August 9, 2007

Singing for a cure

The Pizookies donate proceeds to American Cancer Society

By Jeanne Carbone Lewis
Staff Writer

There are lots of bands in today’s music world, but there is one local all-girl ensemble is quite remarkable. It’s called The Pizookies and all profits are donated for cancer research.

The Pizookies: Andrea Wang, Mansi Shah, Molly Newman, Vyvy Trinh, Laura Holford and Audrey Kwong, are committed to a cause. The money they collect from their gigs all goes to help cure cancer. Photos courtesy of the Pizookies

When VyVy Trinh wrote a couple songs last September, she shared them with Harker Academy classmates Audrey Kwong, Andrea Wang, Molly Newman, Mansi Shah and Laura Holford. All the teens are musicians. They decided to collaborate with the songs and perform. Each already had been touched by cancer: a teacher had died and another battled the disease. A young friend has leukemia and The Pizookies wrote a song especially for her, “Ashley’s Lullaby.”

“It had a huge impact on us,” said Almaden resident and Pizookie member Laura Holford. “We’ve seen how music touches lives, and decided to donate proceeds from our group to the American Cancer Society.”

Holford and Kwong hail from Almaden. The rest of the band lives in the South Bay as well--Saratoga, Fremont, Blossom Valley, Campbell and Cupertino. The girls offer a plethora of musical talent as well. Newman plays guitar, bass, glockenspiel and sings; Wang is at keys, glockenspiel and also sings; Shah plays alto saxophone; Kwong plays violin and sings; Trinh plays guitar, keys, glockenspiel and sings; and Holford does percussion.

The girls are activists. At Harker, they are members of the World Awareness Committee. From the first meeting in a garage when they composed their first song “For Ludo with Love and Squalor,” The Pizookies were inspired to make a difference. They dedicated themselves to songwriting and practicing and then performed at the school’s Battle of the Bands and World Hunger Day, Darfur benefit concerts and Leland High School’s Invisible Issues Club raising money for Zambian AIDS orphans. The Pizookies also played at the Almaden Community Center, Saratoga High School and Frescaroma Café gaining more experience and fans.

But The Pizookies aren’t done yet. They’re releasing a self-titled debut CD with their unique sound of pop rock with folk inspiration. The music offers a number of titles such as “Stand Up,” “To be Loved” and “I’m in Love with the World” as well as others. The debut album release party “Love at First Bite” is scheduled for the Venue in Los Gatos on Aug. 10.

The self-titled first CD of the Pizookies is available at their performances and at the band’s Web site. From left are Andrea Wang, Vyvy Trinh, Molly Newman, Laura Holford, Mansi Shah and Audrey Kwong.

The Pizookies also will perform at the American Cancer Society Relay For Life in Menlo Park and walk as a team on Aug. 11. They have set a fund-raising goal of $5,000 and are more than half way there. Their Web site sells the CD, men’s and women’s shirts, tote bags and collectable Pizookie buttons. On Aug. 15 they are scheduled to perform at San Francisco’s Bazaar Café.

Come fall, all the Pizookies will leave for college except Holford, who will finish her senior year at Harker. But they have future plans for their all-girl band. They plan to meet at winter break and collaborate on future songs and performances.

“Everyone always asks us about our name,” said Holford. “We’d go to BJ’s after gigs and have their dessert, the Pizookie. It’s a chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on top. It’s warm and gooey and oozing with goodness.”

Much like the all-girl band, The Pizookies

For more information on The Pizookies and Relay for Life, visit www.thepizookies.com.