Behind The Curtain (7 July, 2023)
Accessible Audio for this week’s Behind The Curtain will be available soon!
Songs on St-Denis in 2007
Over the years, I’ve always tried to keep my day jobs, which I do primarily, if not almost exclusively, for money, separate from my passion project or projects, whatever they may be at the time. There was one giant exception to this rule. In late 2006 I got a job as a breakfast and lunch waiter, my one and only restaurant job to date, that would lead to me discovering a vibrant musical scene the following year that I otherwise would have encountered only peripherally. I’m talking about the chansonniers (Quebec singer-songwriters) who performed at Bistro Double Dose on St-Denis.
I got the job because I was bilingual. On St-Denis and Cherrier, the clients were 70% francophone and 30% anglophone. I also got the gig because I was, you know, there. A friend who left the business had recommended it to me. The owners were an older couple with a successful accounting business who had bought this business for their son to run. He was out, for reasons I will not go into here, after my first week on the job. For the next few months, they tried to make it work with an assortment of managers, chefs, and even an Artistic Director at one point, kind of like you, Andrew, except you do stuff, quite a bit of it. (Editor’s Note: Aw, thanks, man. I appreciate that.) This guy was effectively useless, as they weren’t running any shows at the time, and he didn’t book any, despite the stage area. He brought nothing to the table. At one point, they had six managers for seven employees.
That would all end when they brought in Landriault. He was a chansonnier who I knew from the year before, when he entered himself and a bunch of other French artists into the Infringement Festival (that’s a whole other story that I will tell you one day). I was a co-Founder (I do that a lot), and at the time, a key organizer of this event. They had brought Landriault in to book musical acts in the evenings, which he did, allowing them to get rid of the other guy. Soon enough, though, Landriault was running everything and the de facto manager of the place. “Don’t call me manager,” he would say in French. “I’m an anarchist, not a boss. Now do this.” Irony aside, he was probably one of the best bosses I have ever had.
I’m not a morning person, but those breakfasts were always full and helped the day pass by quickly. $2.99 plus taxes got you two eggs (any style), bacon, ham, or sausage, toast, fresh fruit, beans, and a bottomless cup of coffee. Landriault realized that in the daytime, it wasn’t the St-Denis crowd, but rather people who lived in the area, worked nearby, or went to the graphic design college around the corner, so he offered something that would bring them in. And bring them in, it did. Even the squeegee punks, who normally just came in to turn the change they got into bills, had breakfast.
After I took some time off for that year’s Infringement Festival, which Landriault made all of his nighttime programming part of, I got an interesting offer: instead of working Monday to Friday 7am to 2:30pm, I would work the shows, which meant weekend and some weekday evenings. It also meant some fancy dinners mixed in with our regular fare, and a bit of bartending to boot. I took the offer and soon discovered that it also meant I would be fully immersed in a community of francophone chansonniers. They came out to support each other, played original tunes, and were all quite good. Laundriault, in particular, had a commanding voice and stage presence, and sang with real passion, when performing in a duo with Monique Paquin. Jean-Marie Pelletier, a super nice guy who sadly passed away a few years ago, had probably the most memorable singalong lines in his songs, in particular his signature ode to his home region La Matapédia. And then there was Louis-André Bourque, a fun performer who always packed ‘em in, and even once asked me to be an extra in his music video (you can see me briefly at the very end):
It was a wild summer that opened my eyes to a scene I had never been exposed to, and am glad that I was. Despite the success, the owners had lost so much the previous year that they sold the place to someone who really didn’t know what he was doing. I returned to breakfast and lunch, but it just wasn’t the same (buy me a drink and I’ll tell you stories. I left on New Year’s Eve. The place went through a name change, but didn’t last. That scene moved and I lost touch with it. But for a brief moment, I was at the apex of indie Quebecois Chanson in Montreal, and my “day” job was actually what I enjoyed most.
NOTES THIS WEEK
Bonjour Montréal
Since I wrote, at length, about publicly funded outdoor art projects last week, I can’t ignore the latest one. On Wednesday, Tourisme Montréal unveiled what the City of Montreal is calling our new “city signature” in the Old Port. It’s a series of giant letters (2350 metres high and 15 646 metres wide) spelling out Bonjour Montréal. The back is mirrored steel, and the front is made of Montreal ash trees cut down because of emerald ash borer infestations, which is a cool touch. The $475 000 price tag was paid by the Federal Government through the Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, and I’m okay with that. It’s supposed to be emblematic like the Toronto sign (yeah, that tracks), the I Heart NY campaign (maybe), or the Hollywood sign (yeah, keep dreaming). What I don’t get is the choice of words. If it was to greet tourists and returning locals, it would be “Bienvenue à Montréal”, which it doesn’t. No, it’s a greeting directed at Montreal. So, who, exactly, is greeting us? The City? Then it would be Montreal saying hello, or good morning, to Montreal. Is the sign itself saying bonjour? In which case, thanks, sign, and a bonjour to you as well!
No More Montreal Ads on Facebook
Also Wednesday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced, on Facebook (and other platforms), that the City of Montreal will stop advertising on Facebook. This follows a similar move by the Federal Government and is done in solidarity with news organizations, and in response to Meta blocking Canadian news content shares on Facebook and Instagram. Meta is responding to Bill C-18, the Federal Government’s new law that forces them to pay news companies when someone clicks on a news story from one of their products. To be honest, I think this law favours larger media outlets, and does nothing for the smaller ones. Also, it seems weird as Facebook is pretty much advertising, and they don’t charge the advertisers for click throughs. Meta’s response is equally unhelpful, and bad for all of us. Montreal has not stopped sharing important info on Facebook, just advertising.
Perks Aplenty
One thing I forgot to mention in previous weeks, if you donate to our IndieGoGo, you not only get the satisfaction of knowing you’re helping us at FTB 2.0 achieve our goals, but I’ll also start e-mailing you! (Editor’s Note: That’s not how you pitch it! That sounds like you’re spamming them. Read your notes!) Right, you’ll receive a monthly newsletter from Founder Jason C. McLean, who happens to be me. I’ll talk about some of the behind-the-screens happenings here at FTB and give you first-hand info on things we’ve got coming down the pipe before anyone else hears about it. Go for it!
Well, that’s it for this week. Next week, two of my favourite interests combine: the Sud-Ouest, and transit. Plus I’ll bring a band popular on the college circuit in the 80s into it. Any guesses on my topic? Send them to jason@forgetthebox.ca and win…nothing really, but I might mention you in this space. Until next week!
FTB Founder Jason C. McLean returns every Friday for another installment in his series, Behind The Curtain.
