The beloved and tiny Casa del Popolo has been forced to cancel its upcoming live shows because of a licensing issue. They’ve still got their DJ nights going and continue to be a great place for eat-drink-merriment, especially when the wonderful back terrasse gets hopping.

If you’ve been keeping tabs, they’re not the only Montreal music venue to have their very existence jeopardized this year. There’s so much that could be said about this, but let’s leave it at the following: The city of Montreal is loved by residents and visitors alike because of its unique character, which is built partially from the city’s internationally recognized music scene. A living, breathing scene that has flourished in part because of Montreal’s wealth of small venues that are perfect for helping emerging artists to hone their skills. The micro and macro, as always, are intrinsically connected.

City of Montreal: Start acting like Montreal.

On March 14, Broadcast Radio take over the Divan Orange with Holler, Wild Rose! from New York and Ottawa’s The Urban Aesthetics. This Montreal group’s great Howard Bilerman-produced sophomore effort, Hallways of the Twenty-First Floor, has served as a catchy, well-crafted calling card that has seen them bring their show on the touring road. Not to rope these nice guys into the previous mini-screed, but this is exactly the sort of group that we’ll lose to Toronto if we continue down this troubling path. Now, to refocus: Broadcast Radio kick ass. Moving on.

Catch the final instalment of Kid Koala‘s Music to Draw To on March 16 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine, an evening of his favourite quiet time records serving as background for whatever project you’ve been holing up with over the last couple months. He originally came up with the idea because he wanted some place between the home office and the noisy coffee shop where he could log some hours on a new book he’s working on. While I love this idea, one question: If he’s DJing all night from his extensive record collection, how much work will Kid Koala actually get done? Serious investigation is required.

You can’t be blamed for your low expectations of a former member of Tony! Toni! Toné!. Unless you, like me, used to kick ass (in your own mind) on the high school dance floor to Feels Good. However, Raphael Saadiq‘s late ’08 release, The Way I See, is one of the best albums to have come out that year and this. This isn’t a retro throwback album, this is a new Motown record made in the 21st century. Saadiq plays almost every note on the album and his voice deserves to be put in the company of the looming legends to whom his music most closely resembles. Plus, there are no white British girls (okay, save young-cougar Joss Stone on one track) involved in this, which makes me happy for complicated but not unjustified reasons. He plays Cabaret on March 15.

Luke Doucet, the Raine Maida version of Chad VanGaalen (a humorous if not entirely accurate comparison), plays March 13 at Cabaret. The dirty, filthy, hardcore and possibly mentally unbalanced Necro plays Foufounes on March 16 – attend at own risk. On March 17, the toothsome (see Luke Doucet joke) Serena Ryder plays Cabaret.