Here are my choice Montreal arts and culture highlights for the second half of July 2019:
MUSIC
Top acts at the Bell Centre include 1990s teen pin-ups Backstreet Boys (July 15), classic rockers Heart (July 16), British hard-rock legends Def Leppard (July 17) and South African stand-up comic Trevor Noah (July 26), host of The Daily Show.
Over at Parc Jean-Drapeau, Heavy Montreal presents two full days of performances by more than 40 of the world’s most renowned metal and hard-rock bands alongside emerging local and national talent, on July 27 and 28. Headliners include Slayer who are performing their last-ever show in Quebec, on their current final world tour which winds down in November 2019.
Bad Religion headlines the day-long punk-rock festival ’77 Montreal, also at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on July 26.
The 33rd edition of the annual Festival International Nuits d’Afrique continues until July 21. Founded in 1987 by Montréal legend Lamine Touré, the festival showcases more than 700 artists from 30 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America over 13 days each July.
World music superstars and rising stars headline free outdoor performances in the Nuits d’Afrique Village on the Parterre of the Quartier des spectacles, notably South African and Montreal music royalty Lorraine Klaasen (July 16) and mythical Haitian kompa band Tabou Combo (July 21).
Local shows of note: Soul and Blues diva Ria Reece (July 18) and Montreal’s Queen of the Blues Dawn Tyler Watson Quartet (July 26) headline Upstairs Jazz Bar and Grill.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
For more than 80 years, the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal has offered free outdoor concerts in local parks. This summer the OSM presents three concerts with OSM Conductor-in-Residence Adam Johnson and violinist Kerson Leong, in Saint Leonard (July 23), Blainville (July 24) and Brossard (July 25), pictured at top. Each show lasts from 75 to 90 minutes minutes and begin at 7:30 pm sharp. Bring picnic blankets, folding chairs and lemonade!
LITERATURE
The Queerest Little Ledo and La Petite Librairie D&Q celebrate the first anniversary of their hugely popular children’s reading series Rainbow Story Hour on July 28 at 11 am.
Rainbow Story Hour is a special bi-monthly reading hour with local LGBTQ2+ Drag Queens, Comedians, Advocates, Performers and Celebrities. The reading series 7th edition at La Petite Librairie D+Q (176 Bernard Street West) on July 28 will feature guest readers Mil Séguin, drag artist Fawn Darling and one of my favourite Montreal drag queens, Bambi Dextrous. Free admission.
For more info, call 514-279-2279.
ART AND MUSEUMS
Turns out Canadian comic and actor Jim Carrey is also a cartoonist, and an exhibition of his work, This Light Never Goes Out: Political Cartoons by Jim Carrey, runs at the Phi Centre in Old Montreal until September 1.
At the Never Apart Centre in Mile Ex, do not miss two must-see summertime exhibitions, the travelling Queer as German Folk exhibition presented by the Goethe-Institut Montreal, and the After Hours Chez Madame Arthur exhibition.
Queer as German Folk is a joint project of the Goethe-Institut, Schwules Museum Berlin, and the Federal Agency for Civic Education, taking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots as an opportunity to revisit the history of queer movements in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and reunited Germany since the 1960s.
Curated by Julianne Pidduck, the After Hours Chez Madame Arthur exhibition “conjures the poetry, the seduction, the politics, and the fierceness of Montreal lesbian bars of the 1970s and 1980s.” The exhibition presents an installation evoking legendary bar Chez Madame Arthur (1971-1975) alongside never-before-seen photographs by one of my mentors, Divers/Cité co-founder and Montreal photographer Suzanne Girard.
The above photo by Girard depicts Montreal legend Denise Cassidy – better known as Babyface, her nickname inherited from her brief career as a pro wrestler – who managed some of the city’s first lesbian bars from 1968 to 1983: La Source, La Guillotine, Baby Face Disco, Chez Baby Face and Face de bébé (1486 Boulevard René-Levesque West), which closed in 1983.
Cassidy’s bars became well-known throughout the United States and Europe.
“The first bars were pretty tough — it was a hard milieu, especially when men discovered my bars were for women only,” Cassidy said. “There were always men who wanted to come in. I worked with a baseball bat by my side for the longest time. And there were fights. Friday night was hell sometimes!”
The Queer as German Folk and After Hours Chez Madame Arthur exhibitions run at Never Apart until September 28.
Over at the Ecomusee du Fier Monde, do not miss Zïlon et le Montréal Underground, a terrific career retrospective of Montreal artist and icon Zïlon, curated by France Cantin. The exhibition runs until September 1.
Over at the MAC,contemporary Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson’s six-hour movie A Lot of Sorrow which screens until July 28. The film was shot during a 2013 New York City performance by American indie rock band The National, who plays their 3-minute 35-second song Sorrow live onstage continuously for six hours.
Over at the McCord Museum, the internationally-acclaimed touring exhibition The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology featuring the original works of some 100 of the most celebrated international artists of the 20th century, along with the Polaroid cameras they used.
The exhibition runs to September 15.
Meanwhile, the Fondation Phi pour l’art contemporain (formerly called the DHC/ART Foundation for Contemporary Art) located in Old Montréal presents the popular Yoko Ono solo exhibition LIBERTÉ CONQUÉRANTE/GROWING FREEDOM, which runs to September 15. Free admission.
Finally, the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts blockbuster Thierry Mugler: Couturissime exhibition showcases Mugler’s work as a visionary couturier, director, photographer and perfumer. The gorgeous exhibition features more than 150 ensembles, most of them on display for the first time, created between 1973 and 2001, as well as many never-before seen accessories and stage costumes, clips and videos, archival documents and sketches.
Couturissime runs to September 8.
THEATRE
The French-language adaptation of the ABBA-solutely fabulous blockbuster musical Mamma Mia! (with English songs) runs at Theatre St-Denis until July 27. The fab ensemble cast includes terrific Montreal actor Eloi Archambaudoin.
FILM
Director Jennie Livingston’s landmark 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning chronicles the ball culture of New York City in the mid-to-late 1980s, at the end of the Golden Age of Harlem drag balls.
This restored version screens at Cinéma Moderne (5150 Saint-Laurent Blvd ) on July 25 and August 3.
The Cinema du Parc midnight-movie series continues in July with screenings of director Sergio Leone’s classic 1966 Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly starring Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef, on July 19, 20 and 21.
Cinema du Parc also screens director Federico Fellini’s cult classic Fellini Satyricon on July 28, 29 and 31.
The Fantasia Film Festival continues at various venues until August 1.
JUST FOR LAUGHS
Some of the biggest names in entertainment will headline the 37th edition of Just For Laughs, the largest comedy festival in the world. Trevor Noah, Blake Griffin and Margaret Trudeau – mom of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – are some of the headliners at the 2019 edition, which runs to July 28.
The Just For Laughs Gala shows at Salle Wilfred-Pelletier theatre feature the funniest and most popular comics in show business.
Gala hosts this year are Australian stand-up comedian Jim Jefferies (July 25), multi-award-winning actress and superstar comic Wanda Sykes (July 26), comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj of Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (July 26) and Netflix’s Queer Eye megastar Jonathan Van Ness (July 28).
Comedy legend and Just For laughs veteran Howie Mandel will host The Howie Mandel All-Star Comedy Gala on July 24.
Veteran star of stage and screen, superstar comedy legend Wanda Sykes recently told me, “I didn’t know I had a unique voice for many years, but I did know it sounded different when I was a kid. My mother wanted me to change my voice. She’d say, ‘You have to do something about your voice! It doesn’t sound pretty! Listen to all the other kids, they sound nice, and then there’s you!’ I had no idea how I could change my voice. So I was always worried I had an ugly voice. I was an adult before I found out people liked my voice when I did stand-up or animated roles. I’m glad I never had any work done on my vocal chords. It’s kind of paying off for me. People love my voice and that’s cool.”
For more Just For Laughs info and tickets, visit www.hahaha.com.
VARIOUS
Beloved by fans around the world, the Cirque du Soleil’s iconic Alegría is reinterpreted Under the Big Top in the Old Port of Montreal. The show runs to July 21.
Last but not least, Les Jardins Gamelin continues at Place Émilie-Gamelin at the western end of the Village, just outside the Berri-UQAM metro station, until September 29. The site features bar services at its snack bar, which opens weekdays from 11 am to 11 pm and from 9 am to 11 pm on weekends. The onsite Maison Jaune offers creative workshops and activities for children in a shaded area.
Click here to check out the daily cultural programming, including renowned DJs and live performances on its outdoor stage. Free admission.
