As one poster noted above, it certainly is strange that Les Barker (with whose music I am not familiar, but I am gathering from hints dropped that it might be considered controversial) was granted visa status several times in a row and then suddenly denied it. I'm not sure whether controversy is an issue. One of Folklore's best success stories was when, just a year after the tragedy that took place on September 11, 2001, we were able to get visas for Rizwan-Muazzam Quwalli, a group of eleven Muslim Pakistanis. It took a lot longer than usual, and everyone was investigated closely, but they were eventually let in (except, alas, for the two oldest members of the group who were unable to provide birth certificates or any other acceptable proof of nationality).

Robin Williamson, Celtic harper and storyteller and co-founder of the Incredible String Band, was also once denied a visa when we applied on his behalf, and we were told that he too was "not culturally unique enough." We immediately appealed, pointing out that he had been touring the U.S. for 35 years as culturally unique, and the visa was finally granted with a comment from the person who granted it that he had no idea why it had been denied in the first place. Turns out that on the same day, the same agent who denied Robin's visa had also denied one to Pavarotti! So the "having a bad day" factor is indeed there BUT: we had allowed lots of TIME for snafus, so Robin actually made it into the country with one day to spare before the first gig of the tour. Whew!

Another question arises when a band changes members between tours. Since we represent the Battlefield Band, you can imagine how often we've encountered that issue; I don't think the Battlefield Band has ever done two consecutive U.S. tours with the same personnel.

Does anyone know whether the agent for Les Barker filed an appeal? Does anyone know whether Premium Processing was used?