Why Strictly Business Rocks

Frank's parents bought him a guitar when he was ten and he’s been a guitar geek ever since.

In fact, when Frank asks his dad why he isn’t as handy or mechanical as he or his brother, his dad answers, “When David and I were working on cars, you were upstairs playing your guitar.” In other words, “You’re not an idiot. You have a talent too, son.”

So Frank was in a band in high school called “Stain” (not to be confused with the current band “Stained”). They had some success—a tape, some shows with decent crowds and some home videos his parents shot.

Then he was in a no-name band in college that played cover songs at parties. I suggested they call themselves “Nudist Camp Rejects” which they quickly rejected.

But my favorite band that Frank has been in is Strictly Business. They rock. Oh, and if you couldn’t guess, this was Frank’s band during business school. I did not come up with this name.

Before I saw them play I dismissed them as just another cover band. Their first show was at La Zona Rosa in front of about 500 current b-school students, prospective students and alums. I was worried that nobody would listen to them so I stood right in front, cheering really loud. But then as they played, more and more people started gathering around. I started to get pushed—got a little scared there for a minute!

I left to go to the bathroom during one song and when I returned, I couldn’t even get back to my place in the front row. I decided to stand on a chair and realized I wasn’t the only one. I had a good view of the crowd and everyone in the joint was dancing to the tunes of Strictly Business.

So why do they rock? They play crowd pleasers but they “make it their own” as Paula Abdul would say. Some highlights:

--A rousing rendition of “Proud Mary” that goes into Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name of…”
--The Devil went down to Georgia featuring their talented violin player
--An encore--since the crowd ALWAYS asked for it: “It’s Tricky”

Strictly Business got so big that they even had band drama: One of the members quit and went to a rival business school band. They had to replace him in true Van Halen fashion (or Destiny’s Child, whichever one you can relate to).

And beyond that they even had groupies—they were business school girls but still…One of them made t-shirts for their “Farewell Tour” and I believe there may have been some panties tossed up on the stage. I even had to fight off a few at one show. They pushed me out of the way and said, “Oh, sorry. We’re groupies, hee hee hee.” I yelled back, “Oh, yeah? I’m a wife!”

So now Strictly Business is no more. That’s what happens when you’ve got a band made up of business school students. They sell out for corporate jobs. You know, working for the man.

But now when Frank asks, “Hey, why didn’t I learn anything in business school?” I just say, “You were too busy playing your guitar, son.”




See? The Groupies even come up on stage!


The boys of Strictly Business--their final show. Did I hear somebody say reunion?