Groove for the greater good

By JACK OATMON

The personal is political, or so contends commonly held feminist and civil rights doctrine. Politics directly affect lifestyle and therefore empowerment is partly a function of lifestyle. I’m not about to imply that going out partying can always have a decisive impact on society’s ills, but for the sake of inquiry, let’s take a look at the intersection of the two worlds around town this week.

GET A GRIP ON IT: AutoÉrotique

Tonight, Thursday, Nov. 20, if you’ve got $40 to throw at MAÂT, a non-profit organization seeking to educate, train and elevate young mothers, you can be treated to an excellent evening of music, light, video and food at the urban-rustic Auberge le Saint Gabriel (426 St-Gabriel) in Old Montreal. The organization’s flagship project aspires to provide training, daycare and education for mothers in Nicaragua, to be centered on an island called Ometepe in Lago de Nicaragua, Central America’s biggest lake, which incidentally happens to be a place I once visited. The island is actually made of two volcanoes, one still very active and constantly huffing and puffing ominous clouds of smoke, the other dormant. The lake is home to one of the world’s only freshwater shark varieties and the island itself, a gorgeous tropical paradise of tiny villages and coffee plantations, is plagued by poverty and only accessible by a long ferry ride. MAÂT’s fundraiser tonight, called Bengala, features video by Moment Factory artists and tunes by DJs Frigid, Duvall, YO-C and Vivie-Ann.

In other quasi-political partying news, months of red tape are ending this week for two local venues, as Green Room finally gets to reopen with live events as of tonight, while Il Motore, a collaborative venue run by promoters Blue Skies Turn Black and the Sala Rossa people, opens tomorrow night after a delay relating to permit transfers.

Also, as a heads up, on the first day of December, a big jam will go down at SAT to commemorate the anniversary of the untimely passing of a great friend of Montreal’s music scene and disability rights movement, Simon Lortie, who was a tireless and admirable activist, a true nightlife maniac and a connoisseur of good beats. For just an example of his great efforts, even in the last few weeks before he died, he helped raise $120,000 for the Centre de réadaptation Lucie-Bruneau with one of his excellent live hip hop performances as part of a gala fundraiser. I’ll have a few more details on that next week.

Meanwhile, I’m off to Lennoxville Saturday night to DJ a breast cancer fundraiser formal. Just doing my part to support a worthy cause, yes indeed, and if that means hanging out all night with a room full of intelligent, well-dressed young university women, well, that’s just the sacrifice of time and energy I’m going to have to make. I’ve always got my mind—and eyes—on the greater good, don’t you know, and breasts are a natural resource for which I will unerringly crusade.

And finally, in random, noteworthy club details this week, a new night called La Touch opens Friday night at Jupiter Room, featuring Projekt Underdog (Hakim Guelmi and Paul R.) and the Black Hands (Jordan Dare and Mike Mind). Toronto’s AutoÉrotique (formerly VND/LSM) are at Coda that same night, and the Mile High Club kicks back into gear on Saturday night at Zoobizarre, this time exploring Paris.

RATIONALIZE, MAN! RATIONALIZE! jack.oatmon@gmail.com