The Journal

Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Laila Wessel Lead singer Tom Butler (right) and bassist Nick Snyder of the band Centerpointe play as the second performance of the Break the Silence music festival Oct. 27 at the Thompson House Music Quad.

At first glance, music and measles appear to be unrelated. But the 300 attendees of Break the Silence, Webster University's first awareness music festival, know better.

The concert, held Oct. 27 to 28 and sponsored by the Department of Housing and Residential Life, brought together eight student bands and four organizations for a weekend of awareness-raising entertainment. While bands played on the stage of the Thompson House Music Quad, listeners were free to wander over to the stationed booths, staffed by members of Amnesty International, Colleges Against Cancer, the One Campaign and the Red Cross.

"The two bands I've heard are great. It's really nice to see them using their talents," said junior Mario Santander, a business administration major. "It's a creative way to bring people's attention to important issues in today's world."

The Red Cross booth featured pamphlets and posters about the Measles Initiative, a campaign to reduce measles-related deaths in Africa. The booth was run by senior international studies major Jon Selbert, who works with the International Services department of the St. Louis Red Cross.

"The biggest thing is visibility," he said. "As long as we can distribute a little bit of literature and people can see the Red Cross, we're spreading the word."

Colleges Against Cancer members also used the visibility approach, selling attention-grabbing T-shirts bearing the phrases "I Heart Boobies," "Save 2nd Base" and "Real Men Wear Pink." Although the booth had information about other types of cancers, breast cancer was the main focus.

"It happened to fall right in the middle of breast cancer awareness month, so I decided to pick that as the theme," said Colleges Against Cancer president Jennifer Mullikin, a senior film studies and early childhood education major.

Junior Heather Sweeney, a vocal performance major, decided to organize Break the Silence after her success with putting together a battle of the bands at the end of

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