Photographic evidence coming up.
The two of them arrived in Montreal in the early evening of Saturday but I was at a friends place having dinner (hot pot!) so I left his place aroun 8h30 to meet them downtown as they were catching up on emails and miscellaneous internet musings.
Soon after arriving we left to have a drink at a bar next door they spotted as being visually interesting: The Go-Go Lounge. No question that the place is interesting visually stunning with bright red chairs, hand-shaped chairs, wall lighting, kitsch artwork etc, but honestly, not my favorite place. Fortunatly, we were there early enough to not have to deal with the usual people that go there. We left after a pint to go to a place Toby seemed excited about going: Casa del Popolo.
If you read my Montreal article you would know that the place is owned by Mauro and his wife, of the Godspeed You Black Emperor fame. The place is a Vegetarian food/coffee shop/bar/venue and that night, Tam and the Vampire and Crackpot was playing. So we hung out for a bit, chugged a couple of pints, Toby especially enjoying the St-Ambroise Abricot, to the point of insisting in buying a six-pack to bring home. Tam and the Vampire sucked so bad that we decided to leave before the end of their set and came back to my place.
My apartment is really small so it was cozy to say the least. We hung out for a while, Toby even fiddling around with my bass before everybody went to sleep.
On sunday, I made them eat infamous Montreal bagels and then we left for the old Montreal to walk around. We ate some maple taffee on snow, something like that:
It was very cold out so soon after we went to La Banquise at the request of Mia who especially wanted to eat Poutine. La Banquise has like 50 types of poutine. I got the Kamikaze (merguez, hot peppers, tabasco) and Mia went for the Elvis (ground beef, mushrooms, bell peppers) while Toby Chickened out and got an omelette.
We then walked a bit on St-Denis (hip part of town), they got some ice apple cider (same procedure as icewine but with apples) and some rasberry-blueberry liqueur. Then went back to the apartment to chill a bit before the show.
We then proceeded to the Divan Orange, its a cooperative restaurant/bar/venue that is actually great space. They got some dinner, I am not sure what they got, I can't remember, and I got some asparagus-parsle soup.
The opening band was Dead Bush and they decided to pull all the stops for this gig. They are a improvisation trio that plays somewhat of a very musical noise/drone and they showed up with three guests (one of their members is away) so they added more noise, a guitar and a sax to the madness. They killed, as per usual, but were really short (15-20 minutes at the most).
Then Toby and Mia took the stage and were totally awesome. The piece they played was an exercise in restraint and beauty, sadness and hope. Great playing and it impressed a few people. Many of the people that came to see Dead Bush passed some very complimentary things. The guys from Dead Bush were impressed as well. Hopefully a few new fans were done.
Not the biggest crowd ever but 28 paying was pretty good, especially since I had fears of like 5 peoples showing up because it was a Sunday.
They were supposed to go to Mont Royal this morning but I left them sleeping this morning.
Hopefully the drive back went well.
The two of them arrived in Montreal in the early evening of Saturday but I was at a friends place having dinner (hot pot!) so I left his place aroun 8h30 to meet them downtown as they were catching up on emails and miscellaneous internet musings.
Soon after arriving we left to have a drink at a bar next door they spotted as being visually interesting: The Go-Go Lounge. No question that the place is interesting visually stunning with bright red chairs, hand-shaped chairs, wall lighting, kitsch artwork etc, but honestly, not my favorite place. Fortunatly, we were there early enough to not have to deal with the usual people that go there. We left after a pint to go to a place Toby seemed excited about going: Casa del Popolo.
If you read my Montreal article you would know that the place is owned by Mauro and his wife, of the Godspeed You Black Emperor fame. The place is a Vegetarian food/coffee shop/bar/venue and that night, Tam and the Vampire and Crackpot was playing. So we hung out for a bit, chugged a couple of pints, Toby especially enjoying the St-Ambroise Abricot, to the point of insisting in buying a six-pack to bring home. Tam and the Vampire sucked so bad that we decided to leave before the end of their set and came back to my place.
My apartment is really small so it was cozy to say the least. We hung out for a while, Toby even fiddling around with my bass before everybody went to sleep.
On sunday, I made them eat infamous Montreal bagels and then we left for the old Montreal to walk around. We ate some maple taffee on snow, something like that:
It was very cold out so soon after we went to La Banquise at the request of Mia who especially wanted to eat Poutine. La Banquise has like 50 types of poutine. I got the Kamikaze (merguez, hot peppers, tabasco) and Mia went for the Elvis (ground beef, mushrooms, bell peppers) while Toby Chickened out and got an omelette.
We then walked a bit on St-Denis (hip part of town), they got some ice apple cider (same procedure as icewine but with apples) and some rasberry-blueberry liqueur. Then went back to the apartment to chill a bit before the show.
We then proceeded to the Divan Orange, its a cooperative restaurant/bar/venue that is actually great space. They got some dinner, I am not sure what they got, I can't remember, and I got some asparagus-parsle soup.
The opening band was Dead Bush and they decided to pull all the stops for this gig. They are a improvisation trio that plays somewhat of a very musical noise/drone and they showed up with three guests (one of their members is away) so they added more noise, a guitar and a sax to the madness. They killed, as per usual, but were really short (15-20 minutes at the most).
Then Toby and Mia took the stage and were totally awesome. The piece they played was an exercise in restraint and beauty, sadness and hope. Great playing and it impressed a few people. Many of the people that came to see Dead Bush passed some very complimentary things. The guys from Dead Bush were impressed as well. Hopefully a few new fans were done.
Not the biggest crowd ever but 28 paying was pretty good, especially since I had fears of like 5 peoples showing up because it was a Sunday.
They were supposed to go to Mont Royal this morning but I left them sleeping this morning.
Hopefully the drive back went well.
