Because in the 90s we had to sneak across the border when touring, because the laws required us to prove we were not taking jobs away from Americans, because we were hoping to generate more interest in our music and performances. American bands were in the same situation, Canada customs has similar concerns. In those days the term free trade was thrown around often but free trade must have been for Exxon not ordinary people trying to make a living. We needed a story, usually it was this – we have all these instruments with us officer because we are on our way to a recording studio, (on our way to spending money in America). To determine whether or not we were lying, one of the expected border guard questions was if we had any merchandise with us. We didn’t. That’s what proved our story along with a fax from Matt in Chicago indicating certain producers and engineers were waiting for us. Often he referenced people from my songs which was too cryptic for customs to notice. In a way it added relief when they asked if I worked with Leonard Peltier before. I liked how it was up to the officer to make sense out of it.
Later on Henderson street staying in Matt’s coach house, we would go to the thrift store and buy 40 shirts and add the name of the band to them. Creative solution for merch on tour plus Matt already manufactured CDs and kept them at his place. The t-shirts were a hodge podge of thrift store availability, a mix of t-shirts and button dress shirts. Some with slogans already like Coke or Brown’s College. We just incorporated that as if it was suppose to further Bob Wiseman and the Binder Specialists. Harvard Loves Bob Wiseman and the Binder Specialists etc. In Eau Claire Wisconsin we sold out of t-shirts. It’s a nice problem to sell out rather then have a bunch remaining and that night we slept in the apartment of someone Matt knew, another booker named Sparkle. His apartment was lit by overhead fluorescent lights and he had two mattresses for us to use. We stayed up often after a show, too excited to fall asleep. Sparkle said his dream was to come to Canada because he was a skier. My dream was to be positioned in a way that the music I made might reach and be enjoyed by bigger crowds creating a situation where we could tour and stay not in fluorescent lit student apartments and sleep in mattresses in frames off the ground. In the morning Sparkle asked if he could have a t-shirt but we didn’t have anymore. Dave the drummer offered to alter one from Sparkle’s closet and in a few minutes the deed was done. It was a picture of a race car and now it included our band name. I liked how it was up to the viewer to make sense out of it.