ms Buda, explaining why the group has yet to be featured in Newtown. “People enjoy seeing us, but where can we play? This is what leads us to play a lot of parties, weddings, and fundraisers.”

While next weekend’s show in Newtown will be the first time Charisma will be performing to benefit Newtown Youth Services, it is far from the first time the band has loaned its power for philanthropic reasons. Charisma has done benefit works for Family Counseling Center, Reed Intermediate School, Head O’Meadow School, and Relay For Life — and that is just the work they have done for Newtown groups.

Kathy Buda and Gustavo Mori were both in the funk band Moppin’ Sauce, which quickly drew a large group of followers for its live music and funky fashions back in the mid 90s. Mr Taub had been “a hired hand,” he says, for Moppin’ Sauce on occasion (including the inevitable reunion show the group did on Halloween 2003).

After Moppin’ Sauce dissolved in early 2002, Kathy and Gustavo continued working together in a different band. The two broke off from that band, picked up Mitch for their new project — who had put a “Bass Player For Hire” sign up at East Coast Music Mall in Danbury — and then contacted Peter Obre, who had been the instructor for a few other Moppin’ Sauce players.

After speaking with Peter, who has been a guitar instructor in Newtown for years, Kathy found the band’s latest member, Mr Bonvin, just about a year ago when one of her real estate clients mentioned him in passing.

Tickets for the dinner-dance-auction are still available. Call Newtown Youth Services at 270-4335 or 426-5679 for additional information or reservations.