Aziz Ansari at the Montreal Comedy Works
So I’m on the train heading back home last night scrolling through my Twitter feed. Halfway back to the forgotten Pierrefonds section of the city I see that Aziz Ansari had added a second show for 10pm...
View ArticleMontreal’s Ugliest Building
Came across an interesting conversation on Montreal City Weblog that started out about a bit of news that the Hilton Bonaventure is up for sale but ended up on the subject of some of our city’s ugliest...
View ArticleDave Chappelle at Just For Laughs – Wednesday July 24th 2013
It was a tad curious. The DJ kept telling us not to interact with Mr. Chappelle. Three times at least. Odd because interacting with the crowd often leads to some great moments in live comedy; as an...
View ArticleWesley/Worrell and a Few Lessons from a Friday Night
A week ago I was on my way to Cabaret du Mile End to see two geriatric funk legends perform as part of Pop Montreal. I was supposed to write a review of the show. Seemed straightforward enough at the …...
View ArticlePlus que ça change…
A loyal reader posted this photograph in response to a question about where one can find archival street scenes of Montreal. The McCord Museum has the famed Notman collection, which provides an...
View ArticleMontreal Cops, the Homeless Problem & Paradoxical Undressing
Today’s news is that the Montreal police (SPVM) will discipline an unnamed constable for threatening to lock a homeless man (seen on a remarkably frigid day last week in nothing but shorts and a...
View ArticlePeter Doig – No Foreign Lands
For a change I’ll be brief. I hadn’t heard of Peter Doig until I saw the announcement of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ new exhibit. Now I’m wondering whether I’ve been living under a rock my whole...
View ArticleThe Case for Cabot Square
Poor John Cabot, we hardly new ye. Most people don’t know who he is or why there’s a sizeable chunk of prime downtown property in a state of seemingly perpetual disrepair named after him. In fact, it’s...
View ArticleWhat a Night it Was
6:15 pm on a Friday night and Lionel-Groulx is busier than I’d expect. Throwback jerseys abound. Suburban knuckleheads on pilgrimage, smiles and high spirits all around. The train arrives packed and we...
View ArticleThis Isn’t Normal
On April 3rd I was covering the anti-austerity demonstration organized by the ASSÉ student collective for CJAD, keeping myself at the front of the line snapping photos of what some fear may be the...
View ArticleOperation Gamescan 76
Operation Gamescan 76 by Michael Brun, National Film Board of Canada Operation Gamescan 76. Roll that around on your tongue for a moment. It was a thing. It happened here. And if you find the name as...
View ArticleIrony is Dead
I’m not sure who snapped this photo from a student anti-austerity demo a few days back, but in any case, chapeau Monsieur, whoever you are, for capturing the innate irony and hypocrisy of protest in...
View ArticleUnsolicited advice for the student anti-austerity movement in Quebec
Here’s a thought: adopt a new symbol. Specifically, adopt the flag of the Gay Pride movement, and make sure to carry as many of these flags as possible at all the demonstrations forthwith. Also – start...
View ArticleThe World’s Largest Holiday Inn
If you’ve been walking down René Lévesque around the Bell Centre of late, you’ve doubtless noticed our city’s in the midst of a building boom. And it’s not all condos either. The new Deloitte Tower,...
View ArticleMontreal Photo of the Day – April 16th 2015
Taken from Basin Street in Griffintown, from left to right you can see the Cité du Commerce Electronique, construction cranes around both the Roccabella (tower one) and Tour des Canadiens de Montréal,...
View ArticleMontreal Photo of the Day – April 20th 2015
From left to right, Windsor Station, 1250 Boul. René Lévesque (the tower with the prominent spire), St. George’s Anglican Church, Place Laurentienne and the CIBC Tower (which also has a prominent...
View ArticleMontreal Photo of the Day – May 4th 2015
Taken from Saint Jacques and Rue de la Montagne. From left to right: you can just see the penthouse of Place Ville Marie behind the fifteen-floor tower of the Romanesque Revival styled Windsor Station...
View ArticleMehta, Mahler and the Maison Symphonique de Montréal
Not Mehta or the OSM, but Leonard Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. Close enough… Confession: I was neither familiar with Mahler’s Third Symphony, nor the city’s new concert hall, until...
View ArticleCabot Square Redux: not quite paradise, kind of a parking lot…
After about a year’s worth of work, Cabot Square re-opened to the public on Wednesday July 8th. The major improvement involves two outreach workers who will now use the square’s renovated stone kiosk...
View Article