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Shannon
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Goo Goo Dolls lose friend/article
« on: Dec 10th, 2006, 9:48am » |
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Goo Goo Dolls lose friend
By John Benson
[email protected]
Life became real for Buffalo-based rock band The Goo Goo Dolls recently when its band members lost their friend Rebecca Reichert.
The 24-year-old Mentor High School and Ball State University graduate, who taught music for the Solon Public Schools and at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Eastlake, lost her battle with cancer this past October. She had befriended the alt rock band through her lifelong best friend Krista Galante, who dates Goo Goo Dolls’ drummer Mike Malinin.
Naturally, the entire experience has touched the rock star’s life.
“It always does,” said Malinin, calling from Syracuse, N.Y. “I immediately got pretty angry about the whole thing. It’s always tough on family and friends where you sort of know what’s happening for two years and me being a pessimist from the beginning, I didn’t really have the highest hopes. I just tried to keep my mouth shut about it. It’s always strange. How do you deal with it? Some people deal with it with their religious views. Some people deal with it however. I just kind of accepted it for what it was.”
For many, one therapeutic outlet is that of music. In fact, it’s not a stretch to think the Goo Goo Dolls’ melancholy-yet-hopeful style on such hits as “Name,” “Iris,” “Slide” and “Black Balloon” provides solace to plenty of fans.
“We tend to definitely go that way,” Malinin said. “If there’s a point to the new album (“Let Love In”) it was to be a little bit hopeful because everything is so bleak these days, especially in music. There is so much music out there that talks about how everything sucks so bad.”
He added, “Yeah, we all know that but I think we do tend to reach a point where it’s actually hopeful, which is weird. If you knew us all personally, it’s kind of funny because we tend to be pretty dark, pessimistic guys as well, but in our music we try to keep a little bit of hope going.”
It’s that little bit of hope that the band members felt was coming to fruition the last time they saw Reichert this past summer backstage at the Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows show at the Plain Dealer Pavilion. She appeared to have won her three-year struggle with the disease, with doctors telling her she was in remission.
Weeks later, however, it was discovered the cancer had aggressively returned.
Prior to her passing, Reichert’s passion was to create a Ball State University music education scholarship for seniors who were following in her path of music education.
“She felt like it would be a great legacy,” said Rebecca’s father, Kurt, who is an art teacher at Memorial Junior High School in Mentor. “At the time she started working on this, she thought she was going to beat it. And as things started to taper and her health declined, she was even more determined that we were going to make this a big deal.”
So far, thousands of dollars have been raised, with the lion’s share coming from a dinner and Chinese auction held by the Mentor City School District a few weeks ago.
However, as word spread about Rebecca’s wishes, more people have gotten involved, including some old friends.
“We get asked to do so many benefits but when we found out she was trying to raise money for a scholarship, (Goo Goo Dolls members) Johnny Rzeznik and Robby Takac approached me and said, ‘If you put together a show, we’ll happily play it to raise money.’”
Kurt said, “We were absolutely blown away when Mike and Krista stopped at the house and said the band wanted to do this. We knew that was going to put us over the edge.”
Originally, Malinin said the Dec. 6 Rebecca Reichert Scholarship Benefit was planned for Memorial Junior High School; however, it was determined more money could be raised if the show was held at the House of Blues, which is donating all proceeds to the case.
“It’s just been a humbling experience for us, all of this outpouring of love and support,” Kurt said. “It’s amazing that even after her death, she’s paying it forward. The ripple effect just keeps going and going. It definitely has helped with the grief process, for sure.”
Donations can be sent to the Reichert Scholarship Fund at Ball State University, c/o Dr. & Dr. Inks, 7008 W. Augusta Blvd., Yorktown, IN, 47396.
http://www.funcoast.com/index/12330/
**This brought such a tear to my eye. What a touching and sad story.**
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The Cerulean O
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Goddamn it, I hate side quests.
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Re: Goo Goo Dolls lose friend/article
« Reply #1 on: Dec 10th, 2006, 10:31am » |
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They always make me smile with what they do for people.
You just wanna hug 'em to death because they're so nice.
Also, Mike said things!!! How often does that happen?
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Nicole
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Re: Goo Goo Dolls lose friend/article
« Reply #2 on: Dec 10th, 2006, 3:02pm » |
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It's wonderful what they are doing. Thanks for the article.
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laurengoo
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a.k.a y2goo_4ever
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Re: Goo Goo Dolls lose friend/article
« Reply #3 on: Dec 10th, 2006, 4:25pm » |
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Awww, my sympathies for Mike and his girlfriend, and the goos. But that's good what they are doing for her charity.
 Especially around the holidays.
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