Friday, March 28, 2003

HOMELAND SECURITY UPDATE

NB - Links Updated

This worrying development reported in Pitchfork.

Message: 3
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 11:51:57 -0000
From: "blisscentrecords"
Subject: Godspeed You! Black Emperor Questioned as Suspected Terrorists,


Ryan Schreiber reports:
Renowned Canadian nontet Godspeed You! Black Emperor were held for
questioning as possible terrorists at an Oklahoma gas station last
weekend, while driving from a concert they'd played at Fort Worth,
TX's Ridglea Theatre to a show to be held the following Monday at the
Blue Note in Columbia, MO. According to Tom Windish, a representative
for the band at The Billions Corporation, the band pulled their two
vans and white-panel truck, which they use for toting equipment, into
an area gas station to refuel. Upon seeing the motley crew of nine
musicians, the station's attendant phoned the police, reporting the
possibility that the band might be terrorists.

Before even having a chance to leave the station, the group was
reportedly surrounded by police cars and FBI agents who, a
representative for Chicago's Abbey Pub, where the band played this
weekend, said had guns drawn. The band was held for questioning for
roughly three hours before finally being released as innocents. "They
get hassled by The Man regularly," said Bruce Adams, co-founder of
the Chicago-based label Kranky. "Police pulling them over, anything
you can imagine. It's just the feeling in the country right now."

"I just feel very lucky that we weren't Pakistani or Korean,"
Godspeed You! Black Emperor frontman Efrim Menuck told Pitchfork at
the band's Chicago performance on Friday night. "They detained 1,000
people in California, no one knows what happened to them. We're just
lucky we're nice white kids from Canada. That's what I feel lucky
about." Menuck was reluctant to further discuss the incident, citing
that they had already told the story at a performance earlier in the
week. Constellation Records, which the band presently records for,
had no comment.


www.pitchforkmedia.com
.: Godspeed You! Black Emperor: http://www.godspeedyoublackemperor.com [this page is blank]
.: Constellation Records:

via http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blisscent/message/16478

:: Posted by pete @ 08:28