State Silences 8-Year-Old Guitarist

Tallan Latz is an American blues guitar prodigy. He received his first musical instrument, a drum kit, at the age of three and began playing acoustic guitar at age four. By the age of eight, he had played on-stage with performers the likes of Jackson Browne and Les Paul.

He’s in two blues bands and used to play in public, until bureaucrat Robert Anderson of the Wisconsin Labor Standards Bureau found out.

You see, in Wisconsin it’s perfectly legal for Tallan to drink in a bar with his father present. It is not, however, legal for Tallan to “perform” in the same setting.

Tallan was quoted in a local article saying, “It feels pretty bad because that just broke my dream. My dream is to play guitar.”

Bureaucrat Anderson could care less: “The kid is definitely a prodigy, and you’d like to see him have opportunities. But if I’m made aware of a violation, I have to enforce the statute.” One has to wonder if he makes the same attempt to enforce all of the other stupid laws in his state.

Bureaucrat Robert Anderson can be reached at 608-266-3345.

(Thanks to Bill in Oregon for sharing this.)

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4:24 pm on December 8, 2008