Musical Border Crossing

Wed Feb 18 23:32:48 AST 2009

Emily:
Thank you for your kind comments. I guess our family has loved scottish music for so long that when they asked dad why we liked the music so much, his answer was that we were vacinated with a scottish gramaphone needle.:):):)  As I've said often, where we lived in Belle Cote/Margaree, we went to the the same church, stores, schools, etc as the scottish people as the french lived on the east side on the east side of the Margaree River and the scottish lived on the west side. I would have to agree that many families lost their french language which is a shame. In our family, it was understood that we spoke french in our home but if an english speaking person entered, out of courtesy, we were to speak english.
The Cheticamp area is working hard to maintain its language and culture but sometimes, over zealous people can turn off people which brands them as radicals. Howver, the older people tell us of the prejudices that existed years ago and some people will say that some of those prejudices subtly still exist today. I like to think that living pacefully side by side and recognizing your neighbour's culture makes for a better society. To me, the more languages a person knows is an advantage even in the economical world. In fact, our two children got immediate enployment after graduating because they were bilingual. In act, they got employment before graduates who had superior academic marks. (I guess I've strayed away from the topic at hand).
Regards.
Marcellin Chiasson

--- On Tue, 2/17/09, E MALCOLM <emily-malcolm at rogers.com> wrote:

From: E MALCOLM <emily-malcolm at rogers.com>
Subject: Re: Musical Border Crossing
To: cbmusic at locals.ca
Received: Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 2:20 AM

Oh Marcellin, you are so humble!  I'm sure you are very good at playing the
fiddle.  You have to be.  You're a French Cape Bretoner.  Can't get
much better than that.  Since I am half (French, that is) I can say that and
mean it too.

Emily

--- On Mon, 2/16/09, Marcellin Chiasson <marcellinchiasson at yahoo.ca>
wrote:

From: Marcellin Chiasson <marcellinchiasson at yahoo.ca>
Subject: Re: Musical Border Crossing
To: cbmusic at locals.ca
Received: Monday, February 16, 2009, 2:40 PM

Mike (and other Cape Breton Music Lovers)

I was dumbfounded what the border crossing guards did to Mairi Rnkin and her
driving companion. I know that tighter boarder regulations have become more
strict since 9-11.

l think I may have found some of the reason why Mairi and her fiddle were
turned back. I bet one of those guards overheard me play the fiddle at some
Cape
Breton venue and said "Hey, this instrumention could be dangerous to a
person's health to have to listen to this", thus the tihtening on the
reg's for the Cape Breton fiddle. Of course, Mairi would have taken some
lessons roughly around the same time I did but she soon left me in her dust
with
her talents, her personalty and her abilities.. (Smile).

Seriously, I'll sign any petition in support of our outrage against this
type of harassment against our pride and joy musicians.What law would she have
broken to prevent such a wonderful talented person from crossing the border.
Looks like some guard was on a power trip.

Macellin Chiasson.

--- On Fri, 2/13/09, Mike LITTLE <mike.little at ns.sympatico.ca> wrote:

From: Mike LITTLE <mike.little at ns.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Musical Border Crossing
To: cbmusic at locals.ca
Received: Friday, February 13, 2009, 11:09 PM

[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

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