Touring musicians prove borderline offensive
Mar 26, 2007, 08:45 PM | by Simon Vozick-Levinson
Categories: Music
What has the rock-star community done to get under the collective skin of the world's border-patrol services? It must have been something pretty bad, because the last few weeks have seen not one, not two, but three cases of talented musicians being senselessly prevented from entering a foreign land.
First, our own country's ever-competent Homeland Security Department barred Rodrigo Sanchez of Mexican duo Rodrigo y Gabriela from visiting Texas because he shares his name with another man on our terrorist watch list. (Maybe he should have changed his name to something safe — say, Cat Stevens.) Rodrigo y Gabriela's scheduled SXSW set was canceled, dealing a serious blow to their efforts to build buzz in the States. Luckily, that story has a happy ending: The government realized its error for once, and Rodrigo's visa was reinstated on Friday. (Check 'em out on Jimmy Kimmel Live on April 14.)
Then, it was reported today that British Home Office Minister John Reid had gotten into the act, declaring that Snoop Dogg (pictured) could not enter the UK for a series of tour dates. This decision was presumably related to the fight that Snoop was allegedly involved with at London's Heathrow Airport last spring. But let's be realistic here — if Reid's worried about possible air rage, does he seriously think that refusing to give the big S-N-double-O-P a visa is going to help keep the peace? Besides, Snoop's UK performances were scheduled as part of a joint "One Love Peace" tour with Diddy, whose stated purpose was to promote nonviolence and understanding across the world. Has Reid no sense of irony?
Still, misapplied border-control laws are no laughing matter. Just ask Sir Elton John, whom a local archdeacon is trying to ban from entering Trinidad and Tobago because, the cleric claims, John's music might "open the country to be tempted towards pursuing his lifestyle." Ugh. That medieval mindset is actually written into Trinidadian law, which allows authorities to stop gays and lesbians from visiting the islands simply because of their sexual orientation.
So, PopWatchers: Write to your senator, Home Office Minister, or morally stunted archdeacon today and tell them to chill out, stat. Or, if they simply must slam the door on visiting celebs, perhaps you could suggest that they choose a more deserving target next time? For instance, Posh and Becks — we have enough out-of-work D-listers of our own without foreign ones coming over to take away their celebreality jobs.
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