It was most of our first times to the Hamptons, including Tony. We were all pretty excited, probably because it’s one of those places that we know we can’t afford to visit on our own. It’s a town known for its award winning beach and wealthy inhabitants. Well, like most towns we do shows in, there wasn’t a whole lot of sight seeing to be done, it was business as usual. This was a special show, a fundraiser for a skatepark by the Manhattan Bridge. The Tony Hawk Foundation recently helped build a skatepark in Compton, California and being that it was a success they decided to do the same for the east coast which doesn’t have nearly as many places for skaters as we do on the west. Tony’s also been involved with the designing of many parks, he says that kids need more places like that to skate. Skateparks that he’s been involved in building have been very successful, being crowded from sun up to sun down. In cities where kids have both, skateparks are being used more than baseball diamonds. It’s a healthy environment, and gives skaters and bmx riders a chance to hone their skills where safety comes first.
So we had an auction. They auctioned off everything from a Tony Hawk customized Jeep to vacations to trips on private jets to Kevin Robinson’s bike! My favorite was a last minute entry – Graham Gustin auctioned off moto lessons complete with a mini bike! That’s like buying a car and having Kyle Busch going to your house to teach you how to drive it. It was a lot of fun, Russell Simmons even bid on some items including a guitar signed by Jon Bon Jovi, who was also in attendance. There was also a silent auction for other cool memorabilia, VIP passes to shows, and skate stuff. Speaking of VIP’s, the benefit was open for an extra hour for special guests to meet the athletes and groove to some tunes by me. The food was DELICIOUS, a lot of bite sized flavor explosions. The amount of swag (stuff we all get) was overwhelming! Everyone left with a duffle bag or two full of shirts, wallets, hats, and toys. I scored a special watch and a sweet new wallet from Nixon. Overall it was a great event, I’m not sure how much money was actually raised because I was busy playing the music and cueing up the videos for the items but I heard Kevin’s bike that he used in the demo sold for about $4000. The demo went really well, it was the first time they’d ever done the full Huck Jam at a benefit and everyone did their thing. It’s been a while since I’ve done a benefit show and to be honest I forgot how good it felt to do it. Much props to the Tony Hawk Foundation.