The Grammys are going on right now, but aside from you-know-who, there are some others who aren't there. Ibrahim Ferrer and four other Cuban musicians, Grammy nominees all, have been denied US entry visas to attend the show. (Oddly enough, the equally amazing Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes was able to get a visa.)
This is downright shameful. I'm guessing that it's election-year Bush Administration pandering to the Cuban-American community in SoFla. Besides being shameful, it's downright ridiculous...as anyone who's seen "Buena Vista Social Club" knows, Ferrer has been to the US before. (If you haven't seen it, the movie's climax involves the band playing Carnegie Hall.) And, as Jason at Queso points out, Ferrer played the Beacon in November 2001, so we know it isn't post-9/11 overreaction. So: Any government officials want to explain exactly how these musicians' entry would be "detrimental to the interest of the United States"?
(Via MeFi.)
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Posted by: gibydmm | December 27, 2011 at 04:03 AM