By Amy Alkon
|
donkeyrock shared this story from |
Acclaimed Bassist Christian McBride Says TSA Thuggos Seized (And Kept) His Bow
If you’re one of those who trots out the tired line, “It’s a free country,” you’d best stop doing that, because it no longer is.
Our civil liberties are being stomped on, eroded, and yanked from us at every turn and Americans are just standing around blinking like bewildered cows as it happens.
Adrian Chamberlain writes for The Times Colonist that the bassist’s bow was seized at the border on the way to Victoria:
Bassist Christian McBride blamed U.S. authorities for confiscating his bow before he arrived in Canada to play the TD Victoria International JazzFest.
Performing Monday at First Metropolitan United Church, McBride said that he’d been forced to borrow a bow he was not used to.
That same day, McBride wrote on his Facebook page: “Now it’s confirmed. I can tell you that the good ol’ TSA [America’s Transportation Security Administration] confiscated (aka stole) my brand-new bow right out of my hard case . . . I arrived in Saskatoon only to find the bow missing inside the case to my Lemur Travel Bass.”
He added: “Maybe they thought it was a weapon (idiotic) or they were looking for ivory, of which there wasn’t any. I will get to the bottom of this.”
…The Associated Press reported this week that musicians are concerned that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s stricter rules on transporting items containing elephant ivory are inflicting unintended complications on the music community.
…Noonan said a great number of professional and student musicians are playing with bows that contain a small quantity of African elephant ivory, which were legally crafted and legally obtained. She said it’s unlikely that they would have asked for particular documentation when they purchased the bows.
via @MarcDanziger
Source: Donkeyrock_BlurBlog