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>> A Montreal institution gets airlifted

By RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Everyone's got their favourite Soda moment. After a couple of decades as a prominent spot-on-the-map for fans of live music and comedy, Club Soda has relocated to the corner of St-Laurent and Ste-Catherine, nostalgic baggage intact.

"We did our first big theatrical shows there," recalls Me Mom & Morgentaler's John Jordan, "hanging a huge papier-mache penis pinata filled with condoms over the crowd, dressing the club like Alice in Wonderland or a post-nuclear Montreal overrun by cockroach lawyer mutants."

Jordan also clocked in his hours as a gear-hauling "humper," as did Chris "Tight Pants" Barry, whose recollections highlight the dynamic sociocultural atmosphere of Quebec. Says Barry: "In the early, halcyon days of Club Soda gear-humping, the French and English crews worked together harmoniously, regardless of the act, be it Richard Seguin or the Killer Dwarves. As time went on though, there became two distinct crews. The peppers got the call to do all of the exciting pepper acts like Paul Piche, while those of us whose first language was white got to do all of the exciting English acts like Saga." Vive la difference!

Of course, nobody would have as many Soda memories as co-owner Rubin Fogel, now co-owner of the new Soda with longtime business associate Michel Sabourin. Robert Palmer in '85, all the Billy Bragg nights, Me Mom... "Le Groupe Sanguin did 87 shows, an all-time record," he recalls. "And the Just For Laughs stuff. We did Jay Leno, Steven Wright, Kids in the Hall and Sandra Bernhard the first time they came to Montreal."

While Fogel has plenty of memories, he's confident that the best is yet to come. He waxes nearly parental of the new location's myriad good points: "Location, the sightlines, a full theatrical stage. The old room had something special, but this one is much more state-of-the-art. Technically, we can do so much more." :