by RAF KATIGBAK

March in Quebec is a magical time. The weather is getting warmer and now we can see the light at the end of the cold, bleak, dark and lonely Nordic hell-tunnel known as winter. March also marks the beginning of some of my favourite local seasons. There's la saison des trottoirs mystérieux, when the snow melts to reveal all the perfectly preserved, stanky, weird garbage dumped in snow banks over the last four months, and la saison de la peau de pâté en croûte, or pasty-skin season, when cooped-up eager beavers bust out their short shorts and T-shirts at the first sign of a positive thermometer reading. "Hey everybody, it's plus one - look at how translucent I am!"

But my favourite local season has got to be the time of sugaring off, when hordes of school kids and families rush off to sugar shacks in the country, looking for traditional Quebec cuisine and finding out that it mostly consists of opening up random pages in a cookbook and substituting at least three ingredients with maple syrup. March is the time when maple sap (used to make syrup, our chief export after hockey and comedians) flows freely in Quebec. Somehow, sugaring off also ties into how the settlers had it rough eating pea soup, going for hay rides, and participating in le tire, aka outdoor taffy-pulling, aka the only time it's okay to eat the yellow snow.

My annual elementary-school sugaring-off trip was always a mixed experience. Although we thoroughly enjoyed Monsieur Gaetan's tour of the maple grove (partially because of the majestic beauty and tranquillity of the surrounding woods, but mostly because he had the word "gay" in his name), the "yesterday's fun today/pioneer village" aspect of the whole experience didn't really go over too well with the kids.

But this Sunday, March 20, the Piknic Électronik is putting their own updated spin on the matter. From 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Quatre Feuilles de Rougemont lodge, the Picnik crew will host la Cabane à sucre Électronik, where tradition (the sweet flavours of fine québécois dining) meets technology (the sweet sounds of DJs Akufen, Pascal B and a live set by Champion) in a beautiful mountainside setting. The cost is $35, with transportation and meals included (less, if you've got your own wheels and/or are under 12 years old). Check www.piknicelectronik.com for more details.

Preempt the sugar rush this Saturday, March 19, with a little bite of birthday cake as Laïka, Montreal's minimal bleep-beats bistro, celebrates its sixth anniversary at the SAT. A mainstay of the local minimal tech-house scene, the newly-slightly-expanded hot spot will of course be partying in style with a flurry of 20-minute sets featuring a who's who of local DJ talent and residents past and present, including Montag, Maüs, the Mole, Madmax, Mark OD (aka Akufen) and many more! Don't miss it!

M. GAETAN SAYS, "C'EST MIEUX Q'UN PIPE D'UN VEAU!" Diskoakimbo@sympatico.ca

>> Music Listings