The Art of Giving

Many, many years ago, VH1 created a series called ‘Bands on the Run.’

I was sucked right in, and though ratings weren’t good enough to warrant a second season, the show had a cult following.

There were four bands involved at the outset:

Harlow
Soul Cracker
Flickerstick
The Josh Dodes Band

(And yes, I did that by memory.)

The (truncated) premise was: the bands drove around the country, given cities and venues.

They had to perform at the venue, and whoever raised the most money via ticket and merch sales, won.

Then every so often, they’d have a battle of the bands.

The band with the most money in the bank was safe from elimination.

After The Josh Dodes Band and Harlow were taken out, the final battle was between Soul Cracker, and Flickerstick.

Soul Cracker had the hustle.

The work ethic.

The technical abilities.

They filled the room with supporters.

Flickerstick had the soul, emotion, and feel.

After they squared off, Soul Cracker said, “The audience dug us.”

Flickerstick said, “We gave our all to them.”

In the end music/art is about emotion, which Flickerstick brought in spades.

They won enough of the audience and judge combo to walk away with a victory.

Unfortunately, not every band of merry alcoholics can succeed like Motley Crue, and their drinking eventually did them in.

(That, of course, is not the official story… The official story involves 9/11, and is reasonable and makes sense… But the underlying cause was alcohol.)