Mexico vs. Laptops
This weekend I went to Mexico City for a gig and had a great time. There will be pics, recaps and mementos coming shortly, but for now I wanted to share a story about one of my favorite topics: laptops. I’m profoundly puzzled and wondering if anyone can help elucidate this business. It all started last year when I went to Mexico to play in Puebla. When I landed and went through customs and immigration, they searched my bags and asked me why I had 2 laptops. I told them I was there to work as a DJ, that one laptop is for my shows and the other for work. The officer said: “you’re a musician? do you have a card?” I looked at him incredulously. Like, a business card? I’ve always refused to have a business card. Categorically. But I wasn’t going to give this officer my schpiel about “why do I need a card? If I want to give someone my number I’ll just give them my number.” I simply said no, I don’t. To this guy, though, if you’re a professional musician you must have a card, if you have a card then you’re a musician and if you don’t then you aren’t. (Necessary and sufficient conditions. A question of logic.) It didn’t matter that I had an official work visa from the festival and letters stated that I was there to DJ. The fact that I had 2 laptops was a problem. After much pleading and interventions from the festival organizers they eventually let me through, but it was obviously a big problem to travel to Mexico with more than one computer, and in all my years of globetrotting I’ve never encountered anything similar.
This weekend when I was on my way to Mexico and filling out customs forms on the plane, I read the small print for the section where they ask if you’re bringing in professional equipment (and what you’re entitled), and lo and behold there was a clause about not having more than one personal computer. What in the world?? Thankfully this time when I went through customs they didn’t search me and I got in without a hitch. But I really felt like I was smuggling something. So strange.
Later that night I went to do sound check at the club. It was a big club and we had to fill out sign-in sheets. A security guard looked at my bag and guess where he stopped? He saw that I had a laptop! I had to fill out a sort of registration form just to walk into this club with my computer. Name, contact info, make of the computer and reason for bringing it in. All this for a Serato sound check.
People, people, people. What gives?
11 Responses to “Mexico vs. Laptops”
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Hope you will not have these problems in germany.
see you in hamburg! soooo nice to see you in germany again! last time was with boys noize at bootshaus cologne…
It’s likely due to tariffs, etc. on electronics. I live in Chile and while the cost of living is much cheaper than in the US, the price of electronics (and generally, everything that’s imported) is enormous, more than in the US (both straight up, and when considering the buying power of the currency). I have friends here who will buy computers and other gear when they travel to the US and then, upon flying home, will take everything out of the box and throw stickers and laptop covers on them, just to make it look like they didn’t buy it whilst out of the country. This is all to say that they were likely just making sure you weren’t bring in stuff to sell in Mexico for cheaper than the tariffs and MSRPs had been negotiated to.
It sucks, but that’s how things go when traveling to certain developing countries.
A Trak, I tell if you come to Hamburg/Germany as an professional DJ you can bring as many Macbooks as you want!
I’m soo excited about friday see you soon ;O
A friend of mine, Loco Dice, also a well known, global spinning techno DJ had the same problem last year in Venezuela. They took one of his laptops and until now he did not get it back. It wont´t happen to you in europe though…
That is so weird. I just don’t understand why…WHY?!
are there only people form Hamburg reading this blog? well, i guess me too…
Time to switch to CDJ-2000′s i guess
Sam makes an interesting point… thanks!
And all my german friends… I’ll see you all this weekend.
While I was reading this article I invented what I’ve been thinking about before. a lot of thanks.
Thanks a lot you for this blog. Thats all I are able to say. You most obviously have crafted this world wide web into something speciel. You clearly know what you are working at, youve taken care of so many corners.kind regards
A mutual friend sent me the url to your blog. Great stuff! I like how you really scrutinize and get to the get to the important stuff but can you run through that last part again? Just a bit?