Yeah I've spent years promoting US music and culture, so it just gets
me upset. It marrs the experience. I'm the very person they should be
encouraging to come over. I understand that they may need to be
vigilant but the assumption that there is something amiss, I find
unpleasant and stressful. It seems arbitrary.
On 25/04/2006, at 7:18 PM, Stewart Caig wrote:
When I went to the DEMF a few years ago me and a friend got hauled
in at
Philadelphia airport and questioned in seperate rooms for almost an
hour.
With the customs official constantly going and checking out
everything I
said with my friend in the other room! We then made the mistake of
getting
the bus across to canada for a couple of hours to get the passport
an extra
stamp and have a steak. It took all of 10 minutes to get there and
2 hours
to get back in again!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Cyclone Wehner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "O.L. From The Basement" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "313 Mailing List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: (313) DEMF 2006: To Go Or Not To Go?
I had to miss last year and will miss again this year. I am broke.
But even if I had the money, I just find travelling to the US too
stressful these days. I don't see me going until there's a change of
government policy. The fact that I work in media makes it v awkward
to go into the US even on holiday. It's the only country that makes
media get a visa to cover things for outside press and they've
toughened it up so much that the small papers I work for can't help
me and it's just too difficult. You go to Europe and Japan and
Australia it's easy, you're greeted. In Melbourne they even have
programs for visiting journos which includes people to take you to
cool clubs and venues and so on. It's hard when I am going on a
holiday and possibly writing on it - the US customs don't have a
category for that. We've made enquiries here and it's just too
difficult.
On 24/04/2006, at 10:08 AM, O.L. From The Basement wrote:
How many list members from outside the U.S. or from the U.S. but
require air
travel are going to this year's festival or are still waiting for
the final
artist lineup to make their decision.
Do you think the artist lineups for the afterparties will be
affected by the
lineup for the festival? If the Detroit underground artists do not
support
the festival will they still have their afterparties and invite
guests from
far away or just take the weekend off? Will U.R. have an
Interstellar
Fugitives party; will Alex have an electro party? I just wish they
could
plan these events farther in advance.
Some things to ponder.
Orrin
