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Bergeron wants new Montreal Tramway
If Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron has his way Montreal will be the proud owner of a new tramway by 2017. Bergeron wants a 37.5 kilometer tramway system, which would run down St. Laurent and Rene Levesque, to help stop the surge of young families moving out of Montreal and in to suburbs. A problem he says Montreal can’t ignore. Bergeron says that cheap reliable public transportation would help young families a lot.
While some might balk at the $1.5 billion price tag attached, Bergeron reminds Montrealers that when you talk about public transit, you’re talking big bucks. It cost $743 million to extend the metro to Laval and $3 billion is being invested in the Turcot exchange.
The decision would not be entirely Montreal’s, city councilor Marvin Rotrand remarked that it is the provincial government that funds public transit infrastructure, not city administration.
If the project were to be completed by the desired 2017 construction would have to start next year. This year’s budget contained funding for research but no construction.
May 20th, 2011
News read by Jessica MacDonald and produced by Erica Bridgeman
Stories written by Aisha Samu, Samah Fadil and Jessica MacDonald
Strauss-Kahn granted bail
Dominique Strauss-Kahan has been granted bail. The former head of the International Money Fund was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.
The judged announced on Thursday that Strauss-Kahn can be released on one million dollar bail. He also has to be placed under 24 hour home detention with electronic monitoring.
He released a letter on Wednesday denying all the charges. He also announced his resignation at the head of IMF.
Strauss-Kahn allegedly attempted to rape a maid at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan. The maid also claims she was sexually abused. He was denied bail on Monday, and spent three nights at the notorious Rikers Island jail in New York. If convinted, Strauss-Kahn could face up to 25 years in jail.
Supreme Court to hear case of a man killed by tree in Westmount
The Supreme Court of Canada has decided to hear an appeal by the City of Westmount involving an accidental death. In two thousand and six, Gabriel Rossy was killed by a falling tree while in his car. The coroner concluded that the death was preventable since the one hundred year old poplar tree was ninety percent rotten.
The Quebec Superior Court first ruled that the no-fault insurance board, the SAAQ, was responsible for the death. However, ruling that the car was not a factor in the death, the Quebec Court of Appeals overturned the decision. Rossy’s family then decided to target their lawsuit towards the City of Westmount for one point three million dollars.
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case could have repercussions in the future for the province.
Hooked on Sonics Supersizes Itself!
Hugo from Pouzza Fest/the Sainte-Catherines will be calling to chat about the weekend of punk rock, Sway from Freedom or Death will be dropping by to perform acoustically, AND we've got some NXNE Wristbands to giveaway!
Thurs 6-8pm ET only on CJLO!
Conservative cabinet shuffle
Prime Minister Stephen Harper will announce his new cabinet at a Rideau Hall ceremony Wednesday morning. According to government officials, Canadians should expect to see more of the same. Officials say that while there might be a few surprises, Harper's cabinet shuffle is unlikely to introduce new faces.
Jim Flaherty will continue as Canada's finance minister, a position he has held for five years. In Quebec, Harper is expected to reappoint Maxime Bernier to cabinet and elevate Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis and minister of state Denis Lebel.
Meanwhile, the New Democrats are expected to announce the party's shadow cabinet as early as next Wednesday.
Metal robbery in Varennes
Varennes police officers reported on Monday that masked and armed thieves staged an early morning robbery.
They stole one point five tonnes of molybdenum from a warehouse in the city which is to the northeast of Montreal. Police valued the stolen metal to be worth five hundred thousand dollars.
The robbers broke into the building at approximately two in the morning. They used heavy machinery to remove the metal which was in the form of four-inch square blocks. It took two hours to remove the metal with tractors and semi-trailers.
The theft was discovered at seven a.m. when the day shift arrived at the plant.
Bixi Battle
Attempts to force release of details pertaining to the Bixi financing plan were blocked for the third time Monday afternoon. Anie Samson of Vision Montreal placed three separate resolutions before the municipal council to gather information about the Bixi financing, all of which ultimately failed.
All three resolutions were denied the unanimous consent needed by Marvin Rotrand of Union Montreal.
Samson’s first resolution would have forced details on the Bixi financing plan to be released. Her second would have sent the Bixi plan to a special city committee that handles contracts over $10 million. Her third would have brought representatives of Public Bike System Co. the operator of the Bixi bikes, before the council for questioning. None of them succeeded.
The Bixi plan includes a $37 million loan from the city of Montreal. This cash is used to cover the costs to develop the Bixi service.
Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay’s administration is also set to provide guarantees of $71 million in credit to Public Bike to allow it to expand internationally.
Tempers flared while discussing the heated topic with Tremblay saying Richard Begeron, leader of Projet Montreal, has “demonstrated his stupidity” by calculating the costs of each Bixi bike.
Bergeron said the cost of each Bixi bike in operation is $7,400
The debate over the Bixi financing plan is expected to continue Tuesday afternoon.
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings + Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears @ Metropolis
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings is kicking off a new tour and her first stop is Montreal at Metropolis. This meant the crowd had the pleasure of getting her fresh and excited.
The show began on time. The openers for Sharon Jones were Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. I never heard of these guys before, but I was in for a treat. Their sound has a bluegrass, rock and roll vibe. These guys had a lot of energy. They played as if they were feeling the Holy Spirit, and they even had the moves to go with it. They were playing the guitar with their mouth, on the ground, and even in the crowd. By the time they got off stage they had the crowd energized for Sharon Jones!
After a short wait to set up the stage and a minute for Binky Griptite to tune his guitar, the Dap Kings made their way to the stage. Binky introduced himself and the Dapettes, two soulful sisters with powerful voices. They played one of their new songs, and then the one and only Sharon Jones came to the stage in a sparkling silver dress with black fringes that captured every hip shake as she danced throughout the night.
She sang songs from her latest album I Learned the Hard Way. She sang us songs about a child grown up with an abusive past, getting her mama to accept her man, and love songs about the good and bad that we love to hear. She taught us the boogaloo, the funky chicken, the swim, and had the crowd dancing with her the whole time.
The show ended with "100 Days, 100 Nights" and they graciously came back to give us an encore. Sharon saw these B-Boys dancing in the crowd and invited them to dance on stage with her. There were four of them and they each took their turn showing the crowd their moves. When they were done she showed us moves from her African and Indian heritage and her version of both of them combined. She was bare foot and killing it.
After the show, she graciously came out back to greet her fans, take pictures, and autograph merchandise.
This is my third time seeing her and for me this was her biggest show and her best. Sharon Jones captures the essence of funk and soul, and even though she does it with a modern twist. When you see her perform with the Dap Kings, you feel as though you stepped back in time when music was good. She is James Brown, Millie Jackson, Isaac Hayes, and Tina Turner rolled up into one tiny package! She is a superstar!
-Lady Oracle co-hosts The Limelight on Saturdays from 6-8pm
Tame Impala @ Café Campus
My boyfriend and I watched a chunk of the first episode of The Voice. If you don’t know it by name, The Voice is a new singing competition reality program à la American Idol with a "twist": what makes this program different from shows of a similar nature - and what they endlessly emphasize in the promotional material - is that while a contestant is singing, the judges (Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, Christina Aguilera and some generic new country guy) face away from the stage. This way they can judge singers on their talent in a totally non-superficial way, which, as host Carson Daly unenthusiastically claims, "makes this show so important." Apparently this first episode had ridiculously high ratings, but I predict its failure within about two weeks. Think about it: how can this gimmick of refusing to judge contestants on a superficial basis, the gimmick that drew viewers in initially, continue throughout the whole program? The judges and audience have seen what the contestants look like, so where could it go from here? The element that differentiates this show from others has been obliterated within the first episode or two. What a completely unsustainable premise.
Why do I feel the need to discuss the inherent flaws of a reality show’s premise and structure? Because, perhaps naively, I figured “show at 8” meant just that, but considering this wasn’t the case on the evening of April 30th, I’m desperate for something mildly interesting to write about in this review. Upon my arrival at Café Campus around 8:15, I had missed the first two bands scheduled to open for Tame Impala that evening. I’m just glad I didn’t pay for a ticket like everybody else.
Overall, I was impressed by Tame Impala’s performance. It started out rather blandly, a sort of amalgamation of palatable 70’s rock and funk that wasn’t incredibly interesting and half as heavy as I had hoped. I got the psychedelic undertones, mostly presented in the form of “whoa-man that’s trippy” guitar effects. At first, they mostly played songs I could only describe as “soaring” without any precursory buildup or tension, which ends up being a pretty boring note to dwell on. In addition, the laptop on stage being used as a digital guitar pedal kind of threw off the band’s "groovy vibe." The musicianship itself seemed impressive, but we all know I don’t really give a shit about that part.
As the set went on, the songs got heavier and more intense, living up to my expectations of totally rad stoner rock. The songs flowed into each other well and the set became more dynamic, resulting in some serious head banging in the crowd. I was glad I didn’t step out early believing I had caught the gist of the set because it just kept escalating in awesomeness. It was loud, it was kind of sludgy but still accessible and it was a definite crowd pleaser.
I missed openers Yuck and Yawn, but so did everyone else. Tame Impala made us all forget that maybe, just maybe, we were playing second fiddle to Café Campus’ Saturday night clubbing extravaganza and that maybe, just maybe, supporting up and coming artists isn’t quite as important and bumpin’ and grindin’ to last summer’s Hot 100 MP3s. Remember when it was all about the music, man?
-Kelly K hosts Cut Your Hair and Get a Job every Tuesday from 1-2pm
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