I’ve been imagining this column since the day I wrote the first one, back on Feb. 2, 1994. Of course at the time I didn’t expect it to go nearly 10 and a half years, or I might have given my imagination a bit of a break, but hey, it’s a thing that columnists do. In fact, I’d guess it’s something that just about everyone does when they’ve dedicated themselves to a task they care passionately about and that they know must one day, out of necessity or circumstance, come to an end. Well, today is that day…

Hello Cleveland! …Goodbye, Locals at Large.

And just in case you were wondering, yes, that was hard. Locals at Large has identified so much of my life and experience here in Montreal that I don’t feel I’m letting it go as much as it’s letting me go. Off a very high building. It’s scary stuff, let me tell you, but the decision to give it up is my own, so that mitigates the regret I feel at handing over a space that has allowed me a privileged vantage point on Montreal’s most exciting arts scene – sometimes sniper in a watchtower, sometimes goofy Snoopy playing vulture in a tree, but also sometimes that dehydrated and deluded dude atop the construction crane in Old Montreal last Monday: screaming to make a point while trying not to shit my pants and really, really high.

Yeah, that’s about right.

Now I’m not going to bore you half to death with a summation of just what it is I think I’ve been doing here this last decade-and-change, because if you’ve been reading it, you know, and if you haven’t, well, too late. Nor will I fall into any righteous and rhapsodic, purplishly nostalgic fit of backslapping and glad-handing. Not because I don’t want to, but because one of my best bros, the bass-playing Al Baculis (who many will remember from the band Bootsauce), told me he wouldn’t read it if I did. And since he’s one of the many of you who’ve been faithful to this space since the beginning, I figured I at least owe him/you that. Everyone’s a winner, buddy.

And also because there are simply far too many folks – bands, promoters, producers, major label reps, indie label do-or-die DIY-ers, club owners, colleagues and comrades-in-arms – to acknowledge individually in what is obviously a large column, but also one that gets small surprisingly fast as I approach deadline every Tuesday night. (The weekly scramble to "put the paper to bed" is a unique experience that Montreal’s The Planet Smashers recently immortalized on the tune The King of Tuesday Night, a tribute equal to the time Ripcordz had stickers printed that read "Jamie Sucks" – I still have one on my guitar case.) That said, I will take a moment to acknowledge Martin Siberok, the very first Editor-in-Chief of Hour Magazine, the man who gave me my first writing job, the boss who saw the wisdom in granting space to a then woefully under-covered local music scene in the form of Locals at Large, and now also a dear friend. Thanks again, as always.

Let’s just say that writing Locals at Large has been an overwhelmingly excellent experience, and one for which I will be eternally grateful. I’m a lucky fucker and I know it, and there’s not one day that has gone by that I haven’t appreciated the position I’m in. Believe it. One of the best things about writing Locals is that the low points have been very few and far between, as have been the hassles and assholes. That said, what is often considered a low point by me can also be highly entertaining to the regular reader, who in the past have seen more than a handful of my more virulent spats played out publicly on this page. I’ve always believed dialogue (carried along on a draft of scandal) to be an essential element of a healthy music scene, and in the course of defending that belief, I’ve gotten as good as I’ve given.

On a side note, one of the questions I’ve had put to me on a more regular basis is from those wondering if I’ve ever been threatened by bands unhappy with a review or other critical characterization. The answer is yup. Musicians take what they do damn seriously, and anyone perceived as a threat – like a lippy critic, for example – will be addressed commensurately. On rare occasions it goes too far, and in the heat of disagreement promises of non-refundable destruction are exchanged. Now I’m not one of those Joes who thinks that to be right you should have a good left, but neither am I the kind of person who has ever turned down an invitation to meet at the flagpole after school. It’s all part of the fun…

I’m gonna miss this gig, but I’m not moving that far. As you may have noticed (assuming you care about such things), there have been a few changes here at the paper, the primary one of which is the departure of Hour Editor-in-Chief Dimitri Katadotis for CBC Radio, where he will continue to bend sensibilities as producer of the Saturday and Sunday morning slots. Be sure to tune him in.

It is both my pleasure and privilege to have assumed the position of Editor-in-Chief, and though I will retain my stranglehold as editor of the music section, I have hired a fresh horse to lead our coverage of the local music scene, a scene that I personally continue to believe in deeply, and that this publication will continue to support unreservedly. Be sure to flip in next week to meet Hour’s new local music columnist, Dylan Young.

As for me, I will move up to the front of the paper in the next week or so, where I hope y’all will join me for Montreal’s newest city column. I’ve left myself an open mandate with respect to the range of topics I’ll be covering in the new column, which I thought was an awfully nice thing to do for myself. I will be your weekly number on Montreal’s bathroom wall, so dial in for a bit of fun….

A thousand thank yous to all who have been regular readers, periodic drop-ins or just rubbernecking passers-by – your attentions, your suggestions and your criticisms have been, and will continue to be, much appreciated.

Now I’m ready for a beer… see you at the rock show.

Last writes Top-notch local rockers Poxy have just finished work on their first video for the song Bad Habits from their outstanding self-titled debut, and they’re looking for support in helping get it to air on MusiquePlus. To that end, they have commenced an email campaign asking friends and fans to send their request to top5.musiqueplus.com/en/top5/vote/en. For more info, got to poxy-music.com…. It’s lots of rocking and no cock-knocking when Peterborough’s latest best export Money Money play for FREE at the Swimming this Sunday, Aug. 8, starting at 10 p.m. They will, and I quote, "celebrate the conclusion of the first seven songs they are recording with [Bionic frontman and born-again producer] Jonathan Cummins, and without a fist fight to date." I suppose congratulations to all are in order…. Fans of, ahem, The Doors of the 21st Century, will please note that their Aug. 4 Bell Centre show has been moved to Aug. 7. Just like that…. Montreal got its first large-scale look at favourite daughter Melissa Auf Der Maur when she opened for Offspring a couple of months back. Now Auf Der Maur returns for their own headlining show at Cabaret, Aug. 8, where friends and skeptics alike can earball the goods up close…. And smokin’ garage rockers Ashtray Heart have risen from the ashes of lengthy inaction to playing a free show (two sets) at Barfly, 10 p.m., on Friday the 13th. Lucky attendees will hear new material from their imminent full-length, One Punch Honeymoon. "It’s been almost a year since we last played, lots of drummer problems," says Ashtray Heart’s Ahsan Rahman, "but we are ready to haul out the rock’n'roll machine that is Ashtray Heart and take it for a spin."

And that’s a wrap….