Yes, I know Billy Corgan has made himself an easy target for our contempt and cynical quips but let’s put our differences aside for the moment.

According to the official Smashing Pumpkins website, Billy has set up an E-Bay auction to help out the former head of the Smashing Pumpkins fan club, Laura Masura, who was severely injured in a motorcycle accident recently.

From now until Oct 31, you can bid on an autographed pre-Gish era bass guitar that Billy played at the very first Smashing Pumpkins show on June 9th, 1988 at Chicago 21 or a drum set used by Jimmy Chamberlin during the recording of Gish and it’s subsequent tour and signed by both, with all proceeds going directly to Laura. Let’s all strip ourselves of the years of ill will for a moment, and remember that when it came out Gish in 1991, it totally blew our minds. The chance to own something used in the making of that album is a pretty cool deal.

But if you are more about the here and now there is also a benefit concert set Nov 8th at L.A.’s Echoplex featuring a Corgan side project known as the Backwards Clock Society. Also on the bill are bands featuring members of Fountains Of Wayne and Red Red Meat’s Tim Rutili.

Tickets are available through Ticketweb. See the full press release here.

Again, all proceeds go directly to Laura so if you have some cash maybe let bygones be bygones and help out. Either way let’s just acknowledge some positivity coming out of the Corgan camp for once.