Montreal by Night/Montréal par Nuit

....As a monolingual American anglophone I feel out of place in Montreal sometimes. However, the exoticism (or faux-exoticism, considering almost everyone on "the Island" speaks English anyway) that comes from experiencing a place that is contradictory to ones norms is something I seem to thrive on. I do find solace in loosing my moorings, as one of my muses, avant garde playwright Andre Gregory once said, (in my favourtie film nonetheless) "If your operating by habit your not really living". so if living as a New Yorker in Toronto (American's are barley foreigners in Canada anyway) was stage one in my quest for self-liberation from the mundane, than living as an Américain in Montreal would be no more than total immersion in the eclectic. yet, mostly due to the presence of McGill University, there are enough of us Américain's (as well as the Anglo-Canadian transplants who outnumber us) there that I would by no means be a stranger in a strange land. thus, my rationale in applying to Concordia for the Fall. plus I always wanted to learn another language anyway, now I will have a reason to!

earlier this month, I spend a week in Montreal to see Tragedy perform at Varning Fest plus embark on a much needed vacation from Toronto and the stresses associated with dropping out of Canada's #1 University. and after that rather liberating week, I was able to deduce that I indeed like Montreal better than Toronto anyway.

(Vile Intent at Varning Fest aftershow)










(flier for A Varning From MTL Fest 2010)
















(On a personal note, Varning Fest was something straight out of the wildest dreams of my 15 year old self (the wide-eyed young crust worshiping punk that I was). and I think I made him proud that weekend, having seen Tragedy, Hellshock, Mob 47 and Montreal punk all stars Unruled all on the same bill. Now I can fully lay the last glimmers of my former, naively idealistic and moronic self to rest. so In ways this was a reconciliation and with every stage dive (and failed stage dive) I took that weekend, I made peace with who I was, because I came to realize its not who I am anymore. Thank You, Canada)

the fest took place at the Katacombes, a punk as fuck concert hall on Boulevard Saint Laurent and the Maisonneuve. Its dimly lit interior and exterior bathed in red spot lights was more than fitting for such a festival, and while the crowd was a bit "too crusty" at times (complete with 40oz malt liquor drinking traveler kids who yelled at me in French whenever I come out of the venue, I can ironically appreciate their presence because it keeps me on the right path by reminding me to stay in school and never become a scumfuck) the energy was just right, and while no I was not wearing enough denim and/or leather (no leather for my Vegan self anyway), yes I did manage to have a blast! surprisingly enough the fest drew people from all over, I traveled from Toronto with a Southern Ontario crew, but I spotted people I know (and know of) from back in New York (such as members of the stellar New York City D-Beat band Dawn of Humans) the highlight of which was meeting a prolific graffiti tagger who's work I have seen allover Brooklyn in the alley behind the venue. for the sake of putting an inside joke in here, it was suuuuuubtle! while Tragedy had to play a truncated set at the Katakombes show due to their bassist not making across the border, they more than made up for it in their energy, in the crowd response and their stellar set at the Sunday after show. for the sake of ending this paragraph on a quasi-cliche, If only every weekend was like this!




Curiously enough, Montreal reminds me more of New York than Toronto (which doesn't feel anything like New York at all, despite its label as "the New York of Canada"). there is a neighborhood in Montreal called St. Henri that is curiously known as "where all the Punks live". in St. Henri you have the Fattal Lofts that house multiple show spaces, and I cant help but be reminded of Bushwick, Brooklyn and the lofts of 538 Johnson. Montreal has residential districts of lower-middle class row housing such as Verdun, directly southeast of St. Henri and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve which hugs Boulevard Pie-IX adjacent to Olympic Stadium. architecturally and aesthetically these areas follow a distinctly North American style of design, of dense tenement housing bisected by large multi-lane avenues. When poking around districts like Verdun and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, I eerily feel like I could be in some outer-urban residential area in New York City. if I really put my mind to it and forgot I was in Quebec, I could easily pretend it was Bay Ridge, Brooklyn or my grandparents neighborhood in The Bronx. Juxtapose that with the vaguely European ambiance of St. Henri and there is something incredibly inviting about a city where European and North American aesthetics coalesce.

not to mention that Montreal has a rubber wheeled metro system that shuts down at Midnight, something that is most definitely un-North American.



(Anarchist graffiti on the Metro, props to whoever did this)







I constantly search for analogues to persons/places and or things that I know in New York in every other City I visit, though in Montreal (and to an extent in Toronto) I can never truly find anything that is completely analogous to back home. while St. Henri is undergoing some degree of gentrification it is not over hyped and commercialized like what is happening in Brooklyn. rents are still cheap and the bourgeoisie are still afraid to wander St. Henri's foreboding avenues, which is why it is a place I wouldn't mind living.

(Morning in St. Henri)











(There are some awesome tags in Montreal. This one is especially cute)







Two Sundays ago was the Tragedy/Vile Intent/Omegas/Le Kraken gig. that was an insane lineup and it is probably the best show I have seen in Canada thus far. the show as at a place called Il Motore or Rue Jean-Talon Ouest, just southwest of Montreal's Petite-Italie. Since my friends are anti-Public Transit Luddites I had the pleasure of walking all the way to Rue Jean-Talon from Downtown, and while to my lazy bones this was arduous, I had the pleasure of experiencing the quirkiest of Boulevard St. Laurent (interrupted with some gawking at some omnipresent anarchist graffiti) and in the end it was worth it because I found a dive that bears my name. curious, eh? also, everyone should eat at Patati Patata where they serve "Tofu Bourgeois" for $1.75 each, they're to die for!






(on the prowl for tofu sliders)









(they named a bar after me)










there are very few shows I go to where I feel utterly content and stoked after they let out, and the Tragedy gig was one of them. also, everyone should listen to the Omegas, they're probably the best Hardcore Punk band in Canada at the moment. I will admit Ive caught the bug and have falling in love with this town. and how could you not? Its distinctly and uniquely un-American, its a city that hasn't yet been spoiled by the ills of postmodernism (i.e. there is no Toronto style "Condo Canyon" in Montreal). this leads me to believe that I should have chose Montreal over Toronto as my escape hatch from New York. its not too late though.....

companion music for my escapades in Montreal Punk City:

Omegas-Sonic Order EP:
http://hotfile.com/dl/43405290/1eb85da/Omegas-Sonic_Order-EP-Vinyl-2010-GRAVEWISH.rar.html

check em out:
www.myspace.com/omegasmtl

Vile Intent-Shadow of the Skull (available for DL on their blog):
http://vileintent.likeweeds.org

Primitive Air Raid (Classic Montreal HC Punk Comp featuring UNRULED, from 1984):
http://www.mediafire.com/?mn2ojwzlnwm