Roses to John Santa, a local bluegrass musician and author who has figured out how to turn his passion for playing music into a way to generate money for a good cause.

For the past six years Santa, the gregarious author of "Bluegrass is My Second Language: A Year in the Life of An Accidental Bluegrass Musician," has organized a Marathon Jam to raise money for good causes.

It works just like one of those fundraising runs in which participants gather pledges of such-and-such amount per mile. In this case, Santa and his musician buddies gather pledges of such-and-such amount per hour of music played -- and then, on Jam day, they play for 12 hours straight. Spectators are invited, of course, and encouraged to toss a few bucks in the bucket as well.

This year, Santa and company played from noon to midnight on Jan. 31 at Chapel Hill's American Legion Post 6 building. At the same time, satellite Marathon Jams were going on in half a dozen other states and in Iraq, where Lt. Col. Greg Rawlings, a bluegrass musician and friend of Santa's, organized a group of musically talented soldiers who call themselves the Baghdad Bad Boys.

By all accounts, the day was a success. The tally was at about $8,500 and counting early last week, with more coming in. All proceeds going to Fisher House, which is like a Ronald McDonald House for the military; it provides free or nearly free room and board for the families of veterans being treated in VA or military hospitals.

Jam on, John.

Roses to Elinor Benami, a junior at UNC who has been named the first Eve Marie Carson Scholar at the school.

Benami was chosen from a pool of 138 qualified applicants for the scholarship, which will fund a summer program and financial aid for her senior year.

The scholarship, of course, is named for Eve Carson, the dynamic UNC student body president who was shot and killed in Chapel Hill last March. A student-organized group established and organized the scholarship to help realize one of Carson's goals, a merit-based scholarship for juniors.

Benami is deeply involved in environmental issues. We're fortunate to have her and other young scholars like her passionate about that critical concern.

Roses to Anoop Desai, a graduate of East Chapel Hill High School whose name has become known far and wide recently thanks to his shining performances on the highest-profile stage in the nation.

We're talking, of course, about "American Idol."

Desai nailed his audition in Kansas City, then delivered the goods again in his first round in Hollywood. As of this writing, he's still in the running; by the end of this week we'll know whether he's among the 36 performers who will advance.

At East Chapel Hill and UNC, Desai's vocal talents have long been well known. At East, he performed in musical productions including "Oliver!" and "The Wiz," and he founded a student a capella group called the Chiefs of Staff, and at UNC he was a member (and president, in his senior year) of the Clef Hangers.

On "Idol," he has adopted a nickname, "Noop Dogg," and has generated a lot of buzz; AOL and Rolling Stone both tabbed him as among the top performers in this year's crowd.

Whether you're a hardcore devotee of the show or consider it evidence of the decline of Western civilization, you have to be proud of Desai. Go, Noop!