montreal turns up the heat

I almost fell off my chair laughing yesterday when I read about Montreal’s ‘heat and humidity warning‘. Sure, it is hot right now. 33 degrees celcius, to be exact. And with relative humidity, the temperature feels more like 42 degrees. But a warning? Really? This is nothing compared to many summer days back home in Australia (which have, in recent years reach well above 45 degrees with humidity on top of that!). Well, I guess it’s just what you’re used to, right?

So yep, summer has arrived. I’m loving it. To the extreme.This is probably the main reason I’ve been fairly quiet on my blog recently (aside from sharing stories from the G20 chaos). There’s just too much fun stuff happening on the streets of Montreal and beyond.

Anyway, here’s an attempt to bring you up-to-date on my latest adventures in Montreal…Well, a small snapshot of some of the more fun things at least :

Fringe Festival Montreal

This was my first experience with a “fringe festival” – an international arts movement that evolved in Scotland in 1947 as a reaction to the first Edinburgh International Festival. The Montreal Fringe has been around since 1991 and is built around principles of audience accessibility (cheap tickets), a lottery selection process, artist accessibility (anyone can apply to lottery), and a ‘no censorship’ policy. 100% of ticket sales go to the artists.

While it was difficult to choose between the hundreds of shows, I enjoyed the unpredictability of turning up to a (fairly) randomly picked show.

I made it to Una Aya Osato’s one-woman show, which focused on a group of seven-year-olds and took the audience into the hearts and minds of children navigating their way through the NYC public school system. Brilliant and shocking all at the same time.

The other show I saw was Rob Gee’s Fruit Cake, Ten Commandments from the Psych Ward. Another one-person show, Rob Gee’s hilarious show revolved around storytelling – stories about his time spent working as a nurse on a psych ward, shedding interesting light on mental health education and ideas of ‘normality’.

I also spent some time at the ‘Fringe Tent’ where several bands and singer-song writers shared their music (free) to the public.

Les Francofolie de Montreal

To put this music festival into perspective, consider the following facts: 1,000 artists, 13 countries, over 250 shows, 180 free outdoor performances, seven outdoor stages, two weeks.

In two words: utterly phenomenal.

A culture where the arts is valued so strongly. It does exist!

It was so exciting to wander around downtown amongst such a diverse crowd listening to quality music for free!

One thing you’ll often hear people talking about in Montreal is the notion of the city having a ‘living’ culture, rather than a ‘working’ culture. (Rarely are you asked ‘what do you do for a living’). For me, this festival experience kinda sums that concept up in a nutshell.

Montreal Jazz Festival

Of course, the jazz fest has even better stats than the francofolie festival: 3,000 artists from 30 countries, over 650 concerts, 450 free outdoor performances, 2.5 million festivalgoers, 10 free outdoor stages, 10 concert halls…

impressive, yeah? I’m constantly blown away by the accessibility of music in this city.

Aside from attending a full week of free gigs each evening (not much sleep for me at the moment!), I decided to splurge on a paid gig (many were over $70 bucks each). It was a toss-up between Herbie Hancock or John Zorn, Lou Reed + Laurie Andersen… In the end, my heart was won over by Herbie.

At the age of seventy, Herbie is still playing brilliantly and has just released a new album. He even brought out his Key-tar!

I have to admit to being a little bewildered at the festival programming though. So many of the gigs I saw didn’t come anywhere near to fitting into the celebrated genre, regardless of how broad you actually define jazz. That said, I saw some great performances of contemporary jazz at L’Astral.

World Cup Soccer

While I’m not a huge soccer fan, I have been following the world cup fairly closely. It’s been the perfect excuse to hang out in the terrace at Club Social or Cafe Olympico two of my favourite cafes in the Plateau district of Montreal. And with a big screen television, a good-sized crowd and a killer iced late, what better way to spend a hot summer’s day.

Greeeeen spaces

I’m loving the green spaces in Montreal. There is a huge network of parks throughout the city. Aside from hanging out under a tree reading a book, dancing to the tamtams at Mont Royal, or picnicking with friends, I’m also able to swim for free in some of the park’s community swimming pools.

So, uh, there’s a small snippet of my latest shenanigans… more about my trip to New York City, New Hampshire, and other adventures in due course.

Right now, I’m off to water my mini vegetable garden (which is kicking-ass!) and soak up the last of the daylight on the balcony with some iced-tea and a good book! I don’t want this summer to end!