Quote of the week:

“When you quit drinking… it’s no fun at all.” —soon-to-be-departing Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, on his job, in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail.

Save our shrimp

You know that tempura shrimp you love with your sushi? How ’bout that stir-fried Szechuan or black bean shrimp dish? Mmm-mm good. And environmentally catastrophic, says local eco-activist Jacques Lalonde.

Last week, Lalonde, whom the Mirror first spoke to last year about his anti-plastic-bag-campaign, unveiled his campaign against foreign shrimp imports and to support the protection of the local shrimp-producing industry on his EcoContribution.com Web site.

Canadian shrimp harvesting methods are much less damaging to the fish population here, Lalonde says, but the shrimp tend to be fairly puny, between two and four inches long. The Central American and Asian shrimp are bigger, fatter and tastier, thus much more popular among gourmands. But the unregulated harvesting methods in most shrimp-producing developing countries means that while shrimp make up just two per cent of the global seafood catch, shrimp bycatch—all the stuff that winds up in fishing nets that’s not shrimp—account for a third of the global total.

Lalonde plans on touring Quebec schools and making more noise this fall. To sign Lalonde’s petition, see www.ecocontribution.com. —Patrick Lejtenyi

Up with Net sex

To the uninitiated, online dating is peopled by the Comic Book Guy and child molesters. But the truth, according to Brandee Diner, a trained biologist with an interest in human sexuality, is much less repellent.

On Sunday, July 23, Diner will moderate an evening of discussion about online dating and sexuality as part of Concordia’s University of the Streets series. According to Diner, online dating breathes a new life into older singles who might, in another, more cruel age, languish in spinsterhood.

“It’s made dating much more accessible,” she says. “For women, as they approach their late 20s and 30s, the bar scene is not such a great option any more.” The Internet, she says, has made finding people online, especially those who may be into kink, easier—not just because there’s a virtual meeting space, but also the Net’s anonymity allows for a deeper and less inhibited exploration of an individual’s sexual fantasies.

The Sexuality and the Internet discussion goes down at Café Romolo (272 Bernard W.) on Sunday, July 23, at 8 p.m. See http://univcafe.concordia.ca/html/home.html for more info. —Patrick Lejtenyi

Hindus to the hills

On Saturday, July 23, upwards of 30,000 Hindu devotees and revelers, some from as far away as Europe and western Canada, are expected for the annual kavadi festival, a three-and-a-half-hour long procession through Val Morin, a Laurentian town two hours northwest of Montreal. Devotees begin their slow-moving march at Val Morin’s Subramanya Ayyappa Temple and wind through the town before returning to the temple.

The kavadi is a chariot bedecked in peacock feathers, supported by hooks strung through the skin of volunteers. Several hundred follow behind, miming the elaborate peacock dance in a trance-like state.

“For this event, we are joining Subramanyam, commander-in-chief of god’s army, in his fight against demons,” says temple manager Prahlada Reddy. “He helps us to be courageous and ask forgiveness for our mistakes.”

In the two weeks leading up to the festival, the temple is holding daily family-oriented rituals (pujas), from 6–9 p.m., as well as 10 a.m.–1 p.m. on weekends. For more info, call (819) 322-3226. —Elise Hugus

Fraser-Hickson fest

Feeding Montreal’s festival rapture is a new, small-scale outdoor music series, organized by jazz singer and NDG woman-about-town Vivienne Deane.

The Summer Music Festival will feature jazz, blues, Dixieland and Latin music, in the courtyard of the Fraser-Hickson Library, in NDG, every Wednesday until August 16 from 6–10 p.m.

Deane chose the venue “because it’s a gorgeous little space,” and also because of her long-standing efforts to help the library rise out of financial straits.

“They asked me to do another coffee-house fundraiser and I said ‘No’,” says Deane. Instead, she gave them a festival, with approximately 50 per cent of proceeds going to the library.

Next Wednesday, July 19, will feature Deane and the Felix Stüssi trio. Other artists include Homebrew Dixieland Band (July 26), Tim Jackson Trio (Aug. 2), Roger Walls Dixieland Combo (Aug. 9) and Vincent Beaulne Blues Delight (Aug. 16).

All shows take place at the Fraser-Hickson Library (4855 Kensington), for $8 (adults), $5 (seniors, students), $2 (kids under 12). For more info, call 489-5301. —Marc Apollonio

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

16 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
July 12–July 19, 1990

On the cover: Looney Tunes director Chuck Jones, presenting a 50-year retrospective of his career at Just for Laughs. “I’m always like Daffy,” he says. “He’s a guy I can understand. I’d like to be Bugs—in my dreams I’m Bugs Bunny—but when I wake up, I’m Daffy Duck.”

• Côte-des-Neiges resident Monique Deslaurier wants the government to take seriously the question of background radiation emanating from radio towers, telephone lines, TVs, electronic gadgetry and other sources. “There are people sunbathing like a toaster underneath the microwave antennae,” she says. The city was implementing some measures to address the problem.

• Playing at the Rialto’s B-movie fest: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, Frankenstein in 3-D, The Man With the X-Ray Eyes and Lobster Man From Mars.

• Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are more influenced by films than music, says bassist Reid Diamond. “We grew up with Clint Eastwood, James Bond and Ennio Morricone,” he says. Other influences include Mad magazine and Bugs Bunny.

Angel >> Roadsworth rehabilitated Peter Gibson, the 31-year-old Montrealer stencil graffiti artist formerly known as Roadsworth, is now officially in the city’s good books. Gibson was arrested in late November 2004, putting a sudden end to his three-year creative outburst of surreptitious, amusing and anonymous street-level guerrilla art, which included painting owls, candles, fake bike paths and the like on city streets. After fulfilling his court-mandated 40 hours of community service, late last week he picked up a city contract to beautify the sidewalk at Viger and St-Urbain, in front of the Palais des Congrès. Gibson’s new painting is inspired, apparently, by Lego. Financial terms are in the negotiation stage.
Insect >> Removing recycling bins Late last week, the city announced that the Ville-Marie and Plateau boroughs would be removing their sidewalk recycling bins—the ones with the three holes into which passers-by can sort and drop their junk. The reason? They aren’t making any money. The city had hoped to rake in big advertising bucks by selling space on the bin walls, but the contracts haven’t been forthcoming. Rather than recycle regardless, the two boroughs are pulling the bins and replacing them with regular garbage cans. Eco-types contacted by the Mirror this week hadn’t heard of the decision, and were dismayed when relayed the bad news.