The lizard of odd

>> Jingxi's new Mardis Interdits are anything but cold-blooded

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

Remember Lézard? The nightclub on St-Denis, where Jingxi is now? A decade ago, the place was celebrated for successfully mixing a gay/straight crowd and for its lurid and delightfully sleazy Mardis Interdits (Forbidden Tuesdays--the lambada of club nights!), which housed all manner of freakery: fetish shows, drag queens, bodypainting and such.

Local promoter Diego and his collaborators, resident DJ Leo Cruz (anti-mainstream tech-house is his beat) and performer Storm, remember. Clearly enough, in fact, to revive the nights in the same space. "In a different way, though," says Diego. "We're adapting it to today. We're trying to create something that should be going on in Montreal right now, but isn't. Nightlife--dancing and music--combined with something a bit more underground. 'Fetishy' wouldn't be the right word, but something along those lines. It's really in-between, and it's going to change every week."

Firebreathers seem a bit stale in these post-Jim-Rose days? Storm's got an angle: "He's going to be setting himself on fire, like he does all around Montreal." Same deal with the bodypainting: "Not your mainstream bodypainting, the lime green with red flowers. It's a top professional in the city. We'll actually make people look like lizards."

It only gets weirder from there; rumours abound of peep shows, floating heads, even disorienting rearrangements of Jingxi itself. "We're going to change the club around, do things to make it feel like you're in another place."

On a sober note, the night has an altruistic bent. The proceeds are to be directed to an AIDS organization. Beyond that, Diego wants the mixed spirit of the Lézard days retained. "We don't want it to be straight or gay. We want to attract everyone."

Of course, "everyone" might not cotton to every bit of strangeness transpiring therein, so casual is the key. "I don't want to do tacky, spotlight-on-a-stage, stop-the-music shows, just something that's going on. Watch it if you want. Some of them might get a bit vulgar, but not hardcore. I don't want to smack people in the face with it. If you're interested, come and see it. If not, there's the bar with the dancefloor behind it. I don't want to shock people--well, partly, but not in a bad way."

At Jingxi every Tuesday as of April 10, 10pm, $5