Renewedtown

>> Villeneuve's club heats up Crescent

by KRISTA

Montreal-born champion race-car driver Jacques Villeneuve has gone to great lengths to build himself and this city a fancy new club we can be proud to entertain in. Not an easy task when one locates one's business across from Winnie's. I'm talking, of course, about the new boîte Newtown (are we seeing where the name comes from, here?), located on the southwest corner of Crescent and de Maisonneuve. Despite the obvious name game, the Newtown tag is fitting because it really is its own little town, with three floors offering up three different sounds to groove to and a fourth floor housing a four-star restaurant.

"You'd be surprised," says manager Eric Lapointe, "but Crescent has turned out to be the opposite of everything I had thought it would be. And the difference is that, on this strip, people actually go out to party instead of watch each other strut around."

Formerly the manager at Plateau-area club Jingxi, Lapointe made the move over to Newtown when it first opened back in June and handles all the music/DJ bookings for Newtown's three levels of clubbing.

"Jacques is actually very concerned with the musical direction of the club," says Lapointe. "He knows what he likes, and he also wants to keep a certain French touch. He plans to spend a lot of time there when he's in town." And so every night booked at the club has to be "Villeneuve-approved."

Here's a look at the weekly line-up:

Thursdays kick off with a raging cinq-à-sept in the lounge (first floor) of the club. DJ Jester sets the tempo to which hundreds of young urban professionals toss back cocktails and get their groove on. Ladies on the prowl take note: we're talking advertising execs, stockbrokers and businessmen.

Later that same night, some of the best deep and pumping house DJs in the city take the helm in the club downstairs for Mondo House. "It's a night conceived for Villeneuve," says Lapointe. "He's very interested in promoting local talent, and he wants to create that 'Euro-party-champagne-for-everyone' vibe as well." Christian Pronovost, Bruno Brown, Alain Vinet and Loco Fern all take turns manning the wheels while your host Raphael and his Nubian princesses interpret cultures from around the world.

Friday nights are about to get a little more interesting as NYC/Jersey's legendary house and disco legend Kenny Carpenter is set to take over as weekly resident. The night will be called Thank God It's Friday (like the film from the late '70s), as Villeneuve is also a big fan of classics and required that one night during the weekend be devoted to disco and old school.

So far the biggest night at Newtown is Saturday, but then, Saturday is every bar's biggest night. Needless to say, it may be a little less underground-friendly, but the vibe is still alive and DJ Simon Perrault and his mad percussionist partner Dr. Drum help to maintain it.

Finally, Lapointe is hoping to turn Sundays at Newtown into a Montreal institution. The new Go nights feature Aria resident DJs Luc Raymond and Nic B plus guests when possible. The theme of the night? Well, Go seems pretty self-explanatory: tomorrow's Monday, might as well get as much fun in as you can.