Bye Bye to the Blues

The Flood has been booked to play a private party this weekend in connection with the celebration of a new marriage, so last night we looked through our storehouse of music for our most joyous tunes. One of the first we decided on was this great old jazz standard, "Bye Bye Blues." Les Paul and Mary Ford made it famous in 1952, but  it's been recorded by everybody from Count Basie and Benny Goodman to Brenda Lee and Liberace to Hank Snow and Merle Travis. It may be "Bye Bye Blues," but it's hardly bye bye to the song itself. It's obviously got staying power. We wish the same to the happy couple!

Catch Us at The V Club Tonight!

The Flood is honored and pleased to be playing at The V Club tonight in downtown Huntington, guests of the The Huntington Blues Society. And it's an especially good night because we'll also be trying to raise some money to help the victims of this spring's catastrophic earthquake in Nepal. Our buddy, Chris Sutton, the local blues legend, has a direct connection to one of the victims there. Now, that alone should be reason enough to draw you out, but you need a little further incentive, check this out. Harmonicat Jim Rumbaugh of the Huntington Harmonica Club says he plans to raise few more dollars by dancing to the band. He says a dollar a dance is what he'll charge or pay. "I'll probably spend all my lunch money," Jim says, "but shoot, it's a good cause!" So, come on down at 7 o'clock to 741 6th Ave. and bring your dollars for dancing with Jim!

Sittin' On Top of The World

Our good friend, Chris Sutton, has invited The Flood to play at the Huntington Blues Society's gathering at the V Club downtown next week, so in our rehearsal last night, we dusted off a few tunes for the set. But we'd almost finished the evening when we realized we'd left off the list one of our favorite blues, The Mississippi Sheiks' version of "Sittin' on Top of the World." Well, here's the number and our vote to include it in next Wednesday evening's program.

It's a Wonderful World

Funny how these things work out. A few weeks ago, our newest compadre, Paul Martin, asked, "Hey, has The Flood ever done that old tune, 'It's a Wonderful World'?" Well, as a matter of fact, years ago we DID play around with that song for a while, but it was only as an instrumental. That's because it was long before Michelle Lewis joined us, meaning the old days when none of us felt up to the vocal requirements of that particular number. So lately, at Paul's suggestion, we've trotted "Wonderful World" out again, and take a listen to it now with Michelle and her beautiful voice front and center.