#montreal gazette

[unsolicited-opinions]

"This Is What a Zionist Looks Like"

Rabbi Lisa Grushcow writes in the Montreal Gazette:

This past year, I have heard Zionism wrongly defined as anything from supporting the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, to settler colonialism, to wanting to wipe out the Palestinian people. Sadly, this reminds me of when feminists were derided as “Femi-Nazis” and “man-haters.” In response, many of us would proudly say, “This is what a feminist looks like.” I am motivated to do the same for Zionism today.

https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-this-is-what-a-zionist-looks-like

A 2019 article from The New York Times about Rabbi Grushcow

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"MINISTER OF JUSTICE DEFENDS CENSORSHIP," Toronto Star. May 16, 1918. Page 2. --- Says Honest Critics of Government Need Not Fear the Latest Order-in-Council. --- Montreal, Que., May 16. - Mr. John Boyd, historian of Cartier, and former financial editor of The Gazette, whose defence of Quebec against the attacks of Ontario some months ago. won him warm, plaudits from the French-Canadian press, makes public, with the permission of the Minister, a letter he has received from the Hon. C. J. Doherty relative to the censorship which Mr. Boyd thought unnecessarily strict. The Minister of Justice writes that the Government did not think it open to question that articles impugning the motives of those charged with carrying on the war and false statements about them should be suppressed. He continues: "The order-in-Council was adopted. for the sole purpose of providing effective authority and placing in the hands of the Government the necessary instruments for effecting such repression. No doubt the powers conferred for its enforcement are exceptional, but exceptional cases require exceptional remedy. No doubt, also, It is a law susceptible of abuse in its application. If, however, such a law was, in existing conditions, necessary for the safeguard and conservation of unity of purpose on the part of the people of Canada in carrying on the war, somebody must be trusted to administer it. There is nothing in the order that threatens fair and honest criticism of the Canadian Government, its members or its measures. No Government and no public man has any right to complain of or prevent criticism of public administration or public acts. A Government, however, is bound to suppress seditious speeches in time of war. Certainly, the earnest, loyal journalists of Canada have nothing to fear from the order-in-Council nor from its application. Those who may violate its provisions cannot expect to rank with those earnest, loyal journalists and may look for the firm exercise of the powers conferred by it."

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork, 1982; photo by Larry Rossman.

“‘There are two kinds of pain,’ [Tork] was saying yesterday, as he dipped down into the sometimes-murky well of his own experience. ‘One is the pain of growing up. The other is the pain of refusing to do so. ‘To my mind, the first is better because although it’s infinitely more difficult to deal with, at least it changes. It,’ and he paused for the longest of moments, ‘somehow gets better.‘ […] [H]is somehow has meant cleaning up his act, giving up the old standbys of dining and drugging. For another, it has also meant learning to overcome the fear that life straight would somehow turn him into a pallid clone, his days marked by the slow tick of agonizing sameness. Which took not a little amount of courage and a lot of will. ‘Looking back now, I realize I was compulsive,’ he says. ‘And that comes from the lie that you have to do everything yourself. Making it. And you can’t make it without the support system of other people. I think this whole business we’re into now about glorifying the individual l is a temporary historical aberration. That you can’t ask for help, that there is no sense of community. ‘Anyway, at the end of the long road, the chemistry backfired,’ he recalled. It was like being totally aphasic. Conversations which, when I started with drugs, seemed intelligent, articular and enlightening, at the end became disjointed. On the road, I would reward myself for not getting blitzed before a performance by getting blitzed after it. I’d make promises to myself at home and then the minute I got back on the road, the controls came off and I was right back where I started from. When you’re in that condition, issues of will become very fuzzy.’ The solution slowly became less so. ‘I realized I had a choice,’ he said. ‘Either a dull life or no life at all. Amazingly, life straight and sober has turned out to be a delight. Now I’m blitzed on natch.’ […] The future, for what it’s worth, seems to have its own special promise and Tork is beginning to believe much is still possible. This time on the track, at least, he intends on being master of his own controls. ‘I used to ask myself, “Why me?” before,’ he says. ‘Now I’m saying, “What the hell, why not?”’” - The Gazette, May 27, 1982

[montrealmagique]

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/bars-on-the-main-join-pilot-project-to-stay-open-all-night-saturday

[monstrueuses]

Broooo 😭I knoooow mais legit je l'ai juste lu dans La Presse hahaha mais sinon si tu googles Xavier Dolan et que tu vas dans news tu devrais le voir

Lol je le google aujourd'hui et voici ce qui sort en premier:

je pense qu'il voulait dire qu'il veut prendre une pause plus que juste d'arreter le cinema pour de bon!! either way, Anne Dorval pousse un soupir de soulagement (et moi aussi)

[alacants]

i never actually explained my "sincaraz but make it taylor swift love story.mp3" concept but pretend i did. now here's the backstory. (h/t montreal gazette)

[ivettel]

not sure if a post is circulating about this already but if u didn't know, students in montreal--primarily from mcgill and concordia university--have been protesting mcgill's investments in israel for the last several days with an indefinite encampment.

on may 1, superior court justice chantal masse denied an injunction to ban all protests within 100 metres of mcgill buildings, which would have allowed the spvm (service de police de la ville de montréal) to storm and dismantle the encampment. still, mcgill insisted on requesting police presence, and there were cops stationed around the main entrances to campus. (source: my eyes.)

today, may 2, a lot has happened: pro-israel counterprotestors have swarmed the street outside the encampment, and there's a standoff as i type. mcgill admin sent us emails to tell us to stay away from the area for "safety reasons" while the spvm mobilize. quebec premier françois legault inserted himself into the situation and requested that the spvm dismantle the encampment and protests at their discretion.

ironically enough, he said this:

[photo id: white background with black text, an excerpt from citynews. a quote that reads, "i will still let the police decide when and how they do that, but the camps must be dismantled," he said at a press briefing at the national assembly on thursday - even though the quebec superior court rejected the day before a request for an injunction to move the encampment that has been there since saturday. legault said the encampment was "illegal" and that "the law must be respected." end photo id.]

though it's worrying that legault is overstepping the law he so desperately wants upheld, the police presence is more worrying atm. from the looks of it some of the counterprotestors have already dispersed and the street has been somewhat cleared, but the spvm remains all over the area.

mayor valérie plante stated 35 min ago to the montreal gazette:

“The priority of our administration and Montreal police at this moment is to protect the fundamental rights of our society, ensure the safety of everyone, and avoid an escalation of tension as observed in the United States."

mcgill faculty and community members have also expressed how nobody wants what's happening in the states to happen here. i don't really know how to end this. updates keep coming up. will continue to keep an eye out

[rock-and-roll-hell]

July 24, 1977

Love Gun Tour

Pacific Coliseum - Vancouver, British Columbia

According to the promoter: “The cops heard of KIϟϟ’ so-called reputation and they ordered four squads to the show. They played poker all night and billed us $8,000 for overtime” (Montreal Gazette, 8/2/77).

From a local review: “Hype? Not really. KIϟϟ promise nothing less than the greatest spectacle in rock and nothing less is exactly what they provide. From that it is easy for the unaware parent or pundit to mistake KIϟϟ for a threat to our civilized way of life. But understand this, KIϟϟ are not self-pitying, humorless nihilists like the punk rockers. If anything, they are a fantasy for an age that has seen just about everything. Of course they appeal to the escapist stripe. It would be fun to stand seven feet tall, spit fire, deafen everyone within a 1,000 yard radius and make a million bucks doing it” (Vancouver Sun, 7/25/77).

From another local review: “The KIϟϟ concert Sunday night was better than the fireworks display the Sea Festival holds annually. The Coliseum took on all the aspects of kid’s day at the PNE’s Playland with harried parents leading offspring by the hand up into the stands, plopping their plump selves down into the same seats they had at The Ice Capades or The Shriner Circus, and stopping up their ears with cotton… KIϟϟ was perfunctory as you please, well rehearsed, but musically deadening and the sound from the press box was, as usual, muddy except when Ace Frehley took off into one of his solos. Frehley appeared to be bored, or tired, or sick, or drunk, or all four, while batman, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley did their best to whip up a surprisingly complacent audience which eventually succumbed and went nuts when the hits and the gimmickry got into gear” (Georgia Straight, 7/28/77)

[ourshadowstallerthanoursoul]

On this day... - June 7th

On this day Led Zeppelin performed:

+ 1972 : Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

“The members of Led Zeppelin are safely ensconced in their Waldorf-Astoria suite in New York this morning while the city of Montreal faces a severe power shortage as a result of the British group's gig here last night. Zep couldn't have left too much amperage in town after they put on one of the most electric shows Montreal will ever see. And the 12.000 people in the Forum got quite a charge out of it. […] They played for well over two hours — there were no preliminary groups. They are not only the original group of all the heavies, they are still the best. […] Zep has learned to put strategic breaks in between the explosions of sound, a trick that makes their music so much more dynamic than that of their imitators.” – ‘Led Zeppelin: top heavies electrify 12,000 at Forum’ by B. Mann (Gazette)

+ 1977 : Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, USA

“The cheers and fireworks were deafening as Led Zeppelin's sold-out six-concert engagement got off to an explosive start here. […] Zeppelin's main strength is still the skill of its individual musicians. […] Led Zeppelin is bent on becoming one of the world's longest-lived rock groups. However, they conspicuously avoided older material, in even leaving out the classic "Dazed And Confused." Sticking to the current albums will keep Zeppelin fresh with the younger crowd, even at the risk of losing the "grandparents," as Plant humorously referred to us.” – by P. Dumauro

“Some rock bands have fans, others have admirers and still others have followers. But Led Zeppelin is the last great rock band whose minions can be considered true believers. […] Led Zeppelin proved that it was worthy of the adoration bestowed upon it. […] The band has grown with the times. Rather than relying on its earlier style of rock-to-break-your-kneecaps-with once represented by songs like Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin performed a nearly three-hour set notable for its variety, sophistication and depth. […] So while many in the audience enjoyed the show simply because being there conferred status on the high school ladder, Zeppelin pleased its older fans by playing with both complexity and poignance.” – by D. Marsh (Newsday)

“After too many years of lackluster concerts and spotty albums Led Zeppelin landed in Madison Square Garden last night for a concert that saw the band at its roaring, pounding best. The first of six New York performances, last night's show may very well stand as the finest concert the group has ever given in the city - at least until tonight.” – ‘Zeppelin late but great’ by R. Atkinson

[gogandmagog]

I have always been glad that there is something in human nature which makes us feel when we have read a book that we want to tell the author what we think of it. If it were not for this my “literary career” would have been minus much real pleasure and not a little amusement. Ever since the publication of my first book I have received a continuous stream of letters from all over the world. The great majority of these have been kind, appreciative missives from older readers and girlish outpourings of pleasure from the sweet ’teens. But occasionally a letter comes which gives me that choicest gift of the gods of any cult – a good laugh.

One earnest being in tortoise-shell spectacles – he didn’t tell me he wore tortoise-shell frames but I know he did – wrote to me last year, solemnly assuring me that my “habit of marrying my characters off” was calculated to bring contempt upon the holy state of matrimony. I seldom take any notice of “freak” letters, but I did send a reply to this – a flippant one, I fear, asking my mentor if he thought I’d better let my characters live together without marrying. I never got any reply to my question.

— excerpt from “Freaks of an Author’s Mail Bag” by Lucy Maud Montgomery, 1931, as published in the Montreal Gazette

[waugh-bao]

“I met him [Leonard Cohen] once, when I presented an award to him on behalf of PEN. He was such a sweet man. I even have a photograph of myself being kissed by him. One of my most prized possessions.”-Salman Rushdie (Montreal Gazette, 2017)

"Leonard Cohen kissed me. Actually, this may be the most remarkable photograph I’ve ever been in."-Salman Rushdie (2021)

[allthecanadianpolitics]

On Nov. 8, confrontations broke out at the mezzanine of the Hall building between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students. Since the incident, Quebec mainstream media has portrayed Palestinians like animals.  When the confrontation between SPHR and StartUp Nation occurred, rather than send reporters to cover the altercation with on-the-ground reporting, papers like the Montreal Gazette published statements by organizations that weren’t eye-witnesses to the events on campus. While the newspaper updated their original articles since Nov. 8, the damage had already been done. Despite hundreds of students being on the scene of the incident, the Gazette relied on sources such as the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and far-right Honest Reporting Canada (HRC) as primary sources.  Canadian journalists love to boast themselves as impartial, objective and ethical reporters with the highest standards. Yet, when reporting on an ongoing genocide, legacy papers like the Gazette decided to embed tweets from Zionist organizations in their article. We would like to remind our audience that HRC is the same institution that denies the Israeli Defence Force murdered Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh almost two years ago.  By not adequately giving Concordia students proper voices in their coverage, media outlets excluded an essential element of the story. They failed to adhere to the most basic of reporting principles like verifying the identities and backgrounds of their sources and seeking documentation to support their reliability.

Continue Reading.

[victusinveritas]

Thursday's Montreal Gazette cartoon upon the 80th anniversary of D-Day…

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork in Montreal, May 26, 1982; photographed for The Gazette.

“‘There are two kinds of pain,’ [Tork] was saying yesterday, as he dipped down into the sometimes-murky well of his own experience. ‘One is the pain of growing up. The other is the pain of refusing to do so. ‘To my mind, the first is better because although it’s infinitely more difficult to deal with, at least it changes. It,’ and he paused for the longest of moments, ‘somehow gets better.' […] [H]is somehow has meant cleaning up his act, giving up the old standbys of drinking and drugging. For another, it has also meant learning to overcome the fear that life straight would somehow turn him into a pallid clone, his days marked by the slow tick of agonizing sameness. Which took not a little amount of courage and a lot of will. ‘Looking back now, I realize I was compulsive,’ he says. ‘And that comes from the lie that you have to do everything yourself. Making it. And you can’t make it without the support system of other people. I think this whole business we’re into now about glorifying the individual is a temporary historical aberration. That you can’t ask for help, that there is no sense of community. ‘Anyway, at the end of the long road, the chemistry backfired,’ he recalled. ‘It was like being totally aphasic. Conversations which, when I started with drugs, seemed intelligent, articular and enlightening, at the end became disjointed. ‘On the road, I would reward myself for not getting blitzed before a performance by getting blitzed after it. I’d make promises to myself at home and then the minute I got back on the road, the controls came off and I was right back where I started from. When you’re in that condition, issues of will become very fuzzy.’ The solution slowly became less so. ‘I realized I had a choice,’ he said. ‘Either a dull life or no life at all. Amazingly, life straight and sober has turned out to be a delight. Now I’m blitzed on natch.’ [...] ‘Part of me was in the middle of the Monkee thing,’ Tork recalls, ‘and part of me was outside it, isolated from it. The Monkees’ records were for teenyboppers and the instrumentations were deliberately non-threatening. Everybody said the Monkees were a plastic pop group, I guess because we became known through television. But nobody said anything about the creation that was the Mary Tyler Moore or I Love Lucy shows. No TV shows were judged by that standard.’ When it was all over, he went out on his own and, during the 1970s, tried a variety of things which never seemed to work out. Television didn’t want him, publishers were indifferent about a book on the Monkees and he was battling the alcohol and the drugs. Today, that war is over and Tork is hoping to devote all his energies once again to his music. ‘I guess I look for things with a little bounce,’ he says. ‘A lot of what passes for pop music today has no grace. Yes, that’s the word. Like sledge-hammer rock. Or heavy metal music. My ears are softer and I guess I look for tone quality much more. But high-energy jump-rock I do like.’ The future, for what it’s worth, seems to have its own special promise and Tork is beginning to believe much is still possible. This time on the track, at least, he intends on being master of his own controls. ‘I used to ask myself, “Why me?” before,’ he says. ‘Now I’m saying, “What the hell, why not?”’” - article by John Fitzgerald, The Gazette, May 27, 1982 (x)

[oldshowbiz]

1969.

Anne Beatts, one of the original National Lampoon and Saturday Night Live writers, reviewed the Woodstock Festival for the Montreal Gazette.