Steps For Living just released an inspirational CD fittingly called Both Sides of the Coin by friend and concert pianist Mathew Zachery and Dr. Adam Dachman, an osteopathic surgical oncologist and composer. Zachery a cancer survivor and Dachman a cancer surgeon have produced an 18 song collection of songs that are both relaxing and uplifting. The CD sales for $15 and the total net proceeds of this CD will go to the Steps For Living non profit. What does Steps For Living do?

What does it mean to be a cancer survivor? Steps for Living reaches inside this question and gives answers from a survivor's eyes. Steps For Living non profit and their Art of Survivorship program is working hard to reach the fall 2007 deadline they have chosen to release their Toolkit For Living that includes a comprehensive survivorship 'yellow pages', along with the 22 track Sounds Of Hope compilation audio CD featuring music by cancer survivors and for cancer survivors. There is a lot of information out there on the Internet to sift through when you're trying to find survivorship resources. Steps For Living is taking some of the work out of that for you by compiling a directory to assist you in your survivor resource needs. Their Art of Survivorship program is an educational cancer advocacy project that harnesses the power of music and the arts to foster health literacy and raise awareness for the cause of cancer survivorship.

I have to proudly and selflessly give shouts to the artists on the Sounds of Hope compilation CD that will be included in the Toolkit For Living directory, since I am one of the 22 and also know some of the artists participating in this program. I have enjoyed listening to a preproduction advance copy of the compilation CD of these artists on a daily basis to keep me inspired. So forgive me but kudos to the following in order of appearance on the compilation CD; David M. Bailey, Christine Baze, Vicki Blankenship, Cindy Bullens, Kevin Carlberg, Suzanne Ciani, Adam Dachman, Kyler England, Kevin Hearn, Laura Higgins, Clint Holmes, Eliot Popkin, Mara, The Readings, Denise Rich, Teri Scheinzeit, John Schrader, Michael Tiernan, Michael Troy, and Mathew Zachery who just happens to be the Founder of Steps For Living.

"A composer is a guy who goes around forcing his will on unsuspecting air molecules, often with the assistance of unsuspecting musicians." -- Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa -- intelligent and articulate; gifted and prolific as a rock musician and composer; guitarist, singer/songwriter, film director, and satirist -- lost his life to prostate cancer in 1993. During his musical career, he gained a cult-like following of fans by pushing the iconoclastic envelope and by mastering the technology needed to create his complex musical compositions.

One of Frank's sons, Dweezil Zappa, wants to set the record straight about his father. According to Dweezil, "There are so many things that are misunderstood or not recognized about my father's music because they've been filtered by people who work for magazines like Rolling Stone.

For example, Rolling Stone recently printed a poor, artist-rendering of Frank holding a joint.

Frank has always been well-known for being anti-drug yet they would rather continue to perpetuate a false image of him, even after death. It's irresponsible, it's obnoxious and offensive. I think it's time people know what Frank was really about, and they should discover it through his music."

To that end, Dweezil, with his brother Ahmet, are touring Zappa Plays Zappa and introducing a whole new generation to Frank Zappa's music. You can follow the tour at the Zappa Plays Zappa blog.

NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams is featuring Maria Friedman in one of the profiles of people making a difference. Friedman, a breast cancer survivor and cancer prevention advocate, is a remarkable woman and actress, who decided the show must go on despite a breast cancer diagnosis, surgery and treatment. She continued to perform on the Broadway stage in The Woman in White, and even recorded a new CD of songs with composer Stephen Sondheim. During the month of May, you can watch her sing at New York's landmark Carlyle Hotel.

Friedman -- the mother of two -- chose to appear on NBC Nightly News because she wants women to know that they can survive breast cancer and live a full life. She also wants women to get checked and to pay attention to any changes in their body. She found the lump on her own, and because of its location, it would not have been picked up with a mammogram. Friedman emphasized that the breast is a much larger area than most women think of it, going up to the collarbone and wrapping down under the arm. You can read the rest of the television interview and watch a video of the interview here.