Local Country Singer “Takin’ Over” The Paramount to Benefit Troops in TV Special
Local country music artist Jessica Lynn Calamera is slowly becoming a household name, with her second television special scheduled to film in her home county this month.
Calamera, a singer songwriter and musician, grew up in Yorktown Heights and her first television special “This Much Fun-Live at the Winery at St. George” aired nation-wide on PBS in May of this year. Her next televised concert, entitled “Takin’ Over,” will film at the Paramount Theater in Peekskill on September 27 at 7 p.m. and will serve as a benefit for United for the Troops.
Calamera explained that she had been hoping to incorporate a charitable cause into her second televised special, and came across United for the Troops thanks to a “happy accident.” Earlier this year, Calamera returned from a year long, cross-country tour and upon her return, held a performance at Bull and Barrel in Brewster, where she met a man from the organization.
“We just really connected. He just was really inspiring to me,” she said.
United for the Troops is a Westchester and Putnam based organization that aims to improve the lives of men and women serving overseas by sending care packages containing food and goods that the military does not provide. That night at Bull and Barrel, Calamera hosted a raffle of Jessica Lynn merchandise to benefit the organization and realized quickly that she wanted her concert special to benefit United for the Troops.
“There are so many good causes out there and then when I met them, it was just like yes, these are the people; this is the organization. They’re so passionate about what they do…it’s just great to be a part of something like that,” said Calamera.
Ten percent of all ticket sales for the concert filming, as well as ten percent of sales of a special printed program for the event, will benefit United for the Troops. In addition, Bull and Barrel will debut their new beer at the event and have agreed to donate ten percent of their sales from that night to the organization as well. Calamera expressed excitement about supporting United for the Troops and said that she wished she was able to give even more to the organization, but is restricted due to the cost of producing the show.
Calamera explained that she expects the Paramount performance to be bigger than anything her local fans have ever seen. Unlike her performance at the Pleasantville Music Festival in July, which was limited by stage space and the need to allow for quick set up, “Takin’ Over” will be a true stage show, with dancers, visual effects, and possibly even a few special guests.
“It’s just going to be a really big and very produced event this time around because when you have a stage like the stage at The Paramount, how could you not take advantage of it,” she said.
Filming her concert special at The Paramount has a special significance for Calamera, because it was the first venue she ever played with her first band at the age of fourteen. She assembled the band after seeing a poster at Lakeland High School, where she was a student, for a battle of the bands at the venue. In a way, The Paramount is the reason she began to perform in the first place, she said.
“It’s very special for me to be able to do this show there,” said Calamera. “The Paramount is just such a beautiful theater, right near my hometown, so it’s coming all the way around. It’s very, very exciting,” she continued.
Although Calamera has performed a few local gigs this summer, including an August appearance at The Winery at St. George in Mohegan Lake, she assures fans that this concert will feature entirely new songs, some of which she wrote on a recent trip to Nashville, where she was able to write alongside some of the biggest songwriters in the industry.
“That’s one of the most exciting things for me; to just lay everything new out on the table,” said Calamera.
Unlike Calamera’s last PBS special, a live CD of the performance will not be released to accompany the DVD release of the show. Instead, Calamera will be releasing a studio album featuring songs from the concert, which she is currently working on and expects to release around Christmas. Although an airdate for the concert has not been fixed yet, she expects that the program will hit the airwaves around the holiday season as well.
Tickets to attend “Takin’ Over” at The Paramount Theater are currently available at JessicaLynnMusic.org as well as at ParamountHudsonValley.com. Tickets are priced at $35, but are free for any active member of the military who presents a valid photo ID.
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