Jenjie

I got Michael Owen in mine. If Fergie thinks he's worth a gamble, then for the price he's currently going for let's see :D I also have my usual captain, who'd best return to his previous form this season.

Once again, Coldplaying.com has been lucky enough to obtain an exclusive interview with the Oxfam Tour Co-Ordinator on the "Viva La Vida" Tour. Whilst the band have been busy at the European festivals, Soha took some time out of her break to answer some questions for us. Coldplaying.com would like to start by congratulating Oxfam America on reaching 100,000 sign-ups whilst on tour with Coldplay. It's a fantastic achievement to have reached that many people, especially in the limited time you have to talk with them. What does it feel like to have been involved in that achievement? Thank you! Simply put, it was awesomely gratifying and validating. Congratulations are certainly due to the several Oxfam affiliates that that trained and deployed teams, especially Oxfam Canada who was the Oxfam affiliate to drive the total number of people who have taken action to 100 thousand. I am thrilled to have been involved in such an accomplishment, and to have presented it to Coldplay and their management. Exceeding the 100K point not only validated the countless hours of reevaluation and strategic planning that took place in the months leading to North American tour, however. It demonstrated our ability to utilize the enormous potential of this tour to build an international community of activists comprised of Oxfam volunteers and Coldplay fans. The 100 thousand figure does not do justice to that fact, or to the community of Oxfam activists that is united by music and our shared concerns about poverty. You've been an activist for Oxfam America for a while, how did you become involved with them? At a Coldplay show! Being a local activist and long-time supporter of Oxfam, I approached the table at the Forum and learned about how I could get involved with the Los Angeles Oxfam Action Corps. The Action Corps participate in a range of things from community events to political lobbying, and I quickly began volunteering as a concert team leader. At that same show I’d also learned about an “Outreach and Organizing” internship opportunity from the man who is my supervisor today, Brian. After being interviewed by phone and being offered the position, I moved to Boston. I would not have moved away from home had the internship been with any one else, but Oxfam is my dream organization. It was when I started working there that I learned that I’d be coordinating the volunteer effort of the Coldplay tour. So if you volunteered with Oxfam at a Coldplay show last fall, you’ve received many an email from me! Brian never told me the internship had anything to do with Coldplay because he wanted to ensure that my commitment was to ending hunger and poverty first and foremost. What do you like most about working for Oxfam? Oxfam does amazing work in the US and in developing countries that literally saves lives. I am so humbled and proud to be one piece in the Oxfam mosaic and to represent Oxfam on the Coldplay tour. Having said that though, I love my team. Brian, our Senior Organizer, Bob, our Music and Media Outreach Coordinator, Flora our new Outreach and Organizing Intern, and myself comprise what we’ve come to lovingly refer to as “Team Rock.” Since the beginning of my time with Oxfam, Brian and Bob have been amazing teachers, mentors, and advocates. Their confidence in me continues to exceed the confidence I have in myself. And Flora, well, she’s my girl. She always has my back. Coldplay & Oxfam have a long standing relationship of around 7 years. How valuable is this to Oxfam America? I can’t underestimate how important it is to us as a tool to raise awareness about Oxfam. While Oxfam is a household name in Great Britain, in the United States we are not as well known. The Coldplay tour has given us access to millions of people! I can’t even begin to tell you how many fans, concert volunteers, Action Corps members, CHANGE Leaders, Clubs organizers and interns first learned about Oxfam through Coldplay. However, the Coldplay tour is also valuable to Oxfam America as a means to build a community of activists. Recently we called upon our volunteers to call their representatives to urge them to vote for the American Clean Energy and Security act. The bill is important because it puts the US on a pathway to reducing carbon emissions and provides funding to help poor communities in the US and abroad survive severe climate induced crises. It passed by one vote. We later found out that the ratio of lobbying calls from the oil industry versus calls in support of the bill were 3:1! It wasn’t until that mobilization that we began to realize the full potential of concert outreach to cultivate activists. Which areas is Oxfam America focusing on during the 2009 leg of the Viva La Vida Tour? Oxfam America is encouraging fans to sign a petition that urges the President to call for a fair global climate change treaty this December when the UN convenes its Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Climate change not only perpetuates global poverty, it contributes to it through an increase in severe floods, droughts, debilitating storms, crop loss, and disease. Oxfam America approached the US portion of the tour differently than any of the other Coldplay tours that we had done in the past. During the Rush of Blood to the Head and Twisted Logic tours, Oxfam used a pre-existing international petition related to our Make Trade Fair campaign. This petition was signed by hundreds of thousands of people! This time around, each country is focusing on the campaign of their choice. This gave Oxfam America the freedom to emphasize quality conversations with fans at shows rather than quantity of sign-ups. Not only do fans sign our petition, they talk to us about how they can act locally to end hunger, poverty, and injustice. In terms of the volunteer experience, we are refining how to convert a short-term volunteer gig into a meaningful, empowering beginning of a relationship with Oxfam. We aren’t manufacturing a one-time interaction, but cultivating a real experience for fans, and inviting as many volunteers as possible to have this experience with us. I believe you were a huge Coldplay fan before joining them on tour? What's it like having your two passions combine in this way, and how did the opportunity arise? Ah, yes. You’re alluding to the “Soha story” of how I went from Coldplay fan to Coldplay roadie that my colleagues at Oxfam love to share. Whenever I ask my crewmates this same question, the general answer is that they became roadies through a combination of luck, ability, and ambition. This sounds like an accurate description. As an intern, I had a unique view of concert outreach at a Coldplay show because I understood the experience from the perspective of a fan, concert team leader, volunteer coordinator, and team rock member. After my brief stint on the tour filling in for Pete last fall, it was decided that should an Oxfam America employee be asked to represent Oxfam on the tour, that it would be me. I thought it was cool that I was considered, but didn’t actually think I’d end up on the tour one day… funny isn’t it? How are you finding life on the road? Spectacular. I love travelling. Coldplay’s crew is so friendly and fun to hang out with. Perhaps you should ask me again when this leg is over, I may be more road weary by then. The key for me on the road has been to pack light, get at least 7 hours of sleep, and never lose sight of how awesomely cool this once in a lifetime opportunity is. I also travel with a guitar, so I’ve been learning how to play to keep me busy. You've mentioned in your blog that you've missed some family events whilst on tour, does this make it harder? Or do you not have much time to miss home? I think it’s harder on my family then it is on me to be honest. I was sad about missing my brother’s graduation, but missing it was a choice I made and accepted when I joined the tour. I got some pretty heavy news while out on tour and didn’t have a moment to deal with it. I was in a funk for days; that was hard. It’s funny too because Brian came out for a show during that period and it was the first time he had seen me train a team of volunteers. And you know what? I totally BOMBED it. It was horrible. That night Brian and I talked into the wee hours of the morning about a lot of things. That’s when I wrote the entry “Drop the Bricks and Carry the Balloons” in the blog. What's been your favourite moment on tour so far? The hardest question thus far! I think the moment that stands out was on my first day on the tour in West Palm Beach. It was the day before the show and Bob and I had spent the day organizing the Oxfam materials and such. That evening when we wrapped up, we headed to the lawn to watch sound check. As I lay on the grass and looked at the stars, it hit me where I was, what I was doing, and how amazing my life was. I had the whole summer ahead of me. I was so happy; I started trying to do cartwheels on the lawn as “Yellow” played. I have moments of realization like this often, but the cart wheeling fiasco hasn’t been repeated. Here’s a picture of me falling on my behind after attempting a cartwheel. It’s my favorite picture I have from this tour. If anyone would like to help out Oxfam America on the Coldplay tour, are there any volunteer slots still available? If not, how else can people become involved with Oxfam America? Yes! Check out our newly re-launched site: http://www.Oxfamamerica.org/Coldplay where you can offer to volunteer. You can also email me directly at [email protected] and I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about a show near you. I also highly recommend that Coldplayers in the US join Oxfam America’s Climate Change Action Team. You’ll be given simple ways to educate your friends, Congress, and the media about the effects of climate change on poor people in the US and in developing countries. Much love to Coldplaying.com for your unwavering support!

the tram stop is underneath the station :D as you come off the platforms into the main station, head towards the left. its pretty well signposted though. nice turquoise & grey colours :) and I've confused my stations :embarassed: you need Old Trafford, not Trafford Bar :laugh3:

which station you coming from again? I forgot. i think you're on the train via York? in which case, your train will terminate at Piccadilly, which is perfect. can get on a tram (Met/Metrolink) at Piccadilly and get off at Trafford Bar. Your train ticket only counts as far as G-Mex so best just to buy a return ticket at Piccadilly (machines are on the tram platform) you can always count me in for a glass of champagne :D t'other way round :P I'll likely be driving better had be, missy :P :kiss: is that the one on the back street near Waterstone's?

they haven't said, but I'm guessing from what they've written on the website, they're looking for something that you found special, and a good description of why you found it so great. as for anyone outside the uk, as I said at the bottom of the first post, they haven't posted terms & conditions yet. they're adding the entry form for the forum on Monday, so hopefully should have more info then.

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!! the competition is now open :D check out this thread http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59681

Check out this thread http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59681 :D

Absolute Radio “Live Stories” – Forum Competition We have the opportunity to take part in another forum competition with Absolute Radio, similar to the Rock-Off. This time around it’s all about your live experiences, and could win prizes for you and the Coldplaying forum. This summer, Absolute Radio is bringing you free live music every day. To celebrate, they are once again pitting forums against each other in a series of competitions called 'Live Stories'. Your gig and festival experiences could win you tickets to a fantastic live event, and the winning forum gets to pick the line-up for a virtual festival to be broadcast on Absolute Radio, using our extensive archive of live recordings! Here’s how the Absolute bit works: Absolute are asking forums to discuss your live experiences and submit the best stories. It could be anything connected to live music; the time you watched a David Bowie gig from backstage, or got lost at Glastonbury and discovered Tibetan throat singing for example. Chances are though, it will be a Coldplay show! Coldplaying.com has to submit 4 live stories to the Absolute Competition (that’s one a week for 4 weeks from 3rd August) Each week, the entries from each forum will be judged by a panel. They will select stories to go forward to the public vote for that week. The winning story for the week wins the writer a pair of live concert tickets (see below for more info), and puts the forum into the final. Here’s how Coldplaying need you: Submit your story to this thread when you have finished it; Your fellow forum friends then vote for the entries and the Administrator of the forum submits a vote-winning story for each event. (four in total) Each week, the nominated stories from various forums get filtered down by a panel of Absolute judges. The selected stories then go to a public vote for which story is the best. The winner for the event it was submitted to will receive a pair of tickets to that event. The winner of each event then writes an account of the event they attended, and these stories then go to a vote. The forum the winning story came from then gets to program their very own two hour virtual festival made up of live music from the Absolute Radio back catalogue to be played out live on air. What you need to do now: We need you to post your live stories in this thread by 19:00 GMT Sun 19th July. The following instructions apply: Please don't use any smilies or links in your review. The review should be written in proper english - no abbreviations or text speech. Think of how the better newspaper reviewers write their reviews! From Sun 19th July to Wed 29th July, the forum will vote on their favourite reviews. The 4 reviews with the most votes will be our 4 entries for the Absolute Competition. In the event of a tie-break, the Admins & mods will decide which stories are entered. The Prizes: If your story is one of Absolute’s 4 weekly winners, you will get tickets for any of the following: Oasis at V Festival The Killers at V Festival U2 at Wembley Coldplay at Wembley Radiohead at Reading Festival Arctic Monkeys at Reading Festival (as far as I understand it, they will specify which tickets are up for grabs each week). Even if you can't go to one of these concerts, please consider entering and if you win, donate your tickets to your Coldplaying friends! They'll love you forever! *If Coldplaying gets to the final, the forum wins its own virtual festival on the radio! We program a two-hour festival, choosing songs from Absolute’s live archive. There’s a little bit more about the competition on Absolute’s website http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/music/live/stories/ but as yet there are no terms & conditions. Once we know more, we’ll let you know. The Terms & Conditions are here: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/music/live/stories/terms.html?utm_source=left_nav The bits that stood out to me: The live stories submitted for entry must be on behalf of the forum, not you as an individual. Only one entry is permitted from each forum and must be submitted by a forum administrator or moderator. (As part of the entry process, you’ll have to include the forum thread/s showing the discussion your forum had). Your entry has to be made up of four live stories, one per competition. You’ll be able to match your stories to events on the entry form. By entering the competition, you warrant that your submission is original and does not infringe the third party intellectual property rights of any third party (and you shall indemnity Absolute Radio for any breach of this warranty). We’re looking for great stories from live events. These could be about seeing a band play, or the exploits you got up to at a festival. We need to see that your live stories are a true forum effort, so make sure plenty of your forum users contribute to a lively discussion in the forum thread you submit with your entry. Winners in each competition will be chosen by the public by way of an online vote at absoluteradio.co.uk/music/live/stories. Each competition vote will be open for five days, between 8.00am (GMT) on the Monday and 11.59pm (GMT) on the Friday. Only one vote per person per competition is permitted. The winner of each match will be announced on-air at 2.00pm (GMT) on the Saturday. For each competition, the person whose story wins (as voted for by the Absolute Radio listeners and users) will get a pair of tickets to a live event the following weekend. The prize events for each competition are as follows: 3rd to 9th August, U2 at Wembley; 10th to 16th August, V Festival; 17th to 23rd August, Reading Festival; and 24th to 30th August, Coldplay at Wembley. The winner will be asked to create a live story with their experiences from the events they won tickets to. This will then go on to represent the winner’s forum.

ok, so we now know what's happening. Watch out for a new thread very shortly, explaining all :D

are you arriving on the saturday? what station does your train arrive at? the answers to those questions will help get you the best route :D

you got anyone in mind? :thinking: :P

wow! just stumbled across this thread this evening. what a horribly tragic accident. RIP Nettie

they make them as they're ordered. but we're switching the shirts out on the 1st August, and putting Anna's design, which is almost the same as the old one, on sale.

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee my team is picked and alll ready to show the Bandits what's what :P

I would guess it would also depend on their schedule. if they're in town for a few nights, and don't mind hanging around for the fans to clear they might stay. if they need to rush to the airport, then they'd need to do a runner.

yours are in production :D

I didn't realise they only took credit cards. Except Ian ordered his t-shirt & he doesn't have a credit card :confused:

6.09pm: OK, so here are a couple of pictures from the flight. The reclining chair was home to Jonny, who caught a few winks on the way...

and what he forgot to mention is that because he had to travel on a sunday, the first class lounge wqasn't open so he didn't get his freebies from there either :lol:

We'll let you know :)

I'm quite a few things :D

Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Day Off in Calgary Crawled into my bunk last night around 2:30am, a few minutes after we pulled away from the venue in Winnipeg. Woke up this morning around 8:00, but having changed time zones yet again, it was really 7am in Alberta. Whenever I'm in Alberta, I can't help but think of my favorite Neil Young song, "Four Strong Winds." Neil performs it, but it was written by a guy named Ian Tyson. Partial lyrics: "Think I'll go out to Alberta, Weather's good there in the fall. I got some friends that I could go to working for. Still I wish you'd change your mind, If I ask you one more time. But we've been through this a hundred times or more. Four strong winds that blow lonely, Seven seas that run high. All those things that don't change, come what may. If the good times are all gone, Then I'm bound for movin' on. I'll look for you if I'm ever back this way." Beautiful song, and it's from my all-time favorite Neil Young album, "Comes A Time," from 1978. I have listened to that record hundreds of times in my rocking chair on my front porch. And I'll listen to it many more… Finally made it to the hotel around 3pm. Up to my room and get some work done for a bit, then shower and head out for dinner. I walked around for awhile, stopping and reading menus at places I passed along the way, but wound up eating back at the pub attached to the hotel. The entrees sounded good, and the appetizers sounded even better. I got the Stilton Cheese Dip, which was served in a pumpernickel bread bowl with Granny Smith apple slices and bagel crisps. Damn good, damn fine. Also got an order of Blarney chips, which were really nachos without the tortilla chips. In their place, the base was made of waffle fries. Had the usual toppings – cheese, onions, jalapeno pepper slices. I was drinking some lager from the Netherlands that the bartender recommended. All I remember is that the name started with a "D." Tasty stuff it was, indeed. Made it up to my room by 9:30 and in bed by 11:30… http://bd58.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-post.html ---- Monday, June 22, 2009 Heading Home Noon flight from Vancouver to Toronto. Nice seat, cranky asshat in the seat next to me, though. Forgettable flight, as they all should be. I watched a movie (Bourne Identity) on my iPod, listened to some tunes, read a magazine, and before you know it, we'd landed. Even after going through U.S. Customs and Immigrations (in Toronto? Huh?), I still had an hour-plus to kill, so I went and grabbed a bite to eat. The flight to RDU was on a Canada Air Regional Jet, much smaller, but a had a row (of 2 seats) to myself. On the ground in Raleigh by about 10:30pm. Cab to the house and then there I sat, wide awake until 3am… http://bd58.blogspot.com/2009/06/heading-home.html

bumping again :)

blue sky & sunshine now :P so going by our beautiful weather, the yellow poncho is a necessity :lol:

raining :D after a scorching morning, although not as scorching as earlier in the week