Last year, I literally gave myself a mere three frickin' days to conceive and produce Songs For Relay, my self-made charity compilation for last year's Relay for Life in Pottstown.

Not to be selfish, but I was thinking of getting some sleep while working on the sequel this year. So I'm starting now, instead of--you know--the week of.

The gist is this: cancer sucks. And music is how I deal with things that suck. Just ask any of my ex-girlfriends. So, I put songs that I feel carry weight for people who are dealing with something heavy, like cancer, on a mix CD and sell it for $5 in tandem with The Pottstown Relay For Life.

All 500 pennies from each sold comp go to Pottstown's Relay For Life, who give all the money to the American Cancer Society (we raised over a milly two years ago). Artists who lend me their songs get nothing, and I get nothing. But we all sleep soundly at night knowing we used music to help someone through something, man. Bono would be proud.

So, it's time for some more songs for Relay. I don't need songs about cancer or dealing with it specifically. For instance, the song that gave me the idea to do this whole thing was a beautiful live cut of My Morning Jacket's "Bermuda Highway" (from the Acoustic Citsuoca EP). Listening to it filled me with strength. It's not a song about dealing with a difficult disease, but about not giving up on your hopes, dreams, and passions. Those are the songs I want: strong songs.

I'll approach artists/managers both big and local to get some songs on this year's comp, but don't be shy if you got the perfect song for this and are willing to help out. I'll do more to promote the bands I use this year too, because you know, I'm giving myself more than 3 days to pull the whole thing together. So send me some submissions, whether you're U2 or a local solo guy that's never played a live show.

Last year, I sold 100 copies (remember, I sequenced, burned, pasted, taped, and distributed totally on my own), raising $500. The goal this year is to double that.

Send your band's submissions to c.march@hotmail.com
or
The Mercury ATTN: Chris March 24 N. Hanover Street Pottstown, PA 19464

Look forward to hearing from you.

The reaction I've gotten to this Songs For Relay charity mix has been nothing short of incredible.

But like the highly unorganized goof nut I am, I also had no working system to process your demand. I considered setting up a PayPal for online orders, but I'd rather keep the donations flowing directly through me with everything written out to The American Cancer Society.

HERE IS HOW TO GET YOUR COPY!

simply send a check for $5 (or $5 per CD if want a bunch) to:

The Mercury
ATTN: Chris March / Songs For Relay
24 N. Hanover Street
Pottstown, PA 19464

(or drop it off at The Merc in an envelope to my attn, if you like)

Make the check payable to "American Cancer Society"
Include your return address and I'll mail you out the mix (or mixes) ASAP, and don't worry about any shipping charges or anything, I'll cover it. I encourage you to buy a handful and give them out to friends, cancer survivors, and cancer fighters. There is still no more personal gift than music, and this mix has been made with that exact intention. So thanks for your support and for listening.

If you have any questions pertaining to the mix, leave a comment or email cmarch@pottsmerc.com.

For more information and tracklisting, see previous post below.

I am selling a charity compilation CD for $5 a piece, with 100% of the proceeds going directly to the American Cancer Society. It is entirely homemade and each song was selected carefully for this collection. Please email me at c.march@hotmail.com for your copy or more information.

And hey, the postage fee is even on me (as were the CD's and labor), because that's how much I care about this thing.

The songs are all profound displays of heart, unwavering courage, and an enduring human spirit. If Relay For Life organizations around the world are dedicated to a common dream of surviving and defeating cancer, this collection of music is devoted to Relay For Life and celebrating our very lives, as well as the right to be heard. I trust, in some manner, these songs can change your life, at least if you keep those who have been touched by cancer in mind while listening to it, or your own personal struggles with anything that has somehow devastated your life.

If that doesn't convince you to scrounge up 5 lousy bucks to give to cancer aid and research for some really good and dedicated music, please, read on. I'll convince you.

(queue the long-winded writer's story of why and how this all came about)

***

I never ever set out with the intention to work at a newspaper. My parents, who met at this very newspaper and remain in the business, told me since I was just a toddler to never ever ever get into the newspaper world. Ever. (Turns out, I listen to music; not parents.)

And truthfully, I never even set out to be a writer. It's become a passion, but was never an intention.

These are things that just kinda ... happened. They landed in my lap as I funneled myself through the process of growing up, and that was that.

Life is made of things people don't intend on. That is what life is: Car crashes, wrong turns, pregnancies, trophies, friends from unlikely places, business cards, asthma, bullies, birth marks, advertisements along the road, love, bad kissers, congratulations, drunken nights at the bar, war, high fives from total strangers...cancer.

You get these things, you deal with them, and you go where they take you. You can let them rule you and curb you, or you can find your way back to the path.

One thing I did set out to do, however, was change the world with music. A song at a time.

That has always been my dream. Even when the only music I owned were MC Hammer and Bryan Adams cassette tapes (still got 'em too). But I don't mean creating music (it's not pretty when I do); it's about hunting out, digging up, and unearthing the music inside of every one of us. Songs are not 99 cent products or catchy choruses to me; they are more like people. Some of my best friends are songs. When I hear a really good song, I think "I want that song played at my funeral."

Green Day's "When I Come Around" got me through high school, gave me a mirror to see who I really was.

Over It's entire album "Timing is Everything" shot me in arm with a fiery dose of excitement and life.

Bob Dylan's "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" kept me from ever being homesick.

"These Arms of Mine" was my first kiss.

I fell in love with The Beatles' "I Will."

I want to align the world with such songs, to see us all in absolute harmony singing along the "na na na na na" part of "Hey Jude" together in a galactic stadium, arms in the air, swaying back and forth, tears in our eyes. Not just singing the song--but becoming the song, being the song. To turn the world into a song, for us to be music, spinning endlessly through outer space.

Total and complete harmony, that is my dream. It's a bit too John Lennon for some people, but you have to admit, it's a way cool dream.

It's as left field a dream as dreaming there will come a day when cancer does not exist. But it's a dream that pulls me forward in life just as much as The Relay For Life pulls cancer survivors forward, upward and onward.

I think if there's one thing everyone in the world can agree on, it's that cancer totally sucks, and this disease is the one absolute enemy we all have in common. Our fight against cancer IS a song. It's our magnum opus. It is one of the few things that brings the entire human race together in harmony, this battle against cancer. And that is something I want to be instrumental in.

I thought of this last Wednesday, 3 days before the Pottstown Relay For Life. As soon as I thought that thought, I made the decision to make a CD for this cause, and to use it to help raise some more money for this little town's Relay For Life.

This meant picking good songs (and more than that, the RIGHT songs), getting permission to use these songs, assembling each song perfectly into the tracklist so that each song hit it's stride at the right time for the listener, buying a large quantity of blank CD's and CD sleeves, burning the mix--one CD-R at a time--on my brother's laptop (because mine is incapacitated), and finally writing out the tracklisting on the CD sleeve with a purple pen for each and every copy.

I did all of this by Saturday morning, and please notice that sleep was not in that list, anywhere.

My mom even told me "It's a great idea, but just keep it for next year, you don't have the time to do this. You can't pull it off this quickly." (As you can see, I still listen to music, not parents.)

So I sat at The Mercury's promo table throughout the first half of Relay Saturday doing my job, mildly delirious from lack of sleep, but wildly abuzz for getting so inspired to do something for the first time in a while. I didn't have much time or materials to really get the word out about the mix, but I amazingly went through the initial pressing (25 copies) in about 5 hours. So instead of going home to take a mid-day nap as planned, I burned another 25 copies and returned by 9 pm to sell more throughout the rest of the night.

However, a threatening overhead storm shot the operation down. We were all huddled inside to the Pottsgrove High School cafeteria as thunder scraped the skies off in the distance. I didn't bring my CDs with; I left them at The Mercury table outside.

Instead I sat in the crowded cafeteria on top of an air conditioner, surrounded by a huddled community eating free pizza and chatting. At first, I was bummed, because I felt the success of my mix fading quick, not to mention this year's Relay For Life. It seemed like we were all going under. All that time and lightning speed hard work, only to be put in a cafeteria with pizza? And all my work and time only to raise a couple bucks for Relay? I could have cried.

Meanwhile, I was also missing out on sitting back and enjoying song vixens Liz Longley and Sarah Zimmerman who were supposed to be under the same tent as me belting out some lovely tunes, while I sold my tunes.

But unlike me, those two sparky ladies didn't even question giving up in that cafeteria. They came in, got on stage and played a song. They had one mic to work with, and sang their song the old classic way--singing into the mic from their own side while each playing their own guitar. But they couldn't bang out much volume on the stage, so most people kept talking over them, oblivious to their effort.

And that didn't stop them; they tried again. They came down to the cafeteria floor, moving to the center of the room, no mics at all, and proceeded to do a walking song. Sliding around the little moving space she had, Sarah funked a beat out of her wooden acoustic while Liz rang her pretty voice across the room. They looked so comfortable and so in the moment. They totally became their song.

I can promise you, small moments like that are the reason they got into music.

Still, some talked over them, but most couldn't help but be drawn in. Obviously, I was; and it retooled me. It reminded me of what we have to go through to get to where we want to go, to share what we want to share.

I'll have to talk to them about getting some of their tunes on whatever I do next that is along these lines.

I didn't sell any more mixes that night, and I went home and slept like an absolute baby. But that doesn't mean I'm not determined to sell this mix online. The Pottstown Relay For Life won't have their funding tally done until the end of summer, so we can still help, and I intend for this mix to be a part of that.

I can not sell more than 175 more of these compilations per one of the deals I struck with one of the bands on it, but I have permission to use other songs not on this mix, so I will sell what I can sell, and I will do it all myself and on my own buck (unless of course, someone WANTS to help).

With each "pressing" I do, the tracklist *may* change slightly. But the current pile I have to sell looks like this. Please support these artists, as well as The Relay For Life. I think I speak for all the artists involved here, that music is our life. And we'll defend other lives with it.

Remember, it's $5 for one mix and every single penny goes directly to the American Cancer Society. And don't be shy to buy a bunch to just give out to friends and family. It's a nice clean and varied mix. Just email me at c.march@hotmail.com and we'll work the rest out there.

Songs for Relay
1. The Fray - How To Save A Life (live acoustic session)
2. Cassino - New Jerusalem
3. My Morning Jacket - Bermuda Highway (unplugged version from Acoustic Citsuoca EP)
4. Radiohead - Reckoner
5. Young Galaxy - Swing Your Heartache
6. Nada Surf - Beautiful Beat
7. Slo Mo - How Do We Win The War?
8. John Mayer - The Heart of Life
9. Pete & J - Pennsylvania Sun
10. Thrice - Come All You Weary
11. Over It - Like Satellites

I dedicate this mix to Louise Egolf, the smile that kept me encouraged while working through the late nights on this mix.

**take note, I won't be posting on this blog for a week or so, as I want this to be the top attraction for a while.