What do pro skaters do with the boards they skate and destroy? They recruit the help of friends like Elton John, Daft Punk, and The Clash, and they turn them into skateparks. Rad.
Press Release:
After launching the program last year and raising over $126,000 to benefit at-risk youth, legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and Grammy Award-winning musician Ben Harper have invited more of their friends in the skate and music worlds to join them for the second-annual Boards + Bands auction (www.BoardsAndBands.org), which launches December 5 on eBay. A member of the nonprofit Tony Hawk Foundation Board Of Directors, Harper conceived the idea to use pro skaters’ old decks to write song lyrics on and raise funds to build positive recreational outlets for at-risk youth.
The Boards + Bands fundraising initiative merges the worlds of skateboarding and music to benefit the work of the Tony Hawk Foundation. Hawk invited a select group of professional skateboarders to donate their personally ridden skateboards and submit the name of their favorite songs. Harper then sent those boards on to the appropriate artists with one simple message: “Please write the lyrics to this skater’ favorite song on his skateboard, and we’ll use it to create more skateparks for kids.”
The chosen recording artists have hand-written the lyrics on these one-of-a-kind skateboards. Included in this unprecedented auction are board collaborations by the following artists and skaters: Sir Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Chris Cole; Ben Harper and Christian Hosoi; Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash and Tony Hawk; Daft Punk and Aaron “Jaws” Homoki; John Lydon and Duane Peters; and more to be announced.
“Last Year’s Boards + Bands auction surpassed all expectations,” said Tony Hawk. “This year we have equal caliber of skaters and musicians contributing, so I am looking forward to seeing the excitement (and high bidding) they bring.”
These special collaboration skateboards will be available in a celebrity auction launching December 5 at 7 PM (PST) on eBay, and will be on display through the end of the auction at the GRAMMY Museum in downtown Los Angeles, California.
The GRAMMY Museum is located in the L.A. LIVE district at 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015. Museum hours, admission, and other information can be found at www.grammymuseum.org, or by calling (213) 765-6800.
Funds raised through this effort will benefit the Tony Hawk Foundation, which supports at-risk youth through the creation of public skateparks in low-income communities across the U.S. These skateparks are safe, sanctioned places for youth to come together, form communities, and practice the sport they love in a healthy environment. Since 2002, the Foundation has helped to fund 537 public skateparks in 50 states.
For more information about this unique auction, please visitwww.BoardsAndBands.org. Or contact Lily Schwimmer:lily@tonyhawkfoundation.org, (760) 477-2479.
