Fans of Pogo music?

Karmageddon

I don't know about you but I listen to a good amount of Pogo as part of my nutritious breakfast. For those of you unfamiliar, he's a musical composer who has created a number of intuitive movie remixes over the years. I'd say a good song to start with, a commission from Pixar:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2yt1ooLQGo"]UPular Remix - YouTube[/ame]


Well this is where it gets messy. I had tickets for his show in Seattle (last year? 2 years ago? Time flies) and the show was canceled! I was like omfgbbq why god why. Turns out he was banned from the US:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEeaEtTnzjc"]I'm banned from the USA - YouTube[/ame]


I understand there are two sides to this story. He should have done this and should have done that. The story I've been hearing for a long while now was that his agent set him up with the wrong visa paperwork.
I just know Pogo tends to be popular among gamer geek culture and I thought I'd let you all know that there is a petition if you're interested in helping lift the ban:

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/allow-mashup-artist-pogo-nick-bertke-re-enter-united-states/hmJ862g4


In order to sign for a lifted ban in the US, obviously you must be a citizen of the US. Just thought I'd throw this out there for any Pogo fans that were interested.

ZacD

He was kind of an idiot, but then again, there should be a way for him to pay back taxes and get a working visa. He'll probably never be approved for a working visa because he already broke laws, unless he gets so media attention.

Skamberin

I don't see how he couldn't say "I did not know, how much do I need to pay, can we settle this easily and let everyone get on with their day." Or somesuch, just solve it easily. It was a misunderstanding and he didn't know, he thought his Visa was good enough, it wasn't, people make mistakes.

But then again the US is infamous for being borderline ridiculous with their immigration/visitation rules and bannings, as if the country is El-Dorado. Then again.. maybe it is... and the media is making all he hub-hub up to keep people out :0

Avanthera

Silliness.

Then again, it's to be expected from our system. I got a ticket for hopping a turnstyle to a subway when I was 17, and I still have a hard time getting apartments, because apparently I have a past of "property crimes".

cptSwing

I thought this was a thread to post punk videos in.

Gmanx

I love Nick's work. I would say he's an innovator and a visionary and as such is possibly prone to make mistakes more often than others, because he tries the untried.

I've experienced US immigration myself so I don't find his treatment unusual, so much as paranoid.

Maybe he should see what market he can obtain in Canada instead? He's Australian, part of the commonwealth, so should find it easier there.