What the World Needs Now ... Are Free Concert Tickets!

Like any properly narcissistic rock star, Coldplay's Chris Martin is easily identifiable by any of these following trademark characteristics:

a) his haute wife
b) his freshly-post-pubescent falsetto speaking voice
c) his unabashed endorsement of Make Trade Fair

If you've ever seen Coldplay - and it's almost impossible not to have, since they're quite literally everywhere nowadays (OMG, they just walked past our cubicle!) - you've probably noticed the MTF signs, whether etched on Martin's upright piano, patched on his guitar strap, or tattooed onto the shaved scalps of his Tibetan child slaves offstage.

But really really, Make Trade Fair is a neat organization and we're glad Martin and Co are so gung-ho about supporting it. And earlier this week we found out from our good pal Vicki - a temporary transplant from New York City - about a great opportunity for you to get involved with MTF and score a little reward for yourself:

Make Trade Fair and Oxfam are tagging along with Coldplay on their current tour; as is the case with every other city, when they come to ACL they'll be looking for volunteers to disseminate information about their organizations and educate concert-goers about today's extortionist global trading system. In exchange for helping them out, you'll get a pass into the venue on the day of Coldplay's performance. Of course, you'll be spending most of your time approaching random strangers and trying to get them to care about people in other countries they probably know nothing about. But still, it's a chance to do a bit of good and avoid paying for admission.

Volunteer for Make Trade Fair

At least check out their site. Because the starving third-world farmer you save just might be yourself.