As many people who read this blog know, I moved to Montreal from Toronto this past spring.  As part of this change I noticed that I began going to shows that I would probably never would have in Toronto. Like Rancid, who played down at Metropolis, for example. I used to love Rancid but after And Out Came the Wolves, they became a little too ska for my tastes and I lost interest. I went to the first of two shows they played here probably because I was bored, not knowing very many people here and everything. But I enjoyed myself, and thought it was kinda funny that they played material mostly pulled from Let’s Go, and the aforementioned Wolves.

The first show I went to in Montreal was Les Breastfeeders at Le Divan Orange, which was a freakin blast. It’s a shame they aren’t well known in english Canada. They’d give all the other ’60s influenced rock n roll bands a run for their money.

Two other local shows that stood out for me was Bad Religion at Metropolis, which was, of course, awesome, and the Kelp Records showcase at Les 3 Minots during Pop Montreal. The big reason I went to this one was to see Camp Radio. I’m a fan of singer Chris Page’s solo work and his work with The Stand GT. See my article on Chris Page on the old Shred site here. A pleasant surprise was singer-songwriter Andrew Vincent. Although he had guitar troubles throughout his set, I was impressed by the quality of his songs and made a mental note to check his stuff out further. His voice reminds me of someone and it’s been driving me crazy who.

Just before I moved, I went with a friend to a criminally under-attended show with Seattle’s Cave Singers. “Helen” is one of the best songs I heard all year.

But when it comes down to it, there is nothing like a pure rock n roll show. The Drive By Truckers blew the roof of the Opera House back in March (I made a note of it here) and in September The Supersuckers destroyed the Horseshoe, playing the best set I’ve ever seen them play.

My neighbourhood in Montréal.

This year went by extremely fast for me. I simply can`t believe it is the end of the year and that I have been in Montreal almost eight months. I doesn`t seem like four months ago that I saw GBH at Foufounes or five since I dated that weird chick from St Léonard, or eight since I spent the month of May in a disoriented haze. It`s like someone flipped a switch and moved time into fast forward.

My French is coming along slowly. I`m still at the stage where I can understand what someone is saying to me but I don`t have the vocabulary to respond.

There are lots of things I like about Montréal and they include:

• Inexpensive public transit
• Schwartz’s Deli
• Foufounes
• Big cans of beer from the deppaneur. And that you can buy beer at the deppaneur
• The Lachine Canal and Atwater Market
• The architecture
• Pizza Steve (my favourite cheap slice, sorry, pointe, in Montreal)
• The awesomely weird stuff you can stumble into just by hanging out downtown on a Saturday night.

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Instead of writing a list of things I don`t like about Montreal (items 1 through 5 would be anti-Anglo assholes, particularly the ones who run the building I live in), I would say that most of the problems I`ve had mostly come from my difficulty in aligning myself with the energy of the city. There`s times where I feel like I`m standing outside a merry-go-round that won`t stop and I`m and trying to latch on as best I can.

A consolation is that I felt similarly when I moved to Victoria and it took almost a year to acclimate. I think that moving here in late spring had something to do with it. I tend to hibernate in the summer and come out in the winter so coming here when I am usually in withdrawal mode may have had something to do with that.

At any rate I chose the adventure I am on and I know it`s up to me to make the future I want for myself so I look forward to seeing how 2009 plays out.