Jazz enthusiasts and anyone interested in Montreal’s cultural history will be stoked to learn John Gilmore’s definitive history of the local jazz scene, Swinging in Paradise: The Story of Jazz in Mon­treal, first published by Véhicule Press in 1988 but long out-of-print, has recently been reissued. A painstakingly researched effort that took Gilmore seven years to complete, Swinging in Paradise is a riveting look back at a remarkable era in Montreal’s musical history and well worth picking up. The Mirror spoke to the author from his home in Berlin.
Mirror: Was Prohibition indirectly responsible for the birth of Montreal’s jazz scene?
John Gilmore: Montreal had a reputation for good times, tolerance and beautiful women, but what drew musicians here was the incredible amount of work available thanks to all the free-flowing booze. You see, alcohol was being smuggled out of Montreal into the States, and that attracted the Mafia. They corrupted the police and politicians and judges, so the city became wide-open: clubs were open 24 hours a day, prostitution, gamb …

See the full article from “Montreal Mirror”

Jean Guy who cares.separtists can go back to the vatican and celebrate there.the pope has lots of room for peeple like that.viva le canada !au revoir separtists,,,canada is kicking you out and gatineau will be a ghost town for all those Federalists working in Ottawa !
Nick De fronzo Why does quebec say they celebrate fete natioanl? Should it not be fête provinciale?Would this be a good story for you?If you are going with this, let me know when it will air.I’m sure you’ll be able to write a full report on this subject.
NAK To dave d.: shut it please. you sound so bitter and old.
Ella-Max
Well it looks like despite all attempts to make the festival a “booze free” event that many of them managed to turn it once again into a drunken brothel of animals gone wild! I witnessed the most ugliest of their ignorant nature again on full display for another year.

See the full article from “CTV.ca”

Cocaine killer sentenced to life, other charges possible
Kristine Laflamme was emotional at the verdict which saw justice for her deceased friend. (June 23, 2011)
Updated: Thu Jun. 23 2011 9:09:58 PM ctvmontreal.ca
MONTREAL It took just a day of deliberation for a jury to find Claude Larouche guilty of first-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old federal corrections employee Nathasha Cournoyer two years ago.
Larouche – who admitted to killing Cournoyer but blamed it on his over-consumption of cocaine – is also awaiting trial for an attempted murder on a prostitute that occurred less than two weeks after he killed Cournoyer.
And he is a possible suspect in the murder of Sonia Frappier, an escort whose body was found in front of a Chomedy Laval drycleaner in August 2009.

See the full article from “CTV.ca”

Razed and paved over in the name of progress, three communities are remembered in the Centre d’histoire de Montréal’s Lost Neighbourhoods exhibit
PRE-EXPO EYESORE?: A Goose Village backyard Archives de la Ville de Montréal
hough much of Montreal’s historic red-light district was long ago razed to the ground, Robert Petrelli grew up there and remembers the neighbourhood’s charms. He recalls the banter that took place between people hanging out of windows and those passing in the street, and the way the prostitutes, perched at their windows, would run a bobby pin up and down the shutter, creating a zipping sound, to signal they were ready to receive visitors. The now-retired UQÀM urban studies professor even remembers that as a child, he was paid by men on the street to lift the girls’ skirts— just a little—so that the clients could admire their knees.

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Justice Fraser Martin told the jury that if they believe the prosecution’s case that Larouche patiently stalked, then kidnapped, raped and killed Cournoyer, then they must declare him guilty of first degree murder. If they believe the defence’s argument that the woman willingly followed Larouche, who then accidentally killed her while high on cocaine, then he should be found guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter.
The defence refused to comment at the end of the trial, but the prosecution thinks their claim is at best insulting.
“This woman was killed in a horrible manner,” said prosecutor Elianne Perreault. “And to destroy her reputation and the testimony was something else, for the family, the boyfriend, so I thought it was stranger.”
The jury in the trial was not allowed to hear some very incriminating evidence against Larouche. For example, in 2005 he was sentenced to four years in jail for attempting to kidnap an 8 year-old girl.
He also has a previous conviction for sex assault, and two weeks after the Cournoyer was killed, he was once again arrested and charged with the rape of a prostitute.

See the full article from “CTV.ca”

I must confess to having a serious weak spot for Vincent Lannoo’s Vampires, a film that plays out like the Christopher Guest spin on life among the undead. It’s a picture that we wrote about here on Twitch back when it was still in production and one which I had a hand in bringing to screen at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal where it played to a rousing reception. I like this film a lot and find it a slyly funny piss-take on the romanticism of many vampire stories and I could not be happier that IFC is bringing it to US shores with a VOD release beginning July 1.
In the hilarious, satirical VAMPIRES, a documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. They feed on illegal immigrants and former prostitutes (referred to as “meat”) and attend gatherings with other vampires in the same district. Ge …

See the full article from “Twitch”

While the CMHC doesnât keep data on rents in new apartment buildings, tenantsâ groups and developers say most recently constructed projects are charging more than $1,000 a month â simply too much for many renters. Two-bedroom apartments in the Viglione building, for example, start at $1,280. âœIf thereâs a crisis, itâs for affordable housing,â said France Émond, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec.
âœWhat weâre seeing is that people are spending 40 per cent, 50 per cent, or 60 per cent of their income on rent.â
Leslie Bagg, part of the NDG Community Councilâs Housing Committee, agreed:
âœWith July 1 approaching, weâre starting to get calls from people who are getting desperate, especially new arrivals.
âœTheyâre pounding the pavement and they canât find anything they can afford.â
From a 14th floor apartment balcony, Viglione points out the competition. Thereâs the rental building just West of Viau Blvd., constructed in 2002 on the site of a former strip club.

See the full article from “Montreal Gazette”

While the CMHC doesnât keep data on rents in new apartment buildings, tenantsâ groups and developers say most recently constructed projects are charging more than $1,000 a month â simply too much for many renters. Two-bedroom apartments in the Viglione building, for example, start at $1,280. âœIf thereâs a crisis, itâs for affordable housing,â said France Émond, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec.
âœWhat weâre seeing is that people are spending 40 per cent, 50 per cent, or 60 per cent of their income on rent.â
Leslie Bagg, part of the NDG Community Councilâs Housing Committee, agreed:
âœWith July 1 approaching, weâre starting to get calls from people who are getting desperate, especially new arrivals.
âœTheyâre pounding the pavement and they canât find anything they can afford.â
From a 14th floor apartment balcony, Viglione points out the competition. Thereâs the rental building just West of Viau Blvd., constructed in 2002 on the site of a former strip club.

See the full article from “Montreal Gazette”

While the CMHC doesnât keep data on rents in new apartment buildings, tenantsâ groups and developers say most recently constructed projects are charging more than $1,000 a month â simply too much for many renters. Two-bedroom apartments in the Viglione building, for example, start at $1,280. âœIf thereâs a crisis, itâs for affordable housing,â said France Émond, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec.
âœWhat weâre seeing is that people are spending 40 per cent, 50 per cent, or 60 per cent of their income on rent.â
Leslie Bagg, part of the NDG Community Councilâs Housing Committee, agreed:
âœWith July 1 approaching, weâre starting to get calls from people who are getting desperate, especially new arrivals.
âœTheyâre pounding the pavement and they canât find anything they can afford.â
From a 14th floor apartment balcony, Viglione points out the competition. Thereâs the rental building just West of Viau Blvd., constructed in 2002 on the site of a former strip club.

See the full article from “Montreal Gazette”

While the CMHC doesnât keep data on rents in new apartment buildings, tenantsâ groups and developers say most recently constructed projects are charging more than $1,000 a month â simply too much for many renters. Two-bedroom apartments in the Viglione building, for example, start at $1,280. âœIf thereâs a crisis, itâs for affordable housing,â said France Émond, spokesperson for the Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec.
âœWhat weâre seeing is that people are spending 40 per cent, 50 per cent, or 60 per cent of their income on rent.â
Leslie Bagg, part of the NDG Community Councilâs Housing Committee, agreed:
âœWith July 1 approaching, weâre starting to get calls from people who are getting desperate, especially new arrivals.
âœTheyâre pounding the pavement and they canât find anything they can afford.â
From a 14th floor apartment balcony, Viglione points out the competition. Thereâs the rental building just West of Viau Blvd., constructed in 2002 on the site of a former strip club.

See the full article from “Montreal Gazette”