I woke up to Claire trying to get into the bathroom, lol. She waited a long time! It was nearly 1:00pm before I woke up. We got some breakfast into us and headed to the book fair.
We got there pretty late, but it was lots of fun running into everyone, but a lot of the people I wanted to see had already left. The book fair for me isn't so much about the books, it's about showing my solidarity for the dissent toward the state, authority, and capitalism. I go to get myself charged up and ready to take my passion home to help make Halifax a better place for political radicals.
After the book fair I went back to Claire's place to grab my stuff, and I deposited it at the Whale Factory since I was to be sleeping there that night. I then made a phone call to my lovely, and made my way over to the Death Church, which was where that night's show was happening.
Great show, and I finally got to run into Shawn Ralson who was a person I really was looking forward to seeing. He had just gotten home from India, and told me many amazing stories. One of the bands who played was called "Kalashnikov" from Italy, and I really enjoyed them. Unfortunately, I missed "Preying Hands" which I really wanted to hear.
After the show we headed back to the Whale Factory to make some food and go to sleep.
On the second day of the book fair, I woke up and everyone was already gone, so I made some bread, called ladyface, and headed out. This time I spent more time checking out the tables and such, it's not as busy on the second day. I went to a workshop on Pirates which was pretty awesome, and then I bought a patch. Nearing the end of the day the kitchen put out all of the food for anyone who wanted it, so I ate a hearty meal and headed back to the Whale Factory.
That night I went to a show at the Squalor, which was alright. I don't really like punk too much usually, but "Know Hope for the Skids" played, and I really like them a lot.
The rest is pretty boring, a lot of nothing really...I was supposed to get a ride home this morning (Tuesday) but it got postponed until tomorrow. Bleh. So I've been waiting around and spending too much time on the internet.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
So much to tell Part I.
Oh man, I have the entire Montreal experience to write about, how daunting.
I guess I'll just start at the beginning and do it in parts if I have to.
The first day that we got into Montreal, Brendan and I stayed at our friend Carolyne's place. That was nice and relaxing. Buy Nothing Kyle and Andy were there when I got there which was a pleasant surprise, they were printing patches to trade at the book fair. They made some pretty awesome patches! Everyone but Carolyne and I took off somewhere...I don't remember where. I updated my blog and went to bed.
Ugh, this is what I get when I wait too long to update, I start forgetting stuff...
After we woke up I got my things together and trekked downtown toward McGill which was where volunteers were congregating to cook for the book fair. I showed up an hour late and the Hali punks weren't there yet (Hali punk time represent). Cooking en-masse with lots of people for lots of people is a lot of fun! I also took apart and fixed their coffee maker, which I'm super proud of. Coffee makers is actually really simple, I was surprised.
All of the east coasters left at the same time, after being there for about 4 or 5 hours and stuffing ourselves with lots of great food. I went to the Whale Factory which is where my friend Rachel lives, I really like the atmosphere there and I always lots of fun. I had trouble prying myself away to go and sleep at Claire and Jeff's place which is where Brendan was.
I got to Claire and Jeff's and everyone was drinking or drunk or both, it was pretty awesome, Claire offered me a shot of rum and dragged us out the door to go to the Cabaret for the book fair. We got there quite late but we caught the last act which was an anarchist marching band. When the band was just about done, they started marching out into the street, and they played a few songs while the entire bar full of people blocked a four lane street with dancing and singing. It was beautiful. At one point a car pushed its way through the crowd dangerously and I refused to move out of the way so he accelerated and I ended up on his hood careening down the street. Others noticed what had happened and a few people jumped onto the hood as well. I was actually having fun in this situation, but the guy was being an asshole and it was beginning to get really dangerous because he wasn't slowing. I was about two seconds away from taking my utility tool out and cracking his windshield when he slowed enough that I was able to get off. Shortly after that the police showed up to break up the crowd, it took them a long time and the resistance was admirable. They all left after a short while, and then something happened that I completely missed across the street between a guy with a camera and the one cop who stuck around, it became a pushing match and then it became a cop beating a dude with a billy stick. Lots of the crowd ran across the street to observe/yell at the cop and the next thing you know there were eleven police vehicles, one assaulted cop, three arrests, a few pepper sprayed people, and a few beaten people. Brendan, Sarah, and I got separated from Claire and we waited for her to meet us by the metro, but the cops forced her into an alternate route which left her walking alone and being harassed by strange men. While waiting for Claire I found some fruit and veggies that were in the garbage across the street, and when we were all together again we were on our way.
A while into walking we started hearing some really great dance music, we looked up and saw what appeared to be an amazing dance party, so we went into the apartment to find out what was going on. The apartment was a huge flat and there was a projection screen and a DJ spinning on decks. It was a fairly ritzy party, but it was populated by young people, so we didn't look incredibly out of place. We danced for a while, and then Claire and I decided to dance in the HUGE KIDDY POOL FULL OF WATER. We got blissfully wet and met some nice folks who were also dancing there with us. At about 4:00am we decided it might be time to move along.
The walk back to Claire's place was loooong, we got in at 5:45am, my feet were killing me.
What a familiar feeling, Montreal never ceases to push my poor feet to the limit, everything worth going to is all on opposite ends of the city, if you can't afford public transportation and if you don't have a bike you're kind of screwed here.
I laid down to sleep, but the kittens were using my body as a wrestling ring, which was cute for about five seconds. I moved my sleeping area into the bathroom, the only place I could find where I could close the door behind me. I've never felt so happy to crash on the bathroom floor.
End of Part One
I guess I'll just start at the beginning and do it in parts if I have to.
The first day that we got into Montreal, Brendan and I stayed at our friend Carolyne's place. That was nice and relaxing. Buy Nothing Kyle and Andy were there when I got there which was a pleasant surprise, they were printing patches to trade at the book fair. They made some pretty awesome patches! Everyone but Carolyne and I took off somewhere...I don't remember where. I updated my blog and went to bed.
Ugh, this is what I get when I wait too long to update, I start forgetting stuff...
After we woke up I got my things together and trekked downtown toward McGill which was where volunteers were congregating to cook for the book fair. I showed up an hour late and the Hali punks weren't there yet (Hali punk time represent). Cooking en-masse with lots of people for lots of people is a lot of fun! I also took apart and fixed their coffee maker, which I'm super proud of. Coffee makers is actually really simple, I was surprised.
All of the east coasters left at the same time, after being there for about 4 or 5 hours and stuffing ourselves with lots of great food. I went to the Whale Factory which is where my friend Rachel lives, I really like the atmosphere there and I always lots of fun. I had trouble prying myself away to go and sleep at Claire and Jeff's place which is where Brendan was.
I got to Claire and Jeff's and everyone was drinking or drunk or both, it was pretty awesome, Claire offered me a shot of rum and dragged us out the door to go to the Cabaret for the book fair. We got there quite late but we caught the last act which was an anarchist marching band. When the band was just about done, they started marching out into the street, and they played a few songs while the entire bar full of people blocked a four lane street with dancing and singing. It was beautiful. At one point a car pushed its way through the crowd dangerously and I refused to move out of the way so he accelerated and I ended up on his hood careening down the street. Others noticed what had happened and a few people jumped onto the hood as well. I was actually having fun in this situation, but the guy was being an asshole and it was beginning to get really dangerous because he wasn't slowing. I was about two seconds away from taking my utility tool out and cracking his windshield when he slowed enough that I was able to get off. Shortly after that the police showed up to break up the crowd, it took them a long time and the resistance was admirable. They all left after a short while, and then something happened that I completely missed across the street between a guy with a camera and the one cop who stuck around, it became a pushing match and then it became a cop beating a dude with a billy stick. Lots of the crowd ran across the street to observe/yell at the cop and the next thing you know there were eleven police vehicles, one assaulted cop, three arrests, a few pepper sprayed people, and a few beaten people. Brendan, Sarah, and I got separated from Claire and we waited for her to meet us by the metro, but the cops forced her into an alternate route which left her walking alone and being harassed by strange men. While waiting for Claire I found some fruit and veggies that were in the garbage across the street, and when we were all together again we were on our way.
A while into walking we started hearing some really great dance music, we looked up and saw what appeared to be an amazing dance party, so we went into the apartment to find out what was going on. The apartment was a huge flat and there was a projection screen and a DJ spinning on decks. It was a fairly ritzy party, but it was populated by young people, so we didn't look incredibly out of place. We danced for a while, and then Claire and I decided to dance in the HUGE KIDDY POOL FULL OF WATER. We got blissfully wet and met some nice folks who were also dancing there with us. At about 4:00am we decided it might be time to move along.
The walk back to Claire's place was loooong, we got in at 5:45am, my feet were killing me.
What a familiar feeling, Montreal never ceases to push my poor feet to the limit, everything worth going to is all on opposite ends of the city, if you can't afford public transportation and if you don't have a bike you're kind of screwed here.
I laid down to sleep, but the kittens were using my body as a wrestling ring, which was cute for about five seconds. I moved my sleeping area into the bathroom, the only place I could find where I could close the door behind me. I've never felt so happy to crash on the bathroom floor.
End of Part One
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