Azalin Posted April 4, 2011 Share Posted April 4, 2011 Well, last friday I came back from a 7 months trip to Vietnam, and had to take my concertina from Vietnam to China, China to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Toronto. It actually went pretty well, but customs officers in Vietnam and China obviously have never seen a concertina or an accordion, and they are *really* wondering what the heck is this thing... So guards in Vietnam and China asked me to take the 'thing' out and show them what it was. I simply played a note and they were OK with it. I didn't get any questions in the US and Canada. To be honnest, the Chinese customs were the scariest, and when I was waiting in line I had a few seconds of total anxiousness: What if they don't like it and stop me from passing through China with it? I even had many scenarios in my head, calling my embassy, refusing to let it go and ending up in Chinese jail... A side note: the instrument worked very very well in Vietnam, but as soon as I came back to 'dry' Canada, some button would get stuck in the opening and had to use a pen to make the embouchure larger. Wood and lack of humidity don't get along very well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_boveri Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) glad you're instrument is safe and sound. china scares me in general, so i understand the sentiment. in china they just arrested the designer of the "bird's nest stadium" without charging him with a crime, because he is a free thinker... i think it's ironic they've never seen one, because so many "concertinas" are made there, and the chinese sheng is our wonerful box's ancestor. is your carroll due soon? Edited April 5, 2011 by david_boveri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalin Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 is your carroll due soon? It might be! I am crazily busy with coming back to normal life here in Canada after being away seven months, but hopefully by the end of april or beginning of may I'll hear something... :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassiek Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 (edited) is your carroll due soon? It might be! I am crazily busy with coming back to normal life here in Canada after being away seven months, but hopefully by the end of april or beginning of may I'll hear something... :-) A few years ago, my concertina was an item of interest in the x-ray at O'Hare. Uh-oh--but the employees were smiling and pointing at it, realized it was mine, and asked me if it was "some sort of waffle iron." They had never heard of a concertina and asked me to play it out of curiosity. So, with a long line of barefoot, grumpy travelers glaring balefully at me, I played a few bars of a jig to entertain the security screeners...on the return flight of that SAME trip (to and from New York for concertina school, no less...) we had to deplane in Albany before take-off because of some fool making a "joke" about a bomb. They had to search all our stuff, of course. The police dog was very interested in the concertina, wagging his tail and sniffing it...sort of slobbering...I did NOT complain to the dog or the officer, but I did request one of the dog's trading cards. Edited April 8, 2011 by cassiek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelly0312 Posted April 11, 2011 Share Posted April 11, 2011 You know, I read this headline two weeks later and still perspire thinking about it!~.... Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcoover Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Several years ago, the x-ray lady at the Houston airport told me to open up the concertina case, and then she asked me to "turn it on". Well, rather than talk dirty to it, I gently lifted my 50-button Jeffries Duet out of the case, mashed down every single note at once with both hands and then pulled for all I was worth. Needless to say, she was not amused, but I do think that awful chord is still echoing about the airport to this very day! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralph Jordan Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Years ago, I was passing through Goterborg airport trusty Duet by my side. Had just done a temporary repait to the bellows using Bias Binding/Copydex (a sort of rubbery glue) and lots of talcum powder to stop the stickiness! You're ahead of me....Customs..."What's in the box?" Me..."A Concertina" Customs..."Open it"...As soon as I started to demonstrate it, a fine cloud of white powder came out of the ends....was there for ages, trying to explain to a bunch of Swedish policemen.....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB-R Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Pleased to say that at Dublin airport whey seem quite used to such things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saguaro_squeezer Posted April 14, 2011 Share Posted April 14, 2011 Now that I'm travelling more with my Crane, I've found that calling it a 'Sailor's Accordion' seems to work pretty well, especially if you tell the person watching the scanner as it's going through. Just don't let them 'dust' it for explsoives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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