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Posted on 08/02/2005 6:53:08 AM PDT by weegee
Link Wray's Border Blues Was the surf guitar legend the target of racial profiling?
Surf rock legend Link Wray was to perform live at the unlikely venue known as The Yale Hotel this past Sunday. When I first saw the one lone poster slapped to a pole with electrical tape at the last minute, I figured it was nothing more than some mediocre Link Wray cover band. I reasoned if it truly were Link Wray, I would have known about it far in advance, and it wouldn’t be at Vancouver’s number one "greasy-white-guys-with-mid-life-crises-trying-to-play-the-blues" bar.
When I discovered that Wray really was playing Sunday night, perhaps for his final time in Canada, I was shocked. I did not know then I would be shocked beyond belief over the course of the next two days.
The show was scheduled at the unconventional time of 4 PM, and the bar was packed with socially awkward nerds who shouldn't be consuming alcohol, as well as many veteran Vancouver musicians--not the least of which was local late ‘70s rock star Teen Angel. The Wraymen’s opening act was a Toronto rocker named Derek Miller who was late coming on and quick getting off. At seven o’clock he was back on the stage under a spotlight, and all expected this to be Link Wray’s introduction.
Instead, we listened to him announce, "Link isn't here yet. He's... um... just... down the street. Hang tight." This explanation didn't hold much weight with those near the stage, as an uncomfortable fear emoted from Miller's eyes. People in the back joked that the 76-year-old star was probably entertaining himself with lap dances at the Cecil Hotel next door. The crowd may not have been so jovial had it known that at that very moment, Link Wray was being both stripped naked and physically assaulted by Canadian border guards.
Five hours after the doors had opened, an announcement was finally made. For reasons not totally made clear, Link Wray’s drummer was being detained and would not be allowed into Canada. The rest of the Wraymen had arrived in Vancouver, but were in no mood to perform.
In case you didn’t know, Link Wray is Native American, and arguably his culture's greatest and most famous rock star. The show was co-sponsored by Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network, and APTN’s Delores Smith, who helped organise the event, has little doubt the incident was racially motivated. The fact that such an atrocity came from the hands of Canadian government officials should come as little surprise to Vancouverites who have witnessed anti-Native brutality from Vancouver police, and last week's Westcoast Warrior bust as orchestrated by the RCMP on the Burrard Bridge.
The show was rescheduled for Monday and free vouchers issued, but anyone who returned was greeted by news of the show's outright cancellation. Link Wray was suffering from several bruises and lacerations, which rendered him rather immobile. While waiting in line Sunday for my voucher, Derek Miller took to the stage again, playing “Rumble” and some other Link Wray standards. As I waited, I realised I had ironically come full circle. Link Wray was nowhere to be seen, and I was at the Yale Hotel... listening to a Link Wray cover band.
Heads up...
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I'm stuned!
Don't let that sneer put you off - the Yale features excellent blues musicians, most of them black Americans, as a matter of fact!
As to the story, I've no doubt the Canadian border police beat the sh*t out of the uppity native musicians.
Hey, they're only Indians!
The article is wrong to label him a surf guitar player. He's a hillbilly from the Baltimore area. Not much surf and unlike land locked bands like the Trashmen, he never even recorded any songs with surf in the title.
Now if only our border police could return the favor on Bryan Adams.
Or Peter Jennings.
Well, Peter Jennings right now has bigger problems. Plus he's an American citizen.
If they ever detain Bruce Cockburn, I'd fly there at my own expense to have the chance to kick him in the @ss repeatedly!
What bullshot!
Dual citizen, so he brags. Still has to cross at the border.
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