It was January of 1993. I had just finished six years of university angled at two liberal arts degrees that all but assured my unemployability. And sure enough, the only regular business I was doing at the time was with the welfare office at 355 Ste-Catherine St. West.
I was essentially squatting in my then-girlfriend Lizzy’s Clark Street apartment, bumming Gauloises and running up a sizable tab at Harry’s dep on Duluth. As it happened, she’d read a story about a new alt-weekly that was about to begin publishing. Desperate to get me out of her house, she told me I had a way with a love letter, and that I should apply to write. Less helpful was she when I asked just how, exactly, I was going to include that on a CV.
I applied anyway. I walked down to the newly christened Hour offices, then on St-Denis, and gave Editor-in-Chief Martin Siberok a CV, the gist of which was: "Dislocated Ontarian with no experience, and clearly even less pride, seeks plum writing gig at upstart alt-weekly." Shocked that I didn’t get a call-back in the 48 hours following, I returned and hit quizzical staffers with my feathery resumé yet again. And then I called every other day for two weeks until Martin took pity and offered me a freelance assignment: 750 words on local band Megalo.
I was on my way. To where exactly I wasn’t sure, but hell, it was better than 355 Ste-Catherine West.
The Megalo story appeared in the Feb. 18, 1993, edition of Hour. I thought I was famous. Nationalist Quebec media pundit Josée Legault was on the cover (mostly because, I still think, Hour’s first news editor, Peter Wheeland, had a crush on her) and inside were stories about a possible serial killer in the Gay Village, a biting op-ed piece by L’Action Montréal’s Jeremy Searle on downtown urban decay, and no less than four theatre stories, tabernac.
Later that year, when a full-time editorial job opened up, Martin called again. Wheeland was waiting for me with a six-pack of St-Ambroise when I walked beaming out of Martin’s office. It was a welcoming gesture that touched me deeply, as the offering of hops does among men. I’m certain that, at the time, the only person happier about the impending paycheque was Harry over at the dep.
It was an exciting time to be in alt-weeklies, which were peaking in terms of their relevance and viability. So-called "alternative" publications really and truly were alternative, giving voice to dissident notions while supplying a platform independent of mainstream media for detailed subcultural and grassroots, community-oriented reporting. The weeklies were where you looked for information that was understood to be too niche or too risqué by a popular press that really didn’t, at the time, seem to understand much about the fringe political and avant-cultural underpinnings of the city, the things that spoke to Montreal’s soul and not its readership demographics. Heady days, indeed.
The fight against globalization became one of the hallmarks of Hour (courtesy of later news editor Lyle Stewart), as did native, immigrant and gay rights (thanks to columnist Richard Burnett’s outspoken Three Dollar Bill) as well innumerable other unpopular causes that escaped the pages of the dailies. Montreal independent music roared into the international spotlight under our watch, and we had several music columns chronicling the ascent (including Locals At Large, which I wrote for over 10 years). And in a city possessed by dance, theatre, literary and visual arts scenes that have never lacked for excitement, just the voices to support them, Hour has been a consistently mouthy proponent.
The late-’90s were boom times for alt-weeklies, and with success came expansion: in 2000 Hour and sister paper Voir moved into bigger digs downtown at, go figure, 355 Ste-Catherine West.
In the years since, with the migration of content to the intertubes – now the rightful home of that which we once called "alternative" – and in the wake of a truly crippling recession, the print industry, right across the board, has fallen on difficult times. Hour is no exception.
As they say, all good things must come to an end. My time here at Hour – for reasons ostensibly economic – is one of those things. C’est la vie, indeed. I will look for new challenges, and in the meantime I’m told that Hour will take a different shape in coming weeks. I look forward to reading it.
I owe everyone I’ve worked with a huge debt of gratitude, and though there simply isn’t the space – a line I’m looking forward to not using for at least a little while – I would like to thank all of my fellow editors of the last 18 years, individually amazing people all, the vast majority of whom are still among my best friends to this day. Also and especially the wonderfully gifted freelance writers, photographers and illustrators who’ve graced Hour’s pages over the years. Thank you, as always, for making us look good.
And of course my deepest appreciation to all of you who have ever picked up a copy of Hour and read it or put it to, er, other practical applications (it all counted the same as far as our pick-up numbers were concerned). It has been an honour and a pleasure to serve you as a member of the Hour team, and I will miss it more than can be put into words. Thank you.
It’s said that relationships that start in a bar end in a bar. I’ll extend that to say that relationships that begin with a beer, end with a beer, though I guess this time the St-Ambroise is on me.
Go Habs go!
12 comments
I suppose that, like a more than a few of us, I had not looked forward to this day. After that teaser article in the Gazette regarding the Hour rumours, and Mr. Paquet’s inference of a coming editorial shift, the writing was on the wall. Not that it makes it any easier to digest.
I still look forward to Thursday’s for my print and/or digital version of Hour and Mirror. They are folded into my virtual carry-all of GQ, Esquire, Daily Beast, NY Times, H Post, etc. But my alternative take of all things Montreal and its surroundings filtered through an anglo viewpoint or another take on current culture.
From Locals at Large to Babylon P.Q., I have followed and enjoyed your writing over the years tremendously. I would even go so far as to include you in the pantheon of local writers who I respect greatly ( your bretheren include such luminaries as Jeff Blair, Michael Farber, Bill Brownstein, and others over the years) I imagine that the best compliment that I can, humbly, offer is that I will miss your writings and musings within the paper. A true and sincere compliment indeed.
I, like most of the faithful, wish you all the best in all your future endeavours. And I look forward too seeing your byline in the future wherever that may be. Go Jamie Go. ( along with your buds P.K. and Carey ) It has been an honour to have the priviledge of reading your words all these years.
I can see that the Hour has thinned considerably over the past few years and blame that on the recession that has been lingering. Am looking forward to seeing that new format you mention and guess that means that the size will be reduced to meet the publication’s costs Do hope you find something challenging and rewarding!
Even though I am now in the Hammer, I’ve still been reading the Hour online and I’ve always enjoyed your scribbling. I hope the Hour at least remains as an online publication and strongly suggest that you blog. Cheers, make mine a Boreale Rousse, and of course GO HABS GO!!!
‘Tis not the “end of an O’Meara”, but the start of a new legend- the O’Meara At Large!
Linda
xxx
Thanks to you Jamie for 18 great years. On to bigger an better things certainement!
Well, it seems that the Hour, as we currently know it, will cease to exist. I’m going to miss the regular columnists who were, truth to be told, anything but ordinary or regular. Bugs and Jamie – your columns never failed to entertain and edify even as they elicited a smile. Good look to you both in all of your future endeavors – the two of you loom so large in the indie arts and culture scene that it will be difficult, make that impossible, to replace. Having said that I remain guardedly optimistic about the future of one of Montreal’s premiere English alt-weekly papers. I only hope that the powers that be at Hour/Voir are able to find staff with even a modicum of the talent, moxy, instincts and appeal of their predecessors. I don’t envy them their task, considering the standard that Jamie, Bugsey et al. set, they have very big shoes to fill.
The Hour is dead…well, as we’ve known it to be. That isn’t a bad thing, by the way. I’m not going to be one of those weepy types that goes on about the good old time we’ve had because if we’re honest, there haven’t been that many in the last few years. Dig up an edition from 1993 of the Hour and compare it to what it had become. It was a pamphlet dedicated to ad space rather than content and the online website was no better. I can’t remember the last time it was updated. I’m sorry that people are losing their jobs but honesty who isn’t these days? I would love to blame the internet and the economy but I’ve worked on a paper before and I know that the quality of any publication is directly proportional to the investment of the staff and we readers haven’t felt that in a long while. The funeral is over. Let’s get on with living and see what the future brings.
Wow, I’m running the gamut of emotions here in the wake of speculation over the Hour’s future. First off, I’m saddened to see so many familiar voices/columns fade from view. Secondly, I also feel a begrudging sense of resignation about the moves in the face of the changing media landscape and flagging fortunes of a threadbare alt-weekly newspaper. To be competitive, I understand that changes had to be made lest the paper be scrapped outright. Finally, I’m equal parts scared and excited about the brand-spanking new and (hopefully) improved version be it original print and/or electronic version. I’ve been a reader and member of the Hour community for far too long to turn my back on it, in this it’s darkest (pardon the pun) hour.
Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. It’s dearly appreciated and I offer my heartfelt thanks on behalf of all the former Hour staff and freelancers. Speaking of which: Pedro, I have always enjoyed your ignorance and idiocy, and it pleases me to no end to see that you’re every bit the moron that you always have been. To even suggest that the financial failure of a paper is somehow even remotely related to the editorial staff, who in our case fought tooth and nail for support over the years and never received it, speaks volumes about your supposed inside track to the publishing industry. As usual, big talk, no substance, thanks for playin’.
Hey Thanks! Some of my best reading laugh out loud Montreal moments were from your column. Surprised to see you go. Good Luck.
Am not sure Pedro is such an idiot. When the editorial staff of a newspaper thrive ever week to do the job without ressources, fighting teeth and nails does not make it a better paper. i m sadden cause I think Hour was an institution who deserve to survive even in difficult times. Even while loosing money. But whan loosing money is more important then loosing an institution, this is what happen.Buisiness.
Farewell and good luck.
Leaving with such last words, such anger and irrespect for one of your readers show a lack of ” élégance” Shout at your boss not your readers. )