Know your audience

May 15, 2002

The Adventures of AccordionGuy in the 21st Century

It all started with an airline ticket that never made it to my house...I handed customs my passport and boarding passes. They took one look at my ticket and decided I fit the profile -- one way, bought at the last minute at the counter (and they mistakenly thought I bought it with cash) by a solo-travelling non-caucasian male born in a country with active Al-Qaeda-funded groups.

When [the customs officer] opened my accordion bag, he asked me to play it in order to prove it was a real musical instrument...It was then that I decided that there is only one song you play when trying to establish your bona fides with a U.S. customs official: The Star Spangled Banner.

About four bars in, he declared me free to go.

(via BoingBoing)