TONIGHT!

Hey all, I'm spinning tonight (That's Thursday evening - 1000 apologies for wrongly stating it was last night)at Robin Simpson's Pavilion 2 Event. Show up and heckle me from the floor as I spin nothing but over-indulgent pseudo-psychedelic trash. It's part of the PopMontreal festival. Details bellow.

A late-night actionist invocation, Pavilion Two presents: It's beautiful but things are gonna change. A sea of blood, tears, spittle, fumes and acrylics all illuminated by a rainbow. Leaving the stale smoke of after hours behind, Pavilion picks up the crowd and bids them good night into our prepared landscape.

Featuring a new body of work by Stéphanie Chabot
Performance by Geneviève et Matthieu
with DJs: Cécile Pétrole (ex-Nuance),Jay Watts III,Prions en Église

Pavilion Two
Thurs. Sept. 30th
12am - ?

LE LOCAL,
7154, St.Urbain
(metro Jean Talon)
Montreal

"Dance Destructive" vernissage

This week at Gallery X, Montreal-based artist Jody Ferguson exhibits five photographs in a series entitled "Dance Destructive."

The vernissage is tonight at 7pm.

Gallery X is located on the second floor in the Concordia Visual Arts building at the bottom of the Crescent and Rene Levesque intersection.

More information on upcoming shows, submission guidelines and art-star gossip: palephantoms@gmail.com

Lupid Festival.

As of today, Wolf Parade have left Montreal for the shady and dewy environs of Portland, Oregon, where they'll be recording at Herr Brock's studio. From there, there are planned performances for The Brickyard in Vancouver on October 28th, the 50/50 Art Collective' Hallowe'en bash on October 29th, All Tomorrow's Parties in Los Angeles at the beginning of November and a tour that sends them on their way home.

Arcade Fire show...

I was surprised to spy, upon entering the Citadel a bit late, that Jeremy Gara (formerly of Weights & Measures and all-around nice fellow) was playing with the Arcade Fire. Arlen Thompson, Wolf Parade's drummer, also joined them for the first song of their second set. The space was predictably packed, and the majority of the crowd well-behaved, obeying the posted signs prohibiting standing on the pews. Complaints? None really - the sound was a bit muddy every now and then, and it was damned hot, but that made the event a lot more reminiscent of the Pentecostal shake-fests of my youth, which gave me an occasional shiver.

Dan Seligman et al. pulled the feat off marvellously, especially when one considers just how busy they've all been preparing for PopMontreal. Alright, I'm off to montrealshows.com to check out what the armchair pedants are complaining about. It's a marvellous day out - lay about in the park.

Luke Ramsey Vernissage

image from mebeme.com

The opening for Victoria born n' bred artist Luke Ramsey's installation is tonight (Friday) at the Turf Gallery in Old Montreal (410 St. Pierre) at 5pm. Expect bunnies, graffiti-influenced illustration, hallucinogenic visions, comics and the like. The show runs until October 2nd. Bring galoshes.

Luke Ramsey's website

The best festival in Canada, unfortunately not featuring the best band in Canada (fuck the Trews, I can't handle the Trews, it's Wolf Parade(!), who will be off recording in Portland and playing All Tomorrow's Parties in LA on November 6th), PopMontreal is a week away, setting a mighty high bar for the Halifax Pop Explosion to reach for. HFP's confirmation of the appearance of SNFU secures them a modicum of respectability, of course. And ho! what's this, Three Inches of Blood is performing? I remember them! Their line-up shuffling, interband squabbles and prog-rock tendencies will only assure me of a place in history, twenty years hence, as the Syd Barrett to their Pink Floyd. Nosy reporters may find me at such a time paunchy, dazed and gardening outside my mother's flat.

In the next week, I'll post some choice picks from the PopMontreal lineup, not forgetting to plug the showcase I'm hosting for Montreal's own poorly-named but better-dressed Duran-Duran-redux group ECHOKITTY (oh yeah, and some other groups, too) on Saturday or the return of Robin Simpson's PAVILION PROJECT. Fresh from the land of pickled herring and a population obsessed with text-messaging, Simpson et. al return to prod, pontificate and err, ahh, play about with the audience's damnable regressive consciousness or what not.

This Friday, Andy Dixon, formerly of Vancouver's The Red Light Sting, co-owner of Ache Records, part-time programmer of internet porno websites and recent soundtrack provider to a skateboard shoe commercial finds his way to Montreal to perform as Secret Mommy, laptop tweaker in the IDM vein, along with pals Tinkertoy (the third product of the Kootenay Mountain region in British Columbia to make it this far east - the other two being Kokanee beer and dirty hippy-punks), Cailloux and Carbone, and DJs Utility and Ovalroster.

NEW MAPS / NOUVELLE CARTES
Friday, September 24th, 10pm
O Patro Vys (356 Mt.Royal E)
$6 adv./ $8 door

Vernissage: Montreal

Photographer/sculptor and former Victoria, BC resident Michael Doerksen will be exhibiting a series of photographs entitled "To Take The Air" tonight at Cafe X, located on the second floor of the Concordia University Visual Arts Building (corner of Rene Levesque & Crescent), at 7pm. The six photographs, taken of unaware subjects over a period of two years while engaged in what the over-eager post-Marxist theorists in anyone's first year Arts Methods course might title "psychogeographic practice" (a la Debord et al.) curdle the blood and remind us all of the impedements of frail human mortality on our deepest desires, etc. etc. etc.

The other component of the exhibit might be titled "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" as Doerksen fells his 2003 sculpture "Boy Falling From 10 Feet For Infinity" (thus making the infinite finite in one fell hack, or maybe a couple) in the courtyard of the building. Shazam!

FashionWeek Round-Up

BACKSTAGE ON THE SET OF CALIGULA.

Hint Magazine has photos from the runways and backstages of the various Fashionweeks for Spring 2005. Nothing too wild or special, outside of Japanese boys dressed in mock-samurai and face-masks made of braided hair. A hoodless-windbreaker mysteriously popped up in the Givenchy collection, and it wasn't under a blazer either, confusing about 70 or so people in Williamsburg. The Helmut Lang male line features bizarre knotted-rope accessories attached to belts, curious little additions in a far too kitschy n' gay showing, perhaps designed with the need for overweight Eurotrash queens to have something to drag their lily-faced and drugged rent boys by in mind. Some of the Hermes models looked like sissified Depression-era Oakies, Galiano turned in an embarassing homage to "Gangs of New York" and the Wild West, and turbans appeared in a couple of collections ('classically'-inspired Imitation of Christ, for example.) Paris was arty, Milan was airy, and Brazil had a tropically baroque feel - sounds predictable enough, huh?

Warrior Magazine Launch

STOLEN FROM WEST-COAST HIPPY PUBLICATION, Discorder

Warrior Magazine is celebrating the its inaggaural issue tomorrow night (Friday, September 17th) with a launch party at the new (as of this summer) Greenland Productions run Mile End Cultural Centre... Invite-only schmoozing and guestlist-addicts before hand at 8pm, followed by general admission at 3am, with DJing by Swayz Matez, Brian Fairy, Bliss and Miss Matches, as well as "prize giveaways and the hottest tote-bags and tie-die Tees to ever hit the block." Unquote.

This first issue has an interview with RISD alumni Animal Collective, manipulated-by-Andrew-Loog-Oldham and Piano Magic collaborator Vashti Bunyan and Patrick Swayze. Ugh. Is Patrick Swayze undergoing a revival of the sorts that propelled Bill Murray into the hearts of every Johnny-Come-Lately Kinks fan? Warrior Magazine promises great things, such as engendering creative and political spaces free of commercial constraints with a bit of the "seamless psychedelic explosion," etc. etc. Let's all bite our tongues, cross our fingers and hope that this doesn't turn out to be another Trucker Magazine, or (god help us all) Nightlife Magazine. Kinda suspicious that the Arcade Fire aren't featured on the cover though, perhaps it isn't published in Montreal.

Mile End Cultural Center: 5390 St. Laurent

Pie-Eaters.

Nicholas and Father. 2004.

Let's all hope that you made it out to the Young People's Foundation vernissage at Lemon-Lime (3697 St. Laurent) tonight - 840 (or so) pieces crafted by the collective in one maddening 24 hour streak - like a more art-oriented "24" with less kidnapping and less Kiefer... There's an after-party at Korova. All genuine and earnest human beings should petition the management to rid that establishment of the one specific DJ who dropped tracks by The Stone Temple Pilots, Bjork and Radiohead in quick succession. He can return to his in-house gig as Mcgill Residence Party DJ.

The YPF also have an online version of their Yearbook up now, in the style of Tiger Magazine.

My co-worker Sarah and Chloe were involved in an ass-punching altercation at Buono Nuotte (I'm well aware of just how incorrect that spelling is) last night and also saw that fat black guy from American Idol that they named the sandwich after, Ruben.

Happy birthday Timmy!

Victoria, BC residents... THE RETURN OF LAKEBOAT Tonight, at the Open Space Art Gallery, with Ghosts, Sound Stories and Run Chico Run. 7pm. $5.

I've got a miserable cold. Well, I missed the tete-a-tete of the two Daves (Dave Wanger vs. Dave Lewkewitch) at the 10 Commandments/Charter Cruise performance on Friday at Barfly, opting to spend the night in after a day of serving bloody caesars. Mr. Wanger, formerly of Daddy's Hands, M Blanket and a couple of other "seminal" Victoria bands, will be returning back to the island tip below the 49th parallel, prodigal-son like, to settle into his new role as father. Hmmm...

Tonight, newlywed songsters Phil (of the Microphones) and Victorian resident and illustrator (of the neo-baroque variety) Geneviève Castrée perform at Sala Rossa, as Mount Eerie and Woelv. Songs about summer love, running around in socks and kittens and the like will be on the agenda, as well as re-creating the myths of childhood. Bring a bib.

This Thursday, at the Cafe X, located in the Concordia VA Building on Rene Levesque, the very first vernissage is being held, from 7-9pm. Various mixed media contributions from Cafe staff for the first show... Booze and all that, of course.

Electro-new-wave quartet Duchess Says will be performing, along with Ground Lift, DJ Romeo Casio and DJ Prions en Eglise, at O Patro Vys (on Mt. Royal) on Saturday, September 11th.

Also on that night, duo the Fiery Furnaces perform at El Salon (has the sound got any better there?) with White Magic, fronted by Mira Billotte of Quix*o*tic and expanding the boundaries of the psych-folk informed that's been flourishing as of late, thanks in no small part to the free, newspring publication Arthur Magazine, which is one publication that thankfully isn't following the rest of the indie publishing flock in attempting to mimic Vice Magazine. (Witness Toronot's Trucker Magazine (is that even publishing) and wince.)

And, as you've probably heard, Wolf Parade will not be playing Pop Montreal (they were originally slotted to perform with Mission of Burma) due to family commitments. They'll be recording soon, though.

Videokill! in Montreal!

The immensely popular Vancouver-based indie music video event Videokill! is coming to Montreal in October. Organizers Lindsay Sung and Heather Trawick will be making the trek out, and guest curators are the Cafe X curators Pale Phantoms (hey, c'est moi and artist/swell person Tracy Maurice!)...

The most recent Videokill! in Vancouver on August 12th was well-attended and featured videos by Black Mountain, Radio Berlin, Wolf Parade, They Shoot Horses Don't They?, Sparkle Motion, T.A.L.A.Band, Black Rice, The Beans, Heavy Party, Channels 3 & 4 and performances by Primes and Bakelite.

Any bands interested in including a video for exhibition should contact palephantoms@gmail.com, and prepare to have either a hard copy of the video available or it available on the internet for consideration. Submissions should be in before September 20th.

Drinko Bingo: Selfhood as the eternal soul.

Victoria breeding.

Victorian ex-pats can take comfort in the return of Drinko Bingo this Wednesday at Pharmacie Esperanza. Hosted by Carlin & Jennie, the evening promises prizes, booze and the assorted cast of art students and layabouts. DJing by Warren Hill (former synth-player for Radio Berlin!) and Jay Watts III (that's me!). Show up around 9pm. Dress well. People appreciate it, they really do.

Wednesday, August 18th
@ Pharmacie Esperanza / 5490 St-Laurent

Soul Jazz DJ.

This upcoming Saturday sees another show by personal favourites Duchess Says: the Quebec-city dark new-wave transplants will be performing at a Fluodata zine benefit at the Jupiter Room along with Dark Mana, a group fronted by ex-Short Pants Romance bassist and 21st Century Fox dynamo Jordan Robson-Cramer (Jordan Robson-Spector to those who've witnessed him at the controls of an impromptu basement recording studio) and Mary-May. Duchess Says are one of the numerous factors leading to a critical and popular re-assessment of groundbreaking art-damaged synth-fuckups Six Finger Satellite, who deserved the interest and attention that the inferior Brainiac received. Stop by Cheap Thrills sometime and you'll notice they've re-stocked all the albums, previously only available in bargain bins.

On Friday, Vice Recording's Death From Above 1979 (re-christened to avoid confusion with, and litigation from New York's DFA Recordings) return to Montreal, fresh from a Japanese tour with Toronto's GGBB Controller.Controller. DJ Cherry Cola spins the original songs interpreted last time by We Are Wolves.

Friday, August 20 Death From Above 1979, Controller.Controller, DJ Cherry Cola @ El Salon (St. Laurent)

Saturday, August 21 Oneida, Horsey Craze, Lullabye Arkestra @ La Sala Rossa (St. Laurent)

House is Gay.

SOLAR SWASTIKA

Film critic and PopMontreal Communications director Anna Phelan (pardon the missing accent) will be celebrating her birthday tomorrow (Wednesday, August 11th) at Le Swimming. The event is free, there are DJs (), and the reformed Ten Commandments will be performing as well. New members include quick-talking Vaudevillian filmmaker Matthew Law and former Ghosts member Ami Brousseau. Tales of whiskey and rivers of blood and divine wrath and justice from the baroque, art-damaged group... Bring presents.

Yes, Yes, WOLF PARADE is the best band in Canada.

fucking googlesearch.

...And judging by recently received e-mails and internet buzz, the rest of North America will soon know it. Wolf Parade's recent string of shows with Modest Mouse have made them a desirable commodity - unfortunately I've heard they've already run out of CDs and shirts...
The Audioscrobbler site rates them #1, beating out TV On The Radio, The Unicorns, The Fiery Furnaces and every other worthy and unworthy buzz band that's dared to pop their delicately sculpted haircuts above the underground in the past couple years. All this attention without a publicist, too!

Montreal kids get the chance to either jump on the bandwagon or chase it down and burn it, backlash-style, this Friday. They're playing at the Rialto on Ave. du Parc, opening up for Modest Mouse. The oversold show might be a wee bit difficult to get into, though - and with capacity issues, don't expect backdoor fellatio to be gaining you access, though I'm sure the effort would be appreciated.

from Panos Cosmatos' site...

Filmmaker, designer, and Moebius fan Panos Cosmatos has designed some truly stunning posters that will be for sale at the show tonight as well, check them out (as well as other work) at his gallery at http://www.panoscosmatos.com/gallery...

OTHER WORTHY BAND NEWS: Vancouver's Pink Mountaintops (side-project by Black Mountain frontman Steve McBean) received a solid 8 out of 10 from Britain's ire-raising musicpulp, NME.

Image from Showstudio.

Photographer Nick Knight's always innovative Showstudio project has posted the results of a recent. Belgian designer Martin Margiela (known for his process-exposing works) designed half of a shift-dress, posted the pattern on Showstudio and invited Showstudio readers to finish the dress and submit the results. Notable designs have been recently posted... My stand-outs include Min Lee's hand-sewn, baroque interpretation and a dramatic, minimalist cape-like work by Masumi Raymond. The pattern is still available for download for interested readers, as well as a previous, completed pattern by Alexander McQueen.

The Suggestive Power of Media

Did anybody notice a jump in the amount of guys in sleeveless shirts skulking about Parc La Fontaine at night since The Mirror published their list of top cruising spots in Montreal last Thursday? I certainly did. I was pondering exactly how much money I'd charge for a latex-gloved handjob when I realized that anyone who's hanging about in a park, probably doesn't have the sort of cash I'd demand for such an operation...

Okay, for some of you, the big show this week is the Sonic Youth/Le Tigre/Les Georges Leningrad triple-bill at Metropolis. And for others, myself included, the more enjoyable event is the (gasp!) oversold Modest Mouse/Wolf Parade concert at the Rialto on Friday. Sonic Youth are older than my parents. Combine all of their ages and extend it into the past, and the gigantic, aged beast you'd have on your hands would have been born just after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I'd imagine. They're playing with a band noted for revolutionizing the world of poor spelling and that group that everyone outside of Montreal has been hearing a lot about recently, Les Georges Leningrad. Jesse from Channels 3+4 in Vancouver begs for news about them everytime I talk to him, Erase Errata (remember them?) and The Gossip speak in awe of them, and me, well, I've never seen them. Nope. Not once. In fact, I've only heard that one "Georges 5" song, and I'm inclined to think it's trash, despite having a real sweet tooth for no-wave nonsense, I gather. Hey, I salivated when I saw a real, live copy of "No New York!" and I even dropped the $40 for the Japanese re-release a couple of years back, but that song's terrible. Christ.

Wolf Parade though, there's a band. They're going to be huge by the beginning of next year, probably big on the internet before that. Massive. Gargantuan. And well-respected. How long before Pitchforkmedia gets a whiff of it? Does anybody care? Has something superceded Pitchfork yet? DESPITE WHAT PUBLICISTS WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF 15 YEAR OLD BOYS READS BUDDYHEAD AND LISTENS TO THE ICARUS LINE.

Finally... I suggest that, as no one has satisfactorily pin-pointed the origins of the ever-annoying phrase "my bad," it be replaced with the more ennobled Latin "mea culpa." Consider it.

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.