Y.A. Wong owned the Paradise Cafe, which fluorished in the 1930s at the corner Clark and Lagauchetiere. There was a lot of crazy stuff happening in Chinatown in the 30s. In January 1936 cops found that 15 houses were connected by secret underground corridors and full of stolen swag. A couple of doors down at 71 La Gauch was a huge gambling den closed by cops in April 1937. The Chinese lottery was bringing in $300,000 a day. Around the corner at 1023 Clark was an illegal gambling den that only allowed $200 a shot players, lots of bones were rolled. Cops would raid such places, and the Chinese laundries around town and come up with cocaine and other narcotics. Another feature was a blackboard service updating news in China, right in front of this place people would translate the Canadian news into Chinese and write it on the board. Chinatown in the 1930s also saw a long running Tong feud finally resolved in December 1939 which had featured intermittent stabbings and bludgeonings, involving the Chee Kung Tong, which was the Chinese Freemason Society. The big star of the community was Reverend Yvon Wong, a Princeton grad who came here at age 16, his wife Janet Wong founded the Canadian Wives Circle for Chinese wives, of which there weren't many. The government didn't let the wives of these Chinese residents into the country. Wong went to bat to try to fight that insane and inhumane situation but without much success. In 1947 a building at Clark and Lagauch was demolished and a new building was built costing $100,000, home of the Nanking Cafe. Around that time you could get a meal for 35 cents in Chinatown, so it took a lot of meals to pay that place off. The classic story of Chinatown is a more recent deal diagonally across the street from where this photo was taken, a restaurant with an incredible story, but we shall save that for another entry.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Photo du jour - the Paradise nightclub in Chinatown
Y.A. Wong owned the Paradise Cafe, which fluorished in the 1930s at the corner Clark and Lagauchetiere. There was a lot of crazy stuff happening in Chinatown in the 30s. In January 1936 cops found that 15 houses were connected by secret underground corridors and full of stolen swag. A couple of doors down at 71 La Gauch was a huge gambling den closed by cops in April 1937. The Chinese lottery was bringing in $300,000 a day. Around the corner at 1023 Clark was an illegal gambling den that only allowed $200 a shot players, lots of bones were rolled. Cops would raid such places, and the Chinese laundries around town and come up with cocaine and other narcotics. Another feature was a blackboard service updating news in China, right in front of this place people would translate the Canadian news into Chinese and write it on the board. Chinatown in the 1930s also saw a long running Tong feud finally resolved in December 1939 which had featured intermittent stabbings and bludgeonings, involving the Chee Kung Tong, which was the Chinese Freemason Society. The big star of the community was Reverend Yvon Wong, a Princeton grad who came here at age 16, his wife Janet Wong founded the Canadian Wives Circle for Chinese wives, of which there weren't many. The government didn't let the wives of these Chinese residents into the country. Wong went to bat to try to fight that insane and inhumane situation but without much success. In 1947 a building at Clark and Lagauch was demolished and a new building was built costing $100,000, home of the Nanking Cafe. Around that time you could get a meal for 35 cents in Chinatown, so it took a lot of meals to pay that place off. The classic story of Chinatown is a more recent deal diagonally across the street from where this photo was taken, a restaurant with an incredible story, but we shall save that for another entry.
Fri nite party in the dark
Don T, the guy in the green baseball shirt, requests your presence Freitag abend, as we
call Friday night in the Coolopolis island paradise. His shinniedigg costs a tenner if youze buys in advance 15 at door. It's at the ole bank at Ontario and the Main. It's his second Blackout party, and the idea being that the place is totally dark, except for a few lightsticks that the chickies get to grasp, clasp and hold. So if you stink on the dancefloor this is your chance to blend in. I asked him how the young whippasnappaz are dancing nowadays. "Y'know," he says, "left, right, up down." Words to live by. See ya there.Fimo Mitchell has arrived
Fimo R. Mitchell launched his debut novel last nite at Chapters, it's a tale of sex and violence and faith. We strongly recommend you get thee hither to the nearest nearby bookery and procure a copy, as Mitchell - born in Lachine, now living near Cavendish and Sherbrooke - risks becoming a significant figure on the local lit landscape, as his next book is already nearly penned and his initial scribbling falls into a genre which is increasingly commercialicious. Mitchell took a few busy seconds to explain to Coolopolis what Lost and Found is all about:
"It’s based on the reality of a growing up as a young black in Montreal. When you feel you’ve been overlooked, you overcompensate, you form a hyper excessive attitude and approach everything in excess, women, clothes, jewelery, whatever. It deals with sexuality, faith and the quest for material wealth. Those are issues that many young people deal with and it's really geared for an urban audience."
Mitchell self-printed 500 copies of the book with his own savings and we suspect they'll go fast, get 'em while they're hot.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Mayor Tremblay's killing the air, chasing citizens out
Why has Nun's Island proven so fantastically popular? There is one feature there that no other place has. Can you guess? Here's the answer...shhh, tis a secret: It has no traffic lights.
That's right. Come to Nun's Island - where you'll never sit at a red light!
In contrast, the island of Montreal, which sees 20,000 residents leave per year, remains the last of North America's fascist redlightocracies, the only place other than Manhattan in the entire Can-Am that forces people to sit at right lights even when they want to turn right when nobody is around.
To add hypocrisy to its anti-environmental folly, a coupla dozen months back the city passed a bylaw. Police can now slap people with tickets for daring to warm up their cars before getting in them. Running a car unnecessarily pollutes the environment.
And yet the city forces drivers against their will to commit their grievous sin against the environment by making them wait unnecessarily at right lights.
This absurd situation is so laughable that I thought I'd keep the chuckles going by trying to get city Environment guy Alan De Sousa, Mayor of St. Laurent to try to explain why the city insists on forcing motorists to sit at every street corner and pump smog into the air when they don't need to or want to while punishing them for doing the same thing when there's an actual function - warming up the car on a cold day. De Sousa rang me back at about 6:30 am the next day and offered up a delicious cornucopia of meaningless sweet platitudes and fleshy feelgood goobledigook. My brain was numb for the rest of the day.
The practice of right-on-reds became standard throughout Can-Am during the 70s fuel crisis and there was no turning back. It's an environmentally friendly concept. People use less gas and pollute less when they're not forced to sit at red lights. People also save time and clear off the roads faster, which is important because Quebecers are spending 57 minutes a day on average motoring around. Some self-proclaimed experts dismiss the savings of time as insignificant but but if 3 million Quebecers can get home 4 minutes earlier every day and spend a little quality time with their kids, all of that has human benefits.
Right on reds had already been approved here by studies done in 1987 and 1991 but since the bureaucratic cash ball must always keep rolling, the city set up a new committee to study it yet again which sat from October 2002 and gave out its recommendations in August 2003.
The off-island suburbs - the great benefactor of the massive outpouring of Montreal residents - didn't bother. The rest of Quebec just went ahead and did it since since April 2003 and in spite of massive apprehensions, the first study revealed that not a single death had occurred as a result of the practice. According to provincial stats published in La Presse, fewer than one percent of all road accidents are a result of right on reds. Cities like Quebec have designated hundreds of intersections as no-right-on reds, when in doubt they sided with on the side of safety, a wise decision.
Jeremy Searle, the now unemployed city councillor headed the Montreal chinwag and opposed right on red for reasons probably clear to himself. The majority of the committee supported it.
The commission was a spoken word festival of paranoid neurotics who believe that motorists would suddenly want to plow into pedestrians. Many of the 150 briefs opposed the environmentally-friendly change. It received two anti-right-on-red petitions one with 950 and one with 480 signatures.
(Among those who urged the added polluting of our city's air: 1-The Montreal police - opposed it for safety reasons. But if it would be approved, they in$i$ted on a big awarene$$ campaign. 2- Service de l'environnement, de la voirie et des réseaux de la Ville de Montréal - they opposed it for safety reasons, there's no turning back once it starts they said, they proposed intelligent lights instead but of course never delivered. 3- Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ)- opposed it. They said it would lead to a "sense of fear," and that the advantages in terms of burning less fossil fuel and saving time were "insignifcants" overshadowed by the waste of time it causes pedestrians and cyclists. 4-La Coalition contre le virage à droite au feu rouge - opposed it, duh. 5-L'Association montréalaise pour les aveugles - opposed it. 6-L'Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille (INLB)- opposed it. 7-La Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal-Centre - opposed it, "it would increase conflicts between pedestrians and cars." 8-Vélo Québec - opposed it. 9-La Fondation médicale de recherches pour la dystonie (FMRD)- opposed it. "People who have cervical distonia have trouble turning their heads." 10- Regroupement des usagers du transport adapté (RUTA) et de la Table de concertation sur le transport des personnes handicapées - opposed it. 11- Présentation du Comité Mont-Royal Avenue Verte - opposed it. 12- La Confédération des organismes des personnes handicapées du Québec (COPHAN) - opposed it. 13-L'organisme Ex æquo - opposed it. people with motor skill deficiency. 14- L'Association pour la promotion de la marche et le respect des piétons - opposed it. 15-L'association Messagers à Bicyclette de Montréal (MBM) - opposed it. 16- Parti Québécois, région de Montréal-Centre - opposed it. 17- Syndicat des chauffeurs d'autobus, opérateurs de métro et employés des services connexes (CAOMSC) de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) - opposed it. 18-Comité régional des associations pour la déficience intellectuelle (CRADI) - opposed it. 19- L'Association des propriétaires de bâtiments commerciaux, résidentiels et commerçants du Québec - approved of it. "a fluorishing economy requires measures which facilitate the circulation fo goods and services," but that certain busy corners be exempt. 19- Regroupement des organismes de promotion du Montréal métropolitain (ROPMM) - is 26 organizations of sensory or physical deficiency, they oppose it. Conseil canadien de la sécurité (CCS)- support it because it would lead to a uniformization throughout North America, particularly at night. 20- Low Vision Self-Help Association (LVSHA)- opposed it. 21- Comité provincial de concertation et de développement de l'industrie du Taxi (C.P.C.D.I.T.) - support it with some restrictions downtown and so forth, save gas and cheaper rides in taxis. 22-Association québécoise des personnes de petite taille (AQPPT)- opposed it. 23- Ecole d'optométrie de l'Université de Montréal - opposed it. 24-Institut Raymond-Dewar -deaf people, opposed. 25- Centre de la petite enfance Galijode - opposed it except for certain streets at certain times. 26-Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes du Québec (RAAQ) - Opposed.
So after all this, our wobbly-kneed Mayor not only banned the practice, but also tried to forever wipe out the progressive environmentally-friendly initiative by trying to outmotherhood it by launching a bogus pedstrians rights decree contraption.
Tremblay, by buckling to the peanut allergy lobby, now stands helplessly as 20,000 Montreal residents leave the island a year, many to places which don't force them to pollute the air unnecessarily and wait without purpose. Citizens, it seems are like water. Water will go where water can flow.
That's right. Come to Nun's Island - where you'll never sit at a red light!
In contrast, the island of Montreal, which sees 20,000 residents leave per year, remains the last of North America's fascist redlightocracies, the only place other than Manhattan in the entire Can-Am that forces people to sit at right lights even when they want to turn right when nobody is around.
To add hypocrisy to its anti-environmental folly, a coupla dozen months back the city passed a bylaw. Police can now slap people with tickets for daring to warm up their cars before getting in them. Running a car unnecessarily pollutes the environment.
And yet the city forces drivers against their will to commit their grievous sin against the environment by making them wait unnecessarily at right lights.
This absurd situation is so laughable that I thought I'd keep the chuckles going by trying to get city Environment guy Alan De Sousa, Mayor of St. Laurent to try to explain why the city insists on forcing motorists to sit at every street corner and pump smog into the air when they don't need to or want to while punishing them for doing the same thing when there's an actual function - warming up the car on a cold day. De Sousa rang me back at about 6:30 am the next day and offered up a delicious cornucopia of meaningless sweet platitudes and fleshy feelgood goobledigook. My brain was numb for the rest of the day.
The practice of right-on-reds became standard throughout Can-Am during the 70s fuel crisis and there was no turning back. It's an environmentally friendly concept. People use less gas and pollute less when they're not forced to sit at red lights. People also save time and clear off the roads faster, which is important because Quebecers are spending 57 minutes a day on average motoring around. Some self-proclaimed experts dismiss the savings of time as insignificant but but if 3 million Quebecers can get home 4 minutes earlier every day and spend a little quality time with their kids, all of that has human benefits.
Right on reds had already been approved here by studies done in 1987 and 1991 but since the bureaucratic cash ball must always keep rolling, the city set up a new committee to study it yet again which sat from October 2002 and gave out its recommendations in August 2003.
The off-island suburbs - the great benefactor of the massive outpouring of Montreal residents - didn't bother. The rest of Quebec just went ahead and did it since since April 2003 and in spite of massive apprehensions, the first study revealed that not a single death had occurred as a result of the practice. According to provincial stats published in La Presse, fewer than one percent of all road accidents are a result of right on reds. Cities like Quebec have designated hundreds of intersections as no-right-on reds, when in doubt they sided with on the side of safety, a wise decision.
Jeremy Searle, the now unemployed city councillor headed the Montreal chinwag and opposed right on red for reasons probably clear to himself. The majority of the committee supported it.
The commission was a spoken word festival of paranoid neurotics who believe that motorists would suddenly want to plow into pedestrians. Many of the 150 briefs opposed the environmentally-friendly change. It received two anti-right-on-red petitions one with 950 and one with 480 signatures.
(Among those who urged the added polluting of our city's air: 1-The Montreal police - opposed it for safety reasons. But if it would be approved, they in$i$ted on a big awarene$$ campaign. 2- Service de l'environnement, de la voirie et des réseaux de la Ville de Montréal - they opposed it for safety reasons, there's no turning back once it starts they said, they proposed intelligent lights instead but of course never delivered. 3- Association pour la santé publique du Québec (ASPQ)- opposed it. They said it would lead to a "sense of fear," and that the advantages in terms of burning less fossil fuel and saving time were "insignifcants" overshadowed by the waste of time it causes pedestrians and cyclists. 4-La Coalition contre le virage à droite au feu rouge - opposed it, duh. 5-L'Association montréalaise pour les aveugles - opposed it. 6-L'Institut Nazareth et Louis-Braille (INLB)- opposed it. 7-La Régie régionale de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal-Centre - opposed it, "it would increase conflicts between pedestrians and cars." 8-Vélo Québec - opposed it. 9-La Fondation médicale de recherches pour la dystonie (FMRD)- opposed it. "People who have cervical distonia have trouble turning their heads." 10- Regroupement des usagers du transport adapté (RUTA) et de la Table de concertation sur le transport des personnes handicapées - opposed it. 11- Présentation du Comité Mont-Royal Avenue Verte - opposed it. 12- La Confédération des organismes des personnes handicapées du Québec (COPHAN) - opposed it. 13-L'organisme Ex æquo - opposed it. people with motor skill deficiency. 14- L'Association pour la promotion de la marche et le respect des piétons - opposed it. 15-L'association Messagers à Bicyclette de Montréal (MBM) - opposed it. 16- Parti Québécois, région de Montréal-Centre - opposed it. 17- Syndicat des chauffeurs d'autobus, opérateurs de métro et employés des services connexes (CAOMSC) de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) - opposed it. 18-Comité régional des associations pour la déficience intellectuelle (CRADI) - opposed it. 19- L'Association des propriétaires de bâtiments commerciaux, résidentiels et commerçants du Québec - approved of it. "a fluorishing economy requires measures which facilitate the circulation fo goods and services," but that certain busy corners be exempt. 19- Regroupement des organismes de promotion du Montréal métropolitain (ROPMM) - is 26 organizations of sensory or physical deficiency, they oppose it. Conseil canadien de la sécurité (CCS)- support it because it would lead to a uniformization throughout North America, particularly at night. 20- Low Vision Self-Help Association (LVSHA)- opposed it. 21- Comité provincial de concertation et de développement de l'industrie du Taxi (C.P.C.D.I.T.) - support it with some restrictions downtown and so forth, save gas and cheaper rides in taxis. 22-Association québécoise des personnes de petite taille (AQPPT)- opposed it. 23- Ecole d'optométrie de l'Université de Montréal - opposed it. 24-Institut Raymond-Dewar -deaf people, opposed. 25- Centre de la petite enfance Galijode - opposed it except for certain streets at certain times. 26-Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes du Québec (RAAQ) - Opposed.
So after all this, our wobbly-kneed Mayor not only banned the practice, but also tried to forever wipe out the progressive environmentally-friendly initiative by trying to outmotherhood it by launching a bogus pedstrians rights decree contraption.
Tremblay, by buckling to the peanut allergy lobby, now stands helplessly as 20,000 Montreal residents leave the island a year, many to places which don't force them to pollute the air unnecessarily and wait without purpose. Citizens, it seems are like water. Water will go where water can flow.
Laste dayes of winter joye
This short short movie is self explanatory but be warned it shall make you nostalgic for the winter that has slipped through the collective fingers of our..uh..giant urban..uhh... hand (can never stop those overambitious metaphors until somebody gets hurt).
Monday, February 26, 2007
Back in black: Return of a foxy first lady
Eleanor Roosevelt was no stranger to Montreal when the widowed first lady dropped in at City Hall 60 years ago this week before addressing a meeting of the United Nations Society of Canada (i.e., the rehashed League of Nations Society) at the Montreal Forum. Decades earlier, Eleanor and family often blew into town on shopping getaways from Campobello Island, N.B. That's where she'd spend her summers, along with her children and husband, the four-term United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a.k.a. FDR. Campobello is also the place he contracted the disease -- probably polio -- that paralyzed him from the waist down. Mrs. Roosevelt remembered that her Montreal grocer of choice was "Fraser Vigee" -- but the establishment she must have had in mind was actually "Fraser & Viger Co Ltd, proprietors of Italian warehouse, grocers, wine and spirit merchants, 209 and 211 St James." 
As you can see in this clipping from La Presse (dated Oct. 10, 1903), Fraser & Viger was located on the ground floor of the Nordheimer Building -- the facade of which, amazingly, still stands as part of the Montreal World Trade Centre. Now back to Eleanor's visit: it was exactly 60 years today -- February 26, 1947 -- that she wrote about her visit here in her syndicated newspaper column. But that wasn't the only time she gave Montreal ink. In case you were wondering, the guy whose hand is resting on the CKAC microphone stand in the picture above is Mayor Camilien Houde. The other chap on the left is unidentified -- but if you can prove it's not a G-man, Coolopolis will buy you one of those cold-from-the-Thermos beverages they pass off as coffee at places like Van Houtte, Cafe Depot and Java U (sorry, only Starbucks serves it reliably hot). Below, Eleanor Roosevelt is bantering -- possibly in her schoolgirl French -- with Mayor Houde as she prepares to sign the Gold Book of the city. Of Houde, she wrote: "The present mayor has held the office off and on for a long time, so he must have found the secret of pleasing the people."
Who lived here?
This home at 6822 Mountain Sights was home to a Jewish family who, like much of the anglo Montreal community, moved to Toronto due to the Parti Quebecois nonsense.The son went on to the U of T and then moved to the states. He landed at the right time and place to luck into massive amounts of moolah thanks to some dot com good fortune.
He then gave a ton of that cash away to good causes, most notably to Toronto institutions. As far as Coolopoils can tell, he didn't give a cent of his philanthrobucks to his home town. Anybody?
- Answer: Jeff Skoll.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
A century of burning desires on Peel St.
When you're shopping for a Montecristo "A" cigar, it's probably a good thing not to think about the hundred bucks you're going to spend. After all, these Havanas last a really long time.
"You're paying by the hour," quips Suzanne Hiltebrandt, manager of H. Poupart Inc., a 102-year-old cigar, tobacco and gift shop on Peel at De Maisonneuve.
In fact, these babies burn for about five hours -- so that's just $20 per.
Suzanne still sells a fair number of these monster stogies -- despite the smoking ban in bars and restaurants. While summertime brings in a lot of American tourists who'll smoke their Havanas while strolling around Montreal, there are plenty of die-hard connoisseurs who huff and puff 'em at home. A few have even built their own, hermetically-sealed cigar-smoking chambers.
Meanwhile, back in Havana, it seems that Cuban manufacturers are finally catching on to the budget-minded smokers who like their cigars of a manageable size -- the so-called "club" format -- and in packs of ten, for a fraction of the price of the baseball bat Suzanne's holding.
As for the gift end of the Poupart business, things are pretty quiet these post-Christmas days. The big giftware conventions are just getting underway and all eyes are on Europe, as usual -- and it takes a while for the new stuff to make it to this side of the Atlantic. But H. Poupart always has something new and presentable on their shelves, and here are a few things that caught our Coolopolis eye:
Straight from England, Dunhill sterling silver cufflinks (the turtles are $340; steering wheels $270). Meanwhile, from Germany, there are lots of Ritzenhof crystal stemless wine glasses, beer glasses and ashtrays (that ashtray with the dog, by the way, is designed by local artist Julien Chung)
For those of us who don't want to make an ash of ourselves, H. Poupart has a range of alternative tobacco products, like -- believe it or not -- snuff, in a range of styles -- from natural (plain) to mentholated. This traditional flask of sniffable tobacco comes from Germany. 
And for those who prefer to smoke with a harem full of belly-dancing beauties, nothing can replace the sheesha pipe. H. Poupart has one of the best selections of flavours in the city. In addition to the usual banana and lemon styles, comes a new Sheherezade line that includes choco-mint, marguerita, cinnamon, and earl grey. Pipes range from about $45 to $130. 
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Who lived here?
Coolopolis has long wondered about the person who lived at this spot, a huge media star in the early 80s and now seemingly totally forgotten. This individual led a hard partying lifestyle upstairs from the St. Amable restaurant in Place Jacques Cartier in Old Montreal. Anybody think they know?
The mystery of the friend of friendless girls
Starting in 1915 Montreal had a special place for friendless girls. The term was a euphemism - perhaps a reverse euphemism - for prostitutes. That year a 30 year old one-eyed prostitute and ex-morphine addict from Philadelphia - she lost her eye to venereal disease - named Maimie Pinzer opened up a resource for local prostitutes at the corner of Bleury and Ontario (now President Kennedy). Pinzer was born into a wealthy Jewish family whose father was murdered when she was 13. She was sent out to work and soon became a prostitute, often fighting with her mother, before moving to New York, White Plains, Delaware, marrying and remarrying. She came to Montreal in 1914 and started something called the Business Aid Bureau along with three friends. Lovells suggests this was located on lower University, demolished for road widening in the 1950s. Pinzer had problems with her landlord and employees, business went kaput so in 1915 so with the help of a benefactor in Boston, she opened a halfway house for prostitutes. She wrote at length about the place in letters to a friend in Boston, which were republished in an acclaimed book still considered instructive to this day. Pinzer's letters stopped in 1922 and it's not clear what happened to her after that, although it's believed that she lived happily ever after, perhaps here in Montreal. Pinzer's only obvious legacy lies in the current prositute lobby and resource group called Stella, which is named after a local prostitute that Pinzer admired.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Power to the flower people!
Fuchsia owner Binky Holleran's main squeeze, Stéphane Barre, is off to South America to compete in the Desafio de los Volcanos -- that's one of those grueling cycle-kayak-climb competitions that will take him and three teammates panting and sweating across 500 kilometres of tough Andean terrain. But since getting four athletes halfway around the world with all kinds of gear is an expensive proposition, Binky's doing what she can to raise funds -- 'cause helping out's one of the things you do when you stand by your man. So for five dollars, you'll get three of Binky's indescribably delicious flower cookies and a state-of-the-art toothbrush to close the deal. Oh yeah, did we mention that Fucscia (56 Duluth St. East, 514 487-3155) is the acclaimed restaurant where they serve food made with edible flowers? It's a unique flavour adventure. Bon appetit!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Hanging out in Chaboillez Square
Chaboillez Square was part of Louis Chaboillez's land, which his wife Marguerite persuaded city inspector Jacques Viger to name after her dead hubby in 1813. Its boundaries changed from map to map, but it contained a fluorishing neighbourhood, of which little remains. 
It was a part of Griffintown that was demolished long ago for highways and has been home to the Dow Planetarium since 1966. It had a few bridges and was sometimes flooded by the St. Martin River which ran through it. That river originated in a lake in St. Michel around Pie IX, came over to St. 
Antoine Street, through here, and then finally to the Pointe a Callieres into the St. Lawrence, (many mistakenly think that the St. Peter River was at P-a-C, but that's been disproven). This fire station number 11 was among the many buildings in Chaboillez 
Square, we found one version of this photo with the fireman sitting dangerously with feet out the window and then came across another that had been altered to hide fireman's reckless legs. (photo detail above). They went to quite some trouble to conceal his dangerous pose. Over the last 
decade it's been announced about 100 times that the province will spend $30 mil to move the Dow Planetarium to a spot near the Olympic Stadium, a plan hatched up by Andre Boisclair on the promise that it would attract double the 150,000 spectators that come now. It never happened. Coolopolis recalls that the land was given to the city for the Planetarium under the stipulation that it retain its vocation, and overruling this would require provincial legislation.
Remember -- keep your tips up
You got to hand it to those marketing guys of the '70s -- up all night, pounding away -- and even using the typewriter once in a while. But seriously, it takes more than a few Harvey Wallbangers to inspire a quarter decent campaign like this lapel pin to promote Laurentian ski centres.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Photo du Jour - St. Antoine & Berri
The corner of Berri and St. Antoine, on July 7, 1953. It's a spot that was torn up for the expressway a few years later. Across from the Coronet is a park over the expressway that the government keeps pouring millions in. It's a place where bums live in the summer and periodically murder each other. Bring back the Coronet says Coolopolis. Click on the foto for magnificent detail.Sunday, February 18, 2007
Crystal Cliffs tonight - Sala Rossa
Good choice for a snowy Montreal evening - pop over to the Sala Rossa and spy the Crystal Clyffs, who - as you can hear at their link - sound a little like the early Pixies (the era before the fat guy started bossing the chick around.) They're Montrealers, according to band member Owain who reportedly did the first gig "at the Pines last vernal equinox." Um. So I guess that's the spring or summer or fall of 2006. ""We play light-speed dark psychedelic pop and heavy musky music, and are influenced by the actual sound of 60's free rock, latin carnival music, deep forest folk, and Sting and the Police." Kiss Me Deadly and Tusks also on the menu.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Notre Dame Street in Lachine - small town strip on the skids thanks to the malls
Joseph Tomy, 83, is from an Arab family that has been selling clothes in this city since 1910, starting on St. Hubert, then St. Henry and since 1959 at this spot at ninth where he and his charming wife have peddled womens wear on Notre Dame in Lachine. It's an unintentionally retro jewel, the kind of store Coolopolis loves. The fab 
neon light still works "but I never turn it on anymore," he says. But the old fashioned cash register (pictured) is still very much in operation. "I was once very ambitious," says Tomy, "I wanted to get a lot done with this place." But he's seen the foot traffic thin out to the benefit of the West Island malls. His past attempts to rally the local street merchants association or rouse the city council fizzled.
"They had a merchants association but all they wanted to do was go and have parties on boats." Nowadays the strip has a couple of banks and restaurants but also has the slipping mishmash of too many hair salons, empty storefronts, and the inevitable occasional vacuum cleaner repair shop. And while you can get a light bulb tan in a bunch of places, it seems short of dollar stores, fruit stores and groceries, so there's your opportunity. A pair of theaters once sat directly across the street from Tomy's joint.
"The one right out in front here (blue building in the photo) was run by a big fat guy named 
Schneiderman, I think that was his name, he walked around with his big dog, it was on the second floor when the population started 
turning more French he didn't start showing French movies and it went down." It is now a thriving S. Tabak, HQ of Evidence Clothing a hip-hop clothing line that seems overly preoccupied with spray painting walls. The store sells last year's way-too-large T-shirts. The nearby Royal Alexandra is a lost treasure. "It's a real shame, it's a big beautiful building and it would have been nice if the City of 
Lachine had done something to make 
it a cultural center." Other landmarks on Notre Dame in Lachine: a sprawling antique store run by a bald American cowboy named Tex which is selling that ancient switchboard (pictured) as well as juke boxes and inoperative pinball machines. The tiniest sushi restaurant you'll see and a summertime outdoor market at 18 th Avenue. The street comes to life in the summer when people hitting the kayaking and other waterside events on St. Joseph walk the block over to this strip to hang out.It's gonna be a hot winter night on The Main
Step aside Mrs. Guy Ritchie: Daniel and the guys at DP514.com have been living in a material world all week, unfurling and hanging hundreds of meters of red drapery at Orchid Nightclub and Lounge (3556 The Main). Pray tell, you ask, wherefore? (Huh?) Well, it's all part of the love theme at tonight's Valentine's-inspired Honeymoon Lingerie Special.
It's a good thing that bumpin'-and-grindin' patrons will provide plenty of heat at this Friday night special event, because the barmaids and waitresses are going to need it as they show up to work in nothing but the slinkiest of sexy lingerie. Miss this event at your own risk -- but careful if you come, too. All the lovely ladies will receive free roses during the evening, and you may not want to get yourself pricked. Champagne-loving groups of 15 or more who are looking for a place to celebrate a birthday need look no further: you'll get yourselves a free bottle of real bubbly -- just get ye on the on the guest list at guestlist@dp514.com or summon these guys on the blower: Daniel (514) 889-6589 or Phil (514) 583-6423.
These Electric Lives - Sat evening only a fiver....
Toronto's These Electric Lives are calling out for one particular, or rather peculiar, old woman to show up. Bandleader Gary explains: "Our first show in Montreal was last August at the POP Montreal Stage at Main Madness. We played at around 5 pm at that lovely stone archway just off St. Lawrence. That YouTube video (embedded below) is a clip from that performance...we loved that old French-Canadian lady...she danced in front of Mark (our lead singer) for our entire 45 minute set!"These quints are a sorta Coldplayesque sounding radio-ready gang who also want to see all Coolopolites at their gig. "We're really hyped about this Montreal show. This Club Lambi
show is our first headlining show in MTL. We're playing our longest set ever...around 70 minutes. Like our BIO says...people can expect to dance to our show. We'll be dancing." Saturday at 8, only five bucks, also featuring Hot Auction, Ghetto Pony & Databeta.
Who lived here - the easiest one yet!
Since you Coolopolites have proven so keen on this quiz game, I've got one you can snag easy so you can have that extra confident bounce in your step 
for your weekend carousing activities. It's a home at 261 Bloomfield in Outremont where one of the most talked-about figures in Quebec history lived, not getting laid very often it would seem, a fact that might've influenced his somewhat frustrated politics. The small photo provides the answer.
Garbage trucks we know and love
Coolopolis staffers have a thing for garbage trucks. We want you to love them too. We're trying to sell a Fast and The Furious-style script about young garbage truck drivers racing recklessly throughout the four Montreals (North, East, West and ...err..is there a Montreal South) in an earlier era. Vin Diesel would be good in the lead, as he's been hauling trash since his career hit the skids. The top photo demonstrates the 1950 Sanivan, it's a Garwood Load Packer, in a rare photo op featuring sanitation workers, horned in on by the slimy garbage administrators who clearly were using their jobs as a front to dispose of the bodies of those who resisted their extortion racket. You can just tell by looking. The lower photo from 1957 demonstrates the trash trawlers that roamed our streets picking up the detritus of our hallowed forefathers from a slightly earlier age, it was taken upon the retirement of said truck that was from 1938, although we're thinking that it wasn't originally equipped with the duct tape in front. By the way, Marina Ice Cream, which is on the sign in the background, was manufactured by the Shapiros from a joint on Huron Street which was was part of the stuff demolished a couple of years ago - remember how Mayor Bourque knocked down the Hells biker HQ? Everybody waited to find out of that story of the bikers having a secret tunnel out of the area was true. It wasn't. That street is gone, now part of the park between Ontario and the Jacques Cartier Bridge. We're not convinced that this photo was taken there.Thursday, February 15, 2007
You'll cry "wawa" if you miss this show Fri-nite at Sala Rossa
Coolopolis had its interest piqued by WAWA, a show on tonight at The Red Room of Sala Rossa that has tempted us like the Naiads of Sirenum scopuli. Thusly we requested a description of the show from the organizatrix of this charm offensive, the cabaret-pop-noir chanteuse Amanda Mabro who generously gave us the whole story of this made-in-Montreal- entertainment success story.
"WAWA is an acronym for WeAreWomenArtists and was also inspired by Gilda Radner's famous 'BABA WAWA' skit that used to be on SNL in the 70s."
And how did this collective effort come to life? " The show started out in 2003 as a way for me to get my music out to a broader audience by sharing the stage with other female artists I thought should get more attention. It was about building a more solid musical community, but more specifically about bringing independent women in music/arts together in an environment that is positive and supportive as opposed to catty and self-absorbed.
Originally, I intended for the show to be a one time affair, but then people kept asking me when there would be another one. So, in between recording, releasing, and touring my first full length record I managed to squeeze out another show in December of '06, a pre-new years bash that my co-songwriter (Cozmos Quazar) and I branded a 'neo-vaudvillian masquerade ball!' The night was so successful we had to turn people away which was really rewarding (though, not so nice for the unhappy people who couldn't get in unfortunately!).
Friday, Feb 16th, 2007 at La Sala Rossa 8:30 to about midnight. Advance tickets are available at Casa for $10 or $15 at the door. Floor Show: 8:30-9:30pm featuring Montreal/New York art, crafts, dj, and juggling Stage Show: 9:30pm-Midnight featuring Amanda Mabro, Andrea Revel, Lobelia, Ladies of the Canyon, Abigail Lapell, and Reily Dancing with Miss Sugarpuss and OOPS JOHNNY! Burlesque Comedy with Sonali Karnick and Claire Brosseau Hosted by Deanne Smith
Dishin' the deals at Trinity Memorial
This report isn't intended to annoy certain bargain hunters, but that's what happens when you give away their precious secrets. Secrets like the weekly sale at Trinity Memorial Anglican Church, held every Wednesday from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (It's in the downstairs hall, 2146 Marlowe at Sherbrooke - enter by the side door).
Mazie, seen above dishing out bargains and toting one of two mucho grande Mexican sombreros that can be had for a song (maybe even less if you're a real mariachi), is just one of a tight-knit team of volunteers at the weekly sale, which is held for sensible causes and features bargain clothes, knick-knacks, books, magazines and homemade goods. This week's sale even featured some rare, antique photography equipment.
Now for the breaking news: Trinity Memorial is holding a major bazaar on Friday, March 2 (6-9 p.m.) and Saturday, March 3 (9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.). If you're the entrepreneurial type or have some neat stuff to sell off, you can rent an eight-foot table for $25 (both days) and pocket some pretty green. Just call Mazie before 9:30 a.m. at 514 488-1654. Call her if you're after the hat, too.
Hungry'n'Homeless in Mtl
These photos were shot at the Meurline refuge at 435 Champ de Mars in Old Montreal, probably in the 1930s. Coolopolis scanned, cleaned and recropped these from weatherbeaten prints.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
P.S., I Paul Frank You
Some guys say it with flowers. Some gals say it with chocolates. But Coolopolis wondered, if you wanted to say I Love You with a gift that will still be around next Monday, where would you go? Answer: Ben & Tournesol (4915 Sherbrooke West, near Claremont; 514 481-5050).
Ben & Tournesol have been the landmark place for discriminating gift buyers on any occasion for more than 13 years. We asked salesgirl Stephanny Steiner to lead us to that lasting Valentine's Day gift. Soon we were standing before this colourful corner boasting T-shirts, pyjamas, slippers and wallets and stuff. "I'm a Paul Frank freak," Stephanny confessed. "There are all different characters with a story behind every one. It's durable, it doesn't shrink. I still have Paul Frank shirts from when I was 16 -- that's five years ago." And best of all, the Paul Frank line is 50 per cent off right now.
Paul Frank stuff is truly a modern classic. But Ben & Tournesol have lots more than that. They have some of the latest, hottest stuff you can find in London, Seoul and Amsterdam. Witness VoodooBaby (see picture), which are all-in-one amulets, keychains and cell-phone danglers. They're wound up from a single piece of string and are rumored to empower, protect and cast spells. This one is called Injured Sub. His job is to take the fall instead of you. Prices range from about $13 to $23.Photos du jour - St. Mark street fire brigade 1938
This top photo shows an ol' fashioned fire engine leaving what looks like Demaisonneuve and St. Marc, the building many knew as police station 10 in 1938.The magnificent second photo (worth clicking to see the detail) displays the corner of St. Marc and St. Catherine taken from South of the intersection.
Who lived here - quiz...
What must be Montreal's most flamboyant, humourous, rotund and controversial elected official lived here on St. Hubert Street in the Plateau before moving into the Mount Royal Hotel in retirement where he died. Have I given it away like usual?
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Zbigniew Brzezinski's Montreal recollections
Last week Coolopolis showed you the house that Zbigniew Brzezinski grew up in after his diplomat father moved here when he was about 10. Dad lost his job at the embassy when the country turned communist but Zbigniew received a good education here in Montreal at something called Newman House, which appears to no longer exist. His career ultimately brought him to become Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor - the Democrat equivalent of Henry Kissinger if you will. He helped normalize relations with China, renew the arms limitation treaty and organize the Camp David accords and helped the Afghans resist the Russians. I asked him about his memories of growing up in Montreal."My first experiences in Montreal were associated with our stay on St. Sulpice Road in Westmount and my attendance at Newman House School, an English-type prep school. It was a new cultural and linguistic challenge, though, I am proud to say, that I soon did quite well.
We used to go for summers to the Laurentian Mountains, various places that I don't remember too precisely but the name Val de Bois comes to mind, then someplace near St. Agathe, and finally my parents bought at the end of WWII a farm near Morin Heights. We also used to ski there.
I considered Montreal to be a very beautiful city, though, as I got older, I also became more aware of some of its more provincial aspects. The English-speaking community Westmount was an island of sorts, and the French-Canadian community was living quite apart. It was only through the influx of post-WWII immigrants that the city acquired a much more lively cosmopolitan character.
I used to play soccer when attending Newman House School and I was a forward, but I do not remember any spectacular athletic accomplishments."
The story behind the Vandelac building
One of Old Montreal's best-known buildings is the Maison Vandelac in Jacques Cartier Square, built in 1810. In the background of the black and white photo is a certain Tavern Vandelac. There's an ice-cream joint there now.I wanted to know about them Vandelacs.
I got Pierre Vandelac on the buzzer. Nice guy. He told me what he knows. He tells me that the clan ended here cuz of Napoleon.
The first Vandelac in our city was in Napoleon's personal guard.
"He was paid in gold and when Napoleon died in St. Helen’s in 1821, he had a bag full of gold but didn’t want to go back to Europe cuz it was like serving Hitler all your life. He was tired of it. He bought around Boucherville and he had a slew of kids and they all went to Milwaukee, or around there. One or two stayed here. They bought that buildng around 1870 and made it a trading house. And he went broke with that because his suppliers came in sailboats and steamboats were faster. Sailboats would might take 15 days or a month, sometimes they'd wait until the weather got better, so women buying dresses waiting that long sometimes changed their minds as styles changed. So the Vandealcs said no more dealing with Europe, so he started a funeral parlour. My father sold five funeral parlours to Dallaire. My father Guy Vandelac went to Ottawa, became Usher of the Black Rod – (back then it was called Gentleman of the Black Rod). He was a womanizer, so my mom left him and took the kids to Europe, and that's where I grew up."
The local monument you've never seen
Ethan Allen suffered the bitter taste of military defeat right here in Montreal in 1775 and here is the proof at Viau and Notre Dame. Allen had rather stupidly shown up with just a few men and the Brits of Montreal beat him down easily and kept him prisoner for three years afterwards. He kept up his rebellious ways afterwards and led a land title dispute and took Vermont to war against New York State, but that's another story. This home, wedged in weirdly amongst the oil facilities was where Allen was forced to sign his Montreal defeat. Coolopolis has top-level calls in with provincial bureaucrats askin whatever happened to this historic home. We'll report it to you once we find out. 
Bad city planning - road segregation part 3
Now to turn up the volume on the city's nonsensical compulsion to isolate people from their neighbours. If you're at Clifton and Demaisonneuve you are only a few feet from your neighbours on the other side of the tracks only about 70 feet away, as indicated by the green arrows. You will want to go that way as it's a densely populated part of the city. Instead of taking a 12 second drive, you're forced into making a much larger commitment. To drive from one side of the tracks to the other requires well over a mile of driving, as shown in red. The current city councilor was elected on a promise of making it possible to get over the railway tracks but instead he has gone the other way, now backing a plan to make it even more difficult to make this same trip by reserving the Upper Lachine access to ambulances and buses, an insane plan that would make access even more difficult.
That's a lot of queens
The Potato Queen of New Brunswick's visit to city hall made the news 50 years ago today. Here's the story:
The Potato Queen of New Brunswick, who earned her title after more than six months of competitions, was crowned last night at the National Farm Show. In a ceremony marking New Brunswick Day, that province's agriculture minister, C.B. Sherwood, gently laid a crown made of potato buds on the head of Miss Odette Ouellette, of Drummond, N.B. Roger Pichette, the New Brunswick minister of industry and urban affairs, was also on hand. Miss Prudentienne Granger, from Crabtree Mills, Que., was likewise elected queen of bee farming. Today, farmers' wives will be honoured and two couples will be selected as Quebec square dancing champions. Tomorrow is Settlers Day, and the Minister of the Canadian North and National Resources, Jean Lesage, will proclaim the Quebec agricultural family of the year. On Friday, members of the 4H Club will meet for the occasion of the Young Farmers competition, followed by the crowning of the Queen of the Milk Industry. Saturday will be devoted to the rural regions.
Photo caption (larger version and full text here):Potato Queen visits the Mayor -- Mayor Drapeau yesterday welcomed the pretty Potato Queen of New Brunswick to his office. Miss Odette Ouellette of St. Andre, the New Brunswick Agriculture Minister and other persons attended. From left to right: His Worship Mayor Jean Drapeau, Miss Odette Ouellet, New Brunswick's Potato Queen, signs the Gold Book of the city, and the right honourable C.B. Sherwood, New Brunswick's provincial minister of agriculture.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Sheldon Souray in the flesh - a Coolopolis exclusive
Coolopolis spent an unforgettable afternoon Friday with the amazing Sheldon Souray at his restaurant La Pizzeria Etc (7303 Henri Bourassa East) and his partner Andrea, who - like his renowned chef father - cooks a mean Italian dish. Andrea spends 80 hours a week perfecting his restaurant tricks and has been doing so since his teen years. You're going to love this place. New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur is the third partner in the equation. The fabulous Jenny K asks the All Star defenceman all the questions nobody else got around to, about his ex-wife, daughter, his philosophy, his eligibility and his feelings about hockey. Click on the video for a must-see interview.
State of Montreal pro basketball nation
Jenny K interviewed the GM of the Montreal Royal basketball team, among others on Friday. We present that interview below. Too bad we only realized later that the older little guy in the warmup in that photo the well-known local preacherman and former Alliance Quebec chief Darryl Gray, 50, at least he appears to be part of the team of much younger and taller fellahs. Surely we'd have asked the GM what he's doing there had we realized who it was at the time. 
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Jenny K brings Coolopolites on a wild ride
Not every day that Coolopolites get to take a trip through the Salon de l'amour et de la seduction in the esteemed presence of the great Jenny K, have a peek at the video to get a sense of the event, which ends tomorrow (Sunday Feb 11).
More nasty road segregation
The distance between Bonavista and Circle Road is so tiny that you can smell their steaks on the barby. But if you want to invite yourself over, the trek is unnecessarily cruel. You'll have to go down Bonavista, over to Cote St. Luc, turn right on Decarie, get over to Ponsard. The drive is well over a mile. A few decades ago a tiny street called Bridle Path was meant to connect the two but was never built.
Dancers love to love you, baby
These flexible beauties helped steam up the usually brisk Olympic Stadium last night. They'll be performing throughout the weekend as the Salon de l'Amour & de la Seduction helps get Montrealers in the mood for Valentine's Day.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Bad City Planning
Senseless neighbourhood segregation inconveniences people, wastes travel time and damages the environment by forcing people to go greater distances to get places.Take Ridgewood. If you live on this hilly dead-end twisting road off of Cote des Neiges, try not to run out of eggs. Getting to the corner store is a major trek. (The convenience store near the top went bust). So before you go buy one of those countless $130 k co-properties on this street, keep in mind that once you're at the top, you cannot access the lovely part of the city - that includes St. Joseph's Oratory that's right within grasp at the top. (see red line on the map). You are forced to travel well over a mile away by road. You have to go all the way down Ridgewood, down Cote-des-Neiges to Belvedere, up Belvedere, over to Summit Circle, down Gordon, and then finally to Oakland or Surrey Gardens. Rather than travel a hundredfeet, you're forced to zoom well over a mile.
One consolation - if you're willing to walk through the woods,
there's a path about five buildings from the top (on the left side if you're walking up the hill) that will bring you there, here's a photo of what to look for.
Fire meets car, fire eats car, boy loses car
Talk about down on yer luck. When local guy Solomonyuk Oleksandr got up to go to work last Sunday morning, he saw smoke coming out from under the hood of his 1997 VW Golf. Before long, that smoke morphed into raging flames that proceed to total his ride.
But that was just the start of his problems. Next, the 20-year-old film student and volunteer at a pet shelter lost his restaurant-delivery job, because he needed a car for that. And insurance wouldn't pay for the car, because he wasn't covered for fire. Worse, he had to leave the car where it was for investigators: hence, more parking charges. Then there was the towing.
But depite the shock and anguish he must have felt when his 1.8 litre speedster was burning, Sol had the presence of mind to take pictures of its last moments and put his story up for bid -- along with his pictures, keys, paperwork and various pledges -- on eBay. So how's the sale proceeding? Slow. With two days left on the auction, there weren't any bids this morning. But we'll be keeping tabs -- and looking nervously for smoke from our own parking space.
Gifted Anglo Gaspe Tunesmith hits Foufs tonight
Philip Shearing was around 19 when I first knew him about four years ago when he disembarked from an anglo village in the Gaspe to Montreal, shacking up with a few of his buds in Lower NDG. They were all good guys but Phil was somewhat more passionate, opinionated and better read than the others.Shearing lived downstairs and learned guitar. I had no choice but to follow his progress, quite enjoying his version of Tommy Gun by The Clash which would rise through the floor and shake my precious crystal.
His band Chemical Swings (click the link and his song Raw comes on, it is in fact a well-done song.. ) plays Foufounes, tonight, Friday nite. I asked him what to expect.
"The show starts at 9 PM and costs a meager 5 Canadian dollarinos . We are a 4 piece powerpop band with a penchant for rocking and rolling. We have been compared to a cross between Dinosaur Jr. and Elliott Smith. Montreal musician Beaver once said something to the effect of 'You guys bring back that early 90's vibe, and I like it' Think of early Sloan or perhaps Pavement."
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Don't quit, 'less the steak don't stick
Ever hit that career wall and ask yourself, 'Should I hand in my notice and seek greener job pastures?' Sure, it's a tough call, but you could always flip a coin to decide what to do. Then again, why be so predictable? There are more inventive ways to make up your mind. Let's consider the Wilf Cude method.
Cude (1910-1968) was a Habs goalie for eight of his ten-year NHL career. While in Montreal, he lived in Town of Mount Royal and supplemented his hockey income with a service station he operated at the southwest corner of St. Urbain and Mount Royal (a new condo sits there, kitty corner from Beauty's). All told, he did pretty well for himself, considering his size (he weighed about 135 lbs.) and the fact that he was born in Wales. (Hockey in Wales? Apparently he learned how to play in Winnipeg.) Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Gazette sportswriter Dave Stubbs dredged up this gem on how Wilf finally decided to hang up his skates:
Cude was sitting down for a post-game dinner with his wife, his nerves more raw than his steak, when he picked up the meat and hurled it across the room, plastering it to a wall.
Legend has it that the goalie said: "If the steak comes down, I'm through."
Cude was an ex-goalie an instant later when the slab of sirloin hit the floor.
(Alternative version)
Legend has it that the goalie said: "If the steak comes down, I'm through."
Cude was an ex-goalie an instant later when the slab of sirloin hit the floor.
(Alternative version)
Coolopolis issue makes headlines....
Mike Boone featured an issue raised on Coolopolis last Friday, god bless his soul. The authorities got on the situation soon after and now throngs of people are skating around the rink. At least one other post from this board is becoming a feature in a national newspaper. Plus, we've spent about a month working on a very interesting exclusive which should be up by next week at this time.
Oxford Park hockey players feel frozen out, wait for a flood; [Final Edition]MIKE BOONE. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: (Copyright Montreal Gazette 2007)They aren't the playing fields of Eton, but a few Stanley Cups have been won on the outdoor rinks of Montreal.
Oxford Park hockey players feel frozen out, wait for a flood; [Final Edition]MIKE BOONE. The Gazette. Montreal, Que.: (Copyright Montreal Gazette 2007)They aren't the playing fields of Eton, but a few Stanley Cups have been won on the outdoor rinks of Montreal.
The movie dramatization of Maurice Richard's life begins in 1937. Richard, a 17-year-old factory worker, spends his days sanding steel girders. At twilight, he tapes his sticks and heads for the rink, where the "ti-culs de Parc Lafontaine" ride his talent to a win over their bitter rivals. Later, a romantic interlude: Under the lights that illuminate the ice surface, the teenage hockey hero kisses his sweetheart.
That was a flashback. Now fast-forward 70 years to Oxford Park in Notre Dame de Grace.
No one is smooching. Nor has anyone been skating at the outdoor rink where the great Doug Harvey learned to play hockey and, while playing for he Canadiens, would show up to referee games played by the local ti-culs.
The boards have been up since late October in Oxford Park.
But the ice wasn't down - and Kristian Gravenor was up in arms.
Gravenor, a journalist and blogger (www.coolopolis.blogspot.com), lives on a street bordering the park. He and his four kids watched the boards being installed. They watched the rink being flooded.
"Then the temperature rose in December," Gravenor said, "and everything went right into the earth. It was just grass again."
Chalk up another consequence of global warming and climate change: While grass is a perfectly adequate foundation for what young lovers do, ti-culs can't skate on it.
More recently, however, temperatures have dipped to seasonal levels. And with the freeze, Gravenor thought the Oxford Park rink would be reflooded.
Wrong - until this week.
After Gravenor phoned this week to say "some people around here are seriously pissed off," I called Michael Applebaum. The Cote des Neiges/
Notre Dame de Grace borough mayor (man, I love these jumped-up titles in Montreal: They should wear tricorne hats and sashes) explained that rinks are being flooded on a staggered schedule.
The borough has 21 outdoor rinks, Applebaum said. With available manpower and a late start to skating season, attempting to flood them all would result in "every single one being in terrible condition," he said.
By concentrating resources on parks that are used most, Applebaum said the borough had 11 outdoor rinks up and running. He predicted the Oxford Park rink would be flooded by the weekend.
"I fought against (Mayor Jean) Dore when he closed rinks," Applebaum said. "I was a volunteer watering the rink at Macdonald Park for years. So I know how to water a rink and I know how long it lasts."
Not a whole lot longer, the burgermeister laments. Applebaum said outdoor rinks become "iffy" as we get into February.
"You get into days when it rains or warms up," Applebaum noted, "and the condition of the ice starts to falter. By the third Friday in February, we stop maintaining outdoor rinks because the sun is warm enough to heat the boards, and the boards melt the ice, which isn't thick this year."
This adds up to a short skating season at Oxford Park.
And Gravenor won't be the only one who's disappointed.
"People sentimentalize outdoor rinks," he said. "I have a friend who phones all the time, talking about the feeling of gliding on the outdoor ice, the wind in your hair.
"He fetishizes it to a degree. But there is a hard core of Montrealers who love these rinks, and they're being denied their constitutional right to push a puck."
Photo op du jour
One doesn't often see an emergency beer car tearing through the streets of Montreal. This photo op in front of City Hall unveils the Carling Courtesy Car, the coolest vehicule this undomed island had witnessed since my child-sized leg-propelled Batmobile roared around Murray Park. You'll note that this car has flappy flags and a telephone. The gentlemen are kind enough to allow the retard to drive off with the car.
The Nymphets 2-nite at St. Denis and Mount Royal
Main guy Jared, Benjamin (bassist) and Johanna (drums) play some of the crispest and catchiest pop ditties on the local music map. You'll hum their tunes on the bus and stay awake as their melodies stick to your brain like syrup on a pancake. I curse the Nymphets particularly for writing the unshakable Wednesday Morning. (click the first link and you'll understand). They shall prove their valour tonight tonight at the Escogriffe (842-3201). Benjamin wants Coolopolis consumers to show up in big numbers. "We're the Nymphets! We love to play really fast and loud, it's the only way we really know how! All three of us really like to play live, much more than in a studio and always have a really great time doing it! We hope lots of people come out!"This triumverate of MTLers is also friendly, good peeps, you'll get your money's worth particularly since Gogo Pleasers and Thee B-Sides share the bill.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
T.O.'s Oh Bijou to rock the Griff 2-nite
Casey Mecija, singer, strummer for Ohbijou rested her coffee mug long enough to drop a note to Coolopolis reminding readers of their visit tonight (Thursday) at the Friendship Cove at 215A Murray in Griffintown.
The band has pricked up many-an-ear in the Queen City and beyond thanks to its entrancing minimalist melodia. In Casey's own words:
"Ohbijou is a septet from Toronto Ontario. We play orchestral pop that's ripe with melodies, harmonies and stories of love and heartbreak. We incorporate a variety of instruments from cello to piano to ukulele...we are very excited to be in Montreal and hope that perhaps you might have the time to check us out."
Montreal's rockin' Miracle Fortress and Habitat are also on the bill call 933-5518 for further deets.
The band has pricked up many-an-ear in the Queen City and beyond thanks to its entrancing minimalist melodia. In Casey's own words:"Ohbijou is a septet from Toronto Ontario. We play orchestral pop that's ripe with melodies, harmonies and stories of love and heartbreak. We incorporate a variety of instruments from cello to piano to ukulele...we are very excited to be in Montreal and hope that perhaps you might have the time to check us out."
Montreal's rockin' Miracle Fortress and Habitat are also on the bill call 933-5518 for further deets.
Kwikee Theatre review Coma Unplugged
Coma Unplugged is a jazzy and rousing French language play at the Licorne on Papineau until Feb 17 that delivers 90 minutes of a pith and titillation. Go see it. Really.
It recounts the mental meanderings of a self-loathing newspaper humorist in a coma, the result of a bicycle accident which occurred while he was despondent after getting sacked from his marriage to the woman he loves and which threatens his relationship with his 9 year old daughter. As his body lays in a bizarrely tilted hospital room, our protag wanders around, and quips with an old nemesis, an African warrior, his mother and sharing sometimes fiery words with businesswoman wife.
The All That Jazz set-up features a stage flanked by a hippie guitarist whipping out the occasional wah-wah riff and a beatnick drummer with a pompadour who engages in a bit of slapstick and repeatedly introduces our unready hero to a cabaret mike. The phantasmagoric scenario is buttressed by solid dialogue examining our age of divorcophilia and the human conundrum that sprouts from seeing one's youthful passion, hope and idealism get squeezed out by cynicism and mushrooming disenchantment. As lofty as that may sound, the words inspire many laughs, including a motif joke about a Touareg SUV being named after an African tribe and bickering between the man and his wife over whether their penultimate air-clearing discussion is part of her dream or of his coma.
Three of the seven actors serve up standout performances, including the star and his wife who is radiant and presents an impressive palette of grays. The elocution is crystal clear local vernacular and can be grasped by those whose French isn't perfect. It's thankfully short on the foreign accents that local French theatre directors seem to unnecessarily fetishize. A highly recommended outing, but it's an early evening, you'll note that unlike most other theatres, which open curtain at 8, La Licorne's action begins at 7.
It recounts the mental meanderings of a self-loathing newspaper humorist in a coma, the result of a bicycle accident which occurred while he was despondent after getting sacked from his marriage to the woman he loves and which threatens his relationship with his 9 year old daughter. As his body lays in a bizarrely tilted hospital room, our protag wanders around, and quips with an old nemesis, an African warrior, his mother and sharing sometimes fiery words with businesswoman wife.
The All That Jazz set-up features a stage flanked by a hippie guitarist whipping out the occasional wah-wah riff and a beatnick drummer with a pompadour who engages in a bit of slapstick and repeatedly introduces our unready hero to a cabaret mike. The phantasmagoric scenario is buttressed by solid dialogue examining our age of divorcophilia and the human conundrum that sprouts from seeing one's youthful passion, hope and idealism get squeezed out by cynicism and mushrooming disenchantment. As lofty as that may sound, the words inspire many laughs, including a motif joke about a Touareg SUV being named after an African tribe and bickering between the man and his wife over whether their penultimate air-clearing discussion is part of her dream or of his coma.
Three of the seven actors serve up standout performances, including the star and his wife who is radiant and presents an impressive palette of grays. The elocution is crystal clear local vernacular and can be grasped by those whose French isn't perfect. It's thankfully short on the foreign accents that local French theatre directors seem to unnecessarily fetishize. A highly recommended outing, but it's an early evening, you'll note that unlike most other theatres, which open curtain at 8, La Licorne's action begins at 7.
Invitation to kidnappery
Spotted on Jean Talon: this, I have decided, is the cheesiest bumper sticker in Montreal.
Quiz - who grew up here?
The hints I gave apparently make this far too easy. Let's see you take a crack at it without a single fleekin' clue.
Ok Clues: 1-He's dead now. 2-He had a tendency to wear plants as clothing.3-He tried to talk a woman I know into doing a threesome with him and his much-younger girlfriend while on a skiing trip. He was quite old at the time.
We have a winner! Indeed former longtime Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Elliot Trudeau sprouted up within these walls at 5779 Durocher in Outremont.
Photo du Jour - City Hall gift wrapped
Park Avenue: The Name Remains the Same
This video was shot at the southeast corner of Bleury and Sherbrooke Sts. back in '02. Props to the shooter. Nowadays the site's a condo block. But while the corner may have changed radically, the name of the north-south thoroughfare won't. It's been Bleury for generations, and that's the way it will stay. Oh yeah, and there's a part of the road up the street that will be keeping its name, too: Viva Park Avenue!
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
The cost of doing business
Last week, Coolopolis told you about Dufferin Square -- the one-time boneyard, transformed into a park and then bulldozed (along with a big hunk of Chinatown) to bring you the glorious Guy Favreau building. Well, we hate to prick your balloons about this bygone urban oasis, but just so you know what kind of action Dufferin Square was surrounded by, here's a newspaper item from 50 years ago today.
$75 fines for 5 dancers
Five cabaret dancers have each been been ordered to pay a $75 fine plus court charges for giving indecent performances at the defunct Cafe New Orleans on Dorchester Street. Each of the women will also have to forefeit a $300 bond to ensure they respect the peace for a period of one year. Police supplied the following names: Rita Delmar, age 30; Rita Latulippe (also known as "Chiquita" Latulippe), 27; Pierrette Lesperance, 19; Mary Jo Robinson, 22; and Mateth Murdock. The last two are American citizens. (From page 3 of the Feb. 6, 1957, edition of the defunct Montreal daily La Patrie -- original here.)
School is out
So far my efforts to discover the story behind this textual desecration of the English word SCHOOL have come to naught but my efforts to discover why the word was erased continue apace and shall not wane. The English Montreal School Board denies responsibility, in fact they boast that they erected big bilingual signs outside of all their schools. So presumably it was the predecessor the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal which made this happen. So far my attempts to reach the provincial Minister of Education to ask if the sad sandblasting was required have gone into the phone void. Keep looking here for the ultimate answer.
Our most beautiful monument
Take these broken wings....actually please leave them in peace. According to Charles, who has worked at the Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery for 30 years - back then the place had 70 guys who would dig with shovels, 
now all shoveling is done by machines - Alfred Laliberte's Ailes Brises monument 
is the nicest. It was cast by the famous sculptor (in the foto) from a mold he found in New York City. It's still there...for now...just about everything small made of bronze has been hauled out of the boneyard by thieves. That includes Laliberte's head, which sat atop his monument from 1953. A bronze plaque for Laliberte's wife was also pilfered. The thieves likely melt down the precious public art for scrap metal. On a cheerier note, Charles, my cemetery buddy, plays drums every Thursday for a smokin' hot rock band at Bar Fly on the Main around 10, drop by and say hi.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Hey, hey they're the monk-ees!
Nineteen sixty-seven was a great year for fashion victims, as these poor fellows ruefully demonstrated at the Monk's Tonsure Hair Stylists (our translation) on Mount
Royal Ave.Now this is taking the Beatles craze 110 per cent too far, to the credit of newsweekly La Patrie, which deserves praise for this brilliantly cockamamie publicity stunt 40 years ago today. (Click the picture to read the article.)
Stunt we say? Well, if you figured those barbers for bona fide monks, then you probably also believed those young punters were really there to get a bald patch shaved on the tops of their groovy little heads. Get real.
No sign of the Monk's Tonsure Hair Stylists in today's White Pages. Better cut next time.
Squibble squabble
Hunkie hockey icon Sheldon Souray was seen pouring himself a well-earned drink or two at the Opera Nightclub last night following his winning goal performance against Pittsburgh...
It will cost ya $18 for just over 60 minutes of parking at Trudeau Airport. An airport official tells Coolopolis that Trudeau bases its parking prices on Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver and particularly Calgary. But in fact the same bit of parking
would cost you $9.25 in Calgary (free for the first 30 minz, $4 for the next and $5.25 for the third half hour). Meanwhile the young men who work at the exit gate have no booths to protect them from the brutal cold and winds. They can only dash off occasionally into a nearby shelter. One worker told me it`s pure hell...
Local porn starlet, the brave, charming and highly-likeable Lara Roxx faces yet another challenge. Her current beau, a Leb-Can guy whom she has been happily cohabiting for several months, faces a legal decision next week which could leave him as a temporary guest of the federal authorities...Dan Philip is out a few bucks. A judge deemed that his suit against former City Councillor Jeremy Searle did not add up. Searle, while councillor for Loyola in Western NDG made an unfortunate quip - I like black people, I have a black dog which was
justifiably construed as unfunny and surely of poor taste, but did not make for a real suable offense. Philip has to pay Searle`s legal costs in the poorly-conceived lawsuit.
Remember Jeannette Daignault
50 years ago tomorrow Jeannette Daignault - maidennamed Jeannetta Boswell, a mother of a 2 and a half year old child - decided to get an abortion. She was three months pregnant.
Her husband Jacques, 28, with whom she lived at 1257 St. Andre, borrowed some cash from the bank for the illegal operation. She found Louis Rotman, 42, of 4837 Borden in NDG who had a clinic that would charge her just $179 for the procedure, much cheaper than the $400 that slicker places charged. In the morning of February 6, 1957 she hopped a hack to 229 8 th Avenue in Lachine and the taxi driver, who was her friend and knew what was happening, waited at a restaurant while she went in alone. She looked sleepy upon exiting. Without hours she was dead of infection. The foetus was still intact and alive. It had unexpectedly outlived her. Rotman was charged with manslaughter.
Her husband Jacques, 28, with whom she lived at 1257 St. Andre, borrowed some cash from the bank for the illegal operation. She found Louis Rotman, 42, of 4837 Borden in NDG who had a clinic that would charge her just $179 for the procedure, much cheaper than the $400 that slicker places charged. In the morning of February 6, 1957 she hopped a hack to 229 8 th Avenue in Lachine and the taxi driver, who was her friend and knew what was happening, waited at a restaurant while she went in alone. She looked sleepy upon exiting. Without hours she was dead of infection. The foetus was still intact and alive. It had unexpectedly outlived her. Rotman was charged with manslaughter.
Beware West Island black market dentures
The profession of denturologist has officially existed here since 1977 and there’s about 1,400 of them in the province, but there’s a ton of black marketers who’ll sell you dentures on the cheap, Coolopolis has learned.
“It’s very easy to learn how to learn to make dentures without taking classes,” says Frederic Lefebvre, denturologist. “All the dental technicians in the labs know how to make dentures. The only things they’re not allowed to do is make oral impressions. To be a dental technician you need a specialized degree (most go to Cegep Edouard Montpetit in Longeuil) but you don’t need it to be a dental technician. You get that job and soon you find people who need dentures, word of mouth goes around and the business gets bigger and it’s all under-the-table cash and there’s no professional fees. Dental technicians and denturists can make dentures but if you’re a dental technician you can’t work directly with clients. Sometimes people go directly to dental labs, which is illegal. I’ve heard of a few in Pointe Claire. You don’t have any protection at these places. There’s a chance that they can damage your mouth pretty bad and you could end up with articulation problems on the jaw and problems with the gums, sometimes the damage can’t be repaired.”
A Royal Friday evening coming up
So where will you be in 10 years? You do not know. No way. But I`ll tell you where you will be Friday at 7. You shall be on the edge of your seat in the East End watching Pascal Fleury, and the Royal with their recently-unveiled logo (they were formerly the Matrix) race madly around a shiny hardwood floor attempting to propel a round leather ball into a round metal circle suspended 10 feet in the air. I strongly suggest you go, if you know what`s good entertainment for you.Those looking to catch a little profeshunal roundball in this frigid whistlestop have six more dates: Friday at 7 you can catch the Cape Code Frenzy battling our brave Royal, and Sunday at 2 you can catch them beating (hopefully) the Bellingham Slam. Friday Feb 23 is a good bet as we play our rival Quebec City Kewbkwa and it`s the Vermont Frost Heaves on the Sunday following at 4 p.m. To wrap it up, Toledo March 9 and Vermont again March 10. Tix are only 5 bucks or so.
The Royal is a bonafide pro team, although most of the players live here full time round and have full time jobs. They include Laval`s tallest schoolteacher, measuring 86 inches high, Pascal Fleury, now 38, who has played with Alonzo Mourning, Steve Nash and the Harlem Globetrotters. He shall dribble alongside fellow twin tower, the just-as-tall Dominique Cambron. Uche Ejelu is the star of the team, so expect some stud-like play from him - to see all this and more, drop in at 3000 Viau ring 872-6644 for details.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Friday, February 02, 2007
Quiz: Who lived here? Your latest installment.
One of the world's most knowledgeable, powerful, influential, and respected experts on geopolitics, particularly big in the 70s, grew up here at 60 St. Sulpice in Westmount from the age of 10.He moved here from Poland at age 10, as his diplomat father Tadeusz was posted to Montreal in 1938, a job he lost when Communists took over Poland. Tad helped Jews get out Nazi concentration camps (for which he was honoured by Israel in 1978), he headed the Canadian Polish Congress for a decade and fathered two sons. Tad also worked for the Quebec Ministry of Culture, promoting French in small towns. Tad's wife died in 1985 and Tad died in 1990, aged 93. One of his sons, Lech became an engineer in Montreal.
The other son went on to become one one of the most influential figures in America and continues to be just that.
His nephew, an author-journalist is also a McGill grad and writes books on American politics and articles for the New York Times. Tune in later for the answer, or take a stab at guessing in the comments section.
The answer: Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Quickie theatre review - Don Juan at TNM
The Theatre du Nouveau Monde is French Canada's Stratford Festival. One federal buck goes here, one federal buck goes there. So even if theater isn't your thing, what's happening at Clark and St. Catherine is the theatrical big leagues. So anyway, Moliere's Don Juan hit Stratford`s stage a few months back and now the same director and several of the same actors are now presenting the same play in French at the TNM. Benoit Briere - you'll remember him as the cross-dressing guy from those old Bell Canada TV commercials - does a pretty good job as Don's faithful but dubious servant. James Hyndman plays the lead role, he's tall and thin and perfectly good looking but slightly wooden. Christopher Plummer comes in on video as a ghost midway through and says a few lines in impeccable French. At three hours this one comes in a bit long but nobody fell asleep, the crowded lobby, which included several parents with teenage children and many anglos, were buzzing with their take on the event afterwards.
Till Death Do Them Part
Celine Dion and Rene Angelil are getting separated.Celine's heart won't go on forever.
Nor will Rene Angelil be gambling a million dollars a week in Las Vegas forever.
The Angelil family burial plot is in the Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery here in Montreal along with the Sara clan, who are intermarried. Of course Rene has a finger in many pies familywise with wives before Celine: Denise Duquette and Manon Kirouac, fathering three kids with that duo.
The Notre Dame des Neiges cemetery routinely entices celebrity widows and widowers for their spouse's famous remains, as it's a good marketing thing to have big stars like Maurice Richard in your boneyard. They often give freebie accomodations for such famous dead.
So you know they'd kill to get Celine's boney bones buried here but word is that she's planning to lay her remains somewhere out in the country village where she's from. Meanwhile it's expected that Rene will lay stretch his legs in this spot when his time is up.
Bright lights in yonder window
It snows but soft on the east side of Young Street in Griffintown, where three young actors took a good, old-fashioned breather outside the Centaur Theatre rehearsal space this afternoon. They've been working on a new production of Romeo and Juliet, under the directorship of the Centaur's outgoing head honcho himself, Gordon McCall.After ten seasons heading Montreal's premiere English-language stage company, McCall's off to the Crossroads of America, where he'll be picking up the reins as associate professor in charge of Purdue University's drama department.
Seeing as this production of R & J will be McCall's Shakespearean swan song in Old Montreal, Coolopolis just had to ask these promising board-treaders just what kind of show we're in store for? Will it be true to the Bard? Contemporary? On tiptoes? Inexplicable?
Guess what? They wouldn't squeak -- not a peep: their lips are sealed. If you want to find out, it looks like you'll just have to book tickets of your own.
Speaking of mysteries, it all seems rather arbitrary that a magnificent 19th century row home like this should have survived the wrecker's ball.
Unfortunately, much of the historically Irish district of Griffintown -- and all of nearby Goose Village -- fell to the demolition crews of a generation ago, as did many other quaint areas of the city. We're glad this place survived in all its glory.
Photo(s) du jour
May 31, 1931.
Montreal police officer puts a horse to death. Many look on with great interest.
Laval resident wants you to help Haiti's children
Jocelyne Clersaint's stories of helping underprivileged kids in Haiti are not for the squeamish.The 47 year old moved here in her early 20s after a tumultuous childhood in Haiti. Three years ago she saw a news report about a child falling out a window to his death after Haitian soldiers chased a group of people into a crowded home. The tale stuck with her and she launched a program for those who have suffered deprivation and brutality living in terrible conditions in Haiti.
Clersaint, who cites Mother Theresa as an inspiration, flew to Port-au-Prince and requested an interview with the President of Haiti. When told that it was not possible, she slept on his doorway until the he finally agreed to meet. She was given some land and put over $40,000 of her own money into setting up homes for these young people.
Clersaint, who lives in Laval and has been working on a Master's Degree, tells Coolopolis that the plight of some of these innocent young children is unimaginably brutal. One particular story is one that Clersaint tells with great difficulty, skip to the next paragraph if you're easily shocked. "I would sleep outside with these abandoned children to let them know that I'm really there for them. Just before going to sleep this young girl told me she needed to find a glass bottle before she could go to sleep. I didn't understand why she would need a bottle to sleep but I helped her find look for one amid the garbage. She eventually told me that every night she would smash the end of the bottle and put it inside her vagina with the jagged end facing outwards because that was the only thing that would prevent men from raping her at night."
Clersaint has been doing her part to improve the lot of these children but still needs others to help her on an administrative, financial or any other level. She welcomes help at fondationdesgensdhonneur@videotron.ca.
First sign of spring
That's it. Right there. Green, gleaming and gorgeous.
No doubt about it. It's the first sign of spring.
In the past 24 hours, the Dollarama discount store at Montreal Trust Plaza has launched an all-out assault against winter by stocking an impressive St. Patrick's Day section.
For those of you who never did get around to blow-drying plastic film over your windows, put your hands down, step away from the hair dryer and take a swig of Jameson's instead. Turns out what Kermit said was all wrong: it is easy being green.
Now Coolopolis is not sure if this warmly-dressed geezer in the picture to your right was Irish and shopping for real, or just another dollar-store browser frozen in his tracks by the disorienting yet welcome advent of so much green. When we proposed to him that the St. Pat's Day merchandise might represent the first suggestion of warmer weather to come, he snapped back with this a propos rejoinder:"It's about time."
Speaking of St. Patrick's. There are just 44 more drinking days until the blessed event.
And if after multiple toastings on the 17th you're too hung over to make Montreal's biggest yearly procession, never fear. Coolopolis will be there covering the world's longest continuous annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, to be held this year on Sunday, March 18.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Pete Samples Saturday Night...
Preston Chalmers, aka Pete Samples is part of an impressive bill for only $5 Saturday evening you can see him, along with Original Recipe & Test Monkeys vs. The Immortal Titans at the Lighthouse at 930 Champagneur in Outremont. I asked the transplanted Winterpegger and current Fine Arts student how he's going to wow the crowd. "I've been practicing a magic routine. It's not going so well though, so I think my show will still focus on the music. Some people like to call my show 'a one man multi-instrumentalist show,' but I prefer to call it a circus. The fun of making this music for me is playing it live, so fun is the word of choice to describe my show."
Samples is excited about his new record, set to release in about five weeks, called Yours Makes Mine. "It is much different than my last one. It's more cinematic, focused on walls of sound, dynamics, and rock and roll. It is a vocal based record, which is different than before. My last record, An Unsent Letter was more from the downtempo, trip hop realm. This all sounds so serious though, which I try my best to avoid. I have been playing some festivals and shows across canada and gaining support from some pretty exciting places.
Preston also boasts to Coolopolis of his reverse course of aging. You might want to ask him about it. "I was born an old man, and I'm working my way backwards."
16 year old homicide scuttlebutt
Here's one explanation I heard concerning the shocking murder of a 16 year old boy in NDG. I have no way of verifying this information.
The mother of the 16 year old victim had seven children. She would be receiving over $3,000 monthly in child benefits plus welfare. She recently moved with her children closer to downtown from NDG, likely to get into subsidized housing. The 16 year old boy remained alone in the old apartment. He didn't go to school and was often hungry.
The 16 year old boy was dealing drugs and had a disagreement with another boy, 15, who also lives in NDG. The 15 year old also might have been dabbling in the same line of business.
Some grievance led the 16 year old to allegedly threaten the 15 year old and his family, which includes a baby. The 16 year old either claimed to be, or was, armed.
Hours later the 16 year old died after being shot in the stomach.
The mother of the 16 year old victim had seven children. She would be receiving over $3,000 monthly in child benefits plus welfare. She recently moved with her children closer to downtown from NDG, likely to get into subsidized housing. The 16 year old boy remained alone in the old apartment. He didn't go to school and was often hungry.
The 16 year old boy was dealing drugs and had a disagreement with another boy, 15, who also lives in NDG. The 15 year old also might have been dabbling in the same line of business.
Some grievance led the 16 year old to allegedly threaten the 15 year old and his family, which includes a baby. The 16 year old either claimed to be, or was, armed.
Hours later the 16 year old died after being shot in the stomach.
Today's photo du jour
Here's a vintage Montreal photograph of our city's fire department at work from 1926. Click to see in full glory, the photo is taken looking south on St. Francois Xavier (Bleury South) at the corner of St. James Street West. One man banned
The good news is that you can catch Montreal megastar Bloodshot Bill, 31, playing here this weekend. He does a highly-unique, highly-fabulous one-man rockabilly show which has become an increasingly hot ticket throughout North America. The bad news is that Bloodshot has been banned from touring the USA for five years where his career has been flourishing. Bill - who says he does about 85 percent of his 250 annual shows in the USA (someone else do the math please) - was caught entering the USA at the Seattle border crossing with merchandise, ie: CDs and such stuff. Might seem innocuous but such a transgression was deemed worthy of a five year ban."I'd hit the East Coast a lot and then every so often I'd just do a big
circle, down the coast and then down south and then up the West Coast, I've been doing big tours like that for three years."The ban seriously imperils Bloodshot's livelihood in the huge American market. "I'd rather be stuck in the States than stuck here. I was crossing the border with a female friend, she didn't have any ID, so they focused on her and then after that they searched my merchandise. My friends have been saying 'they let all these things in but won't let a one man band in.' I understand it. They’re just concerned about taxes."
Bloodshot has been told that the decision cannot be appealed but he's hoping that some sort of legal option might open up. He was slated to play the prestigious Green Bay Festival in May, a week long
affair where all the old time rock stars play. This year Bo Diddley and Little Richard perform. "I'll miss that and will be missing my friends."But Bloodshot will be giving his all, as usual at the Divan Orange Saturday "probably around midnight. I'll be playing a buncha new songs. I'll be there with the drum and guitar."
Heavenly orchids in bloom
Stayed home doing vapor chambers last weekend? Start kicking yourself about now, because it turns out you were nowhere near these scintillating import models. Carolyne Savage (left) and Dannie Riel danced till the whee! hours at Orchid Nightclub-Lounge (3553 The Main). Sadly, we don't have pictures of the succulent Misa Campo, who was also on hand (... and on bar and on speakers and on lots of guys' minds).
Word is, two lucky ladies came out the winners for those Justin Timberlake tix we scooped you about last week. Obviously, the unwinning fellers in the crowd had plenty of consolation to soothe away the dejection: all they had to do was open their eyes.
By the way, Daniel and the guys at DP Entertainment are planning a Valentine's Day-Lingerie Party at Orchid on Friday, Feb. 16. That's only 15 days away, chaps. Start countin'.
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