Stompin' at Saint Zita's
#256 / Flood Time Capsule: 2002
The spring and summer of 2002 offered a lot of memories for us fellows of The Flood. We jammed with the Huntington Symphony Orchestra down by the riverside. We did shows from Morehead, Ky., to Wheeling, WV. We rocked the room at a wonderful Irish inn at the foot of Snowshoe Mountain.
Closer to home, we also played a string of dream evenings in downtown Huntington at an extraordinarily cool — though sadly short-lived — new venue called Saint Zita Grille, named for the patron saint of food, restaurants and waitresses.
Zita’s was launched by Huntington restaurateurs Roy Clark and Terre Thomas, the popular couple who for 11 years had owned and operated the fun and funky Southwest-flavored Calamity Cafe near the Marshall University campus.
Their new restaurant featured Creole fare, blending the seafood soul and spice of Roy’s hometown of New Orleans. A month after the Saint Zita’s Mother’s Day opening, The Flood played its first gig there.
This location — 322 10th St. — was the same space where two years earlier the band had played at the ill-fated Masquerade Dinner Theater. However, when we walked back through those doors in June 2002, we hardly recognized the place.
Gone was the dark-green wallpaper and in was an interior alive with a rich Tuscan yellow that augmented the eatery’s fine dark woodwork.
Also what was once Masquerade’s large black stage area now had been walled off with stained glass and a 150-year-old wooden door that led to a banquet area for up to 50 people.
Clark — himself a guitar player and songwriter — wanted live music at Zita’s, ranging from jazz (straight up and of the Dixieland variety) to acoustic blues and such. He and Terre found the eclectic offerings of The Flood fit the bill nicely.
We tailored set lists specially for the venue, a mix of New Orleans-flavored of jug band and ragtime numbers spiced with a healthy dose of Appalachian fiddle tunes and Americana folk songs.
Our June 19, 2002, debut also showcased 7-year-old Zoey Stull as our featured dancer.
As noted in an earlier Flood Watch article, we of course would never take credit for inspiring the youngster. However, we’d be remiss if we didn’t note that Zoey, daughter of Sam and Joan St. Clair, continued her performing career long after her Floodery. She studied dance at Virginia’s Radford University, from which she graduated several years ago.
Video Souvenir
The Flood performed at St. Zita a number of times in 2002.
This snippet of one of those evenings from 21 years ago this week was included in an “Outlook” documentary about fiddler Joe Dobbs that aired on West Virginia Public Broadcasting that year:
For the video, the producer sent a reporter to film most of the first set. He then interviewed fans, including visiting Australian Flood buddy Judy Jones, former Mayor Jean Dean, and local jazzman Dale Jones.
Our Zita Summer
Throughout the summer of ‘02, the band had a ball at “The Z,” as we called it. "Another good crowd," Charlie told his mom in an email after one particular lively night.
"Actually, we're starting to draw people in just to hear us, apparently,” he added. “Dave and Susie Peyton said they were in the place on Tuesday night and it was dead. Last night, by contrast, almost every table was filled and a lot of folks stayed for both sets. We got a lot of good crowd reaction, particularly to the upbeat, jazzy jug band stuff.”
St. Z’s Demise
Alas, though, the new restaurant is destined for a short life. About a year after the band’s first show there, the venue closed its doors because of what Thomas called “a pressing family situation.”
Speaking at the time with Herald-Dispatch reporter Bryan Chambers, Terre added, "It was a lot of hard work, but we had fun and feel like we did a good job. Operating a business in downtown Huntington is a daily battle to begin with, and we reached a point where we had to put our energies into more important things."
More Flood Lore
By the way, if you enjoy reading these installments in the band’s half-century story, check out the growing collection of tales in our “Flood History” section.
