It was 19 years ago this week when The Flood met its den mother/soul sister. The irrepressible Rose Marie Riter hired the band to play at her 70th birthday party.
The boys in the band knew they were in for something different when she told them the venue for the afternoon’s party: The Lawrence County Airpark, near Chesapeake, Ohio.
“The, uh … why?” they asked.
Rose intended, she told them, to celebrate her seven decades on the planet by leaping from an airplane.
Planning Ahead
Arrive early, she told the Floodsters, and play before the jump, just in case .... "Well, you know, if things don't go well, I want to know that folks at least got to hear the music and have something to eat!”
The party was catered by the famed Hillbilly Hot Dogs, and, Rose added, if she survived the leap, there would be more food and champagne afterward.
The jump did go well, as reported by the local TV reporters in the above video.
And years later, when Rose’s 79th birthday approached, she asked if The Flood might play at her next party, which led to an exchange by Rose with Joe Dobbs and Charlie Bowen that you can hear by pressing the button below:
When We Say “Kazoo,” We Think “Rose”
Since the July 2005 afternoon of Rose’s bold birthday leap, The Flood has enjoyed decades of partying with Mrs. Riter, often with jokes and stories that have carried over week to week, evolving in many editions of the band’s weekly rehearsals at the Bowen House.
For instance, in the audio clip above did you happen to catch Joe’s reference to kazoos? Particularly joyful has been the ongoing saga of Rose’s love/hate of the band’s kazoo culture:
The above short video documents how for years, whenever Flood kazoo guru Dave Peyton played a real hummer of a solo, while everyone else was whooping and cheering, Rose would make of a show — and sound — of dissent.
Oh, how cleverly has Rose hidden her love of fine kazoory…
Celebrating the High-Flying Rose Riter