Rockin' the Renaissance

#301 / Flood Time Capsule: 2011

For a decade, the official release party for each new Flood album was held in the cool Renaissance Ballroom in the old Huntington High School, the jewel of the city’s South Side, a half dozen blocks from where the band still rehearses each week.

It all starred with a party and concert celebrating the band’s first studio album. This was 2002, just a year after that grand old structure — built in 1916 by architect Verus T. Ritter — reopened as the Renaissance Center, a multipurpose community building used by the YMCA, Arts Resources for the Tri-State and Huntington Development Corp. for senior citizens residences.

The Flood’s association with the building continued in 2003 and ’04 with encore music parties to mark the release of subsequent albums.

Album No. 4

So in 2011, when it came time to roll out the fourth album — Wade in the Water — there was no doubt where the do would be, but the when part was still up in the air.

One person the guys absolutely wanted on the bandstand with them that night was Jacob Scarr, the young guitarist who had meant so much to The Flood.

As reported earlier, Jacob — whom his band mates had taken to calling “Youngblood” — was central to the entire Wade album project, even appearing on the disc’s cover.

Speeding Up

The problem was that by then Jacob was out of town. Waaaaaay out of town, Jacob was several time zones away in Denver, where he was just completing his first semester as a freshman at the University of Colorado.

To solve the problem of time and space, the band sped up the album’s production so that copies would be in hand by the time Jacob got back to Huntington for his Christmas break. That way his friends and family could join in the celebration.

Band manager Pamela Bowen printed up posters and drove all over town putting them up. She also courted her favorite news reporters for stories in advance about the event. Charlie Bowen customized two of the band’s weekly podcasts to report on the new CD and about the upcoming party.

Showtime!

On the day of the show — a dozen years ago this week — Pamela and Charlie got to the venue three hours early to help Dave Ball set up the sound system and to put up the merchandise table. The Renaissance Ballroom folks had set up about 80 chairs in a half moon shape around the stage.

At 6, the guys started arriving for the soundcheck, which they finished with 15 minutes to spare.

"And then…. at five minutes 'til showtime, there were maybe 20 people in the chairs," Charlie wrote his cousin Kathy in a later email. "I tell you, my heart just started to sink. OMG, what if, after all that, we don't even fill the chairs??!! How disheartening would that be?”

But then in the next few minutes… bless their hearts, they just kept coming. Volunteers started bringing out more chairs. And then more chairs. By showtime, fans packed the room.

“It was a perfect evening," Charlie wrote in his email. "The Flood hasn't had a night like that in a very long time, maybe ever."

Fill Night with Sound

Everyone in the band was in such high spirits and played theirs hearts out. Michelle served as emcee, tossing it back to Charlie whenever she needed more information on a particular song’s history.

The band played everything on the new album. And then in the second set, the guys started inviting musician friends from the audience to sit in on specific tunes.

The highlight of the night was when Huntington-born Broadway star Beth McVey — known for her performances in The Phantom of the Opera, among others — stepped out of the audience to sing several duets with Michelle.

"The crowd loved everything," Charlie reported in his letter to Kathy. "And boy, did they ever buy CDs!”