Quote of the week:

"I'm going to think twice before going back to filming after my pregnancy." - Vanessa Gold, after hearing about fellow Quebec porn actress Lara Roxx's HIV infection, in Tuesday's Journal.

Montrealers mourned

The city is mourning the loss of three high-profile artists who died last week: Mike King, of jazz ensemble Swing Dynamique; Ray Condo (née Tremblay), founder of the Hardrock Goners; and recent Mirror cover boy Harry Mayerovitch, billed at the recent Blue Metropolis literary festival as "Montreal's oldest living hipster."

King took his own life last week. An outstanding guitarist inspired by Django Reinhardt, the gracious King had led Swing Dynamique since its inception in '89 and had released a SD album early last year. A memorial service will be held this Saturday, April 24, at 3 p.m. at St. James United Church.

Condo died of an apparent heart attack in Vancouver. While living in Montreal from 1983 to '94, he established the country's premier roots-rockabilly group the Hardrock Goners. He later founded and led Vancouver's Ricochets. There's a memorial Web site at www.raycondo.ca.

Harry Mayerovitch died in his sleep on Friday, April 16, his 94th birthday. The cartoonist, illustrator, architect and author rose to national prominence with his WWII posters. A memorial service is scheduled for early May. » Patrick Lejtenyi and Rupert Bottenberg

Protection patrol for mountain

If they made a movie about the impact of humans on Mount Royal, it could be called Kill Hill, with top billing on the cast of villains being mountain bikers who carve up paths; squirrel feeders who turn the bushy-tailed bunches into aggressive beggars; and flower-pickers who target rare wildflowers. A local organization is trying to round up a volunteer posse to patrol the mountain and gently school the miscreants.

"They'll walk to them and give them information about the specific environmental challenges of the mountain. Our goal is to sensitize people towards the environmental situation of the mountain, to teach them about the problems it faces," says Joëlle Lapalme, conservation patrol chief at the Smith House mountain centre.

Mountain biking is particularly nasty. "The trails are on hills, so when a bike goes down them they have to do a lot of braking and turning, which causes erosion and destroys plants. Then the paths get deeper and wider and kill the trees around them," she says, noting that bikes are supposed to stay on the Olmstead Trail.

Those who pick the flowers are also murdering the mountain. "Some wildflowers are very fragile and take years before they make their first flower, so when people take 10 of them, it's a big deal, and by the time you get to your car the flowers are already dying and getting ugly," says Lapalme. The group hopes to recruit 15 volunteers to patrol the mountain 12 hours a day all summer. Those interested in stepping up call 843-8240 ext. 234. » Kristian Gravenor

Bingo for sluts!

The ancient and honourable game of bingo is coming out of smoky church basements and into smoky Main watering hole Barfly this Monday, April 26. But instead of little old blue-haired ladies, the contestants will more likely be young drinking aficionados with a naughty sense of humour and a keen appreciation of safe sex.

Put on by local party organizing crew Kill Him… Hide the Body, Slutty Bingo will give away pocket pussies, vibrators and tickets to the upcoming Peaches and the SuicideGirls burlesque shows, all for a good cause. The event, the sixth, always takes place on the last Monday of every month and proceeds always go to a sexuality-based charity in Montreal. This month the recipient will be Les enfants de Béthanie, a hospice for kids with HIV/AIDS.

"Basically, the night is to promote positive sexuality, healthy sexuality, where people can talk about it in an open forum without being shy," says KHHTB's driving force Jessica Whitbread, 23. Sleazy apparel will be de rigueur. "We want people to dress up in any kind of saucy uniform," she says. "Especially schoolgirl or schoolboy. But nurses are always welcome, and we'll be giving away a prize for the shortest kilt."

The prizes are donated by local sex-accessories providers Venez Tels Quels and concert promoters Blue Skies Turn Black and Greenland. Cost is $1 per card. At Barfly (4062A St-Laurent), 9:30 p.m. » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

17 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
April 10–April 30, 1987

On the cover: k.d. lang, whose new album Angel With a Lariat is said by Daniel Sanger to be "sparkling" and "fun-filled" and poised to make her more than just a Canadian phenomenon. Says k.d.: "Penetrating the United States is just like starting over."

• While covering a Raëlian conference, Mimi Re/Tardif confesses she "should have detected something unsettling when all these guys dressed in white started wandering around… like a delegation from Planet Glad."

• "This movie is about parenting, and neither of us is a parent," says Joel Coen, who, with brother Ethan, made Raising Arizona. "But we're not intimately acquainted with murder either, and we made a movie [Blood Simple] about killing people."

• Stanley Whyte takes issue with "The Seventies and Beyond" section of Rock of Ages: The Rolling Stone History of Rock and Roll. Author Ken Tucker "seems to shy away from any sociological or aesthetic questions punk raised about rock and its relation to the audience, for example, and makes some dumb mistakes in the process."

Angel >> Official Louis Riel revisionism Following on the heels of cartoonist Chester Brown and other artists, journalists, playwrights and lawyers, the federal government announced this week that it would review the case of Louis Riel, among several other aboriginal-oriented initiatives. Riel, a Métis, was hanged for treason after the 1885 Northwest Rebellion over land rights. One of the most controversial figures in Canadian history, Riel has never been without supporters: there have been 25 different motions proposed in Parliament seeking to exonerate him and have the charge of treason struck down. Last year, the Supreme Court confirmed that Métis have the same constitutional protection as other First Nations in Canada.
Insect >> Bible-thumping Tories Three God-fearing family-values Ontarians have entered the political ring this week, joining the nouveaux Tories and causing speculation whether U.S.-style Christian-flavoured conservatism is coming to Parliament. The rallying point seems to be Bill C250, a law introduced by Svend Robinson that would outlaw the promotion of hatred against homosexuals (this week, the National Post is carrying full-page anti-C250 ads). The new politicos, from religious activist groups Promise Keepers, the Canada Family Action Coalition and the Christian Legal Fellowship, say the bill would stifle free speech. Canadians, however, tend to like their politics secular and to be wary of one-issue fundamentalists.