Wajsman
bids for Gaz?!

The whole sorry story surrounding the collapse of the CanWest empire might get a bit weirder when Beryl Wajsman and his friends are through. Wajsman, the editor in chief of both West End English weekly The Suburban and the more polemic bilingual monthly The Métropolitain (whose Jan. 7 headline reads, “Copenhagen: The Big Lie?!”), along with retired senator Jerry Grafstein and media consultant Raymond Heard, is interested in submitting a bid for pieces of the CanWest corpse, in particular the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen and our very own Gazette.

According to Bloomberg.com, the three are backed by investors “with very strong financial support,” though the trio would not name them. They plan on submitting an application to review CanWest’s finances, considered to be the first step in making an official bid, although an Ontario court ruling last week said it would only consider bids for all or “substantially all” of CanWest’s newspaper unit.

Already considered a rightward leaning paper as far as Israel is concerned, The Gazette may verge into truly bizarre territory if Wajsman winds up part owner. The vocal and passionate supporter of Israel did not return an interview request by press time.

New home
for hot dogs

While the iconic Montreal Pool Room prepares to vacate the premises they’ve occupied since 1912 sometime next month for a new hot dog emporium across the street at 1217 St-Laurent, Mayor Tremblay’s plan to develop the block of the Main between Ste-Catherine and René-Lévesque is gradually shaping up to be the disaster those who initially studied the project predicted it would become.

“We’ve no choice but to move,” says the Pool Room’s Denis Hadjiev. “It’s only us and Café Cleo left now, so what are we supposed to do, just wait here until they decide to demolish us?”

The plan to annihilate the historic red light district for two new office towers has been controversial from its inception, but recent revelations surrounding the criminal past of Christian Yaccarini, Tremblay’s alleged friend who acquired the no-bid contract to develop the block, along with Café Cleopatra’s strong legal challenge to their building’s expropriation, has left the project in something approximating temporary limbo. Yet while the uncertainty that’s surrounded the development from day one has caused Hadjiev and his neighbours no shortage of anxiety, he says at this point he’s actually almost hoping the plan does come to fruition.

“Right now our block is nothing but abandoned buildings, and there’s nothing good about that.”

Rad night out

The kick-off fundraiser to the second Radical Queer Semaine happens this Saturday, Jan. 23 with a Radical Queer Soirée—to be held in a church basement no less.

Running March 5–14, the Semaine puts on a week of events surrounding gender and sexuality, with workshops, performances and a dance party.

Organizing member Jordan Arseneault says this year’s themes will explore the trend of criminalizing HIV through non-disclosure of status, as well as the creation of spaces for queers, in particular for trans and Native folk.

The money raised at Radical Queer Soirée goes towards the running of the grassroots-organized week, where the budget is mostly eaten up by the pricey rental of safe spaces.

“The pay-what-you-can model encourages people that are poor, on EI, unemployed or whatever to still show up and pay whatever you have. It’s really kind of pragmatic. I mean, if you’re gonna go out and dance, have a couple of drinks, it might as well be benefiting the community you’re in,” says Arseneault.

The Soirée will feature performances by Arseneault, Daniel Barrow, Douche la Douche, Johnny Forever, Dirty Housewives. Pay what you can, $10 suggested at the St-Pierre-Apôtre church (1323 René-Lévesque E.). Doors at 9 p.m.

Good clean biz

Dr. John Francis calls himself the Planetwalker. A sensitive type, the horror of a 1971 oil spill in California was enough to make Francis renounce motorized transportation—and talking—for two decades. That’s all behind him now, and the good doctor will be taking the train up to Montreal to gab as keynote speaker of the Desautels Business Conference on Sustainability, which takes place next Thursday, Jan. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 30.

This is the seventh annual student-run conference on sustainable business at McGill’s faculty of management. “We have people talking about corporate responsibility, green architecture and green-branding in a way that isn’t green-washing,” says co-chair Jamie Edelsberg.

Delegates from seven universities will participate in interactive talks and chow on low-impact veggie catering. As second keynote speaker, former escape artist Scott Hammell will offer tips on green entrepreneurship.

Though all are invited to attend the conference, it is specifically aimed at business students, who Edelsberg and her committee believe must form the centre of a green paradigm shift. “[Sustainability] is not something that’s addressed in business school; most management faculties are still primarily profit-driven,” she explains.

For more info: mcgilldbcs.com. 

Rear-view mirror

11 YEARS AGO - JAN. 14–21, 1999

On the cover: Darth Vader on the crapper, as David Prowse appears at Empirecon. Generally, at conventions, “You get people who just come up and stand in front of you with mouths hanging open [and] say, ‘Do you realize it’s 20 years I’ve been waiting to see you?”’ says Prowse.

• Speaking about drugs, Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme says, “Having your head in the clouds can be good. The entry into the cloud, being in the cloud and then the exit from the cloud are all processes that you can get a lot out of.”

• Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time is given a 6/10.

• Sex Survey questions: “If you are a straight guy who whistles at women, why do you do this and what the fuck do you expect to accomplish?” “What is your most diabolical scheme in catching a cheating partner?” “When someone is performing cunnilingus/fellatio on you and it’s not doing a thing, what do you do?”

• Under the logo: “Popular with heavy breathers”

Angel >>Kate McGarrigle The Montreal folk singer and half of the McGarrigle sisters passed away after a long fight with sarcoma this week, age 63. It’s a deep loss. Aside from her world-renowned talent, her critically acclaimed albums, her marriage to fellow folkie Loudon Wainwright III which produced their progeny Rufus and Martha, McGarrigle was a true Montrealer. Wry and smart, folky but not in an annoying way, the sisters’ music crossed linguistic and cultural boundaries without veering into hokey or corny territory. Indeed, their sound—lo-fi at its most sophisticated—still defines much of the best Montreal music today. The Kate McGarrigle Fund accepts donations at muhcfoundation.com.


Insect >>The National Post’s Lawrence Solomon No stranger to this space, the National Post outdid itself last week when columnist Lawrence Solomon stretched credibility with his latest bone-headed, paranoid assertion. According to Solomon, Google is censoring—his word—all news related to Climategate, and directing users who search the term to sites that (correctly) downplay the pseudo-scandal unleashed by the illegally hacked, contextually orphaned e-mails. He is now a Bing user, he absurdly boasts. While it’s always wise to keep an eye on Google, Solomon’s grasp of search engine algorithms is as shaky as his grasp on climate science: The Deniers, his series run by the Post, puffed up a minority of rogue scientists who dispute the reality of global warming. And this clown is supposed to be a science writer.