SINGING PRAISES
Town cheers on Ian Flanigan, hometown semifinalist on NBC’s ‘The Voice,’ at drive-in showing
SAUGERTIES, N.Y. » Hometown musician Ian Flanigan competed as a semifinalist on NBC’s “The Voice” on Monday night and the event was shown on a large screen at Cantine Field.
The showing was attended by 67 cars containing a socially distanced audience of about 200 people, who found horns to be an alternative to cheers when Flanigan sang Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel.”
Resident Jodi Lilland, a Saugerties High School PTA member and Flanigan fan, had to find a parking spot early for the event so that she could attend a PTA meeting by Zoom in advance of the showing.
“One of our teachers was his fourth-grade teacher who gave him one of his first instruments,” she said. “We chose to
do a Zoom meeting so we could all be here. This is a small community and we come together for something like this.”
April Young, another PTA member, was one of the many people who recalled watching Flanigan perform at some of the venues and events in the town with a sense that the 2007 Saugerties High School graduate deserved recognition for both his voice and the songs he had been writing.
“I saw him play at the Renwick Clifton House. It’s a bed and breakfast in Saugerties ... that has a big wrap-around (the) back porch where he would play and everyone would listen,” she said.
Young said each of the performances on “The Voice” has given supporters reason to believe Flanigan has a chance to win.
“Right from the beginning I thought he could but it really hit home last week when he made the final 17,” she said.
Kingston resident Yvonne Sharot was another drive-in fan who was enthusiastic about Flanigan’s appearances this season.
“When I first heard him on ‘The Voice’ I thought he had a chance,” she said.
Sharot’s support began after being told her aunt did some of the same karaoke nights as Flanigan.
“She loves him and wants him to win,” she said. “She never watched ‘ The Voice’ until I told her the guy from Saugerties was on ‘The Voice.’”
Cedar Novak, a fifthgrade student at Woodstock Day School, found the back seat of the car to be a wonderful location to watch a live event. He, too, had seen the performer when brought to an event by his mother, who is an acquaintance of Flanigan’s fiancé.
“I was expecting him to get pretty far but I don’t think I was expecting him to get this far,” he said.
Novak, 10, who acknowledged not watching “The Voice” before Flanigan’s appearance, said the competition has given him an appreciation of the performers even if they are competing with a hometown favorite.
“I think it’s fun how people get to sing on big TV but I also think it’s pretty disappointing when they get bumped from the competition,” he said.
Town officials put together the drive-in event fairly quickly with sponsorship from several businesses and a willing organizer in John Kosinski, who has worked with Flanigan over the years and wanted to provide an event at Cantine Field that would provide a bright spot in a year when the community was unable to host the Garlic Festival or Mum Festival.
“The community needed this for the difficult times that we’re in right now,” he said. “Ian Flanigan being from Saugerties has brought light into a very dark time in our lives.”
Kosinski said having Flanigan on the 10-by-20-foot screen at Cantine Field was appropriate because the singer has performed here as part of the annual Hope Rocks Festival, with those appearances shown prior to “The Voice” broadcast.
“He just keeps getting better and better,” he said.
Organizers are planning to have the drive-in setting again for Tuesday night’s announcement of the finalists, who will compete next week. Reserve parking slots are available through https://bit.ly/2L6LXKb for up to 200 vehicles.