KISS ME I’M QUEER-FRIENDLY: Supporters of Patti Lamothe (left, in pink shirt) gather at the corner of St-Laurent and Duluth for a mass kiss-in on Monday afternoon. Lamothe claims she was gay-bashed at the corner on Monday, June 25 PHOTO BY RACHEL GRANOFSKY

Quote of the week

“It’s an indication of how utterly and totally corrupt this administration is from top to bottom.” — Joseph Wilson, husband of former CIA agent Valerie Plame, on President Bush’s commuting the 30-month jail sentence of Lewis Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

Cari- questions

Montreal’s annual Carifiesta is unleashed this weekend, with the usual parade along René-Lévesque and after-party at Parc Jean-Drapeau. But there are still some questions about the latest attempt by the city to situate the series of cultural events known as les Weekends du monde—which Carifiesta kicks off—on the island.

Noel Alexander, president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal, sounds much less combative this year than he did in 2006, when he boycotted the festivals. But he still expresses reservations about the festivities’ location, and the $10–$15 entry fee. “A lot of people don’t want to travel on the weekend,” he says. “You want as many people as possible to [attend]. You have to encourage people to go, you can’t say they must go.” He says he’d like to see the after-party take place at Parc Lafontaine, but acknowledges that the infrastructure already on-site at Jean-Drapeau makes it a logical choice.

There are also questions about Montreal’s Jamaica Day. Relations between Alexander and Marcel Tremblay, the city executive council member responsible for intercultural relations, haven’t always been peachy, but Alexander says the two are working together for a Jamaica Day celebration, scheduled tentatively for Saturday, August 18.

For more info on Carifiesta, see www.carifiestamontreal.com.

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Earth lives here

Tree huggers and music fans on six continents converge this Saturday for Al Gore’s Live Earth, as pop stars once again do their part to save the world, this time from global climate change. Artists like Madonna and the Beastie Boys will headline concerts in eight cities, including New York, London, Tokyo and Johannesburg, while here in Montreal local musicians will be representing with Friends of Live Earth at the Old Port.

“It’s important for Montrealers to take part in this effort, to team up with the rest of the world and say we are going to be a part of the solution to this crisis,” says Pierre Lussier, director of Earth Day Quebec and one of the local organizers.

The local line-up features Zachary Richard, Garou, Marilou, Jorane, Eric Lapointe and Dan Bigras. The show begins at 6 p.m. with a big-screen broadcast of the day’s highlights from Live Earth, followed at 8 p.m. by the performances. DJ Champion closes the night with a 10:30 p.m. set.

Friends of Live Earth takes place on July 7 at the Old Port’s Quai Jacques-Cartier. Tickets are $5 in advance from TicketPro, or $10 on-site. Free admission for kids under 12. For info, visit www.friendsofliveearth.com.

by Christopher Hazou

Mini-parks mini-fest

Sure, the parks of Montreal’s Centre-Sud district have historically been a reliable place to score crack and various other illicit fun powders, but since the Parcs vivants concept was introduced in the summer of 2002, the mini-parks of said ’hood have been serving the community in other, possibly even more productive ways.

“Parcs vivants is about the re-appropriation of Centre-Sud’s mini-parks by its citizens, and this year the scope of our activities will be bigger than ever,” says head organizer Rachelle Ménard-Côté. Said activities include all sorts of nifty stuff, from open-air tai chi and yoga lessons to afternoon poetry readings and capoeira instruction. The entire series of events begins this weekend and some run to the end of the summer.

The list of activities offered this year is long and varied, with there being pretty well something interesting for just about everyone. “And, of course, it’s all absolutely free,” adds Ménard-Côté. “You can just show up on the day if you want, but we recommend you call up and register in advance, just to make sure there’ll be space for you.”

For schedule information and a detailed list of activities, go to www.ecojac.cam.org or call (514) 522-4053.

by Chris Barry

TV trainees

Mention “boot camp” to some teens and they might just reach for a razor, but almost half of the 25 openings for Concordia University Television’s Summer Video Boot Camp were snapped up soon after CUTV began advertising for the two week retreat.

“It’s a pretty rare opportunity,” says station manager Jason Gondziola. CUTV will teach Montreal teens how to handle video cameras, lighting and direct movies during the two-week retreat. CUTV will provide the equipment.

Youth over 14 can apply for the camp, and CUTV says it will waive the $75 fee for teens from high-needs families. “There is not much media literacy education, especially for youth from high-needs families,” says Gondziola. “We’re in a phase of mass communications where people who hadn’t had the opportunity are now able to share their stories, and families in lower income neighbourhoods probably don’t have video cameras. The students at the camp will be able to come back to CUTV and use the equipment there.”

The camp runs from July 16 to July 28, when the youth will present their work at a gala. The deadline to apply for the camp is Thursday, July 12. See cutv.concordia.ca for more info.

by Samer Elatrash

Rear-view mirror

17 years ago - July 5–12, 1990

On the cover: Suzanne Vega, playing la Ronde in support of her third album, Days of Open Hand. She says she wasn’t trying to record a follow-up to 1987’s Solitude Standing and its hugely successful single “Luka.” “I wasn’t sure what made ‘Luka’ successful to begin with, so I didn’t feel there was any point in trying to recreate it.”

• An article about conjugal violence quotes a study that shows that women who kill their spouses are statistically more likely to be charged with murder than men.

• Making Longtime Companion, a film about the early days of AIDS and the gay community, was difficult, says director Norman René, because many actors were “afraid of the subject matter and others were leery of the intimacies between the characters.”

• A letter-writer congratulates the paper on “correcting” the reversed “R” in the Mirror logo.

• Kidnapped by “Kikoolian rebels” on the planet Frombool, Slum Dog succumbs after falling into a “pool of poisonous spent fuel.”

Angel >> The National Do-Not-Call List On Tuesday, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) finally announced a set of rules that will govern a no-call list, aimed at the raft of irritating telemarketers who interrupt important family and TV-watching time. It’s subscription- based, meaning that Canadians sign up once, for three years, and for free. Companies that violate the list are liable to be fined $15,000, and individuals $1,500. The law is modelled after a similar American one, but won’t go into effect until a list operator is selected, which will take at least a few months. But political parties, charities and businesses with pre-existing relationships with the customer are exempt from the list.

Insect >> Speeding trucks For once, Quebecers might want to take a page out of Ontario’s book. This week, the government of Ontario announced that it would make speed limiters mandatory for all large commercial vehicles. The built-in microchip would limit trucks to 105 km/h (the five klicks above the limit is to allow for passing), and, Ontario’s safety gurus say, limit the number of crashes. It’s an interesting idea, and one that should be explored here, given the unacceptable danger faced by both car and truck drivers as companies demand faster speeds in order to make the quickest delivery.