Musical Border Crossing

[msullgreen at aol.com]

 Mike I would be more than happy to sign anything..Or contact my Senators about this ridiculous problem.  What happened to Mairi was pure nonsense.


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike LITTLE <mike.little at ns.sympatico.ca>
To: cbmusic at locals.ca
Sent: Fri, 13 Feb 2009 6:09 pm
Subject: Musical Border Crossing









[this info is a blend of two sources]-Not Getting any better!!! worse! 
 

Mairi Rankin concert at the Skye Theatre in Maine on Sunday was cancelled; 

because she was refused admission at the border because of some stupid paperwork irregularities. I think she was also playing at a few house concerts too, which will now have to also be cancelled. What a crock! As the cancelled concert shows, she surely wasn’t putting anyone else out of work—on the contrary, two fine Maine musicians, Don and Cindy Roy, were also on the bill with her at the Skye and they now won’t be paid either. 

 Cultural exchanges should be privileged, not penalized! 
 

 Mairi was interrogated by US guards at the border and turned back, and her driving companion was banned for attempting to "smuggle an illegal alien" into the country. 
 

Musicians are regularly hassled at the border crossing by U.S. guards.  Canadians welcome U.S. musicians but the US is not interested in Canadian musicians.  Even Americans are harrassed when returning to the U.S., often because the guards presume musicians might be smuggling drugs. 
 

I'd like
 to contact our senators and congressman about returning the musician visa process to pre-9/11 status--let me know if you would be interested in signing on to a petition. 
 

It used to take 30 days for musicians to get visas after the Canadian musician's union verified that the applicant was a bonafide musician, and musicians could adjust their itinerary to accommodate additional gigs.  Now it takes 4 months to process a visa request (unless you pay a $1000 rush fee, which doesn't always help), and musicians cannot alter their itinerary.  This, of course, favors large entertainment companies which plan major tours far in advance and have resources to process the paperwork. 
 

Sorry to bother some of you about this, but enough people have asked that I thought I'd send info to everyone, and save someone the trouble of showing up at the cancelled events. 
 

take care 

Mike & Marg  www.cbchoices.com 

mike.little at ns.sympatico.ca 

cbchoices at gmail.com 
 

 

On 24-Dec-08, at 12:11 PM, Will Richardson wrote: 
 

A very Merry Christmas to everyone from down here in Texas. 
 

Will Richardson 

Allen, TX 
 

 

-----Original Message----- 

From: cbmusic-bounces at locals.ca [mailto:cbmusic-bounces at locals.ca] On Behalf 

Of Mike LITTLE 

Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 5:50 AM 

To: cbmusic at locals.ca 

Subject: Re: universal season's greetings 
 

And Season Greetings from the Western Side of Cape Breton IslandC2
 


Mike & Marg  www.cbchoices.com 

mike.little at ns.sympatico.ca 
 

 

On 24-Dec-08, at 4:47 AM, marcello wrote: 
 

I would like to spread my best whishes for a Merry Christmas and an 

Happy 

New Year 

to all cbmusic friends! 
 

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo da Roma, Italia 
 

Marcello 
 


marcello.grillini at enea.it 
 

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