A Tale Of Two Santas

Courtney Love, Coldplay, Billy Corgan, Flea, Cat Power - and you - can join together in this campaign to help preserve this park and "feed the monkeys".

My friend Warren Ellis looks like Santa Claus—well, a hip skinny Santa who wears gold shoes and a lot of jewelry. He plays violin with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and his other band, The Dirty Three. Both bands released records in 2024 that are making all the best album of the year lists. He’s also an accomplished film composer: his most recent score is for Oscar contender I’m Still Here, Walter Salles's new film.

Amid all this madness Warren has co-founded Ellis Park Sumatra—an animal sanctuary for traumatized and trafficked animals—with Femke Den Haas, a kind of Joan of Arc of the wild kingdom. Ellis Park is on the frontlines of a vicious war on wildlife. Much like arms, drugs, and stolen art dealing, animal trafficking is a trillion-dollar enterprise. Wild animals are as sought after as Uzis, and the people at Ellis Park are dedicating their lives to giving animals the dignity and freedom they deserve. Why should anyone care? Because we don’t deserve animals. They come into the world with just their lives. Many of the animals Ellis Park serves cannot be returned to the wild and need forever homes.

Every once in a while we encounter people who remind us of “The Little Engine That Could:” I thought I could. I thought I could. I THINK I CAN, I know I can! These people inspire action in all of us lucky enough to be in their wake. Femke Den Haas is one of them, Warren Ellis is another. That’s why, right now, Warren and I are hosting a worldwide raffle and auction to raise funds for the Park to “feed the monkeys”— as he jauntily likes to say.

Even as most of the world is terrified—whether by election trauma or fear the earth is ready to tilt off its axis—we have been overwhelmed by the care, support, and yes, love everyone we asked to help us has given for the cause: from the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea, who patiently engraved the bass he donated with drawings and encouragement; Philip Glass (the greatest living classical composer) who donated a signed music sheet from one of his operas; master game creator Hideo Kojima, who gave us a Death Stranding Baby Pod (an Italian friend of mine is convinced it will kill you in the night); Michael Imperioli, who donated a rare signed Sopranos script; and a bespoke Gucci jacket from Nick Cave.

Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers put his heart into signing his bass.

This Gucci Bespoke jacket from Nick Cave is a great get!

And that’s not all that’s up for auction! Cat Power-Chan Marshall donated a Vampire’s Wife dress that will be worth a fortune one day, as the beloved design house no longer exists. The dress has significant personal meaning to her because she posed in it for an album cover. Then there’s a Danny Clinch photo of Eddie Vedder, signed by both, that Clinch racked up more frequent flyer miles than a band on tour to get to us. While collecting research for her book, Courtney Love and I found her original handwritten lyrics to the Hole song, “Violet” in a journal; I was stunned when she offered it to us to raise money for the beautiful animals at Ellis Park. Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins was so inspired he made a video of himself with the raffle ticket he purchased for the lyrics of “Violet.” (After all, the song is about him.) The video garnered worldwide press including CNN, Rolling Stone, and People Magazine. Last but certainly not least, Warren has donated a guitar so precious to him that it’s like donating one of his kidneys.

These original lyrics to “Violet,” were ripped from Courtney Love’s journal .

Billy Corgan even made a special video for us (who else knew “Violet” was about him?)

We can all make a difference, whether we take two hours to carve “Dios Mio!” on our custom bass like Flea did, take a long train ride to photograph the items for us like our friend Christian Corless did, make a video holding your raffle ticket to inspire others to buy one like Billy Corgan, or tack a sign onto a beloved dress you are giving away that says PEACE LOVE & SAFETY TO ALL LIVING THINGS BiG & SMALL like Cat Power did. People donated things that have meaning to them and have thus far motivated thousands of you to press the link to buy a raffle ticket.

Cat Power added a special message to her donated Vampire’s Wife dress.

It’s a great lesson for Christmas. And I’ll end here with one more to remember, a quote by French novelist Anatole France: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened.”

Go To HOME | Ellis Park Sumatra to buy a raffle ticket: £5 for one 🎟️, three tickets for £20 which is like $25 bucks. The auction ends at midnight on Dec 27, 2024 but Warren’s guitar is up for sale until Jan 31, 2025.