The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel
Diversions

Band ?ies in the face of tragedy

Rarely does a group of people come along whose mission is as infectious as its music. The Flute Flies, a collaboration of musicians from three separate Triangle-area bands, is best described as half supergroup and half troupe of cancer-battling crusaders.

While The Flute Flies stand alone as a successful musical act, the pairing of the band’s music with the nobility of its cause makes it a prevailing humanitarian force.

Comprised of Ivan Howard (The Rosebuds), Reid Johnson (Schooner) and Zeno Gill (Pound of Miracles), The Flute Flies first formed in the summer of 2008 to help one of their friends, Cy Rawls.

“He was the biggest music fan I’ve ever known and always supportive of all the bands in the Triangle area. No matter what city you were playing, Cy was there,” Howard said.

A Tar Heel fan and diehard music lover, Rawls gained the reputation of a local music “super-fan” who would often appear at multiple concerts in one night.

That summer, doctors diagnosed Rawls with a malignant brain tumor. When Rawls began treatment at Duke University Medical Center’s Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center without any health insurance, local musicians rallied to raise money to help pay his medical bills.

Local bands performed benefit concerts and sold their albums on CyTunes.org, donating all the proceeds to the Tisch Center.
Rawls attended as many of these events as he physically could before he died on Oct. 3, 2008, a mere 10 weeks after his diagnosis.

Nevertheless, bands continue to honor Rawls’ inspiring spirit through CyTunes.org. The website hosts a multitude of works by dozens of Triangle-area bands whose work is available with a “pay what you want” feature.

“Even if they can’t purchase it, they can still download it and that helps out the cause as well, by bringing attention to CyTunes.org and the continued fight against cancer,” Howard said.
Thus the inspiration for Yes Means Maybe, the trio’s first full-length album. The band’s long awaited album is available for digital download on Bandcamp.

“Every song that we write, record and perform as The Flute Flies is dedicated to Cy,” Gill said.

The band jokes about its activism efforts, even amid its growing success.

“Activist? Barely.” Gill said. “We were mad at cancer, so we did something very simple to support our friend. Compared to true activists, though, we are lightweights at best.”
Lynn Hoefle, a staff specialist at the Tisch Center, recalled how well-known Rawls was and how involved his family is with the center.

“I think that’s wonderful that (The Flute Flies) want to do this,” Hoefle said. “We have a lot of people that do beautiful things that we just don’t realize, and it’s out of the blue.”

The Tisch Center organizes Angels Among Us, a donation drive benefiting families through charitable endowments from the community. Combined with the donation drive, the release of Yes Means Maybe is another way Rawls’ friends and family are supporting the center.

“For them to want to do this in memory of him. That’s — wow. That’s really something,” Hoefle said.

Contact the desk editor at diversions@dailytarheel.com.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.



Comments

Special Print Edition
The Daily Tar Heel's Collaborative Mental Health Edition