Look To The Stars News: Green Day

Bono's Fishy T-Shirt Benefits African Farmers

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:41:01 -0000

Bono has designed a new T-shirt for charity, joining a host of other celebrities in an on-going and major charity campaign.

The 47-year-old singer from U2 is the 25th artist to design a shirt for Hard Rock Café’s Signature Series clothing line, an initiative started in 1990 as a way for musicians to raise money for charities of their choice. Sales from the shirts have raised over $6 million for a variety of causes.

Bono’s creation, available for $26 from the Hard Rock website, features his stylized drawing of a fish soaring past the moon, and is adorned with the words “Fish Can Fly”, as well as his signature. 15% of the proceeds will go to the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Conservation Cotton initiative – a scheme designed to lift African farmers out of poverty by providing education on proper land management, organic cotton growing techniques, and wildlife conservation. The shirts will also support the trade for aid ethos of EDUN, the conscious consumerism fashion label founded by Bono and his wife in 2005, by being made from 100% African cotton and manufactured by African garment workers.

Other artists to have designed shirts for the initiative in the past include Green Day, who raised money for Amnesty International’s Campaign To Save Darfur, Shakira who chose to benefit Pies Descalzos, Ozzy Osbourne for the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program, Bruce Springsteen for World Hunger Year, Eric Clapton for the Crossroads Centre, Peter Gabriel for Witness, Sting and Elton John for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Michael Stipe for Artists for a New South Africa, Don Henley for the Walden Woods Project, John Mellencamp for the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, and Stevie Nicks for the Special Olympics. Carlos Santana and Aerosmith have also contributed designs. Many of these shirts are still available from the Hard Rock website.

Bono’s “Fish Can Fly” is more than just a phrase – it is a message that tomorrow can be better than today.

Bid Now For Christmas Gifts

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:21:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

The countdown to Christmas has begun, and celebrities are doing their best to make holiday shopping easy this year. Several charity auctions have already kicked off to raise money for good causes, including one that may be eBay’s largest sale of celebrity items… ever!

The Bid 2 Beat AIDS online auction will open on December 1, World AIDS Day, and will feature over 1000 specially signed items, ranging from posters to iPods. The annual auction will raise money for LIFEbeat, the music industry’s AIDS fundraising and service charity, and in the past has raised up to $175,000.

The array of memorabilia up for sale this year is simply colossal, with perhaps the most interesting items being a series of “Lend a Hand to LIFEbeat” cards that feature the handprints of over 100 celebrities. Stars such as Britney Spears, Jack Black, and Kathy Griffin traced around the outlines of their hands and decorated their artworks for the auction, and the finished products will make a unique addition to any Christmas stocking.

Also included in the auction is a selection of signed musical instruments. Rapper 50 Cent has donated the tambourines he used during his performance at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, and Metallica and the Foo Fighters have both donated guitars. There are also over 200 official RIAA gold and platinum record awards up for sale, from artists such as Annie Lennox, Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Green Day. Rare tour crew jackets from Guns N Roses, Cher, George Michael, and Prince are also available.

There are a stack of autographed CDs and DVDs on offer in the auction, from Mariah Carey, Elton John, Rihanna, Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, Amy Winehouse, and Val Kilmer, as well as books signed by Madonna, Bill Clinton, Rosie O’Donnell, Martha Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Ethan Hawke. Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Elijah Wood, and Usher have all signed posters for the auction.

For those people after something a little different, the auction also includes an iPod designed by Yoko Ono, a box of cereal signed by Will Ferrell, Borat’s hat signed by Sacha Baron Cohen, and a Spiderman action figure autographed by Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

And if nothing mentioned so far whets your appetite, there are also signed items from Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Nelly, Joan Collins, John Travolta, Kanye West, The Cure, Jay-Z, Cameron Diaz, Victoria Beckham, Robin Williams, Hilary Duff, Jason Alexander, Jack Nicholson, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adam Sandler, John Legend, Jessica Simpson, Whoopi Goldberg, Aerosmith, Denzel Washington, Good Charlotte, James Blunt, Jeremy Piven, Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Norah Jones, Razorlight, Wyclef Jean, and many more… far too many to list here.

More information and a full list of items can be found at www.bid2beataids.com.

As if this wasn’t enough choice for Christmas shoppers, there are also several other auctions and events on the go at the moment. The biggest of these is the 10th Annual Collaborating For A Cure Benefit Dinner and Auction, a massive black tie gala to be held on November 29. It also happens to be one of the highest grossing charity events held every year in New York, and last year raised over $4 million for the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that has provided over $55 million in grants to cancer research, and has been instrumental in the development of new cancer drugs.

The gala dinner and live auction will be held at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue, New York City, and over 1200 guests are expected to attend. The host for the evening is Chevy Chase, and attendees will be treated to a very special performance by Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh, members of 70’s rock group, the Eagles.

Selected items up for auction on the night as well as online include dinner with Chevy Chase, the chance to play tennis with Andre Agassi, and a meet and greet with Aerosmith.

More information can be found at www.charitybuzz.com.

Also on the Charitybuzz website is an auction to raise funding for Stand Up For A Cure, an organization dedicated to lung cancer research and awareness.

The auction runs from November 28 until December 12, and features unique items such as the chance to have Andrea Bocelli perform in your own home, the opportunity to have Patti LaBelle host your cocktail party, and VIP tickets to see Céline Dion at Madison Square Gardens.

And if you still can’t find a suitable gift, have a look at the Have A Heart Auction on Charitybuzz. All proceeds from the auction, which features the chance to meet Avril Lavigne, a copy of “An Inconvenient Truth” signed by Al Gore, and a “Godfather II” DVD signed by Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, will benefit HEART, an organization that aims to foster compassion and respect for all living beings.

But you have to be in quick, as the auction ends on November 29.

Stars Line Up For Wildfire Auction

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:19:45 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

An exciting new auction, featuring memorabilia from rock bands young and old, has been launched on eBay to raise funds and awareness for victims of the recent Californian wildfires.

Rockers Linkin Park, and their charitable foundation Music for Relief, have teamed up with the non-profit organization Unite The United to stage the auction, which runs on eBay Giving Works until November 15. Proceeds from the auction are to be donated to the California Community Foundation’s Southern California Relief Fund, which is working hard in the aftermath of the wildfires to support victims and firefighters. A portion of the money raised will also go to American Forests, an organization that will help with the reforestation of 800 square miles of greenery destroyed in the fires that raged for over two weeks from Santa Barbara County to the Mexican border.

Over 60 items, including signed instruments and concert tickets, are up for sale in the auction, which follows an earlier donation of $50,000 made by Linkin Park to wildfire victims. This was followed by a donation from classic rockers the Eagles, also of $50,000, made to the firefighters involved in stopping the fires, and $160,000 donated to the cause by Gwen Stefani.

Some of the items in the auction have already raised bids of $1000, including an Xbox 360 game console featuring artwork and signatures from Linkin Park. The Eagles have donated signed CDs, as have stadium favorites Chicago. Aerosmith has donated a drum kit signed by singer Steven Tyler, and other merchandise from artists as diverse as Madonna, Tori Amos, Green Day, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Rob Zombie, and Less Than Jake is available to the highest bidder.

Linkin Park, known for their nu metal albums Hybrid Theory and Meteora, founded Music For Relief in 2005 to provide aid to victims of natural disasters, and have in the past donated over $2 million to causes such as Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in South East Asia. Singer Chester Bennington decided to join together with the Unite The United Foundation, whose mission is to encourage music fans, artists, and industry leaders to work towards positive changes in the community, after being moved by images of the wildfires that left 90 people injured, 12 dead, and destroyed over 2000 homes and buildings. Over 900,000 people were evacuated during the fires, and the band hopes the proceeds from the auction will be used to aid the victims in their intermediate and long-term recovery, especially in terms of the provision of affordable housing.

The auction can be viewed at www.ebay.com/cawildfires.

Bono Awarded For AIDS Work

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:32:08 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Bono has received an award at an AIDS charity event in New York.

The U2 frontman was honored for his humanitarian work at The Black Ball, a ceremony held at the Hammerstein Ballroom on October 25 to raise money for the Keep A Child Alive foundation, a non-profit organization that provides treatment to AIDS victims in Africa.

The sparkling evening of cocktails, dinner, and rare musical performances was organized and co-hosted by Alicia Keys, a Global Ambassador for the foundation, who described Bono as “an amazing man [who] works tirelessly at really having a cause and fighting for it. He is an inspiration and single-handedly made it cool to have something to speak about.”

“Rock stars always want to do two things,” said Bono, who was honored to accept the award but insisted he would rather be giving out the accolades. “They want to have fun and change the world. If you can do both at the same time, you’re OK.”

The event, which featured performances by Gwen Stefani and Sheryl Crow, as well as by Bono and Keys, attracted a host of celebrities who are both known for their support of the foundation and who wanted to show their respect for Bono’s work. David Bowie, Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Petra Nemcova, and members of Green Day were all spotted during the evening.

“This is an awesome opportunity to step up out of compassion and try to do the smallest of things,” said Crow, a few minutes before performing a duet with Keys. “Just to play some music and raise some money. I’m really proud of Alicia for doing it, and obviously I’m a huge fan of Bono and all the work he’s done.”

“I love Bono,” added Keys, who teamed up with the Irish singer in 2005 to record a version of Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up” for Keep A Child Alive. “I really respect what he has done for Africa, and how he has used his fame to do good in the world. I hope I can do half as much in my life. Keep A Child Alive is my passion and heartfelt mission. I believe AIDS is the most important issue we face, because how we treat the poor is a reflection of who we are as people. I urge everyone to recognize the extreme disaster Africa is facing.”

Africa currently has 12 million AIDS orphans, and less than 5% of the population has access to life-saving anti-retroviral treatment. It is estimated that there are 40 million people infected with the disease, 3 million of them children, with 700,000 more children becoming infected every year. Through its fundraising, Keep A Child Alive has funded several AIDS clinics in Africa, saving lives in Kenya, Durban, Johannesburg, Kigali, Rwanda, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Uganda. They also provide funds for the Agape Orphanage and the Go Go Grannies in South Africa. Keep A Child Alive is a partner of the ONE Campaign, which aims to help Americans to work against the worldwide emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty.

“I am a Global Ambassador for Keep A Child Alive,” said Iman, who co-hosted the Black Ball with Keys. “So it is something I have been doing for quite a while. I am from Africa, and there are a lot of orphan children in Africa whose parents have died from AIDS, and also there are a lot of kids infected with HIV. So we want to provide the drugs that are available in the West, and to make them affordable for poor countries as well, especially the continent of Africa.”

More information on Keep A Child Alive, whose Global Ambassadors also include Liv Tyler and Jessica Alba, can be found at www.keepachildalive.org.

Stars Design Plates For Charity

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:51:22 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

For those who want to have dinner with the stars, this could be the next best thing. A selection of dinner plates designed by celebrities are for sale, with proceeds going to charity.

The plates feature designs by David Bowie, George Clooney, Giorgio Armani, Coldplay, Minnie Driver, and Sir Michael Caine, and are part of a fundraising initiative from 21st Century Leaders, a non-profit organization that plans to raise $3 million over three years through its “Whatever It Takes” celebrity-designed merchandise. So far, the organization has raised almost $1.5 million to fund “charitable projects in developing countries, and contribute to the protection of the environment and other causes”.

21st Century Leaders was founded by Charlotte di Vita, MBE, a goodwill ambassador for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. The 39 year old founded her first charity, Trade plus Aid, in 1992, which has raised over $5 million and helped communities in 21 developing countries to become self-supporting. A desire to do more led di Vita to start Whatever It Takes, a unique charity art project where celebrities donate their own artwork, which is then transferred onto “merchandise with a meaning”.

“It’s 15 minutes of their time to do an artwork,” said di Vita. “And it’s not just for a one-off sale or auction – I can use it to create employment and royalties that will help the charities for years to come.”

Proceeds from the products are distributed to a charity of the designer’s choice, and the dinner plates (which retail for $20) will benefit Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE International, UNHCR, and Anti-Slavery International. Other products available include mugs featuring the designs of Claudia Schiffer, Ewan McGregor, and Nicole Kidman (also retailing for $20), T-shirts designed by the Kaiser Chiefs ($80), shoes designed by Ozzy Osbourne ($80), and wristbands by Joss Stone, Green Day, and Paul McCartney ($6).

All merchandise is available from www.whateverittakes.org.

Hilary Duff Dishes It Out at Homeless Shelter

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:03:34 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Singer Hilary Duff served up chicken and stew for hundreds of homeless and working poor men last week at Hope Mission’s Herb Jamieson Center, a shelter in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. She stopped by the Center as part of her campaign to raise awareness about poverty and hunger.

“It’s nice when someone who makes a lot of money will look you in the eye and treat you like a real person,” Hope Mission spokeswoman Janelle Aker said, adding that Duff’s efforts could also help raise awareness with a younger demographic.

The pop star was in town as part of the Canadian leg of her North American Dignity tour, which kicked off last weekend. Duff is once again asking concert-goers to bring along non-perishable food donations to be collected at concert gates by The Salvation Army and distributed by food charity Harvest. Harvest chapters “collect surplus food from restaurants, grocery stores, and other food producers and immediately deliver it to missions, shelters, soup kitchens and food banks.” During her previous two Canadian tours, Duff raised over 125,000 pounds for Alberta Harvest. Harvest founder Stan Curtis says each concert can bring in as many as 3,000 cans of food, enough for 6,000 meals.  

Last November Duff bought 200,000 meals through USA Harvest for Hurricane Katrina refugees still in shelters over a year after the disaster. Curtis says, “Hilary has set an extraordinary example with her generous contributions to the Gulf Coast victims of (the) tragic hurricanes. With her current contribution, Hilary will have donated over 2.7 million meals to the victims who still need these generous donations.”

Even so, Duff says, “A big misconception of charity work and celebrities is that it takes a lot of money. It doesn’t take a lot of money. Your time is the best thing you can give.” She feels that with compassion, homelessness and hunger are simple to solve.

Duff plans to meet with fans before her August 25 concert in Louisville, Kentucky, and is asking her fans to help her raise 1,000 cans of food at the event.

Scarlett Johansson, Green Day and Goo Goo Dolls are also contributors to USA Harvest.

Green Day For Darfur

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:03:30 -0000

Written by Elizabeth Willoughby

Punk rock band Green Day has designed a limited edition t-shirt on sale at Hard Rock locations the world over, and a portion of the proceeds will go to The Amnesty International Campaign to aid Darfur, Sudan.

The Working Class Hero T-shirt is only part of Green Day’s commitment to “Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur,” which aims to raise awareness of the plight of civilians in Darfur being killed and misplaced everyday. Over 300,000 have died and 2.5 million have fled to neighboring countries.

Green Day has also contributed to the Instant Karma CD, and all proceeds from the over 50 musical acts that have joined this international effort will go directly to support Amnesty International’s work on Darfur and other human rights crises worldwide.

Gaining Pounds Never Felt So Good

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 07:21:00 -0000

Written by Nadia Lias

Gaining a few pounds might make most people anxious, but Hilary Duff has gained over 4,000,000 pounds – of food – and brought joy to homeless and hungry people across the United States. The food was collected for USA Harvest during her concert tour, to which she had asked fans to bring canned items.

USA Harvest was founded in 1989 in Louisville, Kentucky with a mission to feed as many hungry people as possible by moving food from people with too much to those with too little.

Hillary asked her fans for a small amount, but the final collection was so big that she has helped save millions of dollars of food money, which now can be re-allocated to other extremely important needs such as clothing, shelter, job training and opportunities, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and counselling programs.

Other celebrities who are helping homeless and hungry people across the United States with USA Harvest are Scarlett Johansson, Green Day and the Goo Goo Dolls.

New CD To Raise Aid For Darfur

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 07:28:22 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign To Save Darfur is a new CD that seeks to raise aid for the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur. It features the music of John Lennon recorded by some of the world’s best known musicians.

U2, Green Day, Christina Aguilera, and Avril Lavigne are some of the 50 musical artists and groups that are included in the Amnesty International project.

The album was released around the world on 12 June by Warner Bros Records, and was put together by Amnesty International’s “Make Some Noise” initiative.

“Make Some Noise” is a global venture that hopes to inspire a new generation to stand up for human rights. It mixes music, celebration and action to protect people wherever freedom is denied. Yoko Ono has been a longtime supporter of the initiative, and donated the rights to the entire John Lennon songbook to the project.

“Music speaks the language of freedom, revolution and solidarity. Without that freedom – without music that is angry, joyful and necessary – we are nothing” she said of the album’s release.

The CD calls attention to the war-torn countries of Darfur and Chad. All proceeds from the album and music downloads will go towards alleviating the risk of starvation and disease in these areas.

Other artists featured on the CD include Aerosmith, Lenny Kravitz, Jack Johnson, and Ben Harper. REM is also featured, and drummer Bill Berry came out of retirement to record the track ”#9 Dream”. It is the first time the original four band members, including singer Michael Stipe, have been in the studio together since 1997.

Green Day and U2 single to benefit Music Rising

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:13:32 -0000

Written by Hannah Coone

Two of the biggest bands in history are to release a joint single to benefit the rebuilding of New Orleans. Green Day and U2 got together for dinner in February to try and think of a project suitable for this cause. Seven months later, the bands met again in London at the studios in Abbey Road made famous by The Beatles, and tried a cover of ‘The Saints Are Coming’, originally recorded by The Skids in 1978.

On September 25th, Green Day and U2 gave the song its first live show at the reopening of the Louisiana Superdome, to support the New Orleans Saints’ first home game in the NFL since the Katrina disaster.

The Saints themselves had said they would like to play U2’s hit song ‘Beautiful Day’ before each match. So, U2 themselves performed the song to end the night’s pre-game show. “It’s a good song,” the Edge said. “I hope … for New Orleans it’s like the past is laid to rest and from now on, OK, we have a lot of problems to get over but now the party starts so ‘Beautiful Day’ is probably a fitting song.”

Before the night’s big game, Green Day took the stage and performed their hit single ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’. Armstrong chose this song because “I think the sort of thing that it resonates is hope, you know.”

U2’s The Edge has already been making headlines with his charity Music Rising, a charity that replaces instruments lost by professional musicians in the disaster. This is something that Green Day front-man Billie Joe Armstrong is completely behind; “I think every musician who earns money doing what they do owes a little bit of a debt to New Orleans.”

“One year later, people continue to be devastated by Katrina’s effects,” Billie Joe Armstrong said in a news release. “We hope that by collaborating with U2, we’ll remind the public that people of the Gulf Coast are still suffering and still need help to rebuild their lives.”

The song will be released for digital download on October 30th and as a CD single on November 6th.

Look To The Stars News: Green Day

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