Vedder rocks Slater Foundation Benefit in San Clemente
April 20th, 2008 · Post a Comment · posted by sprice
Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder performed a special 90-minute show in front of an exclusive group of celebrities, pro surfers and members of the surf industry Saturday at a Kelly Slater Foundation benefit in San Clemente.
A crowd of 700 gathered at a private home near the former Western White House to raise money for Surfrider’s Save Trestles campaign and MiOcean, among other charities. Slater was M.C. of the show that also featured a guest appearance by Ben Harper and rare musical appearance by Slater himself.
Actor/director Sean Penn and actresses Cameron Diaz and Laura Dern, and University of Hawaii quaterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy candidate Colt Brennan were in attendance. World tour star Taylor Knox, former WCT surfers Pat O’Connell, Peter Townend and Lisa Anderson, and recent XXL award winners Mike Parsons and Greg Long were also among the attendees. Teenage surfing phenom Courtney Conlogue helped serve up Nalu’s Island Grill.
Before the auction, Robert Shriver, brother-in-law to Gov. Schwarzenegger who was recently fired from the State Park and Recreation Commission along with Clint Eastwood for opposing the governor on the toll road issue, kept the audience thinking about the cause.
“We all thought ‘you must be kidding’” Shriver said of first hearing of the toll road plan. “They’re not kidding. This fight is not over.”
Vedder seized the evening to make political points and joke.
“Half the songs I ever wrote were written in the ocean, so this is my way to give back half the publishing,” he quiped. Later, after knocking off a edgy cover of Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” which he called an “activist song” he shouted “Take your (expletive) road and put it somewhere else!”
Noting the attendance of friend and fellow surfer Penn, for whom Vedder contributed songs to the film “Into the Wild,” he said “Sean was looking for a way to donate, so he’s set up a booth and for $500 he’ll punch you in the face,” Vedder joked. “Then he’ll sign the wound in neosporin.”
Although the total amount raised for the evening was not available, guests paid a minimum of $500 to attend the event and the pre-concert auction raised over $150,000. Of the nine items in the auction, the item that received the highest bid was the lunch and full round of golf with Slater and pro golfer Fred Couples for $46,000
Main Set: Throw Your Arms Around Me, I Am Mine, Betterman, Masters of War, Small Town, Chicago, Guarented, No Ceiling, Far Behind, Rise Up, Milworker, Soon Forget, Drifting, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Won't Back Down, Last Kiss, Porch
Encore: No More (w/ Ben Harper), Indifference (w/ Ben Harper and Kelly Slater), Hard Sun (w/ "anyone not old enough to drive")
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