Posted on 09/10/2006 8:02:03 PM PDT by Westlander
A group of top classical musicians has warned of the threat to artistic life from a hand baggage ban introduced after police foiled an alleged bomb plot against transatlantic airliners.
Many performers refuse to let their instruments, often centuries old and extremely valuable, out of their sight when they travel on planes in case they are damaged in the hold.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I dont know about that i tried to take a bus to europe once and almost drown. I decided then and there to fly across oceans. Maybe these musicians feel the same way?
Did you try one of those Cuban sea-cars?
Have these guys ever heard of the simple concept of insurance?
They're able to somehow afford instruments worth thousands but can't afford to insure them? It must suck to be that stupid.
"Then these folks need to resort to what has worked in previous days, a bus tour. There are plenty of folks out there who choose not to fly for a variety of reasons, and somebody with a (rare musical instrument|artifact|test equipment|cool NFA weapons) would do well to also become a "not-flyer" type. Hey, it works for John Madden, right?"
For some, yes, this is an obvious answer - a lot of the big rock and pop bands travel by bus, and stow their gear in trucks and haul it around.
However, this does not address the issue of international performers. Many artists, especially in the classical and jazz field, travel around the globe without a full band as an entourage, and need to bring their intruments with them. I would'nt check my $300 Ibenez guitar when I traveled (before the ban), I can completely understand why the musicians are upset.
Add on top of that, you cannot LOCK checked baggage, so you add the risk of theft to the issue. When you have a $100,000 dollar violin, you do not want to imagine one of the thugs at JFK at a pawn shop asking 'How much is dis wort?"
I work in the music industry, and this ban HAS effected many musicians negatively. Tours are not going forward, peformances are being canceled, and top notch musicians are choosing to sit at home rather than risk their priceless and necessary tools of their trade to the gorillas that load and unload airplanes.
"Plenty of not-major-leage sports teams and not-quite-MTV bands live off of the ol' Bus Tour. Musicians and traveling performers simply need to coodinate their tours in a circuit that works with a travel-by-road schedule, that's all. Might lead to a less hectic lifestyle, too. Less stressful."
Again, that's fine, if you just play in THIS country. Any rock or metal band of any repute plays the festivals in Europe, or just Europe in general. In this modern world, such circuits are virtually impossible with current state of bookings and schedules - very few performers can simply pick a date when they play, it's set up months in advance, and even then, booking musicians of ANY genre is one of the hardest jobs in the industry. Sometimes, you just HAVE to fly.
Some bands solved this problem years ago, by maintaining seperate sets of equipment - one for the US, and one for Europe/Japan.
As for less hectic...have you ever been on a tour bus? Words that would NOT describe the conditions is "less stressful". Unless you're Madonna or the top 1% of the industry, you share a bus with 12 other people. Your bunk is about 6'-7' x 3 x 3. It's noisy. It's stale conditioned air. Everything and everyone is on top of each other. If several people don't bathe, you can tell, quickly. A groupie or fan threw up in the WC? You get to smell that for 10 hours. Oh, and rule #1 on tour buses - you NEVER, EVER, under any circumstances, use the toilet on a tour bus for anything but liquids, and even then, try not to.
Tour buses are also expensive. Many bands simply cannot afford them, or have two bands, crew, and management on one bus.
Traveling by tour bus is not like RV living. Trust me. The first thing people do when the bus hits the next destination, is they get OFF the buss for as long as possible.
Also, many musicians, who work in the classical and jazz fields, also travel for more than just performance. Often, they go from LA for studio work to NY for a performance to London for a symposium to Vienna for more studio work back to NYC to perform again and meet with the agent...it's not that simple for them, to just travel by bus. In this modern music industry, you MUST diversify, and travel is very much part of the job. We're not talking about a once a month inconvenience, we're talking daily.
Also, when you work as a musician, you are an independant contractor, most of the time. To get gigs, you have to travel. Sometimes your gigs are on opposite sides of the country, or in other countries. This ban is effecting people's livelyhoods, especially in the jazz and classical fields where they make virtually no money from album sales or merchandising or ticket sales.
"One time at band camp..."
"Have these guys ever heard of the simple concept of insurance?
They're able to somehow afford instruments worth thousands but can't afford to insure them? It must suck to be that stupid."
Do you understand that most of the insurance companies WON'T insure them? Or, if they are willing, charge so much that the musican cannot afford it?
And insurance matters little if the viola was made 200 years ago and is irreplacable - even IF they'll insure it for 100% of the replacement (very rare), the odds or replacing it are slim to none.
If you don't understand why they use these instruments, and why it matters,you have no business in this thread.
Try and have a little knowledge of what you speak of, before you call people stupid. Most insurance companies won't insure run of the mill rack mount stuff for average rock musicians, let alone priceless classical instruments. Talk to road managers about securing and keeping insurance on a band's equipment sometime, and be prepared to listen to some horror stories.
It's very simple. A quick check of a $100,000 violin in the airport line that would take all of 5 minutes TOPS, or insurance you cannot afford - and you STILL have to check it, you might as well smash it yourself, the loss of a valuable instrument, and the loss of income from the damaged or lost or stolen instrument.
I don't think they're the stupid ones here.
I suppose they could do like Tom Paxton did when the airlines broke his guitar - he wrote a little ditty and sang it at concerts for awhile after the incident. All I remember of it is the first two lines - I think the airline is now bankrupt - who knows, perhaps Paxton was helpful in their demise.
"Thank you, Republic Airlines
For breaking the neck of my guitar."
Guns at O'Hare are disappearing: Firearms being stolen from checked bags
Aug. 14--Several handguns have been stolen from bags checked by police officers, military personnel and others on United Airlines flights departing O'Hare International Airport, sparking concern that the weapons are loose in what is supposed to be a secure part of the airport.
I insured a $1000 keyboard under my homeowners with a rider, 15 years ago. They paid to fix transit damage.
Although the CSO didn't make it to Europe until the 1970's, they did travel occasionally to New York from the end of WW I onwards. Their founder, Theodore Thomas, had first established himself in NYC before heading west. (Thomas himself died in late 1904.)
There is an interesting story about Artur Rodzinski during his short tenure in '49 or '50.
He was a strange bird. He'd heard a lot of stories about Chicago, and he would carriy a loaded revolver with him to Orchestra Hall; during rehearsals, I think all the way to the podium.
Lol....it often sucks to post without reading either the article or any previous posts.
How does that make him strange?
Inspect and then put them into a locked compartment in the front of the cabin.
String instruments can easily be x-rayed. Dunno about brasses.
I'm not sure if you need large hands to play the bagpipes (specifically the GHB), but you need larger hands than mine - I can barely reach the holes on a practice chanter, much less a full-sized chanter.
WRT guitar, high-quality short-scale instruments are available, if you are still interested.
"Ohh boo friggin hooo being an "artistic type' is soooo hard wah wah wah."
Give it a rest, OK? I've travelled as a musician, carrying an oboe that I paid more than $5000 for. Would I put it in checked luggage? Never.
A friend of mine on the same trip had a cello worth over $100,000. She paid for a seat on the plane for it.
Use some common sense before you post, OK?
What you said.
Yeah, well........spoken as a non-musician, bud.
I'd never, EVER check my Les Paul Custom, let alone a three hundred year old violin. It'd be insanity.
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