'Better Days' - again By: Christine Rappleye, The Enterprise 03/02/2006
The rock band Goo Goo Dolls performs in Sabine Pass on Wednesday for a concert taped for the television show ‘Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.’ SABINE PASS - With a backdrop of mangled and beached shrimp boats at sunrise Wednesday, the Goo Goo Dolls sang "Better Days" to a crowd of cheering Sabine Pass residents being filmed by cameras and directed by producers on the fringes of the gathering.
One camera mounted on a long arm swung over the crowd and dropped down to get close-ups. The designers clapped on the front row of the audience.
"Thanks for letting us share your story," Ty Pennington, host of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," said after the last note had been played. "Don't give up."
And then everybody did it all over again.
"That's the miracle of television," said Johnny Rzeznik, the rock band's lead singer, after the first of four times they played the song. "They'll fix it in the edit."
Wednesday's early morning concert and a later shopping spree were courtesy of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which is in Sabine Pass this week to renovate the school's auditorium and fire station. The show has other projects planned in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida.
At the auditorium, most of the workers were involved in interior jobs, including installing seating, curtains and lights, said Adam Becker, president of Statewide Disaster Restoration, the project contractor. The work is on schedule for this afternoon's unveiling.
The outside had been repainted a dark ivory because designer Preston Sharp didn't like the maroon, Becker added.
At the fire station, the roof was finished, dirt was piled out front for the landscaping and the interior had been gutted, said Dale Trevino of the Trevino Group, that project's contractor.
While the workers in blue shirts swarmed the projects, the residents were treated to a concert, including "Better Days" and a half dozen other songs.
Kara Seymour, 24, of Sabine Pass heard her favorite song "Black Balloon," and was there at 6 a.m. when the Goo Goo Dolls were doing the sound check.
Afterward, Seymour; Hunter Plauche, 11; Marissa Berg, 9; and Marissa's mother, Scottie Berg, took pictures with Rzeznik, bass guitarist Robby Takac and drummer Mike Malini.
"It's pretty amazing to see the devastation," Rzeznik said of Hurricane Rita's handiwork after the concert. "The people here are so strong and amazing."
That was at about 7:30 a.m.
About five hours later, the Bergs were one of the 100 families who waited for about an hour to board school buses for a mysterious outing.
An awed Scottie Berg said Pennington dropped by their FEMA trailer Tuesday to ask them what they needed, filming the conversation.
"They (the show) wanted a splash of life in a FEMA trailer," she said. On Wednesday, she waited for her chance to see him again.
Pennington walked up to the buses as residents took pictures of him.
"Hello, citizens of Sabine Pass!" Pennington shouted through the megaphone during the noon shoot, as he burst off bus No. 6.
"We're taking a field trip, and hopefully it will help you a bit," he said. The residents in the shoot boarded the bus.
But then they got back off, and the bus backed up for a re-shoot.
The mysterious trip's destination turned out to be Sears at Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, and after the shoots and re-shoots of the residents getting off bus No. 7 and entering into the store, each family was given a $350 gift card.
Berg, who is the school's secretary, had mentally set aside $100 each for her, Marissa and her son, with $50 left over for the house.
Marissa had picked up some shirts and a DVD, and Scottie was contemplating getting a weed trimmer.
She wasn't the only one to pick something out from the lawn and garden section.
Cheryl and Carl Snider chose a lawn mower.
"The clovers are getting tall," Carl said of the lawn and the spot where their home stood before demolition.
Others eyed tools and garage door openers in that section.
Diane Heaselt and her husband, Daniel Hebert, 40, a crabber, were looking at pots, pans and tools. Kellie Brown, 38, picked out a deep freezer she'll put in the shed behind their trailer.
"Everything they have done is amazing," Brown said of the show.
Karen and Sam Garrison, who are retired, said they are planning to save their card so they can get a refrigerator, washer, dryer or other appliance when their gutted home is finished.
"Right now we don't have room," Karen said of the space in their trailer.
Margaret Gillette, 67, who is retired, had taken her search to lingerie.
"They said to get things that make us feel better," she said. "Nothing makes it better than silk pajamas."
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/ ... 2588&rfi=8 
