Board AID 4: Good Fun For The Whole Family
by Shanti Sosienski
(March 16, 1997)

Every year Warp magazine with the help of Lifebeat, an AIDS awareness organization that puts on benefit concerts, throws one of the biggest snowboard/concert events of the year called Board AID. Of course it's our job to cover things like this, so once again I packed my bags, visited the all too familiar Seatac airport, and made my way to Bear Mountain in sunny So Cal.

This is BoardAid IV. Photo: Palmer.

Unlike past years where the event was just a quick affair, this year it was a two day affair (March 14-15) but unfortunately I couldn't make it for the first day. Apparently I didn't miss too much other than a night of drinking on Friday after the event, which had a number of people moaning about headaches on Saturday morning.

Friday at Board AID basically went like this: some bands played, there was a halfpipe and big air demo, and some skaters rolled back and forth on the vert ramp pulling some cool tricks.

Today, Saturday, was a repeat of yesterday but with more bodies in attendance and a better musical line-up. It was a no-jacket-required day from the beginning as the temperature soared to at least the mid-80s before noon. The festivities began at nine with an invitational halfpipe demo. A lot of the Utah crew seemed to be lurking in the slushy pipe. Noah Brandon with his newly dyed, bright green hair, the brother and sister team Mikey and Tina Basich, Joyride's Bobby Meeks, Blue Montgomery of Yang and D23, Travis Wood, part-time Utah'ers Shannon Dunn and Dave Downing, and a few more guys who I've seen at Brighton, but can't remember their names (there's a hell of a lot of pros out there so give me a break if I can't remember everyone).

On the Euro front the high jump king himself Ingemar Backman was seen watching the event, but apparently an ankle injury is holding him close to the ground these days. Satu Jarvella and Sebu Kuhlburg were in the pipe, and Jennie Waara (riding a nice new Ride board) and Nicola Thost from Nitro were ruling it in the pipe. During the slopestyle contest after watching Jennie ride down the course, ruling the final jump with a clean backside 360, I heard a judge say, "Was that a girl?" Yes sir it was, and her name is Jennie Waara.

Nicola Thost is back in the pipe after a nasty slam in Tahoe during the World Championship that left her with a gash just below her left eye. She was pulling some of the cleanest and highest 540s I've ever seen a girl do, and people were buzzing about it all around me as I sat at the top of the pipe listening to the announcers calling the shots.

While the halfpipe was going on Blink 182, a three piece ska-thrash band from San Diego jumped around on the stage and even got the small crowd slam dancing a little until the beefy security guards quieted the bumping boys.

Then at noon the slopestyle demo kicked in. The course was a series of four hits and a final table top, which seemed to be the place for people to shine or slam really hard. There was a few good wreckages. Damian Sanders took one run pulling a front flip off the first hit, landing badly on his ankle, then riding out of the course and calling it quits. Todd Schlosser was also among the casualties, giving himself a lovely raspberry on the chin and knocking his head pretty good.

After the slopestyle, a nine piece ska band from L.A. called Hep Cats, complete with horns, bellowed out some of the best tunes of the day. They were a perfect afternoon band to watch while eating lunch and it was hard to stay still in my seat as they funked out a couple of sets. The afternoon continued to heat up and a skate demo took place, as well as another halfpipe demo. More pros seemed to crawl out of the woodwork for the afternoon session in the pipe.

Then at three, the seemingly empty Bear Mountain Resort came alive with people. I'm not sure where they all came from, but why they were there was obvious--no, not entirely AIDS awareness--A Tribe Called Quest. Unfortunately a rocking band is what it takes to get young people to show up for an AIDS benefit, but that's okay because it gives snowboarders and industry folk a chance to take a quick break from the business of snowboarding and have some fun sliding and funking in the sun. A Tribe Called Quest pumped out the tunes for a good hour to a packed audience. Hands were waving, the crowd cheered and sang along, people danced. It was a good affair.

At this point we don't know how many people turned up for the event because we are one step ahead of the Bear Mountain technology. Those results will come tomorrow and we want to get this story to you today, but all I can say from having been there is that it was mellower than last year (perhaps being spread out over two days had something to do with this) and once again Board AID did its job in spreading the word about AIDS while showing us all a good time.

More Photos: Seth Neary/Nicola Thost | Tina Basich/Blink182 | Sal Masekala | D. David Downing/Noah Brandon | Main Stage