Gibson Guitar and Celebrities Help Rock the Cure

by Rick Landers

The Los Angeles Hard Rock Cafe rolled out the pink carpet on May 3, 2005, for celebrities who attended the Rock the Cure auction sponsored by Gibson Guitar, Julien's Auctions and the Hard Rock Cafe to raise money for the Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research.

Gibson Guitar donated the Gibson SG Special guitars that were individually decorated, customized, engraved, or simply signed by a number of rock legends or celebrities, including Kiefer Sutherland, Edge, Joe Perry, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Beck, Billy Morrison, Melissa Etheridge, No Doubt, Richie Sambora, Brian Johnson, Mick Fleetwood, David Carradine, Ellen DeGeneres and a host of others.

One of the first celebrities to arrive was Beach Boys music genius Brian Wilson who clearly enjoyed strolling along the pink carpet casually stopping to talk to the press and to the fans that came to see some stars. A number of celebrity invitees walked the carpet on their way to help contribute to the Cure by bidding on the lineup of Gibson guitars standing at attention inside.

The "invitation only" event pulled in a crowd that filled the Cafe, including axe master John 5 who was arm-in-arm with Aria Giovanni. The elegant couple found their way to the guitars, with John checking out the SGs and later bantering with "Furious George" Lynch and friends.

The Hard Rock Cafe staff, many of whom were decked out in T-shirts, fishnet stockings and punk-streaked hair, easily navigated the room offering guests a steady stream of food and drink.

Then there were the guitars.

All arranged to highlight their recent extreme makeovers, each guitar was personalized by someone special - guitarists, celebrities, cancer survivors and other supporters.

A couple of industrial strength axes designed by Jeff Beck and Billy Morrison were parallel parked and suggested both guys know their way around arc welders and automotive tools. Beck craftily penned his name in steel on his SG, while Billy adorned his axe with a serpentine array of heavy metal and a branded back.

Hawaiian-born Bette Midler offered up her "Aloha" guitar that literally swayed with the music. She wrapped her guitar with a belt of synthetic flowers, a coconut shell halter top and a grass skirt. Bette signed the shells with, "A Great Big Aloha to You! From Bette Midler".

The first guitar on the block got the party started with paint slapped on its body, knobs, pickups and even the strings. It was worked on by Melissa Etheridge's long time partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels, and signed by Melissa with, "Speak True...Melissa Etheridge" below the bridge. Bidding for the guitar quickly accelerated and was won by none other than the Expedition Inspiration Auction Chair, Tea Leoni.

Guitars by Joan Jett, Tony Iommi, Carmen Electra, and Brian Johnson, steadily added to the coffers to support new cancer research at the Comprehensive Cancer Centers at the University of Southern California (Norris) and the University of Southern California (Jonsson).

In the true spirit of the auction, Mick Fleetwood plastered his Gibson with quarters and the words, "Give", "Feel Good" and "It's Only Money", and inscribed, "It's only money, Mick Fleetwood, God Bless", surrounded by dollar signs and smiley faces. Olympian Scott Hamilton skated away with this one smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Others followed in good form: No Doubt; Drake Bell; Soraya; Ben Stiller; Ellen Degeneres; Ty Pennington; and Rod Stewart.

Kiefer Sutherland's SG showed off his art skills with a weird outreaching hand floating over a blood-red guitar body. On the back, Sutherland flicked a splatter of blood-red over black.

Aerosmith's Joe Perry customized his SG with a macabre human skull and a pair of flapping wings. Later that night during the auction, just before a feeding frenzy could take hold, a winning bid of $15,000 rang out. Talk about pumping up the volume.

More celebrity guitars hit the auction block pushing the treasure chest for cancer research upward: Sheryl Crow/Lance Armstrong; Andre Agassi; Courtney Cox and David Arquette; David Carradine; Diane Warren; Tea Leoni and David Duchovny; Sheryl Crow; and, Richie Sambora.

Another special guitar was contributed by the late Kurt Cobain's mother and sister who joined forces to memorialize the Nirvana front man with an SG portraying him in early family photos.

A cool silver, pink and white Duran Duran guitar prompted bidding that quickly went "vertical" and was followed up with Rick Neilson's black and white checkerboard axe pulling in a generous final bid.

Up front was a dynamo of a bidder dressed in bleached and candy studded jeans and jacket. She danced, she pranced, and was completely stoked when her offer earned her the right to catch a wave home carrying Dick Dale's contribution for the Cure.

Earlier in the night, two bidders had set their sites on one guitar in particular: the one decorated by U2's Edge. Later, after the guitar was won with the highest bid of the evening, they met and discovered that each had coincidently decided on the same ceiling bid before the guitar hit the auction block.

However, during the heat of the auction, both quickly abandoned their "not to exceed" bids and went toe-to-toe for the Edge-designed faded SG. The night before the auction, Edge affixed nearly 100 coins from around the world on the guitar and inscribed it with "Edge. 05."

Bidding started at $2,000 and quickly soared above $5,000, then $8,000 when Chair Tea Leoni tried to motivate bidding by telling the crowd that Edge's guitar pick, that was being sold along with the guitar, was, by itself, worth $2,000.

The crowd screamed when bidding hit $15,000 and all eyes were riveted on bidder Gary Shandling and his bidding rival, a man in the back who kept nodding, ratcheting the bidding skyward.

At $17,000 the lady who won the Dick Dale guitar started yelling, "Do it, Do it, Do it!" leading the way for Gary to offer $18,000.

At $21,000 the hammer came down and the emcee congratulated Shandling on winning the Edge SG.

The last guitar to be auctioned, designed by singer Faith Hill, went quickly then rode off into the sunset with its new owner.

With the bidding over, the crowd mulled around until actor David Carradine and his group walked on stage and kicked into some rock 'n' roll, while the auction sponsors smiled with the knowledge that their hard work succeeded in raising over $122,000 to help the fight against cancer.

Related links

Gibson Guitar
Julien's Auctions
Hard Rock Cafe
Expedition Inspiration
Photographer Robert Knight

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