Not many awards show musical performances have knocked me off my seat, but this one certainly did: Radiohead performing 15 Steps from their then-new album In Rainbows at the 2009 Grammys – with the USC Trojan marching band. So original and so, so good!
Archives For memories
Earlier this week I returned from a 3800km cross-Canada road trip. I’d moved to Calgary back in late January but had decided to fetch my stuff in Montreal during the summer. To make it a little bit more interesting (and cheaper), I chose to Uhaul it back DIY-style.
And it was indeed an interesting drive. I figured I’d capture some of that interestingness by snapping photos through the windshield at random intervals along the way.
When I look at the pics in my photo library, they seem kinda boring. But dropping them into an animated gif seems to show off the charm and mix of Canada’s beautiful landscape.
13 years ago today I moved from Calgary to Montreal, and one month ago yesterday I returned. I figured I’d take this moment to reflect on this huge chapter of my life and offer some tips to the many other hopeless romantics drawn to la belle ville. 13 years, wow. It was quite a ride.
As the story goes, it started with a couple trips to Montreal for concerts – first in 1998 and then again in 2001 – as well as a summer roadtrip in 1999 from Toronto where I was interning at the time. Montreal is a charming city by default but it is an extra special place in the summer – and I fell in love with it. The diversity, multiple languages, ever-present festivals, delicious food, gorgeous girls, great music scene, stunning architecture, magnificent street art, history, vibrant street life, and, yes, a certain joie de vivre. It all captivated me and at some point during one of those trips I promised myself that I would spend one full summer of my life there.
This article by Christopher DeWolf was originally published in The Montreal Gazette on May 25, 2003.
“You’re another one!” Nicole Fowler exclaimed when I revealed my Western Canadian roots. “Since I moved to Montreal, I think I’ve met more people from Calgary than I have in the rest of my life.”
Fowler, 33, is part of a new batch of younger people on the move – to Montreal instead of away from it.
Although it may be tepid for now, it is not all that surprising a trend. My own life in Calgary was populated by people from Montreal. My dad lived here for almost a decade before leaving in the late ’70s. Our across-the-street neighbours in Calgary were ex-pat NDGers and my best friend’s mother was Hong Kong-born and Hampstead-raised. Friends came from Montreal when Canadian Pacific jumped ship and relocated to the prairie town it built a century before. My mom’s boss was from Outremont.
Fed up with language politics and a stagnant economy during the 1980s and ’90s, thousands of people scurried down the 401 or schlepped themselves west to Calgary or Vancouver.
But, slowly, people are moving here. Between 1996 and 2001, the pre-merger city actually gained 23,158 people (including those from beyond Canada’s borders) its first significant increase for at least 10 years. And, according to recently released data from Statistics Canada, 365 more Canadians from other provinces moved to Quebec between October and December 2002 than moved away – the first net gain in three decades.
***
Before moving from Calgary to Montreal last year, the path appeared well-worn. It seemed everyone I encountered had a brother or six friends or an old roommate who had moved to Montreal. The trend was evident upon arrival, too; a quick survey of people I’ve met reveals a lot of eastward pioneers who are bucking the trends established late in the last century.
In fact, there are a lot of new people in Montreal who come from a variety of Canadian cities, even big, booming Toronto. What makes this somewhat perplexing is that, according to the National Post, the Calgary-Edmonton corridor is the second-wealthiest region in the world. Cities like Toronto and Vancouver certainly aren’t hurting when it comes to job prospects.
So why come here?
Here’s an old clip I recently dug up. It’s of my appearance on CBC’s The National with Peter Mansbridge on December 15, 2004. I’d submitted a story idea for their popular Road Stories series and – surprise! – they jumped on it. Despite my obvious nervousness in the setup with Mansbridge, I really like how the piece presented Montreal at that time and how it positioned Maisonneuve as a champion of that cultural shift in the city from old political doldrums to young creative vibrancy.
I remember catching this video occasionally on MuchMusic back in ’94 when it came out (and when Much still played music videos). Loved it! Great track. And 20 years on, it’s aged quite well I think.
What surprises me though is how obscure it was then and still is now. How did such a good song not break out – even as a one-hit wonder? Where did The Troubleneck Brothers disappear to? And why – so many years after its release – is there still only a grainy, out-of-sync TV capture (with only 6-digit views since 2007!) of their excellently nostalgic video for Back to the Hip Hop on YouTube?
Anyways, always worth a re-listen.
A couple weeks ago I caught the Fujiya & Miyagi show at La Vitrola. Four or five years ago I licensed a couple of their tracks for background on the overview videos for Cinemin Swivel and Slice, (just a warm-up for their “Uh” appearance soon after in Breaking Bad) and have loosely kept in touch since. Great musicians, great guys! I chatted with David and Matt after the show and, despite being a fan, I left without asking for a group photo. Partly I forgot, but partly I’m just not into the starstruck fan thing. But a memento would have been nice – oh well.
Likewise, a few weeks ago I hosted a casual patio happy hour with some old colleagues from my time several years ago at Airborne Entertainment/Mobile (loved that team!). It was a smaller group than years past but it was nonetheless a nice visit. Alas, none of us remembered to take a picture.
Then yesterday at Montreal ComicCon I was within a few metres of Hulk Hogan. I’m not really a fan, and they were discouraging renegade snapshots, but I suppose I should have captured proof of my proximity. Right? That’s the internet thing to do, yeah?
Anyways, these “incidents” reminded me of how bad I can be at the whole “pic or it didn’t happen” game.