Over the Top Band to Star on Reality TV Wedding Show

Jumping, twirling and dancing around the stage, Over the Top’s front man Dave Legeret does not allow a crowd to simply bop their heads in recognition of the rhythm. Kids run to the stage to mimic his energetic moves and adults grab partners to dance to the music.

Popular demand for Over the Top’s music is what formed the two-year-old group rather than the group forming itself. Peter Calamera is a composer with the number four rated concert series in the country. His family sometimes joined him on his hit PBS show, Cal, Forever and Beyond, and eventually he, his daughters, wife and their friends started playing together as a cover band. Soon after, the band was getting booked almost every weekend, so Peter's wife Vicoria, who is also an accomplished performer and musician, organized a group that now dedicates its weekends to “being Over the Top,” and performing at local venues, weddings and special events.

Over the Top’s current members include Peter and his wife Victoria and daughter Jessica, all from Yorktown, and friends Dave Legeret, of Connecticut, Derrek Hawkins, of Yorktown, and Steve DiGiovanni, of Poughkeepsie.

“I think the key to this bands success is more than that we are all professional musicians who try to really play as good as we can,” Peter said. “The success has come from the scope of material. With Jessica on the younger end and Derrick and Dave have different tastes in music, and Victoria and I have different tastes in music, so we have a broad range.”

Over the Top’s repertoire includes hundreds of songs spanning from 1940s hits to Lady Gaga hits. Jessica also performs with her sister in an up and coming pop band, A Few 2 Many. The other band members have boastful professional careers as well. Dave on vocals and guitar spent many years fronting with the funk metal band Kidd Kaos in the 1980s. Lead guitarist Derrick is a songwriter and producer and has toured and performed with Ace Frehley of Kiss. Drummer Steve has played as a studio drummer for decades and performed and recorded music across the country. The Calameras also run Day Dreamer Productions, the company that just produced the Paramount Idol, and does similar Idol shows throughout the county.

 The band recently finished filming a pilot episode for a reality series called Family Band, about its various musical projects, produced by Sara Nichols, who has produced MTV's Room Raiders, Growing up Gotti, and several other MTV hits. And they have also just filmed the pilot episode for a new series titled, Wedding Band. The series is produced by Michael Hirschorn, the former vice president of VH1 and creator of Behind the Music. For Wedding Band the premise of the show is the band picks one engaged couple experiencing some serious problems within the family. The band then works with the couple to help them overcome their problems and then performs at their wedding.

Peter is happy to announce that the band is looking for that lucky couple. They hope to find a local couple that plans to be married this summer that is dealing with a difficult situation like a feuding family or a father-in-law that dislikes the groom. If you’d like to be considered email Over the Top at daydreamer@daydreamerproductionsinc.com.

“We rescue the wedding and perform at it,” Peter said. Peter said each band member has different skills that they will employ to help solve the problem. Peter will use his skills learned in his former career as a police officer, Derrick will use his hair desiging skills (his day job), Jessica is an expert designer as well and Victoria would be able to work as a counselor for the couple.  

“Say it would look like an impossible situation; we will save that and perform,” Peter said.

During the week the band mates all work at their individual musical careers or day jobs and during the weekends they take to the stage to provide a show that is truly over the top.

“We love what we do, making people happy,” Peter said. “When people say thank you, you made my night, we feel like we made a difference.”

The next Daydreamer production idol type show starts Tuesday, June 21 at the Westchester Broadway Theater. It is a dance competition called So You Want to Dance, a seven-week program where dancers get eliminated each week until they have a winner. Visit soyouwannadancewbt.com for more information.

Over the Top will be performing this weekend at the private after-party following at the Paramount on Saturday and at Mt. Kisco's FAB Bistro at 9 p.m. on Friday. They will also be performing at the Peekskill Italian Feast in August and are starting another season of "Idol" at Teddy's in Mount Kisco on Thursday June 23. View their schedule here.