NO to switching the name of Park Avenue

From the start I suspected Mayor Tremblay's neurological workings. First there was that weird head bobbing that he does when he gets nervous. Then there was my first encounter with the guy. He was stumping for his first term at a youth event at the Jello Bar on Ontario. My question was simple enough: "are you going to give your salary to youth business grants as Mayor Bourque does?" Tremblay flew into a mini-rage, quite insulted at my question. Said he needed the money for his kids, who incidentally have been fully grown for a long time. He turned on his heel and walked away only to pivot back: "Good question though!" a sort of recognition that his wires weren't working right for a brief moment. A few weeks later my dim view was cemented when a toothless old woman at that church near the CBC building asked what he'd do for prostitutes like herself who wanted to troll the neighbourhood streets for business. Tremblay responded to the old crazy hooker as if she was the King of the Saudis. His reverence was absurd.

Now this Park Avenue nonsense explains why his top lieutenants have been ready to jump in to take over. Benoit Labonte and Frank "I've lost a lot of weight but still have no personality" Zampino have been long at work preparing their challenges to Tremblay, an ex-alcoholic member of the national assembly who used to get so hammered that he'd drive all over the lawn of the provincial legislature.

He has since found a new drug - Jesus! Being a Jesus freak stopped him from proposing the renaming of St. Joseph in Bourassa's honour, which is something La Presse had been lobbying for. So now not only is Tremblay toast, the previously unsullied Helen Fotopulos is surely history as well for going along with this silliness, (although she later recanted, hopefully as a result of my friendly email). As surely are several members of the Executive Committee who had initially voted unanimously in favour of the name change, proving that they are little more than a religious cult worshiping the leader and their hefty six figure paycheques. Good on my friends Warren Allmand and Marvin Rotrand for taking a stand against this slap on the face of the history of this city, the ethnic community, the English, the French, all city councillors should drink some of what these two are pouring.

Baku Azerbaijan T shirt modelled by pageant contestants

The beauties at the Miss Exotika contest strode down the virtual runway with a t-shirt designed to increase good feelings towards Azerbaijan. Many thanks to the models.

Pageant Rehearsals

The Miss Exotika beauty pageant is coming up on Friday night, it's their 10th edition, about a thousand tickets have been sold at $30 a pop, so I believe it's sold out. I'm going to be there as a judge. Here's a clip of their rehearsals.

The famous Stephanie Ly vid

In case you haven't seen this, it's a video I took with my brother in which we present the great Canadian supermodel Stephanie Ly a t-shirt celebrating Baku Azerbaijan, a great city and country to hang out in if you ever get a chance.

A visit to the Musee du Fier Monde on Amherst Street

Popped my head into a museum the other day. It's at Amherst and Ontario. I hauled my video camera through. It's no masterpiece but it will give you at least a slight idea of the lay of the land of this cultural spot that tips its hat to the industrial nature of the area.

Driving from downtown to NDG.

Here's a typical driving day in the city, with all my secret thoughts written out for you all to see. (Update: this video has been getting hundreds of views a day on youtube, sorta surprising).

Ah...Montreal...you...are...soo ...beautifulllllll.....

Here's my city! Just the way I like it! Full of pigeons and rockpiles and car lots! Taken today outside the St. Lawrence Metro with a snippet of Murphy's Law by Cheri to keep you watching.

Crazy Bald guy dancing in ugly empty lot ? Or great artist doing great artistry? You decide...

Paul-André Forcier is going to be doing this sort of thing at 12:15 pm every day in the empty lot at St. Catherine and Clark until November 20. You'll note how eerily quiet it is. About a year or so ago Blork the Blogger wrote me to mention that he saw a guy fall out of a window just a few feet from this spot. Pure Urban Grit. Gotta Luve It.