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The atmosphere was reminiscent of a high school play, or at least that’s what my date leaned over to whisper into my ear as the lights dimmed. With its knots of young people huddled in their respective corners and coats hung up on wooden pegs near the stage, in a way I did feel transported back to high school, the fun part where I joked around with my friends in the stage wings before a production.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” That’s a quote from Theodore Roosevelt (father of teddy bears, but that's another story). It's a cliché for the good reason that it's timelessly true, but even if we all know the words, we fall victim to this brain glitch.
I like cheeky theater. I think we can use a little more of it in our lives. I had an unexpectedly cheeky night when I ventured out into a frigid January evening that I’ve become accustomed to, yet detest nonetheless.
HOT SIX
Chuggo Freeman breaks down the evolution of Canadian Hip Hop 1988- 2000 B.D ( Before Drake ) with this Top 10 Video Countdown.
During a long, lazy, blazing-hot summer day on school break, a group of neighborhood kids and I were shuffled off to a local library’s community room for my first-ever improv workshop.
Docking my Bixi at the corner of St. Laurent and St. Catherine, I weave through the shiny new CIBL radio station and dodge the long line outside Club Soda. The air smells faintly of grilled meat and poutine from Pool Hall, and I jaywalk across the street toward the door of Café Cléopâtre.
feature fridays
kimura byol lemoine (키무라 별 르뫈 – 木村 ビヨル レムワンー) is a conceptual multimedia feminist artist who works on identities (diaspora, ethnicity, colorism, post-colonialism, immigration, gender), and expresses it with calligraphy, paintings, digital images, poems, videos and collaborations.
Nia Blankson, now under the new moniker Tachie Menson, is a multi-instrumentalist and inter-disciplinary creative hailing from London, England and currently splitting her time between Queens, New York and Montreal, Canada.
Sarah Wolfson is the author of A Common Name for Everything, which won the 2020 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry from the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
Carmina Berbari Daou is a Lebanese interdisciplinary artist and comedian and a staple of Montreal’s queer stand-up scene. You know her from Montreal Sketchfest, Montreal Fringe, Commicon, Ladyfest, the Minifest and the Bordel Comedie Club’s Gong Show.
ARCHIVE
Well, here we go again. The Société de développement Angus (SDA) just announced a $160 million, 12 floor development project for the corner of St-Laurent and St-Catherine, the heart of Montreal’s historic Red Light District and current Quartier de Spéctacles.
Ever see the slacker classic Joe’s Apartment? That’s the one with Jerry O’Connell starring alongside some well trained cockroaches as a mid west boy in his first foray into quasi-manhood in NYC, conveniently landing a rent controlled apartment, subsequently discovering his landlord is trying to kill him off so they can tear down the building and put up a maximum security penitentiary.
It looks like the independent burlesque, fetish and drag artists who call the second floor of Café Cleopatre on St-Laurent their artistic home will be able to continue doing so, at least for a while.
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Forget The Box is by Montreal, for Montreal.