Little Burgundy 5ans

Little Burgundy, the shoe store once called Stoneridge for those with a good memory, just celebrated it's fifth year of being the purveyor of trendy brands of footwear and accessories.  The banner held a fiesta in conjunction of the launch of the spring edition of the Little Burgundy magazine.  Grilled cheese sandwiches (which I love!) and chocolate covered raisins were on the menu.  Good times ensued.

The magazine centered around the theme of "under construction"

Alex Hercule builds upon the construction theme

party shot!

 party favours! high five indeed

Satay Brothers

I met Mat Winnicki back in the day when I worked in a retail shop and he worked across the street in a busy cafe/restaurant.  Smiles, nods and have a good days were the amount of exchange with had during the bustle of the lunch rushes.  I think the longest conversation we had was when he came into the shop to wish me luck into the world of freelance during my last days in retail.  We shared a bottle of Pop champagne, exchanged email addresses and said stay in touch.

A food tasting back in 2010, (I hoard pictures)

Over the years sporadic emails were bounced back and forth and delicious food adventures were had. One day an invite to a food tasting chez business savy brother Alex, popped up in my inbox.  The menu was to feature Singaporean street food and I said "hell yeah!" This was my kind of market research.  These tastings would become the building blocks to the Satay Brothers' hawker style counter, which has become very much beloved at the Atwater market during the summers.  I finally went to the winter location a few blocks away to enjoy a meal during a packed lunchtime.

Buns! Buns! Buns! To be filled with pork or tofu

Singapore-styles

Bros before hos, with respect to your mom.  Yup, mother Kim inspired the cuisine and can be seen regularly in the kitchen working her skills alongside her sons.  That's love baby!  Speaking of love-if you want to read an actual review/raves, check them out on their slick site and view some tasty pics while you're at it.

#10ansvaleriedumaine

Last night Montreal designer Valérie Dumaine held a presentation for her fw13 collection and treated the guests with an accompanying retrospective of her past ten years.  Ten years already!? Time flies...

Above is a compilation of stills from the evening's the projected imagery created by experimental filmmaker Karl Lemieux.

Cinq visages pour Camille Brunelle

I was starting to get worried that I didn't enjoy theater anymore.
After leaving two shows semi-recently feeling lukewarm I began to question whether it was me who was not with it.

Then a friend called me up and proposed check out the new play by Guillaume Corbeil.
Ummm...ok! Third time's a charm right?

The play in question was Théàtre Pàp's Cinq visages pour Camille Brunelle directed by Claude Poissant at Espace Go.  I walked in with ZERO knowledge of the play, I didn't look it up, and I just shot a glance at the Vertigo-esque playbill.  The stage was covered in carefully laid out clothing and the backdrop was several large screens waiting for their projected images.  And then it started.

Five attractive people step in front of the stage, they are twenty or thirty-somethings and begin to introduce themselves, in a rapid monotone, grocery lists of likes, dislikes, movies watched, music listened to, personal style, and what they would do if they had 5000$ to blow.

And on it went, with Geodezik's projections of flash photography that (hyper) documented a night out-complete with selfies, clubs, bars, parties and one trendy vernissage.  Each character creating their social media identity from pop culture references, how many people they know and how to outdo the next person.  One of my faves (I'm paraphrasing):

person 1: I saw Funny Games
everyone: Ohhhhh!
person 2: I saw Funny Games (beat) in German
everyone: Ohhhhh!

That's the set-up and it takes several interesting directions that lift it from merely becoming a surface piece.  I'm sure you could guess by now that I loved the play.  As we were leaving I overheard a reaction from another theater-goer expressing that one had to be on Facebook to understand the drive of the piece and that she also did not understand why the actors were not expressing emotions.  While yes, the starting point to this piece lies within social media, but there is also (always?!) a larger picture. I found this person's review dismissive, lacking the awareness that we all participate in -whether or not it is on the internet- the creation and the definition of one's self identity through external signifiers.

That's in my own humble opinion of course.
Are you wondering why I thought the monotone was great?
Feel free to express your interpretation!
The show runs for another three days!
But it's sold out...
(keep your eyes peeled on Théàtre Pàp and hope they'll remount the show)

Corona Theatre

Oh Corona! It's been a while since I set foot in your ancient walls. More precisely, it's been since 2005 when I last saw a live show here and had the pleasure of doing the Time Warp on stage.  While old movie theatres in Montreal are going the way of the dinosaur, it's great to see some venues are still being cared for.

Some images within the space:

Nuit Blanche 2013

Sorry it's been a bit quiet on the blog side, I'll try to make it up with this post from this year's edition of the art-fun-all-night-long of Nuit Blanche!  While we wanted to hit up many of the venues from last year's romp, the flow of the evening took us to other spaces and places and empanadas.  Among the throngs and crowds of parties and hoe downs, many textures caught my eye.  This is what I share with you.

Look up! At the RVCQ's closing party a jam packed sweaty crowd took in the sounds of Artist of the Year.  Suspended above were geometric ice cave shapes that provided atmosphere in at the Cinématèque québécoise.

The backside of a giant Tava cut out at the Milky Way exhibit at ARTVstudio

Looking into the void, Ici a neon installation by Baillat Cardell & Fils

Look up! The ceiling at Place des Arts

Ton Sai, TH

Care to guess what was asked to me the most when I mentioned I was going to Thailand?

"You're gonna go climbing right?"

Ummm, yeah?  How could I not?!  While I haven't exactly climbed regularly in a while, that climbing bug was still nestled within my bones (at least to top rope that is!)  So off to Ton Sai we went.

Upon arrival you could see why many climbers decide to spend months in the area, there are many many many many gorgeous limestone walls/crags within the Tonsai/Railay/Phra Nang beach/bays area, and very accessible by foot.  The above image was taken right from the beach.  Also visible in the above shot is a lookout platform, see that yellow arrow? Yeah right there.  Accessible by one giant bamboo ladder and one sketchy rusted out metal one.  Admission: I'm kind of scared of ladders.  But I'm a sucker for a great photo op, so up I went.

looking down from the platform, stalactites galore

While I was up there and slightly fearful of the platform's stability, Mikel came scampering up like a billy goat-no problem.  We chatted for a bit and I admired his tattoos.  I exclaimed "It's Guernica!" to which he replied- "Yes, I am Basque." Mikel told me he got his piece done during travels in Edinburgh, Germany and Indonesia.  I said the art recalled to mind a French tattoo artist and he completed my sentence saying: "your meat is mine? Yes, I'd like to get a tattoo by him as well."  Small world.

I leave you with images of  the dramatic tide coming in at Ton Sai bay