Sex-Garage, curated by Plastic Patrick, as part of the Diverse/cite festival tonight... Les Georges Leningrad, The Gossip with openers. Xiu-Xiu and Picastro are playing somewhere in this city as well, but I'm far too lazy to find out where and put it on here. Go to montrealshows.com to find out, and for music shit-talking and what not. Finally saw "Coffee & Cigarettes" and I still feel the same way - I'm a bigger fan of Jarmusch's hair than I am of his films. Terrible. Awful dretch with only two redeeming elements - the running commentary provided by the man two rows behind who finally dozed off after humming "Crimson & Clover" and Taylor Mead's performance in the final vignette, which was, unfortunately, lost on the majority of the audience who were also catotonic, like the DVD Commentator. Jarmusch looks like Yeah Yeah Yeah's guitarist Nick Zinner, too. Okay. That's all! See you at SUPERSECRETLOFTPARTY or what not tonight.

Jan Dunning

Dunning from a 2000 issue of Cosmopolitan

Jan Dunning is a 29 year old British photographer and graduate of St. Martin's who works with pinhole cameras, creating long-exposed, whistfully fantastic portraits of sleepy self metamorphosis derived from mythology & the somber playfulness of her own imagination. Her work has been featured in the Observer, Vogue (British Edition) and the New Yorker, while her face (she's employed as a model and also works with film) has appeared in countless campaigns for companies like Givenchy.

Leda & The Swan 2003

Her first solo exhibition was happened earlier this year at the 31 Grand, with subsequent exhibitions at the Phoenix & Danielle Arnaud galleries in England.

Intersection Magazine

Despite what one might find on their not-so-up-to-date website, Intersection Magazine has a new issue out, which just appeared in my mailbox this morning. This time around, the slick pages of the fashion-meets-automobile rag find writer Dan Ross interviewing jovial, hip-hop braggart 50 Cent about his favourite rides and his stockcar. There are also pieces on club car culture in Beijing and the Gumball 3000 Rally, which features bizarre racers like the Birdhouse skate-team and actor/watch model Adrian Brody racing from Paris to Marrakesh in Morocco. Despite lacking a driver's license, I find it strangely enjoyable.

Another relatively new British publication is Zembla Magazine, billing itself as "The New International Literary Magazine" which just published its fifth issue, featuring Brian Eno and Larry Clark amongst other art and literati personalities... I haven't been able to find a copy in Montreal as of yet, but I think that given the success of other British lifestyle magazines (Dazed & Confused and Another magazine are two that come to mind), it should pop up on shelves soon.

Any people in the Pins/St. Laurent area will find that MOOG Audio employees give good beer recommendations...

Brechtian Distancing Strategy: Interruptive Text

Hummmm... I watched Woody Allen's "Celebrity" earlier today - it had been a couple of years, and I had forgotten how gorgeous Sven Nykvist's cinematography was - and realized that Kenneth Branagh really needed a moustache. The void between upper lip and nose was practically screeching for it. Perhaps he had just shaved one off, pre-production. You know, one can always tell when someone's just shaved his moustache - the just-revealed flesh is a little more tender and pasty than the flesh on the rest of the face and the skin looks stretched... (Also, "Smalltime Crooks" - how spectacular is that sunset scene on top of the apartment building in the first bit of the movie? Transcendent!)

Tuesday, July 27thAmerican Death Fuckers, OLIM Last year, by chance, my bandmates and I met two members of American Death Fuckers on the street in Vancouver. Pender St, to be specific, by the Marble Arch. It was bizarre, because they were in a band with the word "Fuck" in the title and a reference to the United States of America, and so were we. The one subtle difference being that we were completely plastered, and they were not.Missy Bar (Mt. Royal)

Thursday, July 29thThe Unicorns, Fly Pan Am, L'Attack, Unireverse, Crackpot, DJ Cecile Petrole Jesus fucking Christ, I assume that if you're not attending this show, you're either a lonely and socially inept internet nerd (hey, hey, I know what the readership of blogs are like) or a crappy photoshop-addicted graphic designer who's deeply jealous of the creative success of Yannick and Chloe of Seripop, who are, I'd have to say, the most important and dedicated people involved in the bare-knuckles world of screenprinting today. The Promethean effort involved in Seripop production unfortunately does not pay as well financially as say, patching together crappy old t-shirts with exposed seams and selling them to clueless McGill students (that's a cheap shot I'm not even nearly qualified enough to give - I've only been in this city for seven months), and possibilities for expansion are mighty limited when there's not a trust-fund purchased-car to put up for bank loan collateral. Profits from this show go to Seripop. $10 @ The Cabaret Music Hall

Two things... Terry Richardson's father is hazily recalled 60's fashion photographer Bob Richardson (it's handy finding a large stack of 1995 New Yorkers) and tonight the ambitious over-achievers and religious zealots at PopMontreal are presenting a cathartic and messianic exploration of noisy stuff. Ya know, like sounds, but not all "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH," in the words of spokeswoman Anna Phelan, but more like "uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmhmhmhmh." Okay.

NOIZE POP.....
FRIDAY JULY 23RD
GROWING (KRANKY RECORDS, from Olympia Washington)
NWAR (MONTREAL ex. ERNA)
A REAL KNIFE HEAD (Cleveland, Ohio)
BLAKKAR NWAR ( Black Market doing Lounge Rhodes )
+ DJ DEATH COCK (ex. Pistols)

Doors @ 9pm / $6
THE ELECTRIC TRACTOR 6674 De L'Esplanade (Corner St. Zotique)

VideoKill Festival

Former Discorder/Offbeat editor and current Radio Berlin synth-player/bassist Lindsay Sung is heading up this year's "Video Kill" festival of music film/video and performance this Thursday, August 12th in Vancouver. The website is here and participants this year include Black Mountain, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Radio Berlin, Channels 3+4, The Organ, Bakelite, PRIMES and more to be announced - hopefully some Montreal groups as well.

Yr Life Will Never Be The Same

Passes for Canada's most important & enjoyable festival of independent musicians (I'll attempt to muffle my laughter if anyone mentions NXNE), PopMontreal are now available, sold through the Insound site, who're in the process of recovering from their pre-Siren Festival debacle this weekend - ice-packs on the crotch, popping T3s and watching "Trailer Park Boys".  (Still don't get the appeal...)

There's nothing else going on this week.  Go to the park, drink a couple of bottles of sangria and draw pictures or something.   Fawn over Geoff Mcfetridge's work...  Coudal Partners have a short documentary available for viewing on the moustached multi-tasking genius.

Arts & curious other things journal, Cabinet Magazine is offering discount subscriptions (including a free gift) for people with specific first names. Details here, Barrett and Fatima.

Also, Dancing with cats.

I trust that everyone's weekend was as full of sushi, baking, Klaus Kinski and strange Czech liqueurs as mine was.  And yes, I did in fact leave the YPF's vernissage at LemonLime early on Saturday night so that I could watch The King and I, but that makes me neither foolish nor gay.  If you get the chance, skip to the bizarre Thai rendering of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" that takes place about 3/4 of the way into the film.  Fucked up.
 

25 years old, from Tintin's homeland and busted for cocaine possession: model Ingrid Parewijck was arrested at JFK airport on a flight in from Paris.  Now if I can read between the lines here, I'm too infer that cocaine use might be a little more frequent amongst models than I had initially thought! 
 

Judge Laura Ward was straight with the model, however. "It's pretty pathetic if it is for personal use," she said. "I've seen more than my fair share of models convicted on drug charges doing five to 15 years in jail. If you put that stuff up your nose one time, that's one time too many. Do you understand that?"

Thick Jerseys Even In Summer

Cabalistic, secretive and cooked up in various laboratories spread across the ramshackle ConU campus, The Young People's Foundation have been silently labouring away as of late. While other, less committed artist types and bohemian miscreants have been far too occupied with downing their daily quart of Jaggermeister and fucking visitors from Toronto on their roommate's bed in the afternoon, the YPF have burrowed into tiny little caves, the sort in which one would expect to find bespectacled moles in tweed Edwardian dress habitating, and are ready to emerge, squinting in the heat of the July sun, with a well-crafted book for all of us to enjoy. And before the aforementioned artist-types and miscreants even think of dropping any cash from their trust fund, the YPF have offered up an opportunity for them and the less creative amongst us to flip through the pages with wine-stained fingertips. The Book Launch also coincides with the opening of a new St. Laurent boutique, which (from what I can gather from this poster and a brief conversation with YPF Promo-Hunk James Brathwaite yesterday) is called Lemon Lime.

YPF Book Launch w/ Galerie Accidentelle Opening
SATURDAY, JULY 17th
@ Lemon Lime (3697 St. Laurent - above The Second Cup), doors @ 7pm

And according to this handsome lil' 11x17 poster, there's an afterparty at Korova. Let us all pray and hope that the DJ in the green shirt who played "hit" after undeniable "hit" (Radiohead, Bjork, Stone Temple Pilots, The Darkness) will not be spinning at this event. Yes, despite being obviously and freakishly exubriant/drunk, his enthusiasm wasn't all that contagious, and I left the bar early, with a pulsating headache and uncharacteristically homicidal thoughts.

GingerAle Salad with Buck's Fizz

2 1/2 tablespoons unflavoured gelatin
1/2 cup water or cranberry juice, boiling
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup gingerale
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (or more, to taste)
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup chopped & peeled fresh pears
1/2 cup chopped & peeled fresh peaches
1/4 cup canned pineapple, drained & crushed
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped.

1. Place 1/4 cup cold water in a large bowl; sprinkle gelatin on top. Let soak until soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in boiling water or cranberry juice; stir until dissolved. Add sugar; stir until dissolved. Add ginger ale, lemon juice and salt; stir. Taste to make sure it is lemony enough; add more juice if needed. Pour into 4 cup mold; refrigerate until just thickened. Stir in fruits & nuts; chill until completely set, for 4 hours or overnight.
2. To serve: dip the bottom and sides of the mold into a bowl of warm water; dry bottom and invert mold onto serving plate. Lift off mold.

Yields 6 to 8 servings...

Buck's Fizz

Pour...

1 teaspoon grenadine
2 measures fresh orange juice
4 measures Champagne

...into frosted glass, garnish with orange slice.

PLEASE SEND US PIE RECIPES! jaywatts@gmail.com

Uni-Ferkelei

Spencer of Wolf Parade celebrates his b-day

You'll have to forgive my lack of updates recently - I think I've got tonsilitis or some such nonsense going on in the back of my throat and for the past few days I've been dreaming about getting out of the city and swimming in a lake somewhere...

As you may or may not have already read on Jeremy Brendan's blog, Montreal's favourite Victorian ex-pats, Wolf Parade, have been signed to Sub-Pop, confirmed by the Sub Pop website. Unfortunately the Sub-Pop press release doesn't include a copy of their Jamaican Xmas Press Photograph, featuring four out of four members in sarongs.

The Vanishing show at Cafe Silencio in St. Henri, scheduled for tonight, has been cancelled, as Cafe Silencio has closed down due to indisclosed reasons. Perhaps the beloved and be-bandana-ed ConU professor at the head of things has moved on, and will be leaving Montreal?

Edmonton's synth-happy post-punkers All Purpose Voltage Heroes will be performing with Echo Kitty (a poorly named local group I'm sure most people are aware of, fronted by the Quebecois Simon Le Bon)...

Also tomorrow, Chicago's The Pony's (featured in an earlier Goldkicks post this spring) will be performing at L'Hemisphere Gauche with local group Moustache. The Ponys' vocalist calls to mind Richard Hell when he's on, and the singer from the abysmal Stellastar* when's he off, so cross your fingers...

Montreal man-about-town, well-respected moustache-wearer, light-footed neo-Nijinsky and legal expert Nick Frenette will be celebrating his 26th (!) birthday this Friday with an old-fashioned vegan potluck and loft show. Details to follow, or you can call him up.

Wiener Spaziergang

Most people piss on street mattresses...



Chris Silva's an intense motherfucker and artist. Overwhelming crypto-psychedelic graf-influenced street, mural and studio pieces. Check out these, bringing installation/mixed-media techniques onto the street. Send him money, too.

Vancouver: Butter Magazine Launch

Butter Magazine will be launching their Summer issue this Friday at Dadabase (uh-huh: the small space on Main & Broadway). Booze, DJing and the usual suspects.

You Wear It Well
Friday July 9, 2004, 8:30pm
dadabase 183 East Broadway (at Main)
DJs Wilson Hart and mygayhusband!

Goldkicks Montreal/Vancouver Symposium Comes To An End...

Attendees deal with lingering ten-day hangovers & empty bank accounts

Christ - anyone else go to that absurd barn/warehouse party in Old Montreal with the 35 minute rendition of the chorus of "Pass The Dutchie"?

TONIGHT... While a night in a room full of 16 year old Blood Brother fans/Lipstick & Cigarettes users might not be yr idea of a way to spend a Wednesday night, the presence of GSL's The Chromatics and Kill Me Tomorrow (featuring ex-VSS alumni and GSL labelhead Sunny Kay) should manage to attend. The Chromatics resurrect and plunder the back catalogues of Cherry Red Records and Rough Trade (the Silver Apples cover on their most recent release "Plaster Hounds" is worth the price of the album alone) without sounding like the overly flaccid Radio 4, and Kill Me Tomorrow promise delay-saturated vocals overtop of swirling, punishing and ultimately confusing post-punk. Both groups prove that West Coast music nerds have been at the helm of the post-punk/no-wave revival thing for some time now, and are thus far beyond the art studio tinkerings of NYU art students and far more fucked up, too. AT EL SALON, DOORS @ 9PM

Alternately, there's another Wednesday night at Saphir tonight, this time with locals Statue Park performing. The last two nights have been wildly successful - perhaps because of the cheap booze - and way less goth-friendly than Friday nights, when body-odour quickly evaporates into a dripping-from-the-ceiling humidity and Quebecois ponytails appear far too numerous on the dancefloor.

Worldwide screenprintin' and illustratin' disturbers of the peace Black Rainbow will be exhibiting at a vernissage at Pharmacie Esperanza. The group, comprised of familiar locals like Yannick and Chloe of Serigraphie Populaire and mind-altering Matt Moroz, as well Vancouver's Keith Jones, Berlin's Meelo Gellfer & Anna Hellsgard, members of The Little Friends of Printmaking, Boston's Gunsho and others, work "in design, illustration, 3D, animation, painting, apparel, installation, film and screenprinting." Your friendly Goldkicks Montreal host Jay Watts III (that's me) will be DJing...

THURSDAY, JULY 8TH
8pm @ Pharmacie Esperanza - 5490 St. Laurent
w/ DJs TOTAL FUCKING CRAP and Jay Watts III

Orgien-Mysterien-Theater

Okay, official start of the hangover season. I'm pretty sure that I'm still drunk and I'm surprised that the security guard let a jaundice-eyed man stinking of gin such as myself in the building today. I didn't manage to catch Death From Above's set last night, as I had to run off to Saphir to prepare for the DJ competition, which was less of a competition and more of a chance for me and Derek to drink ourselves silly on staff price drinks and play some records. There was quite a decent turn-out. Kudos to Guillarme and Jessica!

We Are Wolves were less nauseating this time rather than last, though I'll have to admit that the percoset and two bottles of white wine were probably what led to such my unfavourable assessment of their performance the last time I saw them, with the Sick Lipstick in the early winter.

Tony Allen's playing somewhere tonight, as I mentioned earlier. Spectrum, I think. I dunno. Christ, I'm hungover.

There are some new blogs to check out... Tyler Fedchuck, a Vancouver resident, does the MP3J Robot Is Smashed By... and Michael P. Brewster does Brewdog, which, in so far as I can tell, is not a review of sampled ales, but might be his dorm-room nickname.