THURSDAY 10
Montreal’s Queen of Burlesque, Scarlett James, presents her second annual Grand Burlesque Show at Club Soda (1225 St-Laurent) for three nights (March 10-12). This is a fun, old-school vaudeville-style show with some of the most entertaining burlesque dancers in North America, boys and girls, including James herself, Gentry de Paris, Michelle L’Amour, Midnite Martini and more. Tix are $55 to $80 (which includes one bottle of champagne per table) to $125 (VIP seating). Over at La Tulipe (4530 Papineau), Montreal pop/garage/punk rockers Les Breastfeeders launch their new CD, Dans la gueule des jours, at 9 p.m.
FRIDAY 11
Concordia University’s program in interdisciplinary studies in sexuality presents yet another fascinating public lecture, Sexualty and /in Islam, with Joseph Massad, author of The Persistence of the Palestinian Question and Desiring Arabs, at Concordia’s EV Building (1515 Ste-Cat W., room 1-605) at 6:30 p.m. Free. There are also some terrific concerts tonight: Montreal’s Jordan Officer and Stacey Kent headline L’Astral (305 Ste-Cat W.), Montreal rockers Plants & Animals at Le National (1220 Ste-Cat E.) with Little Scream, and Toronto pop-rockers Sweet Thing open for Down With Webster at Métropolis (59 Ste-Cat E.).
SATURDAY 12
For the third consecutive year, Montreal’s Radical Queer Semaine (Radical Queer Week) hosts 10 days (March 10-20) of events showcasing gender and sexuality at workshops, concerts, debates, parties, film screenings, art exhibits and performances, like tonight’s OutSpoken spoken-word performance and literary Reading at RQS’s Mise au Jeu space (90 De la Gauchetière E., 2nd floor), with American spoken-word artists Lady Zen Quezada and David Sokolowski, as well as Montreal author and Lambda Literary Award finalist Daniel Allen Cox. Showtime: 6-8 p.m. (www.radicalqueersemaine.org).
SUNDAY 13
The cute boys at The Dep[art]ment in Old Montreal (48 Notre-Dame W., #101) present Dirty Doilies, a solo exhibition by Montreal artist Sheldon Lawlor, showcasing multimedia painting, sculpture and installations examining doilies and exposing the messy material behind the facade of lavishness. Via the cookie cutter and tacked-together homes of the suburbs, and by transposing common objects and materials from food to petroleum oil into a gallery setting, Lawlor subverts the role and meaning of ornate cake paintings, beaded canvases and iced city maquettes. From noon to 5 p.m. Free admission.
MONDAY 14
Kent Monkman, internationally acclaimed Canadian First Nations artist, and Monkman’s ab-fab drag alter-ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, derail white colonial discourse in his new exhibit My Treaty Is With the Crown, presented at Concordia’s Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery (1400 De Maisonneuve W., LB-165). Monkman transforms the gallery into a camp of military tents in which the new "Canada" that emerges in the decisive battle between Wolfe and Montcalm is subjected to the whims of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. Runs through April 16, Tuesday to Friday, from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday: noon to 5 p.m. Free.
TUESDAY 15
Playwright Michael Mackenzie’s new work Instructions to Any Future Socialist Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas – a satire about the 2008 financial meltdown – continues at Old Montreal’s Centaur Theatre (453 St-François-Xavier) until April 3. If theatre isn’t your thing tonight, head over to Cinéma du Parc (3575 Parc Ave.) for a 7 p.m. screening of Splice, director Vincenzo Natali’s modern-day take on the Frankenstein story starring Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody as brilliant but crazy scientists.
WEDNESDAY 16
This is the concert of the week: The Nouveau Théâtre Sainte-Catherine (264 Ste-Cat E.) presents Night of the Crooner, an evening of ’50s, ’60s and ’70s crooner music featuring Montreal’s finest rock singers. Performances from members of The Stills, Broken Social Scene, Land Of Talk, Creature, Victory Chimes and more. Backed by house band Jumbo And The Hotdogs. Showtime is 8:30 p.m. and will set you back a whopping $7! But if you insist on spending more, you can always check out the Papa Roach/ Buckcherry/My Darket Days rock circus at Métropolis (59 Ste-Cat E.) at 8 p.m. ($30).
