Quote of the week:

“Bringing your mom and dad into the hearing helps.” —Peter Gibson, aka stencil-artist Roadsworth, after being given a relatively light sentence ($250 fine and 40 hours of art-related community service) following his arrest on 53 counts of mischief in November 2004, on Tuesday.

Right and refugees

Since ancient times, places of worship have served as a refuge for people seeking to escape the clutches of the law. But now, some refugee advocates fear that may no longer be the case in Canada if Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister.

“It would be completely up in the air if the Conservatives win,” says Shloime Perel, a member of the Refugee Research Project.

With prospects of a Conservative victory looming, the RRP will be holding a forum this Wednesday to discuss issues of sanctuary and how to ensure that it continues to be respected. It’s the first of what Perel hopes will be an annual lecture series in memory of the RRP’s husband and wife co-founders, Charles Stastny and Gabrielle Tyrnauer, who formed the group in 1991. On hand to share their expertise will be the Reverends Darryl Gray, Rosemary Lambie-Bromby and Carole Martignacco.

The forum takes place Wednesday, Jan. 25, at McGill’s Wilson Hall (3506 University), in the Wendy Patrick Room, first floor. Things begin at 5 p.m. For info call 962-8705. — Christopher Hazou

Artists need coffee

What might be the city’s artiest café could be the subject of A Portrait in Red Ink, as Concordia Fine Arts’ storied Café X faces money woes and closure. The non-profit, student-run second storey café in the Fine Arts building on Crescent has long peddled free-trade coffee and muffins to starving artists, but a recent negative experience with a thief left it unable to continue without a quick injection of cash.

Students have donated works of art, to be sold for the fire-sale price of less-than $20 each, in an effort to rescue the java joint. The fundraiser happens Tuesday, Jan. 24 from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. at 1395 René-Lévèsque W. and promises food, drinks and as-of-yet unnamed bands and DJs.

“It’s a really good chance to buy work from emerging artists,” says Tricia Middleton, a Con U Fine Arts administrator. “Once their careers take off, their works become valuable.”

Sustenance for caffeine-withdrawn artists is a good cause, says Trevor Kiernander, a student helping organize the event. “When you have two painting classes in a row, you expect to have the café there.” — Kristian Gravenor

Lebanese here and there

Building on the cross-cultural network between Lebanon and its Montreal-based diaspora, the Tadamon! (“Solidarity” in Arabic) project will launch its first event this Sunday, Jan. 22 at la Sala Rosa (4848 St-Laurent).

Moving rhythms and stirring images from Lebanon’s war-torn past and present will sway people of every political stripe, say Tadamon! organizers, who represent Montreal’s diverse Lebanese community.

The oud-infused sounds of the Hassan-al Hadi band will be followed by Mai Masri’s film War Generation, documenting Lebanon’s 15-year civil war through the eyes of three generations.

A slide show presentation by independent journalist Stefan Christoff, whose report from the country appeared in the Mirror last August, connects the struggle against racism, poverty and inequality for refugees in Lebanon and Canada.

“There’s a vacuum of information in the West in terms of clearly articulated, progressive ideas about what’s going on,” says Christoff. Doors open at 8 p.m. For more information, e-mail tadamon@resist.ca. — Elise Hugus

Fabulous filmmaker speaks!

From Brad Fraser to Ron Athey, Concordia’s renowned HIV/AIDS lecture series has brought in a stellar cast of speakers to discuss issues surrounding the epidemic. This week, celebrated Canadian filmmaker John Greyson (Lilies, Zero Patience, Urinal) is the guest speaker, and he will be discussing his 20 years of agit prop video and filmmaking.

The talk, titled “Harvesting the Figs,” will delve into what Greyson now sees as one of his greatest challenges, the making of Fig Trees, a 2003 video opera about the desperate quest for AIDS treatment medication for the vast numbers of those struggling with HIV in South Africa.

Typically, Greyson’s venture was all about genre busting—taking the limitations of the often-conservative form of opera and ripping them to shreds.

Greyson will be screening Fig Trees, as well as discussing his own evolution as an artist and what led him to this challenging, complex and invigorating work, at Concordia’s Hall Building (H-110) tonight, Thursday, Jan. 19, at 6 p.m. Admission is free. — Matthew Hays

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

18 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Jan. 22–Feb. 4, 1988

On the cover: William S. Burroughs, whose The Western Lands has just been published. Burroughs, writes Alan Lord, is setting aside writing to concentrate on “Shotgun Art,” a technique he developed after shooting a can of spray paint in front of wood. “You get an explosion of colour across the surface, and then the paint starts dripping down across the surface in all these patterns,” he says. “You can then add brush work, or silhouettes, or anything you want.”

• Bill 59, which limits the distribution of English- and foreign-language films until French-dubbed versions are available, is proving unpopular. “It’s for the grandmothers in Quebec City so they can feel safe that the English aren’t raping their daughters,” says rep cinema operator Thierry Martin.

• Jenny Ross writes that Tav Falco & the Panther Burns doesn’t “pass the Last Metro Test. But on a Thursday at 20 below, not much would.”

• “Beyond the framework of ‘two pseudo-hippies suffer in the country,’ plot or motivation in Withnail and I is non-existent,” reads the review.

Angel >> Abortion coverage The Association for Access to Abortion, a non-profit group pushing for free and available access to abortion services, was in court this week to pressure the Quebec government to cover private-clinic abortions under Medicare. The current system only covers abortions in hospitals and public clinics, but wait times often force women to visit private ones, like the Morgentaler, where they have to pay up to $600. Testifying in court, Henry Morgentaler, who led the fight for abortion rights in the 1960s, said Quebec was lagging behind Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Newfoundland. About one-third of Quebec’s 30,000 annual abortions are performed in private clinics.
Insect >> Banning parody They may not have been much fun, and they may not have been funny, but Canadians should at least have been allowed to make fun of last week’s leaders’ debate. But thanks to an agreement between the four parties and the networks that broadcast the debate, no footage from it was allowed to be re-broadcast on satire/comedy programs like Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. But what’s even more troubling is the fact that the Canadian media barely raised a peep about it, with the only comprehensive story appearing in The New York Times.