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3 Bodies Found East of Montreal

The Sûreté du Québec is investigating the discovery of three bodies this weekend 
on a property in the community of Ste. Florence, east of Montreal.
Police are trying to determine whether the deaths were a murder-suicide.

The bodies of a grandfather and his grandson were found on Saturday. 
The grandfather was discovered in a wooded area off a rural road, while the grandson was found in an apartment at an isolated property nearby. And on Sunday morning, police found the grandmother in a ditch along Highway 132.

A spokesperson for the SQ says they are investigating to try and find out exactly what happened. Autopsies will be performed on all three bodies this week to determine the exact cause of death.

Thor Giveaway

This coming Wednesday is going to be epic on BVST, as Angelica (with special guests) get deep into Norse mythology and other Scandinavian delights (viking metal, anyone?) in anticipation of the feature film Thor. There will be giveaways, there will be fun, and as usual, there will be intentional & unintentional hilarity. Prepare your best story about a) Thor the Norse god, b) Thor, the comic book hero, or c) Thor, the Canadian heavy metal personality, and call in! Remember, the hammer (of the gods) comes down hard this coming Wednesday, April 27th, from 7 to 9 pm, right here on CJLO!

CJLO News - April 22 2011

News read by Erica Fisher

News produced by Erica Bridgeman

Stories written by Erica Fisher, Michael Moore and Michael Lemieux

Concordia Board of Governors votes to raise Goodman Institute tuition

Investment Management students will soon see their tuition rise. Concordia's board of Governors voted Thursday to hike tuition in three of the Goodman Institute's programs. Those include one diploma program and two Masters'.

Students will see their tuition rise $2,000. They will now pay $18,000 a year.

The Board also approved their tentative operating budget. The budget projects a $530 million increase in revenue over three years. Just less than half of that will come from tuition increases. The majority of the rest will come from increased government funding.

More riots in Uganda over food prices

More riots have broken out in Uganda over the price of food. After a leading politician was arrested for the third time in three weeks, street demonstrations erupted in downtown Kampala.

President Yoweri has defended the government’s actions that led to the rising commodity prices. He also defended the harsh actions that government forces have used on protesters.

Five people have been killed with many more injured and over one hundred arrested since the start of the protests. Including a two year old who was shot in the chest when government forces opened fire.

Amnesty International has issued a statement urging the police to stop the violence against protesters.

Some in the Uganda government see the riots as contrived. Saying they have been setup by politicians bitter over their recent electoral loss.

Because of the violence the Concordia Volunteer Abroad program has cancelled their trip to Uganda this May and June. It is still unknown whether they will cancel their trip in July.

Stephen Harper says he won't be forming a coalition and neither should you

With the federal election less than two weeks away, party leaders are continuing to squabble about the threat of a potential coalition government.

On Thursday, Conservative leader Stephen Harper tried to distance himself from the big “c” word.

In an interview with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Harper again denied claims from the NDP and Bloc Quebecois that he had been willing to ally with the two parties to seize power from the Liberals in 2004. Harper also said that if the Liberals or the NDP won the May 2nd election, he wouldn’t try to re-take power through a coalition.

However, the latest polls are indicating that Harper won’t be having to make that choice. According to the latest Nanos Research numbers, the Conservatives still hold a wide lead over their rivals.

The Tories sit at just under thirty-eight percent, twelve points up on the NDP and Liberals, who are in a dead heat to form the official opposition. Those results would leave the Conservatives just shy of the estimated fouty percent needed to form a majority government and stave off any threat of a coalition

Rise Against

A lot of people have a problem when bands, songs or even genres sound similar to one another. This problem can be especially pervasive in punk music, where simplicity is often toted as an integral part of the music. When punk bands start to get more complex, a group of the fan base are quick to start yelling "sell out" as fast and as loud as their lungs are able to. So, here's Rise Against, who sit comfortably within the label of punk, who have now released their sixth studio album, Endgame, and who have been accused in the past of making similar sounding albums time after time.

The thing with Rise Against is that, even though most of their songs are remarkably similar, they're remarkably good finding ways of differentiating one song from another by adding something to each song that engages you directly and makes you take an interest. Whether it's a lyric or a tempo change, something usually grabs your attention and makes you want to take interest in that particular song. It's not that the songs are hooky; its that parts of the songs are hooky, and that's enough to suck you into the rest.

The problem with Endgame is that these "catchy moments" are not as prevalent as on other records. Sure, "Make It Stop (September's Children)" is a great exception, featuring children chanting at the beginning and a part towards the end where singer Tim McIlrath starts rattling off names in a spoken word style; these parts engage you, and I found myself really liking the song. But so many songs are just... bland... samey... uninteresting.

With that said, however, I don't dislike this album. I definitely see points of musical growth in it. For instance, on "Midnight Hands" there is a pretty damn near fantastic riff that sounds like something they may have picked up on the Warped Tour from some of the more metal artists. This type of musical evolution is what makes a band interesting, and I have always applauded how Rise Against seems to be able to knock it out of the park when they try something new.

In the pantheon of Rise Against albums, this one probably won't be cited as a defining work, but it holds true to what you would expect from the band and isn't terrible by any means. If you liked their previous work, you'll probably be able to tolerate this album and may find a few tracks that you keep coming back to.

Recommended Tracks: "Help Is On The Way", "Make It Stop (September's Children)", "Midnight Hands"

-Andrew Wixq hosts Grade A Explosives on Thursdays from 3-5pm

3 Canadian filmmakers to show at Cannes

Three Canadian filmmakers will be showcasing their work at this year’s Cannes film festival. Two of the three candidates hail from Quebec, while the third contender comes from Saskatchewan.

A feature-length documentary, La Nuit, Elles Dansent will be screened in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, and is set to show in Montreal and Quebec City in late May. The two other films will compete for the Palme d’Or and Cinefondation awards for short films.

This year’s Cannes Film Festival will run from May 11-22.

Ex Habs' wife pleads not guilty

The wife of former Habs captain Vincent Damphousse pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges of assaulting him with a weapon. Damphousse pressed the charges against his wife, Alanna Henderson, after being himself accused of 6 counts of assault against her.

The two filed the assault charges against each other. Their accusations stem from alleged incidents that occurred in March. According to Damphousse's lawyer, the charges are linked to divorce proceedings.

Neither Henderson nor Damphousse is speaking publicly about the allegations, but both are maintaining their innocence.

Crown prosecutor Caroline Paquin is calling the case a cross complaint where both parties are both accused and victim. But Paquin also says the cases distinct. Whereas the charges against Henderson are from this year, the charges against Damphousse date back to 2008.

Black Lips + Vivian Girls + Davilla 666 @ Le National

An epically long show took place at Le National last Friday night, and every moment was worth it. I got there way too early - the show started about an hour after the posted opening time. When I arrived, I chatted with a scalper outside for a bit and learned that the show was not even close to sold out, and the interior was a testament to that. There were about thirty people in the crowd up until the first band, Davila 666 from Puerto Rico, reluctantly stepped out onto the stage. During their first couple of Ramones-inspired tunes, the floodgates must have opened, because when I turned around the place was packed. These guys are definitely something to watch for. I wrote a Deerhoof review awhile back and said that they were one of the cutest shows ever, but Davila 666 tops the cuteness charts. Five buddies about five feet each with various versions of hip mullets sweated their way through the set and had the audience moshing.

Vivian Girls were up next. This was my first time seeing them, and, being quite a big fan, I had high hopes. The audience got a bit strange, though; they started to mosh and be a bit pushy, which was not really warranted by the Vivian Girls’ relatively toned-down set. The sound, from where I was standing anyway, was a little muffled. They played a few hits and some new songs that I wasn’t familiar with, and, to be frank, they seemed a little bored. Even so, the superfans in the audience didn’t seem to mind.

Black Lips took to the stage, in front of a goergeous spray-painted sheet with their name on it, to a riled-up crowd, and didn’t disappoint. Their southern-tinged punk rock sound was reminiscent of some shows in Montreal's underground venues like Decadent Squalor, and I kind of wished that the show was happening in a space like that. The whole room was a sweaty mess throughout the set, and Le National was packed to the rafters. If the show wasn’t sold out, it must have been pretty close to it. Black Lips’ singer, Cole Alexander, avoided arrest two years ago on a tour of India when he stripped naked and jumped into the crowd. There was crowd surfing this time too, but unfortunately no nudity. Fans in the audience knew all the words, and the atmosphere was close to riotous.

All in all, you should be sad you missed this show (if you did). Thankfully, Black Lips seem to come to Montreal pretty often, which is understandable considering the crowd’s enthusiasm. I would highly recommend their new album, Arabia Mountain, which will be released on June 7thta. Also, check out Davila 666’s Tan Bajo; it’s the kind of stuff you can stick on your MP3 player and jiggle your ass at in the metro station.

-Danielle J hosts Runny Noise on Thursday from 10pm-12am

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