Montreal

I've been in Montreal for the past 5 days now, living in a town house in Cote des Neiges. My roommate is an Austrian exchange student from just outside Vienna, going to the University of Montreal for business.

I saw Vancouver band Fond of Tigers play Tuesday night at a venue called Casa Del Popolo and they blew me away. Very tight, minimalist composed stuff mixed with free improv and rock. I was much more impressed than when I saw in Vancouver at the Commodore opening for the Grande Mothers (Frank Zappa's former band). Barry Guy and Lori Freedman are each playing at this venue early next week so I plan to check those out and hopefully find out more about Montreal's improvised music scene.

I've checking out a few of the city's jam sessions and meeting some of the kids going to McGill. Monday night was the Upstairs Jam session led by Chet Doxas (possibly filling in for his brother, Jim) where I brought my tenor, and I got a chance to play a very nice smaller scale ES-335 (I think) at Grumpy's wednesday night after the show.

I've also found a job distributing flyers door to door in Laval. It is nice, outdoors type work, good exercise, and satisfactory pay.I'm still getting back into a good practice routine, something that will be essential for things to go well as far as I'm concerned. I also feel good about there being people to play with here. All in all, a successful endeavour so far. I hope I get better at this blog thing.

Music list:

Thelonious Monk - Plays Duke Ellington

Hank Mobley - Soul Station

Sonny Rollins - The Sound of Sonny

John Coltrane - Africa Brass

Miniature - I Can't Put my Finger on It

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Soundgarden - Down on the Upside

Clutch - Blast Tyrant

Alfred Schnittke - Cello Concerto No. 2 and Concert Grosso No. 2

Pierre Boulez - Piano Sonata No 1 and Sonata for flute and piano

Books:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson

L'Etranger (en Francais) par Albert Camus

Samuel Pepys' Diary

David Hume - Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion

Movies:

Lost Highway, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Take the Money and Run, Crimes and Misdemeanours, 8 1/2, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, The Silence, Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men, For Your Consideration, Dead Man, The Godfather Part II, Last Year at Marienbad, Citizen Kane, Clerks, Slapshot