If you're like me (that is, by my passport photograph, sometimes labeled "a flight risk" by heritage) the TSA are a nightmare and a half when dealing with your valuables and sundries. A half tube of toothpaste is considerably "flagged" by the flight proctoring mongrols, and now I am foul-mouthed by the removal of it (literally).
Thus it shouldn't come as much surprise that U.S. jazz bassist Christian McBride came to find his bow was stolen right from his traveling case, and it's confirmed it was a robbery.
He remarked:
Now that it's confirmed, I can tell you that good ol' TSA confiscated (aka STOLE) my brand new bow right out of my hard case yesterday. I arrived in Saskatoon only to find the bow missing inside the case to my Lemur Travel Bass. 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.
When will the Obama Administration recognize that the TSA is out of control?
Agreed, McBride, agreed.
And apparently traveling with ivory has become a major concern for musicians and museums after stricter rules by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been inflicting much unneeded complications.
According to Arian Sheets, curator of stringed instruments for the National Music Museum in Vermillion the Wildlife Service has been unilaterally hitting the music business.
"We've kind of been caught up in the clampdown that's designed to prevent the extinction of these populations, but we're not really the ones causing the problem," said Sheets.
So is the TSA out of control? Probably, but there seems to be little hope for a turn around in the next few years.
Until then, keep your goods to yourself...or at home.
Check out a small podcast concerning the ivory ban below.
