White Night
blackout bender

By JACK OATMON

Droves of wasted students huddled into the hallways of art galleries, insomniac explorations of the often ignored nuances of Montreal’s cultural mosaic and a mean whisky jag can all be yours this Saturday night. The Montreal Highlights Festival’s Nuit Blanche is the city’s sincerest conceptual realization of Bohemia. And thanks to the general abundance of entertainment on the market, prices are highly attractive. In fact, there’s honestly no real reason to pay anything at all for entry to events during Nuit Blanche. In that time-honoured spirit of cheapskate chicanery and budget dilettantism, I have compiled here a selection of excellent, free-of-charge entertainment for this year’s Nuit Blanche.

I for one was repelled by the gargantuan line-up for the Porno Pop party at Cinéma l’Amour (4015 St-Laurent) this fall and have thus never had a proper excuse to check out this reportedly fabulous theatre space. Happily, from midnight to 1 a.m., the smut theatre will be open for gawkers of the non-sleazy sort (or in my case, of the Internet-connection-having sort) to peer in and see not ass and titties, but preserved WW1-era architecture as well as a documentary about the space’s history. Just don’t look too closely at the carpet stains.

ON TILL DAWN: Ghislain Poirier

For those interested in discovering locations to view and engage in tango of the vertical variety, perhaps it would pay off to educate yourselves at Tango Libre (2485 Mont-Royal E.) where free beginner tango lessons will kick off at 10:00 p.m. and 1 a.m. If you’re a rocker rather than a lover, but you still wanna get your boogie on, drop by Jive Studio (3713 St-Laurent) for hourly classes in rockabilly swing dancing.

Meanwhile, Bain Saint Michel will be hosting a night of pan-North American photography, performances, projection exhibits and retro tunes. If you’re looking for trash rather than treasure in your audiovisual exhibits, drop by MVP Bar Sportif (200 Ste-Catherine E.). Local cartoonist Simon LaCroix of stomach-hurting-hilarious Esbark fame will be joined by Pascal Pilote for Total Crap, a showcase of the worst television ever aired. Because even when you go out for fancy-schmancy cultural forays, staying up all night is still all about watching shitty TV.

If you’re looking for a standard huge concert to drop by during the night, take note of the big show at Metropolis. Featuring Vulgaires Machins, Payz Play, numéro#, Ghislain Poirier and more, the show goes till 5 a.m. and doesn’t charge a sweet red penny.

In other advice, if this is your first Nuit Blanche or you never really got into it in years past, it’s worth mentioning the standards. No Nuit Blanche is complete without a stumbling, staggering, hammered romp through the dozens of galleries and studios of the Belgo building (372 Ste-Catherine W.). The MAC (185 Ste-Catherine W.) is also something of a staple, and it’s often worth checking out the various churches downtown for late-night organ demonstrations. In that same vein, vocalists A Contre Voix will be performing for a voluntary contribution at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. at Église Unie St-Jean (110 Ste-Catherine E.).

That should keep you on your toes for the evening. And, seriously, for all you “I never really got into it” people, this is one of the coolest things that goes down in Montreal and it’s a great way to break the late winter blues.

COMPLETING ANOTHER ROTATION AROUND THE SUN… jack.oatmon@gmail.com