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Friday, March 25, 2011

Bob Ripberger

Machi
Composer Pianist
Bob Ripberger
Playing 16 Of His Original Songs
BoMar Records

Cincinnati Enquirer columnist, Paul Ritter wrote the jacket notes. He refers to Ripberger as "...a master of "cocktail" piano in Cincinnati". He goes on to describe how Ripberger is basically a self-taught musician who plays his songs for an arranger who transcribes the work.

7 comments:

  1. Just bought this album at N. Kentucky Goodwill for $0.60... I so wish it was in better shape but I really enjoyed listening to it...

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    1. This is my grandpa (dads side) I never got to meet. But ive heard thousands of stories. Its 2020 and im introducing my 8mo old son to the music of his great grandpa.

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    2. This is my husbands grandfather as well as well dads side, we would love to know connect to know more about him please replay back if you see this

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    3. My 83 year old mother tells a tale of meeting bob and him falling in love with her, he was older than her, bought he bought her lavish gifts and said he wrote a song for her. They parted ways, but she still tells me I coulda been a ripberger..

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  2. This is my grandma's brother. I never got to meet him, he was gone before I was born. My grandma (Mary jo) always talks to me about Bob

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  3. Mark Betcher……thanks for the memories! I’m offended (tongue-in-cheek) that you refer to my friend Bob Ripberger as “obscure”. He was best man at my wedding in 1959. I was a disc jockey at WCKY starting in August of 1957. These dates are important to the Bob Ripberger story as you’ll see in a moment. I didn’t have a car (too young to finance and nobody to co-sign) ….got off the air at 7pm (Daily Hit Parade) and had to wait until 8:20pm to catch a bus to my apartment in Mariemont. I spent most of that wait time listening to Bob on the piano at LaNormandie. Moving the pedals with his right and beating his rhythm with a very heavy left foot. On Saturday night 8/15/59 Bob’s friend Noriko invited him to dinner at her apartment in Clifton; she told Bob to bring a friend and he invited me. Nori worked at Jenny’s Boutique on west 4th Street. When we got there for dinner a friend of Noriko’s was also invited: she was a model who also worked at Jenny’s. On Saturday night 9/5/59 Jeanne Turner (that person) and I got married. Yes, you read that right: 3 weeks after our 1st date (dinner at Nori’s) we got married and that was 64 years ago. Our wedding time was all planned around Bob’s schedule at the club. He played for the dinner hours and took a break from 7-9pm before coming back ‘til midnight. I picked him up at LaNormandie at 7pm and we drove to Calvary Episcopal Church (the one with the red doors) in Clifton for the 7:45pm wedding. Following the wedding we all returned to LaNormandie for the reception. Remember, Bob had to be back at 9pm. We left Cincinnati in 1987. I think the last time I saw Bob perform was 1982 on the Cincinnati paddle wheeler…. Delta Queen?
    My daughter was attending University of Cincinnati and she’s 62 today. Again, Mark, that’s my Bob Ripberger story and I’m sticking to it. I couldn’t find his obituary; I’m 85 and I know Bob was older than me.

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  4. Thanks Steve, for the terrific memories and adding detail to this post! I moved into the area just before you left (1986) so I am familiar with the landmarks you mention in your story. Cheers!

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