Webarticles, any stuf you can find..

[nuts]

QUOTE

By JOHN GOODALL

Tribune Chronicle

WARREN - ''I'm Alive.''

Two simple words that spoke volumes to the thousands of cancer survivors, family and supporters gathered on Courthouse Square Friday evening for the Warren Relay for Life.

Three members of the musical group, The Hooters, performed ''I'm Alive'' and more of their hits at the Relay. The free appearance was a tribute to the undaunted survivors who refuse to allow their spirit to cave into the pressure of the disease.

As the band's high harmonies pierced the sullen, weeping skies, teams saluting cancer fighters circled the course around the square. Dotting the audience at the gazebo were some who continue to battle.

''This has been a very emotional year for me. I lost a friend I used to walk with,'' Mary Ann Averell of Howland, a survivor, said as she listened. ''But I am here. I am alive, and I know my friend is here with me.''

The Hooters members Rob Hyman, Eric Bazilian and John Lilley set aside time to come to the Relay after discovering that ''I'm Alive'' was used on an inspirational video of last year's Warren Relay for Life made by Christina and Michael Morrell of Howland, commemorating their mother Patty's successful battle with cancer.

Tears welled in Patty's eyes Friday as she recalled when her husband bought her a copy of ''I'm Alive.''

''When you are going through such a bad time, little spurts of comfort are so important,'' she said. ''The music kept me going.''

Their kids set their video to the song and posted it on the Internet sharing site YouTube. It prompted a running e-mail dialogue between Bazilian and Tony Morrell, Patty's husband. The two began kicking around the possibility that The Hooters could show up in Warren.

Patty was skeptical.

But strings / vocalist Bazilian was moved that the group's music touched people at such a critical point in their lives.

''I'd seen the video,'' Bazilian said Friday. ''How can you not be moved by that? How can you not say yes to that?''

''These things (Warren Relay) are not (ordinary),'' Keyboards / vocalist Hyman said. ''They are what pull us out of our routine. We've had a few similar experiences, but this is a special one.''

Most songs aren't written with such a specific intent as inspiring cancer survivors, Bazilian said. It's hard enough just to create a good song, he quipped.

''Good songs write themselves,'' he said. ''But you only realize that after the fact. Then you spend the rest of your life trying to figure it out.''

The Morrells' connection to ''I'm Alive'' was intensely personal, Hyman said. That link can't be predicted, but he said The Hooters members are as much in awe as anyone else when that occurs.

''The power that music has - it's connected us. It's connected our children,'' Tony said of the family's struggle with cancer. ''There's nothing else that exists that can do that.''

jgoodall@tribtoday.com

http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.deta...0.html?nav=5021

[Freakadelle]

Thanks for the link!

[nuts]

No prob. I just thought it might be nice to collect them here. Even if they might not be online anymore in a few days.