Funny how an older-ish song can become “new”: “Roselle”, from the “Dogspeed” CD, was released back in 2009. Both the story – and it’s a great story – and the song are suddenly getting attention. I’ve been yammering about the song a bit, but I don’t think I’ve documented it yet here in a blog. Here’s the story:
Roselle was a guide dog. Raised here in the bay area. Trained at the San Rafael campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind. On 9-11-2001, she was 80 floors up in Tower One of the World Trade Center with her owner, Michael Hingson. The planes hit, and we all know what happened. What most people don’t know is that Roselle – who was sleeping on the floor as most Labradors do – calmly woke up and walked Michael Hingson to the stairwell. In interviews, Michael has said that “since Roselle didn’t panic, neither did I”.
Roselle walked Mr. Hingson to safety. That’s where the song ends. Afterwards, Michael Hingson was hired by Guide Dogs and worked as the Head of their Public Affairs Department. He and Roselle travelled literally thousands of miles, educating people about the work that service dogs do, with Roselle still working as both his guide and as an ambassador for guide dogs everywhere.
After a lifetime of service, Roselle passed away in June. That makes this weekend’s tenth anniversary of 9-11 just one more reason to celebrate the special heroes of that day. You can read about Roselle and Michael Hingson in Michael’s new book, “Thunder Dog”.
Locally, KPIG radio just added “Roselle” to their playlist (yay!). And this Sunday, our local fairgrounds is doing a 9-11 memorial this Sunday from noon – 3:00. Admission’s free, and we’ve been asked to come out and play “Roselle”. We’ll be on around 1:00 pm, hopefully *after* the jet flyover. (The event folks are working their tales off to coordinate all this. I have faith.) 😉