OOOoooo I SO wish I was a fly on the wall in the studio on June 6th!!!

Joe,

I must say I'm very disappointed with your attitude on the new Arizona law, have you actually read the bill? It is exactly, word for word the same as the Federal law, that by the way is not being enforced. I work in law enforcement and I see first hand the criminal activity on the border. The poor illegals are the majority of the victims by the way, rape, murder, kidnapping. Were you aware that Phoenix has the 2nd highest kidnapping rate in the world? Arizona is trying to protect itself from the criminal activity that is increasing at the border and as a result in our cities.

There is a lot of misconceptions on how this law will be enforced and people just don't get it. There will not be situations as you described earlier about the German citizen. This is something Arizona law enforcement already does! There will be no change in how illegals will be identified and people are insane who think that Arizona cops will be walking up to Hispanics and asking for their papers.

I just wish American citizens would wake up and see the writing on the wall and support fellow Americans! It is a shame that people like yourselves would boycott a state and punish fellow Americans over illegal imigrants. I have been a fan of your for 25 years and now I feel the need to boycott you.

What a shame!!!!

Hi Joe. We hope you come to play in Spain in 2010. Will you? I'm looking everyday your tour dates... waiting for a new concert in Spain...

Please Respect Joe Satriani

I've only lay one request, not going to back n forth on this thing .....

Pima651: You say that there will be no situations as the one described by Joe in his post. That my friend is a very bold statement. How can you or anyone else within law enforcement be absolutely sure it won't happen?

And for the record, on this same page, in between your 2 posts look for a post from OXLEY11 with a link that says Artists Against Arizona page. Open it and on the third article, it describes a very similar, real-world scenario to the one Joe posted. So it is already happening. And it will happen again. And again, regardless of whether this law exists or not.

I think this has not been made clear enough.

Sound Strike is NOT supporting illegal inmigration.

Sound Strike IS supporting civil rights.

I applaud Joe for taking a public stance on something he believes in.

I applaud everyone here who has expressed its opinion, negative or positive, it's always good to see all the sides to every story.

In the end, we all have to live with our decisions. So we better be comfortable with them, at all times.

I personally don't agree with either camp, and knowing that Mike Portnoy will have an in-store appearance in Phoenix one day after I see DT in Albuquerque, I 'm quite tempted to take the drive. My decision whether I go or not will definitely NOT be made based on this law.

CHEERS!!!

cappy....pick a topic, ask Joe some questions or a question about it...ya never know what will spark a discussion!

I'm tickled Danny thought to ask Joe about the new album and recording....we got a tidbit of info that way from Joe! It's exciting, and reminds me of good things to look forward to. I need that cuz the minutia of day-to-day life can be so enervating and soul-sucking sometimes.

Holiday weekend coming up....be safe folks! I'm spending the day with Chris tomorrow and looking forward to it! On Monday I'll be thinking of loved ones that have passed. I do that at other times too of course, but always on Memorial Day.

Pima651,

Early criticism of the S.B 1070 brought about last minute changes that made it less vague before Gov. Brewer signed it. A perfect example of how protest, political and public outcry can all help to inform our government. My hope is that this boycott will be brief, serving to more fully focus the details of the bill, or, perhaps re-write it before it gets implemented.

I have read the bill many times, here it is for all to see:

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

I would like to see the Fed do its job and respond to the needs of the border states immediately, as its neglect created the need for Gov. Brewer to act on S.B. 1070 in the first place.

This is an open forum and I respect and consider all opinions posted here. Cheers to all who have displayed the courage to speak their minds.

Thank you tracie, yes I'm very glad that I've made you smiled and made your day hun

hugs to you

Unlike many of you here I have had dealings with the INS. I am a legal immigrant to the US. In the 80's I lost my greencard. I spent two years in limbo unable to collect unemployment or get a job due to the INS mishandling of my paperwork. I finally had to go through my Congressman to get a personal appointment at the INS in Los Angeles in order to replace the documentation that proves my status. Were my civil rights violated? Did I go crying to the media because I was asked for ID? No and no. I am required to provide my greencard to obtain mortgages seek employment and open bank accounts amoung other things. Does immigration need reform? Yes. The INS is inept, inefficient and seemingly unaccountable to anyone. I thoroughly resent millions upon millions of people coming here illegally and then having the nerve to demand rights and special treatment. My family was subjected to background checks and physical examinations. We paid fees and provided paperwork. Not only that, shortly after we relocated, my Father was drafted.

Do The Stu

Joe & Joe fans alike,

I certainly agree with the right to protest and speak ones mind, that is one of the rights we as American's have that makes this country great. I also mean no disrespect toward you as a person and can't argue the fact that you have meant more to me as a musician than any other guitar player. Your skill and natural ability make me sick by the way lol.

I would like to conclude my discussion on the Arizona law by stating that if you don't live in Arizona, don't assume that you know whats going on. I live in Tucson and work for the sheriff's department that you mentioned earlier, there are on average 5 home invasions in the metro Tucson and surrounding communities a week. Yes, I said a week! These home invasions are occurring due to the drug traffic that is flowing across the border. The invaders are looking for drugs or drug money and many times they hit the wrong house. Now since you don't live here, I can see where that may not be an issue for you.

As I stated before, Phoenix has the 2nd highest kidnapping rate in the world, on average of 1 a day, everyday. The majority of these are due to illegal alien and drug smuggling. And again, not living there either, I can see this as not being a problem for you as well. This is a big problem for all American citizens living in Arizona, and our Governor is trying to force the Federal Government to do their job, period!

So all of these cities and musicians that are boycotting Arizona, take a realistic look at what is really going on here. We aren't protecting ourselves from the illegal working the the fields picking our crops. We are dealing with violent drug cartels on a daily basis, the cartels are alive and well on this side of the border as well and are very active. They cross our border, murder, rape, rob and kidnap indiscriminately and we are supposed to sit back and take it? Now, I haven't even mentioned the hundreds and hundreds of illegals that die crossing our desert each year. How about we secure our border at least to protect them, I can't count the number of times we have found dead or dying illegals in the desert that were abandoned by the coyote and the entire group they were traveling with. We as Arizonans are trying desperately to do something about it. You should too, boycotting a state that is trying to protect itself is not the answer.

I love your music but must do my part to support my state, therefore, I must boycott you as well. I own every album/C.D., video and music book that you have ever made. I go to every concert that you and G-3 perform in Phoenix or Tucson. I will not support you in any way, I will never buy another product that you put out or endorse. It's sad that music must turn political, I wish that you would have stated you opposition to the new law and left it at that, then I could at least respect your opinion and move on. I wish you the best in your future endeavors and will miss the great music that you write and perform!!

The new Dave Weiner CD came in the mail today...woohoo!

A picture (and a song):

http://twitpic.com/1rwu73

I'm a bit behind on posts...I'll have to catch up later.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

I see both side of the coin. People should not be here illegally - especially those that have bad intentions or want a free ride, cause that sucks hard. If you wanna come to America (or anywhere), do it legally! I also see the crap side of infringing on the civil rights of good people, which is so very uncool. Something has to be done, but what's going down right now seems extreme. I guess AZ is fighting fire with fire, which usually means somebody has to get burned.

Joe is not a man that jumps into these things lightly, and I'm sure he's done a LOT of research and has taken many things into consideration before adding his name to the list.

The bottom line is that we have entirely to many yahoos running gov't positions who have no idea what the reality of the situation is. Red tape has red tape, and that red tape is held down by more red tape.The system is broken.

If anybody wants me, I'll be at fatapes bar...unstocking it :-)

If there's gonna be a "Rebelution", brother, I'm down! lol!

Joe Satriani: As many have pointed out here, you have obviously put a lot of research and thought in to this before you acted, and I applaud that. I think it is fair to say that we are just not going to see eye to eye on this one. I will admit that you are a very brave man to put your reputation and possibly career on the line for something you believe so strongly in--that's big.
I think something we can all agree on, whether or not you like the way Arizona has acted in this situation, hopefully the Federal Government will do its part to fix these problems the right way and we can put all these disagreements behind us very soon. We are all just going to have to accept that nothing that can be done is going to make everybody happy.

Another thing we should all agree on is that nothing we do or have done to stand up for each other's rights comes close to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving this great country. No matter how many problems we as a Nation may have, there is nothing more honorable than a man or woman who has fought and died for their country. I have lost a few friends in Iraq and Afghanistan, and think about them all the time. It is a shame we only have a couple days a year for Americans to remember these men and women, many of whom fought for America in order to gain citizenship, some of them killed before they ever experienced it.

I guess my point is, whether you are for or against the war, immigration... whatever, as of right now 6,506 men and women from around the world have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and I ask that we set our differences aside on Monday and remember that each one of them was a son, daughter, sister, brother, father, mother, etc.. and somebody's world is really hurting without each and every one of them here.

Sorry for the long rant.. I really do hope this is all over with very soon, because as I've said earlier, I would love nothing more than to see Joe a time or two this winter. I really should meet the man now since every time we exchange messages on here it's always Joe responding to me complaining about something Joe or CF related, and that's really not who I am!! I promise I have many more good things to say about you Joe, you just always pick out the messages I never think you'll see!!

Not my place to comment on a US political problem, I don't live there and can't know all the facts. What I do read in all the different posts is that you think the Federal govt has failed to solve this problem of many illegal immigrants and the state has, in desperation, taken a drastic step with adverse possible consequences for the legal residents in that it opens up the possibility of their civil rights being diminished. Since we don't have a huge land border like the US I can only imagine how hard it is to stop people getting in illegally, rather than the right way like elpp. So it sounds like the Federal govt needs the people to tell it to form a solution that works. A couple of times a year we get screaming press about people trying to get to Australia in crappy leaky boats from the north, having sometimes paid people-smugglers and bringing their children on these decrepit vessels with no lifesaving gear, and all crowded beyond belief. They often crash into Ashmore Reef. Might be 100 or so each time and it is a very sensitive issue here. So I can see how if that's magnified by a factor of 10000 your situation needs a big solution.

Joe, glad to hear you're almost in the studio, can't wait for this one.

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are doing well.

Joe, great to see your posts. I respect your opinions and I agree with you on what you are saying.

TheHawkGuy: Hey Danny. Kudos on chatting with Joe and the info on his upcoming projects.

DTS: Austin, if you're going to the funeral/visitation for Ronnie, let us know how it went.

I'm running in a 12K Race tomorrow and it's a points race for my track club. Hope I do well. Next weekend, I'll be heading to South Bend for the Sunburst Races & I'm doing the Marathon. It's also a qualifier for Boston so I hope I'm able to get in.

I listened to PSATMOR four times yesterday and Joe, it was an excellent album. I enjoyed all the songs. Keep up the excellent work. Next up for me, Live In Paris.

TTYL, I'm doing some volunteer work for the 12K race tomorrow, and then getting carb-loaded for tomorrow morning's race. Wish me luck everyone. I'll let you all know how the race went down.

Peace Lily: Here's my peace for you & everyone: \m/

Deuces y'all!

Michelle - I usually take your stance on these kind of things. Democrats, Republicans... who cares?? They are both crooks, and the Country seems to be f*&c#d no matter who is running it. That's why I tend to remove myself from politics as far as I can. I guess this just kind of hit me in an uncomfortable place, that's the only reason I brought it up.

I wonder if Guam has tipped over yet?