U2's The Edge To Host Music Rising Auction

U2's the Edge announced the Icons of Music Sale II to benefit Music Rising to be held on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at Hard Rock Café New York in Times Square. 

This second annual auction event, hosted by Julien's Auctions, will offer one of the most significant collections of music memorabilia from many of music's greatest legends with proceeds benefiting Music Rising, a campaign co-founded by  U2's the Edge, legendary producer Bob Ezrin and Gibson Guitar Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz in 2005 to aid musicians of the Gulf Coast Region in regaining their livelihood after the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Four time Grammy Award winner Aaron Neville, who has joined the Music Rising campaign and helped bring major attention to some of the charity work being done in New Orleans today, will appear at the Icons of Music Sale II and perform at the evening session. Neville, who with his family, lost everything in the storms of Katrina brings a unique personal experience to Music Rising and will give guests a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness his great musicianship when he brings the spirit of New Orleans to the auction.

The ongoing efforts of Music Rising have thus far aided over 2,700 professional musicians and nearly 50,000 students and parishioners. The charity has been the recipient of numerous awards since its inception including the HALO 2005 Award for Cause Marketing, the 2006 Billboard Humanitarian Award and the 2008 PRISM Award. After the campaign received a Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund grant, former President Bill Clinton personally presented a Music Rising Gibson Les Paul guitar to a recipient in Baton Rouge as a symbol of Music Rising's dedication to the region.

"No one could ever come close to repaying the debt to those who have established this form of music that we all take totally for granted, this hybrid of European melody and African-American rhythm that's given us jazz and R&B and rock 'n' roll," said the Edge.

"There's something powerful about musicians giving instruments they own to an auction to aid musicians who are going through a particularly difficult time."

"When the hurricanes first hit we knew we had to do something to help preserve the musical heritage of the Gulf Coast Region," said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar. "We've been honored to work alongside some of the world's greatest musical talents in our efforts to rebuild the Gulf Coast Region and to understand the needs of the people who were devastated by the hurricanes. This auction serves as a reminder of much work that still needs to be done in bringing back one of the world's greatest regions."

Bob Ezrin, legendary producer and one of the co-founder's of the organization added "It is amazing to us that even after all this time there is still so much need for support in the Central Gulf - and so many schools, churches and community organizations are just now coming on line again. Music Rising will be here to provide the instruments and support they need until that need no longer exists, however long it takes."

Amongst the donations from the Edge is his early stage played 1976 Gibson Explorer Guitar.   Edge used this guitar in many stage performances since Joshua Tree as well as U2's Music Video for "Beautiful Day" (est. $80,000 and up), his silver adjustable U2 block rings featured on the cover of Atchung Baby (est. $2,000/4,000), a blue Gibson Les Paul electric guitar used by Edge in many studio recordings(est. $20,000/40,000) and his personaly worn custom designed Converse shoes (est. $800/1,200) along with an assortment of property donated by his fellow band members to Music Rising. 

Auction Network, the first 24/7, multimedia network solely dedicated to auctions will conduct a live webcast in real-time streaming video of The Icons of Music Auction II.  Auction Network will provide music fans around the world a front row seat to watch the action and excitement of the live auction and the ability to bid in real-time on items via the Internet.  Pre-show video highlights include the emotional and historic stories behind such items from such legendary icons as the U2, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley and many more legendary artists.