Often, I was asked to perform at benefits. Usually, I gladly did so. One of those events is firmly etched into my memory. It was an anniversary for the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center.

Just as I was about to go onstage in front of hundreds of children and their parents, I heard an unusual loud thumping sound. As I searched for the location of the noise, I witnessed an astonishing spectacle. Before me, I beheld a tightly-packed battalion of black-robed Grim Reapers. They marched silently and slowly to the solemn throbbing of a solitary drummer boy.

They were protesting the animal testing program at the medical center. Some of them held poles aloft with stuffed kittens and puppies swinging from nooses. It was grim and disturbing. But there was no denying that it was powerful messaging.