It's time for Monopoly! by MIREILLE SILCOTT Right. Long weekend here we come. Bal en Blanc here we come. Let's hope no one includes any live birds in their sketch this year. If you were at the Bal in '96, you know what I mean. House of Pigeon Strangler or whatever they called themselves, dressed in what looked like Tendex bandage, chalk and toilet paper (Hey! It's white!), doing interpretive dance (couldn't be whiter!) and freeing a bunch of doves as a "climax" to their routine. A couple of which lost their poor little crapping lives (burned in the lights, I think) at the altar of vogue. Oh dear. Anyway, this year's Bal setup is anything but birdly (ho, ho). House of Pride, no strangers to going a bit over-the-top Baroque themselves (two words: house opera) perform, and Mongoloid Junior Sanchez is coming in with Club 69 trash king Peter Rauhoffer and airmiler Roger Sanchez. The Bal en Blanc has come into its own. In past years it always seemed like a bunch of not-necessarily gay-friendly straight guys trying to throw a fag party. But this year, because 514 and Rhythm Is Rhythm have teamed up with Playground productions, there are some queens in the promotion house. Never mind that the two megaclubs in this city coming together smells like a monopoly and will inevitably contribute to the increasingly pathetic homogeneity (everybody say Cream!) of our club scene in general. Never mind healthy competition. Think about it: Playground and Sona are doing a party TOGETHER all weekend and sharing the profits. Where does that leave the free-to-choose consumer? But given that the two camps almost killed each other (that's more like it--make war, not love) in meetings, I suppose it won't happen again. Unless they make a freaking fortune on Sunday. Mado hosts, best costumes win $1500. At CEPSUM (2100 Blvd. Édouard-Montpetit). $30 at the door. Info: 94-STORM. >>> News you need! Drag heroine Chi Chi LaRue is in for Divers/Cité's Resurrection party at Metropolis on Saturday. Sylvain Girard spins. $25 door * Sona and Mixmag present "Oh my God, he's like the best DJ I've ever heard" Mark Farina the same night. Don't miss. $20 door, $15 with Bal ticket * Junior Vasquez will be bringing the universe that is him to Sona for the St-Jean-Baptiste weekend as a promo for the film Hang the DJ. Prepare for lots of NRG nightmare house * The library that was looking at the Sona space is not taking it. Which may mean that Sona does not in fact move * And finally, have a great weekend. Don't go dropping your poppers, now! Copyright Liberation Front returns next week. But first I need some tapes that are not a) vomity R&B that I can't kindly review for the sole reason that I hate R&B. Sorry b) demos of arty synth rock which are not DJ MIXES to start with c) efforts taped over violin lessons which are still audible underneath (really). Read this carefully. If your mixed tape is not remotely like any of the above, send it to 3 am Eternal c/o the Mirror, 400 McGill, H2Y 2G1.