Music: Hanson finds hope

I know, you're saying in your mind, "Did she just say Hanson?" I did. No, I'm not going to talk about MMMBop or long hair. I'm going to talk about their first single, The Great Divide off of their fourth studio album, "The Walk." This song was recorded in Africa with a children's choir.

The three brothers were inspired to go to Africa when a group of their friends from Tulsa, Oklahoma, donated technology to a hospital, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa.

After visiting the place and seeing the desolate terrain and conditions of the people who live there, they were ever more inspired. In the recording of "The Great Divide," they didn't give the choir much direction. They only told them places to sing "ooh's" or "ah's." Later, they asked the choir director what the kids were singing, and she said, "I find hope."

And that was all they needed to hear. Impressed with the very notion of these kids singing about hope in terrible conditions with poverty and AIDS, they wanted to make a difference, so they decided to put their first single on iTunes to download.

All the proceeds are going to benefit the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, prenatal unit and AIDS awareness.

For those wanting to do more, Hanson designed a t-shirt shown here, for people to buy, contributing to the charity. If you want to know more about what you can do, go to HIVSA.com or to Hanson.net.

On a sad note to anyone hoping to marry one of the brothers, they are all married, and Taylor even has three kids.

On the music front, the now indie brothers have their album "The Walk" coming out on March 5 in the UK. It is not known at this time when it will be released in the US.

Hopefully, they'll tour in the Spring and Summer of 2007. In late November, they released a track for the "Van Wilder 2" soundtrack, called "The Ugly Truth." It is a personal favorite of mine, the big Hanson fan that I am.

If you want to watch Hanson on TV, they will be on "Deal or No Deal" on NBC on the Jan. 24.

More information on the new album will be added as it becomes available. In the meantime, "find hope.