Oh, what a night!

Andrea's birthday party was an impeccable affair. The venue was funky, fun and dressed up with elegance. One of the playful elements of the decor were cutouts of a photo of Andrea's face, glued to sticks as if they were Andrea Fans!! There were lots of creative and funny uses being made of them throughout the night.


The attendees all enjoying themselves, and a happy vibe permeated the place. The FOOD! Not to be believed, scrumptious tastes, incredible cake all enjoyed with a sampling of Andrea's favorite wines. We were all completely spoiled by the experience.

Our birthday girl had suggested (which we all confirmed really is an ask and a statement of expectation) that it would be fun to have people roast her. What unfolded is a good reminder that you should be careful what you ask for! She was exquisitely skewered in the most loving ways. The offerings began with her sister Lyn setting the lovingly teasing tone, with current and former colleagues adding to the mix along with her very eloquent brother. Then her musical friends took to the stage to do several tributes. You had to be there, but suffice it to say, I don't think anyone in that room will hear "Nobody Does It Better" or "I Did It My Way" in the same way ever again. ;o) Check out the video at the end of this post for a look at the Fair Weatherheads preparing to love on their band's namesake.

Andrea was blissfully unaware that the band had a logo, t-shirts, a blog, and media coverage for all of its gig locations. While this entire extravaganza is absolutely all of Andrea's creative doing, we had to add a few fun and unexpected elements into the mix. After all, even she would say if you're going to do something, do it excellently!

Once Andrea was let in on all the trimmings to this tour, she shared some of her thoughts and feelings for the evening.

Then it was time for the band to get rockin'! But before that began, Andrea's father Kingsley came to the microphone. He delivered some of the wittiest and most hilarious comments of the night.



Then the band got to doing what it does best. This was a unique night in that a number of musicians joined in with the core group who had been preparing for this event. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration -- they spent the evening before doing a light jam for about an hour and then had an hour of rehearsal and sound check. It's really stunning to realize that when they got up to play and sounded so damn good!!! History, and years of creative collaboration, really do produce an extraordinary capacity to show up and blend with little to no lead in. One of the more special moments of the night was when Andrea's nephew joined in for a song on his violin. Andrea was simply beaming with pride and delight!

The band kicked it for about an hour or so...they had to stop by 11:15 to pack out before the required midnight curfew. It was amazing to see so many people having so much fun -- makes ya wanna pick up an instrument and learn to play!

It's safe to say a good time was had by all. As the tables were cleared away, more and more dance space was available and there were few people standing still by the time the band blew the power system out and had to stop playing. I kid you not, at exactly 11:20, a fuse blew and that was that!