Musical Border Crossing

[Sally Driscoll]

I, too, would be happy to sign a petition and contact my representatives. If
someone has the time to gather together some data, that would be helpful. I
am tired of my favorite musicians--from Canada and Europe--being turned away
at the border or denied visas. Perhaps all the musicians on this list could
send in information about their own experiences, and then forward a request
to their friends to do the same, and so on???

Sally

-----Original Message-----
From: cbmusic-bounces at locals.ca [mailto:cbmusic-bounces at locals.ca]On
Behalf Of Mike LITTLE
Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 6:10 PM
To: cbmusic at locals.ca
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 Island


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

_______________________________________________
http://www.cbmusic.com

_______________________________________________
http://www.cbmusic.com



_______________________________________________
http://www.cbmusic.com

_______________________________________________
http://www.cbmusic.com