Mark Flora ’87: From ‘The Law’ to Prison (In a Good Way)

In the mid-1980s, Mark Flora commanded center stage in what was then one of the top bands in Ames: The Law.

Packing Thumbs Up, Cy’s Roost, the Maintenance Shop and other musical hot spots of the day, The Law played a blend of edgy pop, with Flora on guitar and vocals. On campus, Flora edited the entertainment section of the Iowa State Daily. He graduated and worked at a small South Dakota weekly, freelanced for a pop magazine, and contributed to a beer magazine.

Today, Flora lives in Minneapolis and is out of journalism – but the music lives on. Daytime, he works as an audio editor for a music company that sells lines of music in kiosks at Target stores. Nights and weekends, he leads The Holy Rocka Rollaz, playing early American rock ‘n’ roll.

The group had its start about six years ago as a prison ministry band. Then last year, on the way back from a gig at the South Dakota State Penitentiary, Flora and his band mates decided to branch out.  “We’ve been building toward a live show to non-incarcerated folks since then,” he says. “We plan on hittin’ clubs and ballrooms this fall and winter. Hopefully the car shows next summer.  And rib fests. River fests. Beer fests. County Fairs. State Fairs. And prisons.”

He and his wife Lisa (they have two daughters: McCartney, 9, and Sky, 6) have worked together on music projects, ranging from their band Florapop to an Americana hymns project, including the song “Where We’ll Never Grow Old” (show in video).

–By Chris Adams