Speculation
and insinuation

by JACK OATMON

Closure is the chatter of the season this spring, and I’m not talking about the toothbrush-returning closure of a lover scorned. Nor is it the closure of deals made behind the scenes with reptile handshakes, though that’s definitely mixed in here somewhere. I’m talking about the closure experienced by places like SingSing, lab.synthèse and, more recently, the Black Dot. [Ed.’s note: Check the Punkusraucous Rex column in this week’s issue for more on that.] Without getting too sappy about gentrification and its inevitable foibles, many people are wondering just what’s going on here and whether there’s a trend causing all this, particularly in light of the remarkable increase of police response to loft parties and the like.

I can’t rightly say there’s any explicit link between these things, but what I can say is that the city’s cultural topography is rapidly shifting. I’ve touched on Quartier des Spectacles and the St-Laurent renovations before, but let’s get into it. I’ll tell you straight up that I spoke to a Quartier des Spectacles industry-relations guy named Frédéric Bove, who told me that their plan to deal with the poor and homeless in their area of development was simply to heighten property values, attract more investors and rely on a dramatically increased police presence to counter the strip’s seedy scene. I might add that the presence of riot cops in the area twice during the weeks before the playoffs riot inevitably got obscured by the hockey mumbo jumbo, but did not go unnoticed. Again, no provable link there, but concerns abound. So things are getting greasy downtown, and we all know what’s going to happen to places like Friendship Cove if Devimco sets up shop in Griffintown, so we don’t even need to speak on that.

The next point is total speculation, aided by some little birdies in the business community, but certainly worth consideration. If the cracked-out construction timetabling on the Plateau hasn’t made you almost puke yet, let your mind wander into the dark realm of inquiry as to who will snatch up the prime properties left by businesses hit hard and put out by the dramatic drop in clientele over the last year. That, just in time for a freshly refitted boulevard with all-new infrastructure. Even if there’s no ill intent whatsoever at work, the fact remains that longstanding places are losing out and someone’s going to be cashing in on it. Meanwhile up the street, Main Hall and Green Room are in purgatory as they wait to have a perpetually forthcoming, never-rendered decision about conducting their business in the face of relentless noise complaints, reportedly from a single, newly arrived neighbour. So think on that and I’ll hit you back with more dirt as I dig it up.

To get down with the neighbourhood reclamation groove this weekend, check out Megasoid’s definitive thug rave throwdown at Coda on Saturday, May 24. They’ve got laidback, clackin’ and clappin’ beats by 215 of San Francisco, whose chorus rhymes and warbling bass beg a toe-tap or two at least. They’ll be heard with the filter funk and glammy verses of Brooklyn’s new jack swingers Theophilus London, one of very few hip hop crews who could honestly cite New Order and Gang of Four amongst their prime influences.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH, BEER-GOGGLES AT THE
READY…jack.oatmon@gmail.com