And so another fabulous year of full-on Flipsidery comes to a close- and in a most appropriate fashion, our last gig of 2010 is a Christmastime wedding near Albany, NY for one our very favorite families. A few years back, we had occasion to play at the wedding reception of a lovely couple, Stephanie Savage and Colin Gorman- Flynn, at the very fancy Oyster Harbor Club in Osterville on the cape. Glamorous setting aside, the reception totally rocked and set off a chain of referrals that have made Flipside the official band of all Gorman events. Colin’s Aunts fell in love with the band and we have ended up doing a 5 or 6 events for them since: wedidngs, birthday parties, etc. In addition, Stephanie and Colin both do wonderful work raising funds for Cystic Fibrosis and we have been honored to provide the music for such a worthy cause.
Bands like Flipside- get the majority of their work from personal referrals. We closely track where our bookings come from and the popular dates are almost always a friend of relative of someone whose wedding Flipside played at. They make it a priority to find a date when they can reserve Flipside and plan the other details around their availability. This phenomenon infuses the event with a special level of anticipation where guests are psyched about the band before we ever play a note. Inevitably, these are always the most special events with the most raging dance floors. And that is exactly the scenario that lead us to the Meredith Gorman/Garrett Smith wedding at Franklin Plaza, a very old and stately bank building in Troy, NY.
The couple was simply great to plan with. I spent a lot of time talking to Meridith’s Mom, Gretchen, whom I truly adore. She’s absolutely crazy, but in the most wonderful, enthusiastic way! Meredith and Garett picked out some special songs (special kudos for choosing “A Rainy Night In Soho- The Pogues“ for their first dance), but had seen the band enough times to trust us with the music. The groomsmen were nattily attired in kilts and we found little ways to reference the Celtic ancestry being celebrated. For instance, besides the Pogues song, the bride’s parent’s requested Reason To Believe by Rod Stewart- which we have never played, but which is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time. We were set up right in front of a ginormous Christmas tree, so of course we also slipped in a few seasonal favorites including Vince Guraldi’s music from A Charlie Brown Christmas, and our singer Tania delivering a fantastic version of “Santa Baby”.
After dinner, the guests packed the dace floor for a raucous mix of Motown, classic soul, a little Tom Petty, some Journey and a mix of contemporary hits with the highlight being sax player Elan Trotman singing “DJ’s Got Us Falling In Love” by Usher. Check out Flipside‘s version on the MHT website.
The room looked incredible, the food was delicious, the crowd danced all night long and it seemed as if every guest found a moment to let us know how much they appreciated the music. It really couldn’t have been a more perfect end to our 2010 season. Click here to see more of NY photographer Michael Gallitelli‘s shots of the wonderful winter event.
Beware sensitive eyes: there is one up-kilt shot that you’ll never be able to erase from your memory!
