by RAF KATIGBAK

Coach: “Alright, you wimps, ready to take it to the max?”

Team: (in unison) “Yeaaah!”

Coach: “Are you caffeine-crazed thrill-seekers extreme enough to get on those skateboards, BMXs and in-line skates, with complete disregard for your own safety?”

Team: (even louder) “YEAAAHH!”

Coach: Extreme enough to risk broken bones and quite possibly your life performing death-defying stunts?

Team: “YEAAAHH!”

Coach: “Extreme enough for a stadium full of sweaty topless guys with huge pecs giving each other essential-oil backrubs to tribal house?”

Team: “Ummmm…”

Well, this could be the scene backstage at this year’s Black & Blue. Yes, it’s that time again, and for the annual event’s 15th anniversary blowout, the theme is “extreme.”

How extreme? Well, Sunday’s main event returns to the centrefield of the Olympic Stadium with the X-Treme Ball as the Ripper Skateboard team and the Haro/Adidas Eyewear BMX/Skate team perform throughout the night.

“Everything that is extreme has become popular,” explains B&B artistic director Jean-Pierre Pérusse in a recent press release. “We thought that drawing from this young, urban culture could be a great idea, with key visual impact, for an event such as the Black & Blue, particularly at the Olympic Stadium, which offers us a big surface that allows the infrastructure necessary for this type of project.”

Chus and Ceballos, and New York house legend and Montreal favourite Danny Tenaglia, will provide musical accompaniment, and of course no BBCM show would be complete without performances by Zilon, BBCM dancers and some extreme drag queens.

Meanwhile, Montreal will be extremely busy from October 5 to 11 as the BBCM raises extreme amounts of money for extreme AIDS research, awareness and relief. With the Jock Ball on Thursday at Stereo, Leather Ball on Friday at Medley and the Military Ball at Metropolis on Saturday, there will certainly be some extreme debate as to which balls will be the sweatiest (sadly, this year’s Tether Ball has once again been cancelled due to a broken string). For a complete detailed (and extreme) rundown, check out BBCM.org.

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