Yusuf / Cat Stevens’ book tour has been postponed due to unspecified visa issues.
Musician Cat Stevens, who has also gone by Yusuf Islam since 1977, is having to put the brakes on his book tour due to unresolved visa issues. Islam had planned and sold tickets for a seven city tour to promote his new autobiography, Cat on the Road to Findout, which is coming out on October 7th.
But as the British musician posted on social media and his site yesterday, the necessary visas didn’t arrive in time: “Waiting months for visa approvals, we held out as long as we could. However, at this point, the production logistics necessary for my show cannot be arranged.”
The culprit, like so many things these days, seems to be the Trump Administration, which ha increased visa fees and slowed processing times from cuts to federal agencies. The book is still due out next week. As Stevens said, “books don’t need visas!”
Islam’s new book tracks his career, spiritual journey, and the near death experiences that led his religious awakening. His turn to Islam came after a long career in music, with hits like “Wild World,” “Moonshadow,” and “Peace Train.” He also, I just learned today, wrote “The First Cut Is the Deepest”, which has been a hit for six different artists.
Unless one of Trump’s goons is a superfan and fast tracks Islam’s documents, looks like this tour is a bust, unfortunately. We just can’t have nice things these days, or to quote the man himself, “I know that it’s not easy/To be calm/When you’ve found something going on.”
