Pete's Oxfam Blog - the Autumn US leg - Page 7

Pris · 26-11-2008, 06:34 PM

ohhhh......... Pete is leaving us!!!!!

Jenjie · 26-11-2008, 06:59 PM

only until Saturday

busybeeburns · 03-12-2008, 06:31 PM

Blog #1: Just in from our mystery guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. 22nd November 2008. Salt Lake City. UT.

“… So come over, just be patient, and don’t worry” can be heard clearly enough that I forget for a moment that i’m standing in the middle of the concourse at Energy Solutions Arena. I take a peak inside, as the building-sized banner, that reads ‘VIVA’, drops behind Chris, Jonny, Guy, and Will. Audiences always seem to be moved by this moment, and the band does not at all seemed dwarfed by the towering banner.

Tonight Coldplay is in Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the first LDS Temple and the 2002 Olympics. When I arrived here last night to hop on the tour in place of my friend and colleague Pete, it was hard to resist reflecting on the prominent position Salt Lake City has in the mosaic of US history. Coldplay are making music history tonight by helping to bring music activism to heights Sir. Bob Geldoff could have only dreamed of in ‘85 when Live Aid drew in tens of thousands of rock and roll fans to rally around famine relief in Ethiopia. Coldplay have helped Oxfam mobilize an international resistance against hunger, poverty, and injustice. By inviting Oxfam America to tour with them, 600 volunteers have helped facilitate a global conversation about how active citizenship can eradicate poverty to over 100 thousand Coldplay fans that have sold out arenas across the US since July alone. Not bad for a quartet from London, not bad at all.

As the VIVA banner fell, another thought I couldn’t resist indulging was that it was only a handful of months ago that I was just a fan at a Coldplay concert in LA posing in front of this banner and hoping to work for Oxfam myself someday. It was the first stop of the Viva la Vida tour. When the show was over, I approached the Oxfam table that had been set up, to sing the praises of Oxfam and their Make Trade Fair campaign. I didn’t know that I was talking to Oxfam’s Senior Campaign Organizer, Brian, who urged me to look into internships at Oxfam, given my enthusiasm for their work. Two months later I was in Boston picking up where Brian and the intern before me, one Jack Carroll, had left off in running volunteer logistics for the Coldplay tour with Pete. Tonight, I’m representing the fight against hunger, poverty, and injustice on the Coldplay tour and I crack a smile as I think, “Not bad for a girl from San Gabriel, California, not bad at all.”

S

Ps. Shout out to Team Jen for coming all the way from Oklahoma City to volunteer with Oxfam tonight!

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=115

xxKels · 03-12-2008, 06:38 PM

Go Team OKC!!

busybeeburns · 05-12-2008, 05:06 PM

Blog #2: Second instalment from our guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. November 25th. 2008. Anaheim. CA.

Tonight we are in the backyard of Los Angeles, Anaheim, California, which is centrally located in Orange County. A few days ago the band rocked the American Music Awards and tonight we’re in the home of the Mighty Ducks.

Here’s an image from the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs with the palm trees shining under the California sun. This is what California looks like about 350 days of the year but not tonight- its pouring rain! Tonight the gods are preparing the weary group of roadies on my bus for the cold and fog that’s to come next week when the band heads out to England. When I helped Pete with the canvassing at the Coldplay show in Boston on the day before Halloween, Chris Martin commented during the show about how Coldplay had been in Boston twice this year, but haven’t had a single concert in their home country! The same is true for California; tonight is Coldplay’s third concert in Southern California since July!

Rain or shine our committed group of Oxfam volunteers arrives, ready to canvass the Coldplay audience. Despite Oxfam’s presence at two previous So. Cal. Coldplay concerts in the summer, fans are more eager than ever to talk to us about how they can engage in the struggle for justice. This struggle is alive and well in this part of California, where one of Oxfam’s thirteen nation-wide, volunteer-lead, “Oxfam Action Corps” have been working with other Californians to urge law makers to consider the human face of climate change. The Oxfam Action Corps, represented by Adam and Dan tonight (amongst others), are the voices of the poor all over the world here in California. Tonight, the Honda Center is Oxfam Action Corps territory.

Coldplay is one of the biggest bands in the world and tonight is another sold-out show. But with them, are some other stars, the 20 volunteers who gave their Tuesday nights to Oxfam. They missed classes, left their families, and drove in So. Cal.’s notorious traffic to spread Oxfam’s message and listen to some good music. The determination of the volunteers to engage audience members with Oxfam’s work never ceases to amaze me. Tonight, especially my girl Z, who handed out Oxfam flyers until what seemed like the very last person left the venue, made me especially proud.

It was good to be home, now off to Phoenix! S

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=116

busybeeburns · 05-12-2008, 05:31 PM

Blog #3: The third and final instalment from our guest blogger, Soha Yassine. Soha took the reigns for all things Oxfam, for the final 3 US shows of 2008. Phoenix was the last of these 3 shows, before the UK tour kicked off.

We arrived in Phoenix at what seemed like an ungodly hour for a tour caravan that hit the road at 1:30am. As I rolled out of my bunk in the ungraceful manner that I do every morning and headed into the venue for some much needed coffee, I stopped by the stage area. It wasn’t even noon yet and my bus-mates have the skeleton of the stage already constructed! Confetti butterflies had already littered the ground. They tend to get stuck on all of the equipment from the night before and fall off everywhere they go. They don’t bother anyone though; who can get mad at butterflies? As I stared at the butterflies in my pre-coffee state, I realized the familiar pattern of metal puzzle-pieces on the floor of the venue. This could only mean that there was an ice hockey rink beneath us and my pre-coffee-Californian-self could only think of one word: gnarly.

Later in the day I take a tour of Jobing.com Arena with the venue representative and we have a very nerdy conversation unfit for a roadie about temperature regulation of the ice as compared to the rest of the venue. That night, thousands of Coldplay fans stomped their feet to Viva la Vida above ice. Very gnarly.

Before that 17 volunteers including our lead volunteer, Abraham, who travelled to Phoenix for the concert, urged hundreds of Coldplay fans to give their voices to the fight against poverty. As I made my way around the concourse to check-in with the volunteers, one volunteer told me that she was approached by a Coldplay fan who said that as she was in line at one of the venue’s many venders, she thought to herself that the money she was about to spend would be better served by giving it to Oxfam. Although the volunteer told her that donations were not the purpose of our presence at the show, the woman insisted on donating the money to Oxfam. After she told me the story, the volunteer and I looked at the money and smiled.

Tonight’s show is bittersweet for me. On the one hand, I get to go back to So. Cal. tomorrow and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family and friends before flying back to Boston to resume my duties as an Oxfam intern. On the other hand, it’s Coldplay’s last show in the US and the end of my time on the road with them. My time on the road was a once in a lifetime experience. It couldn’t have happened without the guidance of my colleagues at Oxfam, the awesome crew behind the scenes, and Coldplay themselves for believing in the power of small actions.

My last night on the bus was one of interesting conversations: the merits of fiction as a literary genre, water sanitation processes in the US and UK, the state of specialized education in Western academia, and other various subjects unfit for rock and roll roadies. It was unfortunate that it wasn’t until my last night on the tour that I realized I wasn’t the only nerd on the road with Coldplay.

Peace, S

http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=120

26-11-2008, 06:34 PM	#91
Pris Oh, to be that bass..... Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 13,807 My Mood: Location: Where everybody's got somebody to lean on Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	ohhhh......... Pete is leaving us!!!!! __________________ HOUSTON·HARTFORD·HERSHEY·MÉXICO CITY·GUADALAJARA·MONTERREY Thank you VIVA Tour, it was a fun invasion.

26-11-2008, 06:59 PM	#92
Jenjie PA to SammyBeeBurns Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 5,805 My Mood: Location: at Coldplaying.com Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 35 Thanked 90 Times in 41 Posts	only until Saturday __________________ "The fat lady has sung and the world's Vida has been well and truly Viva-ed." - R#42 14th March 2010 I've got my "I Heart Coldplaying.com, It's My Life" knickers in a twist!!! 2012: 9&10 June - Manchester Etihad; 2011: 4 Dec - MEN Arena 2010: 25 Nov - Boat Trip 2009: 30 Jan - Absolute Radio; 18 Feb - War Child; 19 Sep - Wembley 2008: 11&12 Dec - MEN Arena 2005: 4&5 July - Reebok Stadium; 19 Dec - MEN Arena 2003: 14 Apr - MEN Arena 2002: 20 June - Mountford Hall; 11 Oct - MEN Arena

03-12-2008, 06:31 PM	#93
busybeeburns mr coldplaying himself Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 46,341 My Mood: Location: test Gender: Country: Seen CP: 20 times Fav. CP album: X&Y Fav. CP song: GPASUYF Fav. CP member: Chat posts: 4 Thanks given: 1,552 Thanked 936 Times in 421 Posts	From Intern to Roadie Blog #1: Just in from our mystery guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. 22nd November 2008. Salt Lake City. UT. “… So come over, just be patient, and don’t worry” can be heard clearly enough that I forget for a moment that i’m standing in the middle of the concourse at Energy Solutions Arena. I take a peak inside, as the building-sized banner, that reads ‘VIVA’, drops behind Chris, Jonny, Guy, and Will. Audiences always seem to be moved by this moment, and the band does not at all seemed dwarfed by the towering banner. Tonight Coldplay is in Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the first LDS Temple and the 2002 Olympics. When I arrived here last night to hop on the tour in place of my friend and colleague Pete, it was hard to resist reflecting on the prominent position Salt Lake City has in the mosaic of US history. Coldplay are making music history tonight by helping to bring music activism to heights Sir. Bob Geldoff could have only dreamed of in ‘85 when Live Aid drew in tens of thousands of rock and roll fans to rally around famine relief in Ethiopia. Coldplay have helped Oxfam mobilize an international resistance against hunger, poverty, and injustice. By inviting Oxfam America to tour with them, 600 volunteers have helped facilitate a global conversation about how active citizenship can eradicate poverty to over 100 thousand Coldplay fans that have sold out arenas across the US since July alone. Not bad for a quartet from London, not bad at all. As the VIVA banner fell, another thought I couldn’t resist indulging was that it was only a handful of months ago that I was just a fan at a Coldplay concert in LA posing in front of this banner and hoping to work for Oxfam myself someday. It was the first stop of the Viva la Vida tour. When the show was over, I approached the Oxfam table that had been set up, to sing the praises of Oxfam and their Make Trade Fair campaign. I didn’t know that I was talking to Oxfam’s Senior Campaign Organizer, Brian, who urged me to look into internships at Oxfam, given my enthusiasm for their work. Two months later I was in Boston picking up where Brian and the intern before me, one Jack Carroll, had left off in running volunteer logistics for the Coldplay tour with Pete. Tonight, I’m representing the fight against hunger, poverty, and injustice on the Coldplay tour and I crack a smile as I think, “Not bad for a girl from San Gabriel, California, not bad at all.” S Ps. Shout out to Team Jen for coming all the way from Oklahoma City to volunteer with Oxfam tonight! http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=115 __________________ The early bird catches the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese!

03-12-2008, 06:38 PM	#94
xxKels Account disabled Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 4,113 Location: On the mountain with Nick and my boys <3 Gender: Country: Chat posts: 0 Thanks given: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Yayyy! Go Team OKC!! __________________

05-12-2008, 05:06 PM	#95
busybeeburns mr coldplaying himself Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 46,341 My Mood: Location: test Gender: Country: Seen CP: 20 times Fav. CP album: X&Y Fav. CP song: GPASUYF Fav. CP member: Chat posts: 4 Thanks given: 1,552 Thanked 936 Times in 421 Posts	Oxfam Action Corps Territory Blog #2: Second instalment from our guest blogger (Soha Yassine), who took the Oxfam reigns for the last three shows in US of 2008. November 25th. 2008. Anaheim. CA. Tonight we are in the backyard of Los Angeles, Anaheim, California, which is centrally located in Orange County. A few days ago the band rocked the American Music Awards and tonight we’re in the home of the Mighty Ducks. Here’s an image from the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs with the palm trees shining under the California sun. This is what California looks like about 350 days of the year but not tonight- its pouring rain! Tonight the gods are preparing the weary group of roadies on my bus for the cold and fog that’s to come next week when the band heads out to England. When I helped Pete with the canvassing at the Coldplay show in Boston on the day before Halloween, Chris Martin commented during the show about how Coldplay had been in Boston twice this year, but haven’t had a single concert in their home country! The same is true for California; tonight is Coldplay’s third concert in Southern California since July! Rain or shine our committed group of Oxfam volunteers arrives, ready to canvass the Coldplay audience. Despite Oxfam’s presence at two previous So. Cal. Coldplay concerts in the summer, fans are more eager than ever to talk to us about how they can engage in the struggle for justice. This struggle is alive and well in this part of California, where one of Oxfam’s thirteen nation-wide, volunteer-lead, “Oxfam Action Corps” have been working with other Californians to urge law makers to consider the human face of climate change. The Oxfam Action Corps, represented by Adam and Dan tonight (amongst others), are the voices of the poor all over the world here in California. Tonight, the Honda Center is Oxfam Action Corps territory. Coldplay is one of the biggest bands in the world and tonight is another sold-out show. But with them, are some other stars, the 20 volunteers who gave their Tuesday nights to Oxfam. They missed classes, left their families, and drove in So. Cal.’s notorious traffic to spread Oxfam’s message and listen to some good music. The determination of the volunteers to engage audience members with Oxfam’s work never ceases to amaze me. Tonight, especially my girl Z, who handed out Oxfam flyers until what seemed like the very last person left the venue, made me especially proud. It was good to be home, now off to Phoenix! S http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=116 __________________ The early bird catches the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese!

05-12-2008, 05:31 PM	#96
busybeeburns mr coldplaying himself Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 46,341 My Mood: Location: test Gender: Country: Seen CP: 20 times Fav. CP album: X&Y Fav. CP song: GPASUYF Fav. CP member: Chat posts: 4 Thanks given: 1,552 Thanked 936 Times in 421 Posts	Phoenix on Ice Blog #3: The third and final instalment from our guest blogger, Soha Yassine. Soha took the reigns for all things Oxfam, for the final 3 US shows of 2008. Phoenix was the last of these 3 shows, before the UK tour kicked off. We arrived in Phoenix at what seemed like an ungodly hour for a tour caravan that hit the road at 1:30am. As I rolled out of my bunk in the ungraceful manner that I do every morning and headed into the venue for some much needed coffee, I stopped by the stage area. It wasn’t even noon yet and my bus-mates have the skeleton of the stage already constructed! Confetti butterflies had already littered the ground. They tend to get stuck on all of the equipment from the night before and fall off everywhere they go. They don’t bother anyone though; who can get mad at butterflies? As I stared at the butterflies in my pre-coffee state, I realized the familiar pattern of metal puzzle-pieces on the floor of the venue. This could only mean that there was an ice hockey rink beneath us and my pre-coffee-Californian-self could only think of one word: gnarly. Later in the day I take a tour of Jobing.com Arena with the venue representative and we have a very nerdy conversation unfit for a roadie about temperature regulation of the ice as compared to the rest of the venue. That night, thousands of Coldplay fans stomped their feet to Viva la Vida above ice. Very gnarly. Before that 17 volunteers including our lead volunteer, Abraham, who travelled to Phoenix for the concert, urged hundreds of Coldplay fans to give their voices to the fight against poverty. As I made my way around the concourse to check-in with the volunteers, one volunteer told me that she was approached by a Coldplay fan who said that as she was in line at one of the venue’s many venders, she thought to herself that the money she was about to spend would be better served by giving it to Oxfam. Although the volunteer told her that donations were not the purpose of our presence at the show, the woman insisted on donating the money to Oxfam. After she told me the story, the volunteer and I looked at the money and smiled. Tonight’s show is bittersweet for me. On the one hand, I get to go back to So. Cal. tomorrow and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with my family and friends before flying back to Boston to resume my duties as an Oxfam intern. On the other hand, it’s Coldplay’s last show in the US and the end of my time on the road with them. My time on the road was a once in a lifetime experience. It couldn’t have happened without the guidance of my colleagues at Oxfam, the awesome crew behind the scenes, and Coldplay themselves for believing in the power of small actions. My last night on the bus was one of interesting conversations: the merits of fiction as a literary genre, water sanitation processes in the US and UK, the state of specialized education in Western academia, and other various subjects unfit for rock and roll roadies. It was unfortunate that it wasn’t until my last night on the tour that I realized I wasn’t the only nerd on the road with Coldplay. Peace, S http://www.oxfamblogs.org/coldplay/?p=120 __________________ The early bird catches the worm. The second mouse gets the cheese!