Board Aid III: A Chance to Give Some Back

Tony Hawk, vert's granddaddy of all time and space, ruling the Boardaid half pipe. (Photo: Dork Boy)

Don't get me wrong. I think young people should have easy access to condoms and all the information they want when it comes to sex, but I don't think I'm alone in admitting that I've attended Warp Magazine's Board Aid event for the past three years because, well. . . it's a dope So. Cali scene, bro. Plus, we all just wanna rub shoulders with MTV's Kennedy, Seal, supermodel Veronica Webb, Jeff Brushie, Nicole Anglerath, or Billy from Biohazard. Right? Sure, but there's more to it.

The point of Board Aid is to raise money that will help organizations that educate young people to the dangers of AIDS. The event was the brainchild of Fran Richards, associate publisher of TransWorld Publications. "I felt the magazine and our sports had never done anything to give back to our world," Richards says. "It was an opportunity to prove to the world that snowboarders and skateboarders care about what's going on."

The money raised at Board Aid is donated to LifeBeat, the music industry's AIDS organization. "The money goes entirely towards educating young people," Richards says. "None of our money goes toward AIDS research. There are other people raising money for that."

Early on, the music line-up for Board Aid III looked out of control. Rumors were that Green Day would play. That fell through and then The Foo Fighter whispers began spreading. Apparently the band had been on tour for too long and Dave Grohl just wanted to get home. No worries. Come V-Day the line up included Bad Religion, Unwritten Law, Sublime and Seven Year Bitch. Not exactly stellar as far as global teen fascination go, but a good bill none the less.

Board Aid was a three-ring circus which enveloped most of Bear Mountain's base lodge. The stage on the main deck acted as anchor. To the east of the stage where a couple dozen sell-shit booths operated by people hoping to staple their products onto the Board Aid zeitgeist. Companies like Board Aid III's top sponsor Airwalk, as well as Bonfire, Spin magazine, Jib 686, "indie" record companies like Grand Royale (what would a snowboard event be without The Beastie Boys, Inc.) and anyone else who was interested in the skate/snow/sound demographic. The expo area had a touch of that "money changers in the temple" groove, but it was all for a good cause, right?

Out west, the vert ramp was sessioned all morning by skate superstars Adil Diyani, Remi Stratton, Tony Hawk, Christian Hosoi, Danny Way, and a host of masonite shredders. Snowboarders split their time between the Outlaw Snowboard park, the Boardercross course, and the Bear Mountain U-jump.

A crowd of 4,000, including an extra helping of skin-tight belly shirts, navel piercings, dyed hair, and tattoos, spent the day wandering between venues following the action. Two contests of sorts went off during lulls in the music sets: a big air contest on the vert ramp and a team BoarderCross competition. Adil Diyani won the big air contests and Shaun Palmer's team ruled the BoarderCross event.

On the main stage, Seven Year Bitch rocked the first set. With a 10 o'clock start time, it was the earliest the band has ever played. At first they looked a bit like vampires at dawn, but quickly dropped into some solid songs. I only caught parts of Sublime and Unwritten Law because my girlfriend and I made a couple runs in Bear's spring slush. It was about 60 degrees and the snow was barely hanging on so we had to hurry.

The highlight of the day for nearly everyone was the Bad Religion set. They're old, straight-up guys who reminded the young crowd that roots punk rock still kicks ass. Their set mixed old standards plus several songs off their new album, "The Gray Race."

The event itself was a huge success. "We don't have the exact total yet, but it looks like we raised about $160,000 for LifeBeat," says Mark Sperling, Board Aid's event director. "That's more than twice as much as we raised last year."

Live Boardaid Action, we were there, check it out

Next year plans are underway for an East Coast event as well. But who knows. For more information check out the Board Aid website at HTTP://www.boardaid.com/ or send e-mail to [email protected].