My July 2008 Blog

By Alexandra McLoughlin

On the 4th July I finally finished college. I was excited and relieved because I knew I had worked hard at "perfecting" my grades. I was also thrilled with the idea of moving on to higher education. The day was very emotional for most people in the media department and even the boys were nearly in tears!

A few days after college, I went shopping with my mum for university items which made me even more excited! I bought stuff for the kitchen such as bowls and glasses as I will be living in the ‘halls’of residence. Surprise, surprise I went to the Disney store for those gorgeous Disney utensils and a few other bits. I bought myself a notebook of ‘The Beatles’ too from another store because as media student it will come handy.

Since last month I have been busy applying for the Student Loan for my University. I was happy with the fact that could be done online, although I had to send my passport to them for verification of identity and also my parents had to fill another form also online with their income details but it is very easy. I have now received the confirmation with details of how much I will be getting to cover the Tuition Fees and Maintenance Loan. I was also entitled to a small maintenance grant which I don’t have to payback although I am not very worried about borrowing the money because I will only start paying back the Student Loan after I finish university and be earning more than £15,000 per annum. The monthly payments are very low too so I am very pleased with that.

The next exciting event for me this month was the celebration of the VQ Day (Vocational Qualification) which was held at a cocktail party at the Royal Opera House in London and was hosted by Alesha Dixson whose BTEC qualification helped lead to her success.

It felt surreal being in such an amazing place and event. There were many people such as Politicians, Members of the Education Department, OCR, Edexcel and various representatives from various private companies. There were also many photographers and press people who took photos of me which I loved! I recall myself saying “I could get used to this!” I love having my photo taken!.

Me at the VQ Day event - Can you spot my name on the list of successful students?

The VQ Day was celebrated across the country but the main event took place in London and included seven stands showcasing vocational skills, from engineering to catering, as well as live vocal and dance performances.

I managed to speak to Alesha. She was wonderful! She used to be the lead singer of UK Garage band ‘Miss Teeq’ and the winner of the TV Show Strictly Come Dancing. Alesha and her make-up artist seemed to like me so spoke for quite some time and they were very impressed with my hard work so they congratulated me on winning BTEC Learner of the year award runner up and the Most Promising Journalist Award. I really enjoyed the event. I felt like a VIP. It was lovely to be noticed for my achievements.

Me together with Gary Hawkes (Chairmain of Edege), Emyr Thomas (another successful BTEC student) and Jerry Jarvis (Managing Director of Edexcel) at the VQ Day Celebration event at the Royal Opera House

After the VQ ceremony my mum and I headed off to watch a TV show being filmed called “Transmission with T-Mobile” which an awesome music show from Channel 4. I was very fortunate to get free tickets for that particular date as Alice Cooper, Bobby Gillespie and Sam Sparro were going to be on it! I’m a big fan of those guys so I couldn’t believe my luck! And thankfully I managed to meet all of them at the event. It was very interesting to see how the show was filmed and what the presenters have to go through especially as they have my dream job!

Me with singer Sam Sparro during the making of the Channel 4 music show "Transmission".

This month I was also busy editing some video clips which I filmed at the Second e-Learning Technology Conference held at the Brighton University that took place last month.

At the moment I am still very busy updating my website putting up pictures that I took at the Glastonbury Festival. The reason why is taking me so long is because before I publish the pictures I have to edit them, reducing the size and placing my copyright logo on them. I toook over 700 pictures of live artists but as soon as I have completed, I will put a link to this blog so please check out this page again soon.

I have my work experience with the NME Magazine coming out end of August so will be telling all about that next month.

JUNE 2008

The beginning of June was highly exciting for me as I received a phone call from the Glastonbury press office with some good news…"YOU HAVE PRESS ACCREDITATION AGAIN!” I was ecstatic! I was told that I had been recommended from last year due to my hard word and enthusiasm, I was flattered about this comment and even more excited. I wasn’t expecting to be given press accreditation again so when I received the phone call on my mobile during lunchtime at college, I was shocked and extremely pleased. I screamed at my ex-teacher Karen “I HAVE PRESS ACCESS FOR GLASTO AGAIN!!” She was so pleased for me. To be honest the whole thing didn’t kick in until I got home from College.

Short after I received the phone call from Glastonbury, I travelled down to Brighton to film clips and take photos of the Brighton e-Learning conference. It was brilliant! I learnt so much about the new technology that’s being introduced into learning. It was really interesting and I met some exciting people. I had a really good time.

You can watch the video clip on the follwing websites:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=UFRQ6Xbjqs8

After the eLearning Conference I went back to a very busy college schedule and work hard to try to complete all my final assignments as it was coming near to the end of my course and it has been a very stressful time. I didn’t really enjoy all the stress. Although we were told that we would not be getting anymore work from college but it just kept piling up. It was so frustrating! I tried hard to boost my grades to get into university and at least I was glad that had the Glastonbury festival to look forward to…

Next up was the movie premiere of Narnia Prince Caspian. Tickets were sold for this charity event so I bought a ticket for myself and so did my friend Monica. We headed up to the O2 arena in London with my mum and our friend for the premiere. We were so excited! We couldn’t believe we’d be walking down the red carpet with all the stars. It was a sold-out event so my mum didn't buy a ticket for herself but she was lucky that she got given one when we arrived there which we couldn’t believe! We really enjoyed ourselves and I took many pictures for my website

A few days later I attended the Scamp Awards Ceremony held at The Hawth Theatre in Crawley which was a sponsored by the Central Sussex College. I won an award! ‘Most Promising Journalist award’ I couldn’t believe it! I was nominated by my Journalism Teacher and he was teary eyed when he presented the award to me on the night. I won a trophy! It still hasn’t sunk in for me.

A week before the festival was due, my mum and dad drove me down to Glastonbury and we stayed overnight in a pub nearby. I wasn’t too nervous this year unlike last, the reason for this was that I had stayed in touch with some friends from the press and Journalists that I met there last year. I kept in touch with them and we became good friends. They all had accredication again so I knew I’d see them again and was so excited!

The day after, mum and dad dropped me off at the Glastonbury site. I knew it would be a long hike to get to the backstage compound however I was really happy so I wasn’t that bothered in the end.

Please come back to this site next month where you will be able to read my July's blog and I will be telling you all about my experiences at Glastonbury so hope to see you soon.

MAY 2008 

April was such a busy month for me with so many events that I was hoping for some quite time in during May so I could concentrate on my studies, however it was another busy month with many events planned but I was left with no choice but to cancel some of these events and decided to spend most of the time at college doing many assignments and completing various pieces of work.

Although It was rather stressful month for me, I did manage to find the time to photograph bands at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton which I was lucky to have given press accreditation.

The Great Escape Festival was fantastic! Despite the first day saw my camera stop working which meant I couldn’t take photos, however on of the great things about doing a Media Course is the fact that sometimes we can borrow equipments from my college so I was able to borrow an excellent professional camera so I could use for the rest of the festival. That shows how supportive my Teachers are about us Students, they even made sure that I had plenty spare rechargeable batteries for the camera!

During the registration process for the festival I bumped into a record label PR who I’d met in November. I wasn’t expecting to see him again so it was a very surprised and in a bit of shock but we spoke and I was very happy about that.

At the end of the evening I reviewed the first performance of a band called One Niight only and they were wonderful. I really enjoyed their set.. I also managed to catch quite a few other amazing acts on that day. You can view the review on my Telegraph and MTV Blogs at:

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/alexandra_mcloughlin/blog/2008/05/24/one_night_only__gig_review_

http://www.mtv.co.uk/user/alexmcloughlin/blog/423058

Day two of the Great Escape Festival was also great as I met some other photographers, who were very friendly. We spoke about festivals and gave each other advices and tips relating to Journalism. I photographed some street gigs with my friend Alex who was also working at the Festival. He introduced me to another PR person and band Manager. I always feel privileged to meet these people as not only they are interesting and we have so much in common it is also a way of building up contacts which may come in handy in my future career in Media so whenever Alex introduced me to a band manager or PR I felt pleased.

Day three was filled with excitement. It was the last day of the festival so I was a little sad about that. I took so many photographs. I knew that when I got back to college I would have lots of work to catch up on which I wasn’t looking forward to. The whole festival was fabulous.

I didn’t really do anything after the Great Escape due to the high amount of work I had to complete at college. I attempted to improve my grades and finish the work. I did a lot of writing though in my spare time which my Journalism teacher John said he’d mark for me as part of my grades. I was also glad that he took in consideration all the blogs that I have written in the past including the ones for The Telegraph, MTV and the Student Network.

Here is a picture of me with the members of a band called "Hatcham Social" who were DJ-ing at one og the venues of The Great Escape Festival in Brighton.

p.s. Oops! Last month (April) was so busy for me with so many events to attend and I had so much on my mind that I even forgot to mention that I went up to London to the movie premiere of Flashbacks of a Fool so I could take pictures of the Stars as they arrive on the "red carpet" and besides many celebrities, I also had the pleasure of meeting the James Bond Actor the gorgeous Daniel Craig who is the main star of the movie Flashbacks of a Fool.

Here is a picture of me with him:

APRIL 2008

April was supposed to be a quite month for me however so much did happen that I only have space to list the main events.

Starting with the UK Movie Premiere of ‘Shine a Light’ by the Rolling Stones. Although I didn’t get press access, I went to Leicester Square as a fan and took my camera with me hoping to get some good shots of the members of the Rolling Stones.

This event was really exciting because I was interviewed for ITV about questions relating to the ‘Rolling Stones’. This was the first time I’d been interviewed for TV and was a bit overwhelming. I really enjoyed it! At the same afternoon, I was also interviewed for Capital Radio which was also an interesting experience for me. I wasn’t expecting this to happen!

A few days after the ‘Shine a Light’ premiere I travelled to Brighton to see a band called ‘Spit like This’. Since meeting the lead singer and his girlfriend last year I kept promising to them that I would see them live which I finally did. The show was fantastic and it was really great meeting the other band members and I took many photos.

Short after the ‘Spit like This’ gig I started getting emails and comments on myspace from my friends including ‘Spit like This’ who saw me on TV being interviewed about the ‘Rolling Stones’. I was so shocked! The program was repeated many times on ITV1 and ITV2 so when I watched the repeat and saw myself I was really impressed with the answers I gave during the interview.

On the 11^th April I headed down to Brighton again to see my favourite band ‘Aiden’ again. Also at this show I was due to interview a lovely band called ‘Brigade’ in which Charlie Simpson’s brother (ex member of Busted) is the lead singer of the band. The interview went extremely well.

The day after the ‘Aiden’ gig I had another band interview but this time I had to travel to London. The band called "Every Time I Die", they are a punk rock band from Buffalo, New York, I interviewed Andy who is the guitarist . It was a real pleasure to interview him. Everything went smoothly and he even said I looked nice. Bless! I don’t usually get compliments like that so I was very pleased.

On the 20^th it was the day of the Bafta TV Award. I was disappointed for not getting press accreditation for this year’s event as they have just changed the PR Company that deals with press requests however I decided to make my own way to the London Palladium and line up in the street joining the other fans hoping to catch some good pictures of the celebrities as they arrive on the red carpet and perhaps some autographs for my private collection.

I was glad that I took my mum with me so she could take pictures of me with many Stars, including Nicholas Hoult (from the new TV series Skins), Tess Daly (from Strictly Come Dancing), Jon Snow (News Presenter from channel 4), Martin Kemp (from the 80s band Spandau Ballet and actor who played Steve Owen in EastEnders) and many more.

Since returning from the Baftas I created a video montage with all the photos that I took which can be viewed on Youtube. (I have added the link to the video at end of this blog).

I have also written and article titled: “Bafta TV Awards 2008 – What really went on the Red Carpet”. I have published the article on various websites that I now contribute to, including The Telegraph Blog, Google Blogger, Wordpress and my own website. I have put all the end of this article.

Finally this month, I was hand-selected by Edexcel together with 3 more successful students from around the country to attend a Parliamentary Reception at the House of Commons launching the VQ Day (Celebrating Vocational Success). I was overwhelmed by the reception and glad that my hard work and achievements haves been rewarding and I felt privileged to be surrounded by so many interesting and friendly people that were interested to hear about my experiences and pleased for me.

The speeches made were also very inspiring and interesting. It was amazing and I really hope to be invited to another event like this again.

I haven’t done much for the Student Network this month as I have been busy with College and booking many more interesting events which I will be attending in May.

http://alexandramcloughlin.wordpress.com/ http://alexandramcloughlin.blogspot.com/2008/05/bafta-tv-awards-what-really-went-on-red.html http://my.telegraph.co.uk/alexandra_mcloughlin/may_2008/bafta_tv_awards_2008_what_really_went_on_the_red.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz-6-ujAaFQ

http://www.europunk.net/members.php?id=3106

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=AidenQueen&p=r

FEBRUARY 2008

Me with Jamie Reynolds

I didn’t have much lined up for this month apart from 5 gigs to go to, a couple of interviewes and a presentation at college however February was full of surprises.

My first gig this month was “30 Seconds to Mars” at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. I brought my mum with me although she was worried that she would be the oldest person at the show and stand out but she was very wrong! We had a fabulous time and made some new friends. I had the opportunity to take pictures of the band whose leading singer is the Hollywood Actor Jared Leto famous for his acting roles in several films such as How to Make an American Quilt, Urban Legend, The Thin Red Line, Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream and Alexander.

Two days after the 30 Seconds to Mars gig I went to see "The Blackout" in Brighton, a band I interviewed in November. I was surprised to find out that they still remembered me…I don’t understand why apparently I’m a memorable person! Anyway I had a great time and the show was very good fun.

Here are some pictures of 30 Seconds to Mars as requested:-

My next event was one I had been looking forward to since before Christmas which was The Horrors again! But at this time at the London Astoria. I met some really interesting people at this event who I am still in touch with. I also interviewed a band at this gig called Ulterior who were very sweet and hilarious! But for my surprise I also happened to bump into Jamie Reynolds from The Klaxons. This was my second time meeting him. I invited him to come to a show that I was suppose to attend on the following day. I felt over the moon and he told me he would!

I Also bumped into Peaches Geldorf for the fourth time but I didn’t want to bother her so I didn’t say anything.

On the next day after interviewing Ulterior and seen The Horrors live, I travelled back to London to see my friends band called Neil’s Children playing. I arrived at three o’clock in the afternoon and caught up with the band. They allowed me to come to the venue and watch them doing their sound check. After about two hours the doors were open and I bumped into all of The Horrors again apart from Josh. I was overwhelmed! I was also pleased to that Jamie Reynolds kept his promise he made to me and came along like I asked him to. He’s wonderful and really down to earth!

To complete my excitement, I applied for press accreditation for The Great Escape Festival 2008 which will be in May over 25 venues in Brighton. I not only have been accepted to join the press but I was also invited to the Launch Party which took place on the 29^th of February. I met many press people, made some new friends and had a lovely time.

JANUARY 2008

I was very much looking forward for this month as I knew it was going to be very exciting. It was the start of and important year me (2008) as this is the year when I leave college to start university and the beginning of a new and more mature life.

The first exciting event for me was my 18th Birthday and a good friend of mine did a little party for me. I had a wonderful time and even tried a bit of champagne!

The next big achievement for me was when I received an email from Kerrang confirming that they were happy to let me do work experience with them! I was very pleased and excited about it even though the dates they have booked me are so far away in October!

I returned to college from the Christmas holidays on the 7th and I was looking forward to seeing my college friends again and to know what they had been up to. The Teachers gave our class information on our next major media projects. We found out we were going to start studying “Music Videos” and that we had to start preparing for a presentation on them. I started to feel a little nervous about this because a lot of work would be needed for me to get a ”Distinction”, anyhow I was excited and willing to do what it takes to get myself a grade that I’m happy with. The fact that we would be making music videos sounded exciting! I never thought I would do something like this before!

At around mid of this month, I also travelled to Brixton in London to see an American Band called “Avenged Sevenfold” who were on tour here in the UK. I arrived at the venue at 4 o’clock and was shocked too see the size of the queue. It went right around the whole venue and down the road. I had never seen anything quite like it! The show itself was amazing and I had won a competition to meet and greet the band so I was more than happy.

The next day there was message left for me from the Sussex Spring Awards Organisers telling me that I had won the runner-up prize for the BTEC Learner of the Year awards. At first thought my mum was playing a joke and didn’t believe her but apparently it was true. I cannot explain how happy I was when I found out about it. I went and told everyone at my college including my teachers. They were all really pleased for me!

All the excitement for January didn’t end there me as at the last week I did work experience for “Bliss Magazine”. I carried out various tasks for the editorial team including research for features and feature brainstorming, organising fashion returns and carrying out general administrative tasks. I had to collect and sort out the newspapers every morning and pick out any newsworthy stories for the magazine. I was told by the Editor Assistant that I had a natural ability for collating pages to an extremely short deadline and that I can work under pressure. The funniest part of the job was when I was asked to make up quizzes to be published in the magazine. I also had to do research work using a MAC computer. It was all really exciting worth the effort as I learnt quite a lot in a short period of time and met some nice people as well. January has been fantastic for me. I hope that the rest of the year is just as amazing.

DECEMBER 2007 

I started December with an interview lined up with “The Horrors” as they were supporting the Arctic Monkeys on the 9th at the Alexandra Palace. I also saw them at their show in Islington when I bumped into a band member who I had interviewed before from a band called Neil's Children. He had remembered me and came to talk to me for a bit. It made me feel happy as it was nice to be remembered and seeing him again. They had just come back from their tour with The Klaxons.

I also applied for the BTEC Learner of Year Award sponsored by many Organisations including the Hilton Hotel Group and the Learning and Skills Council Sussex. The nominees will be announced in February 2008.

Next up was my holiday in Orlando. I went for two weeks to celebrate my 18th Birthday. I went to Disneyworld, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld and Universal Studios. The staffs from the theme parks made me feel really special and I was given a happy birthday badge so I could stand out from the crowd.

It was lovely having a break from college because I was getting very stressed with all the work and completing my UCAS application form for university.

When I came back from my holiday I checked my emails. I found out that I had been offered work experience with NME, Q magazine and Kerrang starting in July. Not only that, but I also received a personal note from the Editor of Q magazine saying that he is looking forward to meeting me ASAP.

Further more great news was that I have been offered a place at the university from my top choice – Goldsmiths - which I have already replied to them accepting it. I am ecstatic about it!

2008 seems like it is going to be an amazing year. I am so excited to see how things look up for me.

Please check my website for audio interviews and links to the written version: http://www.alexmediaproduction.zoomshare.com/6.html

NOVEMBER 2007

This month was a busy month for me but I was very excited. The only major problem was the stress at college from so much work and tight deadlines.

The next wonderful event for me was interviewing the ‘New Young Pony Club’ at the Brighton Concorde 2. The band press officer was very kind and had not only given me permission to take photos of the event, but he also sent me spare tickets to the show so I could bring three friends with me. The band was brilliant live. They really knew how to put on a great show.

The 19th November I interviewed two bands that were playing at the London Astoria, “Atreyu” and “Still Remains” both from the USA. Two great bands! I was very happy to interview them and was also given a “plus one” ticket, , so I invited Lucy who kindly took photos of me interviewing the band. The show was fantastic and I was sad when it ended.

On the 27th I was lucky to be seeing a famous band from America called “Daughtry” playing live at the Scala in London. It was their only UK show so the band was going to be very busy on that day and unfortunately I wasn’t given an interview with them but I was happy to be given a photopass which meant I would be right in front of the stage with the best view of the band. The leading singer, Chris Daughtry became famous when he took part in the American TV show “American Idol” which is an American version of the X-Factor. I’d entered a competition a couple of days before the show to win a ticket for two people to see Daughtry live and to enter I had to write a little article about my most memorable gig, so I used one of my gig reviews that I had written in the past. I was “over the moon” when I received an email telling me that I had won, so I invited my mum and my godmother to come with me. I knew how much both of them adore Chris Daughtry. I hadn't told them about the competition, and they were flabbergasted that I actually won! My godmother was so excited that she got really ill on the day of the show and couldn’t make it.

'I was sad when it ended'

At the end of the gig I was able to meet Chris Daughtry “The American Idol Star”. He was lovely and very down to earth. The night was full of excitement and I am pleased that my mum had fun.

The 28th saw my first ever after show party of a gig. It was the after show party of Taste of Chaos 2007 at Brixton academy. On that same day I had interviewed a band called ‘The Blackout’ who were such a laugh and their tour manager said I could go to their after show party so I was given a VIP pass. That was an unexpected experience and it was very exciting. The gig beforehand was great! I was most excited when ‘Aiden’ came on stage. The other bands that played were “The Gallows”, “Rise Against” and “The Used”. All the bands were fantastic. I was very happy to be able to hang around with them at the party. The whole month was full of excitement and random surprises! I’m so looking forward to seeing what next month brings.

 OCTOBER 2008 

The month started well for me and I was lucky to interview with an American band called “Madina Lake”. I thought it would be very unlikely for me to be given the opportunity to interview them as they are a well known band in America but I truly believe in the saying “If you don’t ask you don’t get it”. I asked and I got it.

The interview took place in a venue in Kentish Town. The band's PR was very kind and she even came up to meet me at the fence outside the venue to then she took me to meet Madina Lake’s lead guitarist, Mateo. We did a quick 10 minute interview and I had a photo with him. I was also given a photopass for the show.

A few days later I had a surprise email from my new contact from Sony BMG offering me an interview with Kenny Anderson from King. This was very short notice and I wasn’t prepared because I didn’t know anything about King Creosote. However I didn’t want to say “no” to my new contact and I took up the challenge. Despite having very little time I did my research on the artist and within a couple of days later the interview took place. I was glad that I met Kenny Anderson from King Creosote; he was such a nice and funny person. The interview went better than I expected. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay to watch the live show because I had to wake up very early the next day for a very exciting experience…

Next morning I attended the Sussex Skills Festival where I was due to be a student ambassador on both days and I have been looking forward to it for a long time. This was very weird for me because the last time I’d been to one of these events I was in year 9 at secondary school. On this occasion I was at the event to promote the Student Network and Sussex Learning Network websites, and talk to the students about some of my educational experiences which I thoroughly enjoyed.

On the 13th October I had an interview with a Sixties influenced band called Neil's Children. I arrived at Camden Roundhouse in London and all the three band members came out to meet me and to take me backstage with them. I was quite nervous and excited. It was one of the longest interviews I ever done, thirty minutes long. I was so proud! They were very friendly and kept cracking jokes and laughing during the interview. I had such a wonderful time. Finally the day for my interview with Bowling for Soup had arrived and it was with Erik the guitarist. We spent ages chatting afterwards and had a good laugh.

The show was brilliant. I also interviewed their supporting band called Army of Freshmen. It was one of my best interviews and it felt surreal being backstage at the Brighton Centre.

October went very fast and my calendar for November is already full. Can’t wait!!!

SEPTEMBER 2007

The highlight of the month for me and the most exciting event was the Vodafone Music Awards.

I travelled up to Earls Court to wait for the acts to arrive hoping to get some nice photo shots. I am a big fan of some of the bands that were nominated for the awards, such as ‘The Enemy’ and ‘The Stereophonics’ so I was looking forward to see them. As soon as they arrived I called them over for a chat. They were lovely and talkative. 

I also had the opportunity to meet Alex Zane, who is the presenter of ‘Popworld’ from channel 4. He was funny and down to earth! Lil Chris was also there and Hollywood star Tara Reid from many movies including ‘American Pie’. She was such as a sweetie!

 AUGUST 2007 

Despite having started the month without luck and not letting the bad news get to me, I continued searching for contacts for more interviews, when my luck started to to pick up and I found my very first contact for Sony BMG. I immediately sent a request for an interview with The Hoosiers.

It had been a great achievement for me to get this contact. Another door had opened for me. I was not only given an interview with the Hoosiers which is booked for November but I was also given an interview with another band called The New Young Pony Club whose one of its member is the girlfriend of  one of the band member from The Klaxons.

Next up was meeting Dave Grohl and Tyler from the Foo Fighters. That was amazing! They were lovely and I took a picture of me with them.

The Foo Fighters were doing a special one off Radio 1 gig in Brighton.

I was also privileged to meet Zane Lowe from Radio 1 again (pictured left). I was thrilled that he remembered me from Glastonbury and asked me how my writing was going.

On the 21st August I went to see Aiden again. After watching the first show I had to rush to Camden to prepare myself for my interview with Patrick from Lights, Action! Later on that night, to my surprise, I met Paul Brannigan who is the editor of Kerrang Magazine. I was over the moon that he was there - my dream future boss, I thought to myself. I saw him standing in the venue and I went to speak to him and although I didn’t know what to say, I chatted to him and gave him my business card.

Finally the highlight of August for me was meeting The Horrors backstage at a charity show for the Children’s society at the grounds of a big mansion in Leeds called Harewood House. This was a big event as Iggy and the Stooges were headlining it. For a very long time I have been trying to get an interview with the Horrors, but without any luck, so I then decided to contact their supporting band The Sunshine Underground and I was fortunate enough to get interview with them.

I arrived at the Venue in Leeds after a five hours journey but it was worth it and exciting. I was also given a special photopass that would allow me to take pictures of all the bands playing on that show. I had to rush taking the photos of the fourth band playing called Sons and Daughters because I had my interview arranged with The Sunshine Underground. I met up with their tour manager and went backstage.

The interview was brilliant and the band members were hilarious! After my interview I stayed backstage when “Fairs” from The Horrors came by and sat down near me so I took a photo with him. We had a nice chat afterwards. He’s lovely and seemed happy enough chatting with me. I then got the opportunity to chat with the rest of the band. Spider Webb had remembered me from Glastonbury, although at Glasto I barely said anything to him because I was so shocked! Basically this month was full of fun and excitement! I wouldn’t have changed anything that happened. I just knew all of these happenings were possibly the beginning of something huge!

Here is a link to PART 1 my audio interview with The Sunshine Underground on my page in youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztxLmgBNESc

And here is a link to PART 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvrZNYtluLQ

Here is a link to my interview with Lights,Action! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmP0whfQLc0

JULY 2007

Opportunities over the summer

On the 25th July my mum and I travelled to the O2 Arena in London (The Old Millennium Dome). We were heading to go see the stars of The Simpsons Movie as it was the premiere of the movie in London. We got there quite early and stood at the barrier waiting the stars to arrive and also mum’s friend who was supposed to join us. I was very disappointed at first as I have been trying the whole of July to try and get “Press Access” for the event, and was unsuccessful. But I am starting to get used to get rejections in the journalism industry as it is not as easy as it seems. This is my advice to anyone out there looking for a career in journalism - to get used to rejections. But this does not stop me from trying.

Anyhow, I was determined to go to this event, with or without press access. So I went to the O2 arena and just waited until the celebrities started to arrive so I could at least take pictures of them together with the usual public.

When the stars started arriving I was in a really great mood. I finally got my chance to meet Edith from Radio 1. She was lovely and I had a photo with her and gave my business card to her too. There was an area called “The Beach” it was such a cool place! They were showing a movie on the big screen which you could watch for free. The whole place was beautiful. It was like being in Spain. The indoors looked liked the outdoors and it had palm trees inside and a “fake” moon. I am going there again in November to see My Chemical Romance live.

On the 27th July I had an interview planned with Acey Slade from Trashlight Vision which is a band based in Pennsylvania in the USA.

You can read the whole interview on this link: http://www.europunk.net/interviews.php?id=194

Or you can hear the audio version of most of my interviews on Youtube on this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/AidenQueen

The whole month of July was exciting. I discovered a new venue, met some big stars and radio celebrities, had fun with Acey Slade from Traghlight Vision/The Murderdolls and interviewed two awesome indie bands. Let’s see what happens next month…

MAY 2007

Presenting an filmed panel debate

This month I had a day of filming at Bexhill College, which caught me unexpectedly as I had no idea that I was going to be presenting the whole footage. I had to read an autocue as well as interview a panel of Students and an Education Welfare Officer. In a way, it was good that I wasn’t prepared as everything came naturally to me. I had never been filmed before in this manner so I was very pleased. I was a bit worried at first with all the lights that were very bright and was bothering my contact lenses but luckily it turned out great as if I had done it before. I just thought, Wow! What an amazing experience! I really hope to do something like that again in the future.

More opportunities This month was full of surprises for me; I was given press access to the Chelsea FC Player of the Year Awards, BAFTAs TV Awards and to complete my happiness, I received an email confirming press access to the Glastonbury Festival which I am very much looking forward to. e-Learning conference, 9 May 2007 I also had the opportunity to attend a Conference at the Sussex University in which I met some interesting people and at many occasions I had to write down quickly my contact details on a piece of paper to give to them , that’s when I realised that It would have been better off if I had business card. As soon as I got home on that same day, my priority was to go straight on the internet and shop for my own business cards.

Reflections on some negative points The whole experience with the Student Network has been challenging and positive at most times but unfortunately there have been some negative points: Lack of equipment, as there was not enough to share with others. I felt really under pressure sometimes as we all live apart from each other and even though some of us go to the same College we do not attend classes on the same day, so it was difficult to see people. There was one time when I ran out ink so couldn’t use my printer and had to use the one at College during my meal break. Communication was quite poor at the time and there were occasions when we didn’t have enough time to get feedback from each other. Occasionally some people had to use their own initiative without consulting the group and sometimes I didn’t have the chance to give my opinion. The reason for that is quite understandable and this is clearly not their fault as we work to reach deadlines and it is difficult to get replies from people when they are also very busy doing their outside work or studying, especially during the month of May when it was exams season. In the whole, it has been a pleasure and an honor to be a part of this project. I feel I have achieved a lot from it and would love to do something like this again.

APRIL 2007 

 Reflections on the Student Network

Despite the fact that April was short month for the Editorial Team due to Easter Holidays, we had a meeting with our Project Director, Rebecca Duffy, just before we broke-up to discuss the next step. So as a team we decided that it would be a good idea to interview a group of Students studying the same subject but with different views, positive and negative and their thoughts.

How to get interviews! I started the interviews at my College just after the Easter holidays and it was very hard to find Students willing to be interviewed as some of them were quite shy. So I had a couple of attempts. I also had to find time to catch the Students during their meal breaks. Another difficulty for me was to find a quite place, as during breaks it gets quite noisy with all the Students out for lunch.