Freedom Celebration - Gibson Guitar to Provide Instruments for the Wounded
Soldiers' Angels and Gibson Guitar will present over twenty new acoustic guitars to wounded guitar-playing service members as part of a "Freedom Celebration" at the Brooke Army Medical Center on July 5th in San Antonio, TX.
Pasadena, CA (PRWEB) June 27, 2008
In cooperation with Soldiers' Angels, Gibson Guitar will present over twenty new acoustic guitars to wounded guitar-playing service members as part of a "Freedom Celebration" at the Brooke Army Medical Center on July 5th in San Antonio, TX. In addition, Angels & Airwaves and the Van Warped Tour will pitch in to create a party that will live on in memories of wounded service members and their families as they recover.
A picnic for approximately 1200 wounded soldiers and their families held in the Fisher Houses "Quad" area and hosted by Soldiers' Angels, will form the core of the Freedom Celebration. The band Angels and Airwaves will showcase their acoustic abilities, and there will be a variety of activities especially for children.
In addition, transportation will be provided at 3 p. m. for Freedom Celebration's guests to attend the Vans Warped Tour at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio, the longest-running traveling music festival in the nation. Guests will watch the show free of charge from a viewing area near the stage built exclusively for them, compliments of Kevin Lyman, C. E.O. and founder of the Vans Warped Tour.
Freedom Celebration's highlight will be the awarding of a minimum of twenty Epiphone acoustic guitars to wounded service members, and a single guitar will be presented to each of the seven local Fisher Houses at Brooke.
The husband of Soldiers' Angels founder Patty Patton-Bader, Jeff Bader, is proud to be participating in Freedom Celebration and points out the therapeutic value of Gibson's gift. "I am honored to be involved in the whole event," says Bader, "but since I am also a guitar player, this new program and the gifts to our service members are something very special to me. Music truly has a healing power, and guitar-playing soldiers who have suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) have improved their memory capabilities by remembering the songs they used to play."
Soldiers' Angels is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization providing aid and comfort to the men and women of U. S. military and their families. Comprised of 200,000 volunteer members in over twenty different teams and programs, their activities include letters, care packages, and comfort items to the deployed, and support for their families at home. They also provide assistance to the wounded, continuing support for veterans, remembrances and comfort for families of the fallen, and immediate response to unique difficulties. For more info - www. soldiersangels. org or soldiersangels@gmail. com
Contact for this event: Jeff Bader (626) 398-4224
Angels & Airwaves (also known as "AVA") is an alternative rock group fronted by former Blink-182 and Box Car Racer guitarist/vocalist Tom DeLonge. The band includes guitarist David Kennedy, drummer Atom Willard, and bassist Matt Wachter. Albums include We Don't Need to Whisper (2006) and I-Empire (2007). For more info - http://modlife. com/angelsandairwaves (http://modlife. com/angelsandairwaves).
The Vans Warped Tour has been a staple of the summer music scene since 1994. Featured performers in 2008 include Against Me!, Angels & Airwaves, Cobra Starship, Gym Class Heroes, Say Anything, and The All American Rejects, among others. For more info - www. warpedtour. com
Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX is a modern state-of-the-art, 450-bed health care facility that provides level-one trauma and graduate medical education for the U. S. Military. For more info - http://www. sammc. amedd. army. mil (http://www. sammc. amedd. army. mil)
Gibson is known worldwide for producing classic models in every major style of fretted instrument, including acoustic and electric guitars, mandolins, and banjos. Gibson's HD.6X-PRO Digital Guitar and the Gibson Robot Guitar represent the biggest advances in electric guitar design in over 70 years. Founded in 1894 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and headquartered in Nashville since 1984, Gibson Guitar Corp.'s family of brands now includes Epiphone, Dobro, Kramer, Steinberger, Tobias, Echoplex, Electar, Flatiron, Slingerland, Valley Arts, Maestro, Oberheim, Sunshine Piano, Take Anywhere Technology, Baldwin, J&C Fischer, Chickering, Hamilton, and Wurlitzer. Visit Gibson's website at www. gibson. com or www. gibson. com/press (http://www. gibson. com/press). 1-800-4GIBSON (1-800-444-2766); www. gibson. com
Gibson Contacts:
Caroline Galloway, Gibson Guitar Corp., 440.338.3469, caroline. galloway @ gibson. com
Maureen O'Connor, Rogers & Cowan, 310.854.8116, moconnor @ rogersandcowan. com
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