Fondue fun
for all

Remember the Gong Show? The mid-70s TV show that featured amateur and, on occasion, professional talent acts is being reincarnated for one night only, and for a good cause—Santropol Roulant’s second annual fundraising cabaret. Billed as “Gong Fondue,” the event will showcase between nine and 12 acts, all with the aim of raising much-needed dough for the volunteer organization’s Meals-on-Wheels program. On the bill already are such hot, hot acts as Disco Man, a hustling machine in human form (whatever that is); Dr. Avocado, the city’s only fruit and vegetable surgeon; Little Orphan Annie, who’s come out of retirement for one night only, and music courtesy of former Bran Van Sara Johnston and bossa nova troupe Tremendo. Celebrity catfights are also promised. All acts will be judged by a panel of A-grade names—unless they get “gonged” out of the competition. Seventies attire is de rigeur.

“We got the idea of basing it on the taping of the Gong Show in September, when there were all these trailers outside for the filming of Confessions of a Dangerous Mind [a movie based on the show, directed by George Clooney],” says Santropol Roulant’s events coordinator Tracy Smee. “So we kind of had the film on the brain when we were planning it.”

Emphasis is on fun and fondue. The $50 entry fee covers the entertainment and a bouillon-style fondue meal. The show takes place at la Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Tuesday, December 10. Call 284-9335 for more info. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

Radio McGill
milestone

CKUT listeners will be invited to stroll down memory lane this week as the station celebrates its 15 years at 90.3 FM with special programming triumphing their contribution to the local listening scene. For a week starting today—Thursday, Dec. 5—the station will be spinning tunes from the past and summarizing issues dealt with through to this, their entry into adolescence. Expect analyses of everything from the Oka Crisis to progress reports on the evolution of the favoured do-gooder causes and the odd Public Enemy tune stuck in between. All amount to a reflection of the contributions made by hundreds of volunteers over the era.

“A lot of people have passed through this station in those years, and a lot of exciting, innovative, experimental events and ideas have been promoted and explored,” says sales coordinator Louise Burns. The station boasts 300 volunteers at any given time, running shows devoted to issues spanning from lesbianism to Muslim affairs. The non-commercial focus has allowed diversity to prevail in a most magnificent way, says Burns.

“We focus on the one-to-one connection of neighbourhood and community,” she says. “We’re trying to reach out in an ongoing way and try not to be preoccupied with that popularity contest.” The week’s listening will be crowned at la Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Thursday, Dec. 12, with a star-studded bash featuring local supergroup the Plutonium Nights Arkestra, among many others. And yes, you are invited. : » Kristian Gravenor

Hockey days and
nights in Montreal

The Bell Centre hasn’t seen much in the way of history—life-threatening injuries to Montreal players aside—but the Guinness Book of World Records may mention it in their next edition. That’s because the cavernous arena will be hosting an attempt at the world’s longest hockey game, beginning Sunday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. and ending, if all goes well, 54 hours later, at around 1 a.m. the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 11. The 40 players are all volunteers from the city’s financial sector, and hope to raise $100,000 for the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation and the Montreal Children’s Hospital. The money will be split down the middle.

“Basically it’s a bunch of friends getting together who love the game,” says Jeremy Gould, an associate vice-president at CI Funds, who will be playing forward. And will it be rock ’em, sock ’em old-school hockey? “There’s no rule that says we can’t check, but there won’t be any elbows flying. There won’t be any stupidities. It’s more like a game of pick-up.”

But with full pads, referees, NHL rules, ice-cleaning, mandatory rest periods and medics standing by in case anything untoward might happen. The overall attitude, however, should be friendly. The game should also be open to the public, so anyone who has yet to sit in the money seats next to the ice may have the opportunity of a lifetime. : » Patrick Lejtenyi

Angel >> Le Bon Dieu dans la rue The outreach organization for street kids has added another accomplishment to their already impressive list, this time a second-hand clothes store called Frip à Froc on the corner of Ontario and Champlain. The brainchild of legendary Montreal saint-in-waiting and Dans la rue founder Father Emmett “Pops” Johns and its executive director Toni Cochand, the store is unique for several reasons: its stock is made up of leftover donations, the décor will feature artwork by the kids, and it will serve as a kind of co-op employment centre. The store’s opening coincides with the organization’s annual fund-raising drive, so dig deep. Call 526-5222 for donation info.
Insect >> More institutional death on the Main It’s been a bad year for long-standing merchants on St-Laurent. First, the Pecker brothers’ store closed in early August; the Vieille Boulangerie St-Laurent followed a couple of months later. Now it’s Warshaw, the venerable and eclectic grocery-homeware store, that’s closing its doors for good. Having struggled with declining business for months, the store finally succumbed on Sunday to the creeping demographic change that has forever altered St-Laurent’s character. The 67-year-old store’s owners, the Levy family, say they’ve leased the ground floor to an as-yet-unnamed national retailer.