what in the world does cancer have to do w/ rock n roll?

I've been taken by this idea of putting kazoos, the lure of breaking the Guinness Record, our best ballad, & fighting cancer into the band business plan for 2011 / 2012.
Why?
I could give you reasons.

*My Aunt Dot (one of my fav people in the universe) passed away after a long drawn-out battle.

*Early detection is the thing that saves lives.

*Just as I sat down to write this, I got an email about a friend's friend, whom I met w/ her 1-yr-old son at a birthday party recently, who's having emergency surgery for what appears to be stomach cancer. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

These are all great reasons... but not the whole reason.

I don't know how much you know about being an artist, rock star, self-promoting entrepreneur in today's economy.... but it's a lot of *Look how great I am!*

So I want to tell you about how great someone else is. Lots of someone elses.

The more I get to know cancer survivors, I find their courage amazing. And their lust for life awesome -- it's a blueprint for how I want to live.

So we're doing two projects. About courage. Supporting eachother. And remembering what we can accomplish when we band together, get educated, & demand better health services.

1) The first is an homage to cancer survivors by making a video for our song the Brighter Side.
the song


these are all photos of survivors who'll be in it.
If you're a survivor, it's not too late to take part: email me a pic at rockstar@jessietorrisi.com

If we can raise just under $3,000, we'll give a copy to everyone who participates in the Livestrong Challenge this August in Philly (*my hometown). That's ~6,000 people.

It's a way of saying thank you for fighting the good fight & giving to something greater than yourself & raising money & running 23 miles... When the video gets passed around youtube, hopefully it will give others the motivation to get tested.

2) Let's round up enough people in 2012 -- at a cancer walk, run, or mustache-shaving bash -- to kazoo their hearts out that we break the record! Last I checked, it was 5,800 people kazooing to Take Me Out to the Ballgame. (We think Cannonball's a better song.)
If raising awareness can be fun quirky n creative... Why not?

Most of these ideas came from my friend Walking Eagle Burr, who lost her mother to cancer last year. And I'm running with them.

Are you with me?

* * *

More cool stuff to check out:
Cancerpants ... the trailer for a great survivor documentary being made here in Austin
Livestrong Cancer Navigation Center .... whatever you need, they can point you in the right direction