Sing for the Cure CD is a profound musical journey chronicling the experiences of women diagnosed with breast cancer. Narrated by Poet Laureate Dr. Maya Angelou, and featuring the performances of librettist Pamela Martin, the Turtle Creek Chorale and the Women's Chorus of Dallas, the CD offers original songs that capture the emotions of ten composers.

The selections on the Sing for the Cure CD include Prelude For The Uncommon Woman; The Community's Voice; Who Will Speak?; Facing Diagnosis; Borrowed Time; The Partner's Voice; The Promise Lives On; Taking Control; Livin' Out Loud Blues; The Child's Voice; The Sister's Voice; Girl In The Mirror; The Mother's Voice; Who Will Curl My Daughter's Hair; Pursuing A Cure; Groundless Ground; Proclaiming Hope; One Voice: I Will Not Be Silent; Testimonial and Come To Me, Mother.

Live concert performances of Sing for the Cure, dedicated to those affected by breast cancer, have been held in more than 50 US cities, including Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Sing for the Cure CD is available through the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation gift shop.

"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.

You might be thinking to yourself that cancer is nothing to sing about -- and there is certainly nothing funny about cancer. But the folks at Planet Ant thought there was something funny enough to sing about when they decided to produce Cancer! the Musical. Martin F. Kohn, a Detroit Free Press theater critic, who went to go see the show thought that a musical that opens with singing lab rats is hysterical.

"The show satirizes, sometimes hilariously, unfeeling health insurers, greedy pharmaceutical corporations, impersonal doctors -- eye contact is the leading cause of emotional involvement -- and scientists motivated not by altruism but by lust for glory. At no time does Cancer! The Musical make fun of people who are ill."

Thomas Donnellon, one of the authors, is a cancer survivor -- the other writer Shawn Handlon has a brother who is a cancer survivor. Go here to read the full critical review. If you live in the Detroit area, go here for tickets. The show runs through May 20.

Menopause naturally happens in a woman's life some time between the age of 45 to 55. In the case of chemo-induced menopause, there is no traditional timeline. For younger women, menopause brought on by chemotherapy can be a temporary phase or permanent transition. For women already nearing the age when menopause might start to occur, chemotherapy can push them into it a few years early. But -- however a woman reaches the menopause phase of life -- the experience of menopause is universally the same. Knowing this, Jeanie Linders, a writer, produced the first Menopause The Musical in 2001. According to information provided on the show website, "Since its first performance, the show has evolved as a grassroots movement of women who deal with life after 40 and all the challenges that result in the mental, physical and spiritual freedom of over 38 million baby boomer females." According to the audience, it is hilarious!

Janet Rigdon wanted to see the musical, but it wasn't going to be touring anywhere near where she lived, so she emailed Linders to ask if the show could make a stop in her town. That's the beauty of email -- you can do that sort of thing. Rigdon told Linders she was an ovarian cancer survivor who felt the musical was something women cancer survivors like her and her support group of women friends could relate to when she said, “I told her we could go to dinner and then play, and take our minds off cancer for one night. We want to laugh too.”

After getting to know Rigdon through email conversations, Linders decided to use the show to raise awareness and research funds for ovarian cancer. Through the musical's Women Foundation, a national ovarian cancer campaign was launched under the banner Menopause the Musical Out Loud: Breaking the Silence of Ovarian Cancer. Rigdon and her friends got to see the show, and through the wonder of web email, a new campaign for cancer was launched -- in the form of a laugh out loud musical.

Thanks to Sue of My Menopause Blog for the introduction to a musical about menopause! Who knew.