As winter departs Montreal’s sun-shining streets, revealing all of our long hidden parts (my double-blanched newly be-shorted legs may have blinded a baby this past Saturday afternoon), all is still not good in the hood. Several of the places that make Mile End the Mile End continue to be harassed by short-sighted (and ugly, I’ve decided) licensing Cylons that are jeopardizing the very thing that makes this city special. Fuck an online petition – go to your local spots, spend some money and help your cherished watering holes and idea fertilizing depots weather the storm until the city lifts its head out of the dark and realizes there are other things they should be worried about. Save the bar, save the city. So drink we all. Also, turn off the TV so its catchphrases don’t come quite so quickly.
End of March/early April is one of the calendar’s sweet spots for show-going, a busy time that’s still more relaxed than the "Where am I now and whose parade is this anyway?" vibe of the summer festival onslaught. Let’s knock on a couple doors…
Tonight, April 30, at L’Escogriffe, Dead Messenger launch their J. Cummins-produced, J. Lasek-recorded new album, Love Is the Only Weapon. They’ve got Devil Eyes on board and always put on a heavy, quality show, so pop in. Up at St-Hubert’s sexy sweatbox, Zoobizarre, Portugal’s Buraka Som Sistema is invading the excellent Boomboxx series with a killer live set built of U.K. Bass music and Angolan Kuduro. (If you, like me, didn’t know what Kuduro is: http://masalacism.blogspot.com). They’ve also got Mad Decent’s DJ Sega and the usual local scoundrels. Also, at Green Room, Rock Plaza Central play some songs from their forthcoming Paper Bag Records release.
If you’re in the hunt for a new weekly night and have been missing out on your Scott C fix, head to Le Social (1445 Bishop) for "People’s Choice," the new funk, soul and hip-hop jump-off he’s running alongside Moonstarr. Some serious special guests will be coming down the pipe is what I’m hearing…
But the show I’m personally most excited for right now is the Stones Throw Records triple bill at Les Saints on May 2. Peanut Butter Wolf you probably know, and he’ll be there with that neat/sort of weird live video mix, but the newer discoveries are James Pants and Mayer Hawthorne. Pants will be playing with his band Royal Zodiac, but the real big deal for me is Hawthorne, who will be DJing all night. Go find some of his stuff out there in the interzone – new old soul? Retrohnohedidn’t? This night is proof that dancing doesn’t need to be stupid, which is great, because we call know that stupid certainly goes out dancing a lot.
If you’re in the hunt for your favourite band of yesteryear, The Tragically Hip have two shows, boasting two sets each, on May 1 and 2 at Métropolis. While the Hip concert may not have the must-see quality it did during my teenage years, their new album is a pleasant surprise, boasts some great new songs and Gord Downie is pretty close to Cancon sainthood, so check it out.
The following deserve more attention than this, but word count, she is a stingy mistress, so: Bell Orchestre play at the Apple store on May 4 at 7 p.m.; JF Robitaille plays May 6 with guest Kieran Blake; Ideal Lovers’ Zac DeCamp‘s new grungy hippie gold outfit, There Is Still Time… Brother, plays the Green Room on May 12.
