A Bash Reunion

#263 / Flood Time Capsule: 1991

Ten years after the last of those semiannual Bowen Bashes — those tasty weekend-long music parties at which The Flood was born and nurtured in the 1970s and ‘80s — we were hungry for another helping.

A sweet reunion was hosted 32 ago this week by Susie and David Peyton at their lovely Cabell County home.

The Call Went Out

We rented a huge tent, set up tables, chairs and a porta-potty, and sent out the call for the pickers and their families to gather.

A tub of ice and beer and soft drinks were put out and lots of food was brought in (cold cuts and bread, veggies and dip, salsa and chips, pound cake and, of course, Pamela’s famous Bash favorites: her chocolate chip cookies). And Fred the Dog patrolled the grounds.

We built a bonfire outside the tent so people could stand or sit around it and stay warm (Appalachian weather in October is unpredictable).

The Music Came In

The musicians sat or stood around a kerosene heater inside the tent. And today — three decades later — we still hear all the music.

Not all the bash regulars could attend; over the decade since the last bash in 1981, people had moved in a lot of directions (geographically, emotionally, artistically and otherwise…) .

But it was a good representation of the hippy fun that prompted The Flood spirit all those years ago.

The Toothmans and the Koenigs were there.

And the Schneiders.

Ronnie Sanders and Jim Strother came and contributed to the nights’ sounds.

Flood Reunites

And the original Floodsters -- Dave Peyton, Rog Samples, Stew Schneider and Charlie Bowen — were on hand to dust off the old repertoire.

Rog liked to quote an old fellow he met one time, who would say, “Ahh, I see you play the old songs…”

Jackie J

Meanwhile, Jackie Jadrnak — a beloved listener at almost all of the original bashes and a photographer who had taken classic bash pictures over the years — got the prize for traveling the longest distance to the gathering.

Jackie, who worked with the Bowens and Peytons at the Huntington newspapers, had left Huntington for Columbus then moved on to New Mexico where she still lives today. Other attended from Florida and Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio.

A Seed Planted

We had a boom box set up so we could play old bash tapes during any breaks in the live music, though actually lapses in the playing were few over the two days of reunion.

One effect of that night of music and memories was the planting of a seed in Charlie and Dave’s mind to, as the saying goes, get the old band back together. And in another five years or so, it would happen.

Reflections

Joe Dobbs could not attend the reunion, but during an interview on his “Music from the Mountains” radio show in August 1997, Dave and Charlie remember the reunion this way: