Wow, What a Birthday Party!

New and old friends made epic memories for us as we celebrated the band’s 50th birthday with a New Year’s Eve bash at Alchemy Theatre, where Nora Ankrom, Mike Murdock, Stephen Vance and the rest made us all feel so very welcome.Obviously, a 20-minute video can’t do justice to almost five hours of near continuous live music, right up to the strike of midnight. However, working with the superb footage that Pamela Bowen shot from her ringside table, we can at least give a feel for the evening’s festivities.More than a dozen musicians were in the house, all featured in the video, including Floodster Emeriti Paul Martin, Michelle Hoge and Dave (Bub) Ball.Highlighting the night were performances by guest artists Karen and Steve Byington of Wiley Dew and Jim Rumbaugh and Karen Combs of 5$Red.Especially fun was singer-songwriter Douglas Imbrogno’s set, when he performed tunes with a rocking pickup band of Floodsters, including Bub on bass, Michelle on vocal harmonies, Danny Cox on guitar and Sam St. Clair on harp.Besides the music and visiting with old friends, it was wonderful spending time with all the Alchemy Theatre folks. How fortunate our town is to have this friendly, energetic, creative bunch!And of course, we loved seeing smiling faces of so many Flood friends all around the room.What better way could there be to start the new year? Thanks, friends, for a night we’ll never forget. And now we’re so ready for 2024.Video ExtrasFinally, here are two more videosfrom this remarkable evening. We were so pleased we could lure Floodster Emeritus Paul Martin back onto the bandstand for the night. And whenever we’re with him, we always get him to take us on a ride on his favorite Bob Dylan tune:It was 15 years ago when Sam St. Clair brought us this tune, and it quickly became his theme song. Ever since then, “Ain’t No Free” has been a beloved standard in many a Flood show. So, of course, the song had to have a place in honor at the New Year’s Eve bash: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 1937flood.substack.com