Last night I was treated to a great show at Montreal’s Metropolis. The venue was California’s own Silversun Pickups. Outside the Metropolis on it was a chili oct evening but inside the crowd was warm and they were ready to rock and they made the Silversun Pickups know it.
Opening the evening were the bands “An Horse” and “Cage the Elephant”. An Horse was great, a more indie flavored version of the White Stripes with a softer feel and wonderful vocal harmonies. Cage the Elephant brought out 70’s Brit rock to …

Angela Boismenu, photo by Valerie Pyke
On a chili September night where audiences long to warm themselves on the dance floors listening to the latest in techno and anything with the so called “auto-tune”… I had the utmost pleasure of attending Riley Rocks spearheaded by the loving parents of the late Riley McCallum,Valerie Pyke and Sean McCallum. In an intimate setting in the back of Clyde’s Bar, in Pointe Claire, was to be the venue of the Riley Rocks fundraiser for the Montreal Children’s Hospital, headlining were the talents of Alex …

Super! Natural!, 2009, oil and acrylic on wood panel, 96 x 144 inches
No rainbows cresting over misty waterfalls.  No soaring peaks at sunset.  Canadian artist Kim Dorland gives us a decisively unsentimental view of nature in his new paintings at Freight + Volume Gallery on West 24th Street in New York’s Chelsea art district.  Cheekily titled “Super! Natural!” after an old Canadian advertising campaign, the show presents landscapes rendered in an almost radioactive palette. Indeed, the riot of colors not only makes the eyes swim, the sheer weight of oil …

Photo by Jason DeCrow/Associated Press
A few days ago I had the absolute pleasure of watching a Canadian icon perform on stage at Montreal’s Bell Center.