Harvey Larvae first burst onto the music scene as the lead
guitarist for the highly popular rock group the Memphis Maggots.
Billing themselves as the greatest band in the history of
mankind, they toured endlessly in their three years together.
But trouble eventually broke out when the lead singer, Arty "Farty"
McFarson, began his deep dark descent into drug abuse. His drug
of choice: Laxatives. You see, Arty always had a problem
controlling his weight. Most people, however, would try to
correct their weight problems by diet or exercise. Well, Arty
couldn't be bothered with that. That would have required
willpower. So he chose laxatives instead. At first, it didn't
really affect the band at all, but eventually, the seepage began
to show on stage. The band felt that it was destructive to their
image to have a lead singer that soiled himself during each
performance. It just wasn't cool. It really wouldn't have been
so bad if Arty hadn't insisted upon wearing white pants.
The final straw came during a televised performance at Madison
Square Garden. Arty soiled himself again, just like so many
performances before, but this time Harvey slipped on the runny
pile Arty left on the stage. He broke his arm in the process.
The doctors thought that Harvey might never be able to play
guitar again. But after 6 months of rehabilitation and physical
therapy, his guitar playing was right back to where it was
before the infamous "pile on the stage" incident. The band never
got back together again because, quite frankly, Harvey just
couldn't deal the crap anymore. So he practiced his vocals and
went solo.
Harvey released his first solo album, Sounds
like Pupae, to critical raves. The public also went wild over
it. The album sold more copies than any of his previous albums
with the Memphis Maggots. He went on to have a string of top ten
albums. After years of not associating with one another, Harvey
and Arty finally buried the hatchet. Arty had kicked his drug
habit and cleaned up his act. So all of the original members of
the Memphis Maggots got together again for a reunion tour. But
because of being in the limelight, once again, Arty became very
self-conscious of his weight. He began using laxatives again.
While performing once again at Madison Square Garden, this time
on a world-wide telecast beamed via satellite, Arty laid another
runny pile on stage. Harvey, during an extended lead guitar
solo, ran across the stage and slipped on the aforementioned
runny pile and fell. He hit the base of his skull on the stage.
He went into a coma and died the next day. His legacy still
lives on though. Millions of people still play his music, both
his solo works as well as his work with the Mags. He was a true
original.
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