Well there must be some good reason
Why they didn't want you there
It was a party, but only for the cool guys
Nobody you know was there
— "It Was a Party," Dan Reeder
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Journalists don't get invited to many parties that are actually fun. They always ruin the vibe. This sad truth was reiterated on Monday hours before Flagstock 2024 when a journalist from Politico (the news blog located many, many floors below the Washington Free Beacon) asked party organizer John Noonan about the lack of female artists scheduled to perform. Moments later, once the filthy journos had been escorted to the fenced-off fun exclusion zone where they belong, a group of supremely talented female artists arrived in the VIP tent—courtesy of Hooters, which also provided the catering. Representation matters, after all.
Flagstock 2024 was the culmination of a GoFundMe campaign Noonan launched in May to "buy a few kegs" for the UNC-Chapel Hill fraternity brothers who defended the American flag from a seething mob of pro-Hamas protesters. It ended up raising more than $500,000 from donors across the country who prefer freedom to terrorism. Noonan, a national security consultant, had no experience planning an event of this magnitude. Nevertheless, he persisted. Country music legend John Rich and others signed on to perform for free, vendors donated equipment and services, local veterans volunteered to help prepare the venue. A "rager" was promised, and that's precisely what Noonan and his team delivered Monday night at the American Legion complex in Chapel Hill.
"We made a promise to the frat boys here at UNC that if they have enough courage to defend our flag, then by God we have enough courage to show up in your backyard and play you a concert," Rich told the crowd. Festivities commenced with singing the national anthem, complete with a colorful prop-plane flyover by local pilots who only charged for gas. About 1,000 attendees turned out on Labor Day weekend to see a lineup that included John Ondrasik of Five for Fighting, Rome Ramirez of Sublime, Aaron Lewis, Cowboy Troy, and Lee Greenwood. In the VIP section overlooking the stage, UNC fraternity brothers and their female companions drank responsibly while playing beer pong and cornhole on custom boards donated by "grateful Americans." They also played tug of war with another group of talented artists representing Hyperglow.
Journalists and other anti-freedom scolds pounced and seized on the specter of Flagstock, demanding answers to questions only they would ask: Should parties be fun? Should country music exist? Should celebrities be allowed to criticize Democrats in public? The New York Times, for example, reported on the handful of angsty UNC fraternity brothers who wished that "a significant portion" of the party funds would be donated to "relief efforts in Gaza." Some of the funds raised will eventually be dispersed to charities such as Back the Blue N.C., the Wounded Warrior Project, and organizations that combat anti-Semitism. The Free Beacon is still awaiting a response about how much money will be donated to Palestinian trans rights organizations.
Organizers' goal was to host "a non-partisan event about patriotism," said Dan Cragg, an attorney for Flagstock sponsor Pints for Patriots who provided pro-bono legal counsel. Rich's manager, Marc Oswald, stressed the importance of making sure "students and people in general feel it's OK to be patriotic." When Rich asked attendees if they still loved America, chants of "USA!" broke out. You know, the sort of rhetoric most mainstream journalists would describe as right-wing xenophobia. Some of the musicians dared to express political opinions throughout the night. They just weren't the same opinions typically expressed by famous musicians.
Journalists in the press pen audibly gasped when Aaron Lewis, the former Staind frontman, sang, "F— Joe Biden." John Ondrasik lashed out at the "administrators and presidents of the universities across our nation that enable, encourage and sometimes support the mobs running amok." (Fact check: True.) "There's only one of two choices coming up here soon," Rich said. "It's communism versus freedom, and we're gonna pick freedom every single time." On the UNC campus just down the road, a group called Speak Out Socialists had posted dozens of flyers advertising a series of teach-ins this week about the evils of capitalism. General threats of violence from the same campus radicals who tried to take down Old Glory compelled Flagstock organizers to withhold the venue's location until the day of the event.
At the end of the day, defending the American flag from terrorist sympathizers shouldn't be a partisan issue. Benaya Cherlow, a reservist in the Israeli military who served in Gaza and has shared his experience with Republicans and Democrats in Congress, said he was moved after seeing the now-iconic image of the UNC fraternity brothers holding up the American flag and promptly shared it with his fellow IDF soldiers. "I told them, 'This fight, our fight, it's the same fight,'" said Cherlow, who smoked a cigar and posed for photos with the Israeli and American flags, as well as a flag from the Nova music festival in Israel that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
The evening ended in a most appropriate fashion, with all of the Flagstock performers joining Lee Greenwood on stage to sing "God Bless the USA" as fireworks lit up the sky. Even the cold-hearted liberal journalists might have felt a patriotic thrill up their legs—if they hadn't already left.
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