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Gigging Across The Boarder


min7b5

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All the bands I know who go to canada hide all their merch in their amp cabinets before crossing the border. Apparently Canada doesn't want you to make any money while you are there. Of course, it doesn't work the other way around, and the bands from Canada I've talked to bring all kinds of stuff and have a great time in America.

 

Go figure.

 

Ken

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Originally posted by kenm

All the bands I know who go to canada hide all their merch in their amp cabinets before crossing the border. Apparently Canada doesn't want you to make any money while you are there. Of course, it doesn't work the other way around, and the bands from Canada I've talked to bring all kinds of stuff and have a great time in America.


Go figure.


Ken

 

 

I played a gig a few monts ago at the fire house in seattle, and the headliner Shobian Duvall was from canada, and it took her band 5 hours to get across the border. I think this may be a recetn change since 9/11. They had gotten a new drummer, and they had to get all their paper work re-done. They actually have to file paper work on all their gear so they know they arent selling it here.

 

Brian

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Originally posted by min7b5

I don't think you need a passport. Mine is expired. I need a now one becasue I need a vaild passport number for the work permit...and my Mexico vacation coming up.

 

 

You don't need a passport for Mexico, either, just a tourist card, which you fill out at the airport when you land.

 

I played in Canada a lot in the 80s (never had a passport then either) when I was on the road full time. Sometimes crossing the border was a breeze, sometimes they made us unload everything out of the 1-ton and show them whatever they asked to see that was on the list we gave them (you have to list every item of gear you bring across, with serial #s.) Usually the clubs we played had a bond at the border they just kept there to get the bands across. The club also sent the work orders, etc etc. We would get work permits at the border, after they saw the contracts, and we also had to get social insurance cards.

 

BTW, if you have anyone in your band who has been arrested for an imprisonable offense (like pot, DUI, assault, domestic battery, etc etc) you can forget about getting them across the border unless you first post a 1000 dollar bond for each person with an offense and you get special permission from the Canadian gov't in writing (which can take upwards of 6-9 months to get) . I had a friend who got a DUI in 1974 who got turned away just a few years ago, even though he had gig contracts and the bond had been posted at the border . This is why I don't go to Canada anymore; one of my guys got a pot bust in 1992, and another got arrested for beating up the guy his wife was sleeping with on the side back in '85 or so. If you want to go through all the hassle of playing there, it has to be worth it financially. Back when I was going there, the exchange rate was 10-15 percent, not the 45 and 50 percent it is now, and even then, I thought we were getting hosed. Now, in order for your band to make 1000 dollars they have to pay you 1500.

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