A celebration of the Swedish Fiddler.
This is a benefit to help Joel recoup the thousands of dollars he lost recently when trying to come to MPLS. Read his story below:

Here’s briefly what happened. I’ve always hated going through US customs. I’ve been very nervous about it every time, I’m very bad at hiding something like that, I don’t have a poker face, I’m a very bad liar. They... [read more]

A celebration of the Swedish Fiddler.
This is a benefit to help Joel recoup the thousands of dollars he lost recently when trying to come to MPLS. Read his story below:

Here’s briefly what happened. I’ve always hated going through US customs. I’ve been very nervous about it every time, I’m very bad at hiding something like that, I don’t have a poker face, I’m a very bad liar. They picked it up immediately and took me in. The flight from Paris wasn’t good and gave me a bad headache, that didn’t help… They became suspicious because I always go to the same place (and it’s not NYC or LA or some other touristy place) for the maximum amount of time allowed. They saw my fiddle and started to google me. Found out about some of the places I played last time. They questioned me for three hours. They wore me out and I admitted to have been paid $20 at Palmer’s. Finally they had me take an oath! In the oath I finally admitted to have been paid that much a couple of more times. I made so little money last time, I still thought I would get away with a warning, but oh no. Officer Lick typed the oath and handed it to his Supervisor Buck and it was decided. And it was for playing fucking Palmer’s, Sauce and Dusty’s! Huge, big bucks places, right? I asked Buck if he would send me back if I had made just a quarter and he said yes he would. Afterwards I was regretful and naturally thought of things I could have made differently but as I said I’m a very bad actor, I was exhausted, didn’t have a plan for this situation and they wore me out. Now I can’t come back without a visa from the US embassy. Officer Knapp walked me to the flight, we had to wait a long time behind a glass wall with the gate with all the people waiting on the other side, seeing me alone with an officer. Then he walked me to the plane, gave my passport and tickets to the flight attendant with orders to keep it and not give it to me until we landed in Amsterdam. He was at the door of the plane watching me until take off. Yep, I’m dangerous. I told Officer Lick that he was making a lot of people heart broken. He did say that he didn’t take pleasure in that. My train whistle is still in Amsterdam. Hopefully on it’s way here.

He made approx. $200.00 playing music over 3 months.

list of performers:
Dana Thompson

Shawn Gibbons

Slim Dunlap

Sweet Mamma J

Kaivama

Mayda

Ben Glaros

Venus DeMars

Jennifer Markey and the Tennessee Snowpants

Dan Israel

The Mad Ripple

John Swardson

rickrobot

St. Dominic's Trio