Tonight (March 31) is the annual Expozine Alternative Press Awards Gala at Le Divan Orange, 4234 St. Laurent. Copies of about 30 of the best publications from the 300 publishers who took part in Expozine 2009 will be on sale at the free event, which also features some readings by nominees, MC Alexis O’Hara and will be capped off with a performance by the unique funk philosopher/ one-man-band Tony Ezzy. A new mini-CD by Tony Ezzy will also be available in the Distroboto machine at Divan Orange.
Then, from April 9 - 16 I will be in France for a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Fanzinothèque in Poitiers. I will be presenting a bit of all the things I do: the old Fish Piss magazine (still on hiatus), the Distroboto and Expozine projects and a large selection of zines from Québec from the 60s to today, drawn from the archives of Archive Montreal.
In the meantime, March 31 marks the closing of the nearly 100 year old Montreal Poolroom hot dog restaurant, the oldest operating restaurant in Montreal (and possibly Canada?), shut down by the city for a “revitalization” of the block it sits on that has since fallen apart. I was interviewed on this matter in last Sunday’s Montreal Gazette, the article can be found here. Watch for more updates on the botched “revitalization” of this historic quarter on my blog in the months to come.
You can also find out more about this situation on the website of the Save the Main Coalition. There will also be an evening of ideas and presentations about the future of this district in May, details available here.