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Quote of the week “We might see a lot of very personal attacks, all tied to the issues of leadership and trust.” —Léger Marketing v-p Christian Bourque, on the upcoming provincial election. An election is expected to be called shortly.
Chaos smoked outLocal punk landmark Café Chaos has been staring down the barrel of bankruptcy since last summer and events coordinator Mitch Robitaille says the smoking ban is to blame.“I doubt it would have to do with anything else,” he says. He’s worked for the cooperative for almost four of its 11 years, so the drop in clientele has been hard not to notice. The two-storey Latin Quarter bar and venue was breaking even until the ban went into effect on May 31; by July, the co-op saw a 40 per cent drop in profits, according to Robitaille. “We’re really in a difficult situation,” he says. If profits don’t increase soon, Café Chaos may shut its doors as early as March. Other clubs pandering to the underground music scene have also seen better days—Foufounes Électriques and Rockette have shaved a day or two off their weekly operations. The difference, Robitaille says, is that those bars can afford to do so. “We don’t have the money to go through this crisis.” The venue is planning a series of benefit concerts, according to board president Rick Zaidi. For more information, visit www.cafechaos. qc.ca. —Tracey Lindeman Valentine’s in dragWhat better way to tell your honey just how
much you dig them this Valentine’s Day than by heading over to
Café Cleopatra (1230 St-Laurent) for a drag show? On Thursday,
Feb. 15, the Head and Hands community organization will be throwing
their fourth annual VD party, where the Anti-Hallmark Love Brigade are
promising to “lead you in discovering what Valentine’s Day ought to be
about.” Homes for jailed momsTwo
decades ago, women incarcerated in provincial prisons had little
opportunity to spend time with their children. That changed when the
non-profit group Continuité familiale auprès des
détenues reached an agreement with the prison authorities to
allow the women to spend up to 29 hours a week in a three-bedroom
trailer on the premises of Maison Tanguay penitentiary.
“It’s a slice of normal life for them,” says CFAD director Liliane Aflalo. CFAD started in 1985, but the visiting program began in 1987. The group receives some government funding and relies on donors to keep running its food bank and support services for inmates and former inmates. Aflalo says the prison supports her group’s mission. “They’re very supportive of the program. They want to see it remain.” The only inmates excluded from the program are women serving in the maximum-security wing or those whose conditions bar them from contact with their children. “The prison rarely says no,” says Aflalo. Aflalo will speak about the group’s work at a fundraiser for CFAD on Saturday, Feb. 10, at Zeke’s Gallery (3955 St-Laurent), 7:30 p.m. The event will feature Montreal poet Kyra Shaughnessy and American singer Shannon Murray. Suggested donation: $5–$10. —Samer Elatrash Vigil at sixEach Friday in the midst of the downtown lunch hour rush, local activists from Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) gather outside of the Israeli consulate on the corner of Peel and René-Lévesque for a silent vigil. In all seasons and temperatures, members of PAJU have maintained a weekly presence since the beginning of the second Palestinian uprising throughout the occupied territories.Friday, Feb. 9, will mark the sixth anniversary of Canada’s longest running vigil, which has attracted notable media attention over the years. It has also attracted a lot of controversy: Israeli sympathizers in Montreal have recently commenced organizing counter-vigils on the opposite street corner, sparking occasionally heated exchanges. “Montrealers know what solidarity means,” says local author and Palestinian activist Rezeq Faraj, who acts as a spokesperson for PAJU. “No matter the weather in Montreal or political winds concerning Palestine, we will continue to call for an end to the Israeli occupation each Friday at noon.” Jeanette Weinroth, an Israeli citizen who moved to Montreal shortly after the 1967 war, co-founded the weekly vigil. “After six years, as the Israeli occupation has become more horrendous, people in Montreal have become more sympathetic to the Palestinians,” says Weinroth. —Stefan Christoff REAR-VIEW MIRROR On the cover: Former no wave-r James White, whose “marriage of James Brown funk, avant-garde jazz and an aggressive punk attitude” has led Rolling Stone to dub him “an American Johnny Rotten.” He doesn’t care for the label, he tells Brendan Kelly. “I’ve gotten away from the whole idea of being a rock ’n’ roll-type personality… That’s  something
that’s really overdone, especially now with MTV; that whole stance has
been turned into a cartoon.”• Quebec’s pro-life movement has “bounced back with a vengeance.” An article focuses on the efforts of Reggie Chartrand to stop Henry Morgentaler. “He has transgressed the laws of nature and the laws of Canada, and he must be stopped,” says Chartrand. • The Mirror examines “The Return of Psychedelia.” “The movement, as it is expressed musically by the local bands, is towards a garage band sound: raunchy vocals, harmonica, obscure (cover version) songs,” says Eduardo of Rebob
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André Drouin, the genius Hérouxville
councillor who drew up the code—which helpfully reminds any Muslims
coming to live there (there are currently zero) that no, they can’t
burn women alive, or stone them, or circumcise them—appearing on Tout
le monde en parle and declaring a state of cultural emergency. What’s
even more repugnant is the outpouring of support from across Quebec.
And now, with a provincial election in the offing, expect this issue to
be raised more than once over the next six weeks.
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