It was hard competing with Extra’s camera crew who kept asking the celebrities their thoughts on Brit-Brit’s VMA performance (?) but we managed to score a quick chat with Marc Roberge and Benj Gershman of the rock band O.A.R. Like many of the other musicians we’ve covered, they too are taking active measures to lessen their impact by dwelling in green buildings, recycling the many water bottles they go through on tour and converting their tour buses to biodiesel. Had time permitted, we would have urged them to ban the bottled water altogether but instead kept it simple and suggested they use TreeHugger as their guide to living like a rock star. They dug it!

“If you enjoy rock n’ roll, you enjoy living. If you enjoy living, you better enjoy sustainability.” Marc Roberge (Pictured right.)

While Willie rocked out, guests noshed on snacks and drinks made with fresh ingredients from local family farms, and instead of instead of handing out wasteful gift bags, Hard Rock made a donation to the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance on behalf of each guest in attendance that evening. An act that more glam event coordinators should take note of.

The event raised $115,000, a true testament to the benefit’s success, but the most satisfying moment came when we heard Extra’s film crew say later that evening, “We can only stick to environmental questions from now on.” This was after some of the celeb guests refused to address their questions related to Brit-Brit’s body issues. This was all the affirmation we needed to know that we were in the presence of celebrity guests who actually gave a damn and weren’t there to take advantage of the sometimes green(washing) limelight.

Thanks for the invite, Sami!