MaliBLUE- Sponsored by Emergen-C for Surfrider Foundation

On April 26th 2009, the Emergen-C Sponsored, MaliBLUE event took place to benefit Surfrider Foundation.

The
core activities and campaigns that the Surfrider Foundation
uses to protect our oceans, waves and beaches fall into
the categories of Clean Water, Beach

Access, Beach Preservation and Protecting Special Places.

The months of preparation and planning flew by…the day came and went so fast…but it was such a huge success and amazing experience.

Musical Performers on stage at the end of the pierMeiko, Tyrone Wells, Trevor Hall and Mishka really captivated the crowd and were all equally awesome to hear.

The walkway down the pier was crowded with people and lined with Surf Art by myself and fellow artists:Drew Brophy,Heather Brown, Phil Roberts, Ron Croci,John Severson, Grant Ellis and Wade Koniakowsky.

The paparazzi and girls went pretty nutty when Matthew McConaughey showed up as the surprise guest. He said some nice things about Surfrider and came out to support his pal Mishka who is signed on Matthew’s new music label.

(Above: Surprise guest speaker, Matthew McConaughey hogging the photo, obviously the Paparazzi photographer was trying to include us in the shot 😉

Upon our arrival to Southern Cali on the 24th, I was handed off a Surfboard from Surf Prescriptions to paint for the Surfrider Foundation/Emergen-C Event on the 26th. So, the next 2 days consisted of very little sleep, a lot of Starbucks Soy Lattes and non-stop painting.

Amongst the other people painting boards for Surfrider were Tom Dumont of No Doubt, Tristan Prettyman, one of our favorite singer/songwriters, Eric Avery of Janes Addiction and Chad Butler of Switchfoot.

(You can now bid on this board I painted and other Surf Art at the upcoming Surfrider Art Gala in San Diego on May 21st)

The Shirts (seen below) for MaliBLUE which I designed, were everywhere on the pier that day which was awesome.  Quiksilver Apparel was cool enough to print and provide us with the shirts which soon became the wardrobe of the day for the guests on the pier.

Media Sponsors, Surfing Magazine and Surfer Magazine were there to cover the event, for which I vaguely remember getting quoted on a couple of nice comments about the free VIP Beer that day 🙂

I proudly designed the Surf Art for the Packaging for Emergen-C® BLUE™ which is available in fine Stores everywhere, including Target, Vitamin Shoppe and Whole Foods.

It was really fantastic to be able to hang out with my new friends from Emergen-C and their Marketing Company, Murphy O’Brien.  The months we spent co-ordinating and planning this whole campaign has been truly an outstanding experience.  The entire group of people I hung out with that day were awesome and I hope I can see them all again soon.