Bassist Duff McKagan (DUFF McKAGAN’s LOADED, VELVET REVOLVER, ex-GUNS N' ROSES) has written the following blog for Nytimes.com:

"I’ve been flying to work for the last quarter-century.

And I’ve had my share of foreign-soil adventures, like escaping a coup attempt by Hugo Chávez in 1992, when Guns N’ Roses was playing in Venezuela.

I didn’t know what a coup was. I didn’t even know how to spell it. All I knew was that it didn’t bode well for us.

Fortunately for me, Mr. Chávez liked our band and waited for our chartered plane to leave before he strafed the airport.

That particular trip to South America also involved a bribe of $30,000 to another country’s immigration service so we could play our show. Yes, this stuff does happen. We actually employed a guy who spoke both Spanish and Portuguese to go to some of these countries beforehand to find out which officials we had to pay off.

I rarely fly a charter anymore. Now it’s all commercial when I play with Velvet Revolver or my band, Loaded. All I want to do is to get from Point A to Point B with as little hassle as possible.

Although I’ve never been convicted of a felony or even a misdemeanor, I have a suspicion that I’m persona non grata in airports. I’m always the guy that gets “randomly” selected for a more thorough security check. I could be standing behind someone who is a jerk, and he gets waved through. Not me. If airport security was the lottery, I would be richer than rich.

No one can tell me why this happens. Maybe it’s profiling. Maybe none of the security people like my music. But I’m still unfailingly polite, even when I’m yanked out of line, which happens so often that I’ve lost count.

I’m really the most nonthreatening of travelers. I mean, how much of a scene can I cause when I spend time doing crossword puzzles? I’m actually a crossword puzzle fanatic."

Read more here.