PHEATURED COMMUNITY MEMBER: ELI
Eli Lieberman was born under a giant oak tree, in the remote hippy commune of Doo-Da on August 16th, 1977. That unorthodox beginning would prove to set the stage for a life filled with great challenges and epic accomplishments as he took the road less traveled.
Eli started skating and biking before he was six. As soon as the training wheels came off, Eli and his older brother Noah started building jumps out of firewood and boards. Eli has been leaping off stuff ever since, whether it's cliff jumping, rock climbing, mountain biking, or big air snowboarding competitions. His strength, grace and readiness to try anything started winning him fame and sponsorships before he was old enough to drive. His triumphs were not without their trials however.
In 1997 after filming the first super park movie at Kirkwood in Lake Tahoe, icy conditions led to Eli carrying too much speed into a giant table top. Fully 85 feet from the lip to the knuckle, this behemoth had a landing transition, or "tranny", that stretched an additional 70 to 100 feet... Eli landed nearly 30 feet past that. Even though he landed on his feet, the nearly 50 foot drop onto solid ice resulted in a spinal compression fracture that left him in bed for almost three months.
Having grown up loving rock-n-roll and getting his first guitar at the age of seven, Eli took the opportunity of some down time to study music at the local community college. However, by 1998 he was not only riding hard, he went on to win second place in the "Lord of the Boards" competition in Lake Tahoe and first place overall for open class men's snowboarding in South Lake Tahoe in 1999. His performance won him sponsorships with Burton, Nike and Arnette, as well as a place in the nationals at Telluride where he took 4th place just edging out Shaun White.
Always a man of many talents, Eli picked up glass blowing, spent time surfing in Kauai, then moved to Colorado where he started coaching for Team Summit at Breckenridge. In 2002 he took his new found composition and production skills, mixed in his diverse musical experience from african drumming, jazz trombone and a capella choir to form Strive Roots and create a genre defying infectious new sound he dubbed "Roots Infused Power Groove". Strive Roots steadily grew in popularity as they toured and played shows from Colorado to California.
In 2006, Hannah Teter, Olympic Gold Medalist for women's half pipe was listening to Strive Roots on her winning run which led to global publicity from magazines like People, Time, ESPN, and Snowboarder as well as mentions on David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, The Today Show and Jay Leno. Since then Strive Roots has played with the likes of Michael Franti, Pato Banton, The Doobie Brothers, Buck-o-Nine, Blackalicious, John Pauper and De la Soul.
Experiences such as being involved in the Buddhist community in Ashland, Oregon, studying yoga and Tai Chi and finding inspiration from his mother’s environmental activism and his father's years in the Peace Corp helped shape his ongoing life philosophy of positivity and goodwill to all. This has guided him to resist the status-quo and speak up for what is right. Through Eli’s music and even in his day to day interaction with the community, Eli continues to strive to spread his own roots and thus share his passions with the world.
Today Eli is living the dream in Bend, Oregon; self employed and doing what he loves most: snowboarding, music and art. Even at the ripe old age of 36 (at least for a snowboarder) he's accumulated an impressive number of Central Oregon sponsors: Soleja Boardriding, Team Phun, Strickly Boarding, Solstice Supply, Mt. Bachelor, Bigs Garden Center, Spooky Dawson Marketing Group and Sweet Vixens.
If he's not in the studio or the shop, he can be found jumping his downhill mountain bike, coaching competitive snowboarders at Mt. Bachelor or dropping steep chutes and riding deep powder in the backcountry with his friends.
http://www.striveroots.com
