I wrote about The Great Pit Ball before when it was just a glimmer in its host's eye. A very defined kind of glimmer, true, but when we talked, everything for the grand event was only just coming together.
Today, I spoke to Mr. Bond again, with The Great Pit Ball — a star studded charity event held on March 14, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV to raise money for Villa Lobos Rescue Center, the world's largest pit bull rescue — already behind him and a resounding success.
Over 1,000 attendees from all over the globe were seen at the event, including:
- Michael Berryman (The Devil’s Rejects, The Hills Have Eyes, Weird Science, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest)
- Pixie Acia (LA Ink, Miami Ink, and Fear Factor game show winner)
- Tera Patrick, the number one porn star in the world, winner of the coveted "Best New Starlet" award, and star of over 100 adult films.
- Evan Seinfeld, well known lead vocalist of the multi-platinum album Biohazard; an adult film actor, director, photographer, writer, entrepreneur, and star of the HBO series Oz.
- James Madio (Hook, Basketball Diaries, Lost Boys, Band of Brothers)
- Alex Karalexis from the UFC reality series and three-time UFC veteran.
- "Razor" Rob McCullough, five-time world Muay Thai champion and former World Extreme Cage Fighting Weight Champion.
- Mario Barth, world renowned and celebrity tattoo artist, owner and chief tattoo artist at Starlight Tattoo.
- John Huntington, formally from the show INKED Hart & Huntington now known as Huntington Ink at the Palms Casino; also known as the country’s premiere nightclub promoter.
- Boo-yaa Tribe, a hip-hop group from California.
- Ice-T, rapper and actor.
Thousands of pictures are being uploaded directly to Brandon's studio website. I caught up with Brandon Bond just hours before his departure to L.A, to survey the spoils of victory at Villa Lobos, and to bask in the success of Vicktory to the Underdog: From Hell and Back, his latest DVD release, which premiered at the Pit Ball event.
Let's jump right in.
Tell me, just what made you take up this elephantine project? And how much of a financial impact did the event make for Villa Lobos Rescue Center?
Tia Torres came to me late last year [2008] and explained the financial situation. She asked me to help, so we did — as hard and intensely as we could. The first thing we did was hold an online auction on my websites and we raised about $20,000 for her within a month or so. We also started an online donation collection, which is still active, and we have already exceeded $5,000 that way. This all was wonderful, but her operating expenses exceeds these amounts, and dramatic action had to be taken.
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