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We Just Wanna Have Some Fun, Down At The Rock And Roll Club

As Mother Nature transforms our lovely city into a winter wonderland, you can either piss and moan about the snow and cold, or embrace the beauty of a Quebec winter and enjoy all that it has to offer. Go tobogganing on Mont-Royal, have a hot mug of cocoa with a dash of something stronger, build a snowman, but most important of all, join all your fellow music lovers inside any number of cozy bars all over town and enjoy some live music. Here are a few options Prince Palu thought you might like.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

There is a show happening tonight over at Barfly (4062 St-Laurent) that defies categorization and demands that you see it to fully understand it. Santosh Lalonde of Bad Uncle will be performing two sets, one with his new spaghetti western, gutter blues project and another with his polka lounge duo, while Ol' Savannah's Speedy Johnson will present his new project, Speedy's Wild Ride, with a set of old-timey, folk-noir songs that'll make you forget about the cold outside, but a little suspicious of the loner in the corner. Order yourself a whiskey and throw a few bucks into the hat when it gets passed around.

Indie Montreal is really getting into the holiday spirit and proving that it is better to give than to receive as they host Fête de Noël at le Divan Orange (4234 St-Laurent) with free food and cheap booze! On stage will be the minimalist electro-folk-pop of Our Book & The Authors and disco-rrific wonder of Choses Sauvages. If you have never seen Choses Sauvages here is your chance to not only see what you have been missing (and trust me, you have been missing something) but you get to see it for free. Doors are at 6:00.

Another early Christmas party happening tonight sees M For Montreal join forces with Heavy Trip to present the 14th edition of Secret Affair at Rockette Bar (4479 St-Denis). This will also be your chance to give everybody's best friend, Mikey B. Rishwain, a holiday squeeze before he heads back to California for an extended visit with friends and family. Handling the DJ duties will be the four headed monster of Emmanuel Ethier, Roy Vucino, Roxy M Oron and Phil Clem. Come in out of the cold and let these four take you on a musical journey.

If you were looking for something with a little more of a dance music flavour, then CJLO has what you need. The best of modern and old school EDM will be presented in the latest edition of the monthly Beats & Brews night at Kafein (1429A Bishop). There will be eight of CJLO's finest DJs spinning and '80s themed visuals. 

Friday, December 12, 2014

Kicking off on Friday is the Winter 2014 Puces POP that will run until Sunday. For the hours and list of all the participants check out the Facebook event page. This is a great way to do all your holiday shopping in unique and creative way. It will also allow you to start saying "Think globally, shop locally" to all of your co-workers. Wouldn't you love to be done all your shopping early and at the same time know that you also helped local artists have a better holiday season, and got your loved ones something really amazing and one-of-a-kind? Free yourself from the mall and get up to Église Saint-Denis (5075 Rivard).

If the thought of buying locally, well-crafted gifts has got your mind jumping and your wallet bursting, you can also go check out all the wares at the first Pop-Up Shop being hosted by Collectif Montreal at their studio at 160 St-Viateur (near Casgrain). Same idea as Puces POP, think globally, shop locally. For a full listing of hours and participants check out the Facebook event page. 

Once you have finished with all your gift buying and patting yourself on the back for helping to restore some order in the madness that is third-mall-from-the-sun culture that is all around us, you should treat yourself to some fine rock and roll. Luckily for you le Divan Orange feels the same way and is putting on the homecoming show for Montreal's psychedelic pop heroes, The High Dials, fresh off tours of America and the UK/Ireland. Joining them will be Sunfields who released their second album, Habitat, back in October, four years after their debut album, Palace in the Sun, created a lot of buzz. As their Bandcamp says, "babies being born, and houses being built" made the wait much longer than they had hoped or as John Lennon famously once said, "Life is what happens, when you're busy making plans." Luckily for you the wait is over and you can now pick up where you left off four years ago. Their brand of psych-folk, Americana will be the perfect welcome in from the wintery cold outside.

If you are a little more revved up after your day of shopping, what better way to jingle the bells than with a night of debauchery that will show you why it was called rock 'n' roll in the first place? Everyone's favourite semi-subterranean watering hole, l'Escogriffe (4467 St-Denis), is hosting a Christmas party to help you forget that you will soon be stuck in seemingly endless rounds of small talk with people you barely know but you are somehow related to. Let the warm embrace of Les Marinellis sexy and sleazy freak-beat remind you how rock and roll was intended to be played while helping you forget about all those awkward conversation that are speeding your way. Joining them will be Tang Soleil, who return to spread holiday cheer through amped-up garage rock. To be honest I'm not even sure who is still in Tang Soleil, but they are still lead by former Mystery Girls' Matt Conger, and that is good enough for me. Rounding out the night will be the one-man wrecking crew of Paul Jacobs who mixes heaping portions of punk energy and psychedelic swirls into his garage rock gumbo. There is simply nothing to not like about this show.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

If the never-ending Christmas carols are starting to make you go a little squirrelly, you can head back to l'Esco for an all-out punk rock assault of Vomit Squad, Melted Faces, Perverted Justice, and Shitsu. These four Montreal bands will surely and surlily balance out all the plastic holiday tripe that we are bombarded with to make us consume more and think less. This is not to be confused with the good holiday spirit of the above mentioned parties or the whole "think globally, shop locally" gift procuring. I'm sure you know the difference, so I won't waste any time trying to explain the difference between the two, but will just say that one is about sharing, love and support, which in many ways is what these four bands will be doing with a room full of like-minded people. 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

To continue the idea of local support and holiday cheer sharing, you can head over to La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) for the annual Rock Camp for Girls Choir showcase and help support a great local organization. The show starts at 7:00 and is a PWYC (with a suggested donation of $10). If they have their merch table set up, you could also get some more gift shopping done. If you cannot make it, but would still like to buy something you can always check out their Etsy shop.

Up at Bar Le Ritz PDB (179 Jean-Talon W.), Passovah presents their 5th annual Holiday Lovedown featuring 20 different local acts doing 20-minute performances, as well as sets by DJ John Lee and friends. It is listed as starting at 4:00 with the first band on at 5:40, but the first lucky 200 people will get free donuts! It is a PWYC with proceeds going to support Rock Camp for Girls Montreal. They will also be collecting non-perishable and canned goods for a local food shelter. A lovedown indeed! Check out the Facebook event to see who is playing when. 

Monday, December 15, 2014

If you are like me and your weekends can spiral out of control and get way too busy, leaving you unable to get to any of the craft fairs mentioned above to do some gift buying, fear not. Le Cagibi (5490 St-Laurent) will be holding a two day craft/vintage sale Monday from 3:00-9:00 and then again on Tuesday from noon-9:00. And since you are being so responsible with your holiday spending, you can treat yourself to a nice meal in the front room. It's win-win!

--Tune in, turn on, and freak out! Prince Palu hosts The Go-Go Radio Magic Show, every Friday at 6 PM on CJLO.