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On November 12th, thousands of young Canadians trekked through the cold and filled Laval’s Place Bell to see Daniel Caesar. 
 
Unfortunately, the opening act did not perform, so the audience anxiously waited for Daniel Caesar - and it was definitely worth the wait. The roaring audience was thrilled to see Daniel. The stage set, complete with the silhouette of the band displayed upon a huge canvas while Daniel stood centre stage with four divine back-up vocalists accompanying him, made for an incredible show. 

The way Caesar delivered his music was absolutely sensational. It resembled his album presentations to a T; all the other embellishments were just perfection with sprinkles on top. Daniel truly exhibited this when he performed a stripped-down version of the track “ARE YOU OK?”, backing himself up on an acoustic guitar, the lights turned down to a mellow blue. Later, when Caesar performed “Best Part” feat. H.E.R, and “Get You” feat. Kali Uchis, the arena was lit up and the crowd interactive as he encouraged the audience to sing along to the female parts of the duets. The thousands of loving fans and the amazing performance accompanied by captivating visuals and concepts on screen created a warm, vibey atmosphere for the evening.
 
Despite the cold weather, Daniel Caesar’s concert made November 12th the perfect event, and an even more romantic night in Montreal.

Aliah Guerra is a singer/songwriter and co-host of Concordia Music Zone Out, airing on CJLO 1690 AM every Monday from 4-5 PM EST.

Ahmad Moujtahed

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LOCAL

A new city-owned sorting center opened in Lachine for business. The $47-million facility will handle 900,000 tonnes of recyclable material a year. It will collect all materials from the western portion of the island, home to 1.1 million people. 

The project is part of the city’s plan to become waste-free by 2030. Mayor Valerie Plante said the plant would be profitable since it will produce pure sorted materials that is easy to convert for other purposes. 

The plant features numerous machines to separate different streams of recycling, however the recycling of glass products remains an issue. A glass cleaning machine won't be delivered until March 2020. Until then, the glass will be crushed and used as a replacement for sand to cover up landfills.

NATIONAL

Don Cherry: “You people … that come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you can pay a couple bucks for a poppy or something like that..." 

During his weekly Coach’s Corner segment, as part of Hockey Night in Canada, veteran sportscaster Don Cherry appeared to take aim at those he believes are new immigrants. 

Cherry’s remarks were widely criticized as discriminatory, abhorrent and un-Canadian. The Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council said it was so overloaded with complaints about the segment that it exceeded the organization’s technical processing capacity.

Sportsnet confirmed that, as a result of his remarks,  Don Cherry had been officially fired from the network. Cherry told the Toronto Sun that he had no plans of apologizing however, if given the choice, he would’ve chosen his words differently.

INTERNATIONAL

Protesters gathered outside the US Supreme Court as news emerged that the Court’s Consevative majority appeared to side with President Trump and his right to end the  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, aka the DACA program.

The program was enacted by President Obama to protect so-called “Dreamers” or immigrants who were brought to the US as children but lack permanent legal status. DACA allows them to register with the government and receive a work permit and  a temporary waiver from deportation. 

Demonstrators at the protest outside the courthouse carried signs that read “home is here” and “defend DACA.” Several hoisted depictions of monarch butterflies, which migrate from parts of the United States to Mexico and have become a symbol of the “Dreamers” movement.

 Chaz Bear aka Toro Y Moi packed the Corona Theatre alongside his band and Channel Tres. 

Walking towards the Griffintown venue, I could not help but wonder what type of crowd was going to show up. The fanbase of most artist’s are pretty predictable, as they tend to play one type of genre that attracts one specific group of people. I figured Toro’s fan base would be made entirely of millennial hipsters (including myself), but I was pleasantly surprised to see a varied audience fill the Corona Theatre.  I should have known better, after all, no one fits the description of “genreless” artist more than Toro. None of the many albums in his discography actually sound the same. Toro Y Moi is not the type of artist you can put in a box, and last night proved that this makes for an unpredictable set that keeps people guessing what the next song is going to be. 

Chaz’s timid introverted character was in full effect during his performance. The South Carolina native would often sign into the mic with his eyes closed. His overall performance gave off a “garage band” energy. I felt like I was witnessing an intimate behind the scenes rehearsal version of the show. Chaz rarely stopped the music to do crowd work, which, if you happen to be a fan, is probably not what you expected to see anyway. 

What Toro lacked in crowd interaction, he made up for with a non-stop plethora of music. Some of the songs he performed dated back to his earliest work which is a testament to the timelessness of his sound. 

Any fan of Toro y Moi would tell you they prefer one album over another given that they all  vary to a large degree, yet everyone in the crowd seemed to enjoy every style played on stage. The way the songs blended together were so seamless, you would have thought they were all on the same album. Toro went from playing his guitar, to working the synth, to focusing on vocals throughout the entire set and made it seem effortless. 

Of course, a large part of the fun had last night was due to the highly entertaining Channel Tres, an up and coming artist from California with one of the most unique takes on live performances I’ve seen in a long time. Tres, alongside his dancers took over the stage and had people fully invested to his deep house beats, catchy “no filler” lyrics, and tight choreography. Yes, I said choreography, as in he rapped and danced at the same time. It was as cool as it sounds. 

Toro Y Moi and Channel Tress will be performing three more shows before the end of the tour. Be sure to check for them as they head to Boston and New York

Akeem Johnson is the co-host of The Kitchen, a show that blends everything from trap music to afrobeat. It plays every Wednesday at 9:00 p.m EST.

It is noted by many film critics that 1999 was one of the best years in film. Indeed, this statement is true having previously looked back on the year highlights on At The Movies with anniversary reviews of The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, American Beauty, and soon a November review of Eyes Wide Shut. However, it seems that I never got around to viewing The Blair Witch Project, as it is considered a landmark in the horror scene by introducing the “found footage” subgenre. It’s a subgenre that the horror market capitalized on the coming decades with series’ like the Paranormal Activities. On the 20th anniversary of this landmark cult status of a film I decided on a viewing late at night on the eve before Halloween, when everyone had gone to sleep and the were lights shut. The following is the true story of the experience that followed.

The Blair Witch Project is a fictionalized tale about three student filmmakers, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard, that go out for a hike in the forest of Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland, in order to document the urban legend known as The Blair Witch; they would later disappear. They first set out to interview the locals about the urban legend of The Blair Witch, which will be the setup for the paranormal encounters in the forest later on. With the lore in place the three set out on their hike in the fall of 1994...

Once entering the forest it is clear that they are not welcomed, and there are various ways that the forest tells the students this. Additionally, the deeper they descend into the forest, the film focuses on the power relations between the students as they become lost. Heather continues shooting the footage of the ominous stick-figure creations around their camp, despite the other two protesting that they are no longer welcome. This all culminates with them getting lost and accepting the fact that the project has taken another turn. Not to spoil the ending for some that have not seen it, but it includes a confession from Heather apologizing for everything that has happened. 

Even though The Blair Witch Project did not provide the scare that I wanted, the film does work well on two levels. The first would be the aesthetical nature of the film being shot with handheld cameras and on Super 8, giving that coveted grainy black and white aesthetic. One of the primal scenes where this works is the black and white grainy gothic aesthetic while they are filming near a cemetery as Heather narrates about the town of Burkittsville, Maryland, and The Blair Witch. Furthermore, the mythology of the film is well executed as a found footage that the students left behind, so much that it played into the real-life marketing tactic whereby people actually thought these people were still missing. Heather, Michael and Joshua play off of each other well leading to most of the tension in the film that is built up, which is a showcase in human nature, which is at times scary and erratic. In the end, The Blair Witch Project can be seen 20 years later as a landmark to the horror subgenre of the “found footage” aesthetic that would later come to dominate the horror landscape years later with aforementioned box office smashes like the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Remi is the host of At The Movies which features everything new and noteworthy in the world of cinema. The show goes live every Tuesday at 8:00 AM.