I got to ride in the bus yesterday – one of the things my crew and I most look forward to! ETS is the company that handles the tour packages for u2 and other artists – they have a bus for their crew and allow us to claim a spot (and on a side note, a big thanks to Don, Richard, Robin, Dave and the rest of the gang for being so helpful and supportive of our work all year!). So, yesterday was my turn to get to spend the 11 plus hour drive out of our cramped and somewhat uncomfortable truck and sitting upright working or laying stretched out or just walking around. Got into St. Louis late – around 11pm or so – ate pizza and watched South Park with Dan and Carlos who had already made it in and got ready for the show the next day.
St. Louis had a couple of things I was looking forward to: one was working with a kick ass crew of volunteers from Washington University. These students are part of an on campus Make Trade Fair chapter headed up by a fellow classmate – they have helped us at Warped Tour and Coldplay shows in the past. I also got to work with Rory again – she’s a senior at Washington and the daughter of Pam, my grad school advisor (also known as the incredibly patient person who seems somewhat un-phased by the fact that it has taken me nearly six years to finish my masters since I keep taking off years at a time to do this work…) – both Pam and Rory came out to help us at the Coldplay show in Irvine, so it was fun to get to work together again. The Washington U crew did a great job – getting 1600 people to join the campaign.
The other cool thing about St. Louis was having Kanye West join the tour. ‘Late Registration’ has been the most frequently played album in our driving this leg of the tour, and Carlos, Dan and I were way excited to hear him perform. The U2 crowd was into it as well, and he gave an amazing performance. Really looking forward to having him on for our final three shows.
I met a lot of people tonight that were really committed to doing more – so many people asking about wanting to volunteer, to start up activities locally for the campaign. It’s amazing to see the level of interest and support for this movement continue to grow and grow. It’s one thing to see the numbers, and the numbers are amazing and phenomenal, but for me, a lot of times it boils down to the one on one interactions with that college kid that you helped have an ‘aha’ moment. Or the mom that asks you to help explain to her 12 year old what wearing that white band means (years spent working with elementary aged kids makes me really good at this!), the guy that buys forty bands for his co-workers, or the couples that tell me what they are doing with their church, the volunteer that joins us for a show and in our introduction section tells me that they first learned about the campaign by talking to me and my crew at another U2 show in the spring – I love that this campaign is growing and helping people that live millions of miles away, and I love that it is getting people in this country active again. And in some ways, I feel like I have one of the best spots on the campaign right now, because I get to see and hear every night how this has impacted people and made them want to make a difference.
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2 comments:
Hi Brande, I was one of the volunteers at the concert, the British one! Thanks for the great experience at the concert, and I just wanted to say I am glad that I came to St. Louis and have been able to see first hand the genuine desire of a large number of people to make a real difference. Thanks again! Jo
Thanks again for your help Jo! We hope to work with you again soon!
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