Sarah Deshaies produces the Andrew Carter Morning Show. Every Friday at 8:20am, she tells you about the big, quirky and off-the-beaten-path events happening in Montreal. Here is this week's list, with links for more information so you can get out and enjoy the city! Submit your event to sarah.deshaies@bellmedia.ca.
The offerings at the 30th Mondial de la bière will include over 20 local brews especially conceived for the big anniversary. Beers from Belgium, Brazil and France will also be in the spotlight at this massive taste-a-thon. Free entry, with tickets available to purchase for tastings. Friday to Sunday at Windsor Station and the Rio Tinto Yard.
The 13th Montreal Comic Arts Festival welcomes over 300 comic artists to schmooze with fans of the genre. Wander along St Denis between Gilford and Roy, where exhibitors are setting up shop and tents will house workshops, exhibits, panels and signings for all ages. Look for the activist Gordon Hill’s The 500 Years of Indigenous Resistance, an exhibit that showcases plates from his comic book series.
Eurêka! Festival celebrates curiosity and science at Parc Jean-Drapeau, at the foot of the Biosphère. The theme of the 17th edition is planetary health, with a focus on the connections between the environment, climate change and our own wellbeing. The family-friendly programming includes over 25 lectures and shows, dozens of workshops and demonstrations and street entertainers. Friday to Sunday.
Festival TransAmériques has launched, with eclectic depictions of modern dance and theatre from around the world. Bangkok-based dancer Amrita Hepi makes her festival debut, with her acclaimed dance show, Rinse. It’s a personal explore her ndigenous heritage and undying interest in the concept of beginnings. She performs at Théâtre du Conservatoire Rouge, Saturday 7pm and Sunday, 3pm. Shows continue at various venues, until June 5.
And there is a new festival in town! Montreal Mystery promises to intrigue lovers of the mystery and thriller genres. Presentations, book signings and discussions will be held in both French and English. Writers Ann Lambert and Catherine McKenzie will speak on the theme of ‘Montreal Crime Time’, Friday at 7pm. The stately Grande bibliothèque hosts the inaugural edition of the festival, Friday and Saturday.
Take a walk downtown to look out for 15 giant pink sculptures! Le Mignonisme is a series of sculptures known as Monsieur Rose, from the mind of artist Philippe Katerine. You’ll find them along an art walk downtown, including the Quartier des Spectacles and Place des Arts to the Esplanade PVM at Place Ville Marie and Phillips Square. Until September 29.
The Segal has just launched Selina Fillinger’s 2021 play POTUS, or Behind Every Great Dumba** Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive. It’s a fast-paced farce in which the Leader of the Free World kicks off a crisis with a four-letter-word. While the President remains (mostly) offstage, we gaze upon the constellation of women around him, including hyper-competent secretary Stephanie (Katherine Fitch), his mistress (effervescent Kayleigh Choiniere) and his sister Bernadette (comic Elvira Kurt). Make sure to listen for a very special CJAD cameo - or two! Until June 2.
Montreal Summer Slowdance is devoted to getting out of your comfort zone. Fill out your dance card with friends, strangers or designated dancers. Friday, 9pm at MainLine Theatre.
Fuego Fuego embraces the fastest growing musical genre, with various Latin artists taking to the stage at the Olympic Park this weekend - a treat for the city’s growing Hispanophone community, and everyone who loves the sound. Colombian singer Maluma headlines Saturday, with “King of Modern Reggaeton” Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro taking the top slot on Sunday. Jetlag Gang hosts the Fuego after party Friday with DJs like Pedrolito and Oka Bel’Oka, at Le Studio TD, 10pm.
Friday’s music picks: Mexican singer-songwriter and Bolero icon Luis Miguel at Bell Centre, 8pm. Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach breezes into the Beanfield Theatre, 8pm.
Saturday’s music picks: Led by frontman Vessel, the masked metal act British group Sleep Token holds one of their “rituals” at Place Bell, 8pm. Bristol-based folk musical group (Wellerman) The Longest Johns, Beanfield, 8pm. American progressive metal band Symphony X at Le Studio TD, 8pm. Rock singer-songwriter John Garcia (of KYUSS band fame) at Club Soda, 7:30pm.
Festival Accès Asie celebrates myriad art forms by Asian artists and informed by Asian traditions. And the culinary arts will be on the menu this weekend: the Super Boat People Collective hosts a Laotian and Cambodian cooking workshop, which will be followed by a shared meal, at theTablée des chefs at Jean-Talon Market, Sunday at 11am.
A familiar, scene-stealing face from The Mummy, Notting Hill and other smash films, British-Persian comedian Omid Djalili has continued to perform his biting brand of standup. He returns to the city that made his name, at the 2002 Just for Laughs Festival, with his Namaste festival, Saturday, 8pm at the Rialto.
Filipino-Canadian Ron Josol will headline with support from the likes of Rodney Ramsey, Alasdair Tremblay-Birchall, Matt Shury and more! Friday and Saturday, 8 and 10:30pm.
Montreal Improv in St Henri hosts a medley of shows, including Once and Floral: A Pretty Flower Show, a show with three troupes performing in the ‘pretty flower’ format, which involves slower scenes with lots of fun baked in. Friday, 8pm.
At burlesque headquarters The Wiggle Room, host and owner Frenchy Jones is hosting: Friday, 9pm is Old Hollywood with Cat Zaddy, Rosie Bourgeoisie, Tristan Ginger and Enshantay. Then, Saturday, at 9pm: it’ll be a sultry evening thanks to Vixens & Seductresses, with Moonshine Sunshine, Miss Booty Jones, Rose de Flore and Eva Von Lips.
Chorale Phileomela Singers’ spring concert, Le Cercle de la vie, will include music from Jean-Pierre Ferland, who recently passed away, as well as Joni Mitchell, Vivaldi and original songs written especially for the show by composer Pierre Gallant. The Vaudreuil-Soulanges Youth Symphony Orchestra will also join the show, at Merging Waters Union Church in Ste Anne’s, Sunday at 3pm.
Sun Youth will host its third flag football tournament in honour of “Mr Football” Bob Mironowicz, a longtime volunteer and coach, who passed away in 2022. In addition to the tournament, there will be kids activities, raffles and food and drink, at Parc des Benevoles in Kirkland, Saturday 9:30am to 5pm.
ONGOING EVENTS
At the Botanical Gardens, the tulips and magnolias are waning but the peonies are just starting to bloom. Check out the blooms of the week here
Nearby, the Montreal Planetarium’s new show imagines what human life could like on Mars.. in 2100! With help from NASA aerospace engineer Farah Alibay and celebrated troupe Cirque Éloize, ROUGE 2100 explores the environment of the red planet as well as what astronauts would need to survive. You’ll have the A-I bot Felicity 87, to take you through the immersive exhibit.
Pointe-À-Callière Museum has launched a first-in-Canada show, Olmecs and the Civilizations of the Gulf of Mexico Explore 4,000 years of Olmec history through nearly 300 objects, some of which will be seen for the first time by the public. What’s fascinating is that traces of the Olmecs were not really “discovered” until the 1800s. This show, a collaboration with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, runs until September 15.
Explore the beauty and diversity of our natural world in Root for Nature. This new, 90-minute show is a “nature hike” indoors, conceived as a powerful piece of edutainment inspired by the COP15 biodiversity talks hosted by Montreal in late 2022. This collaboration between National Geographic and OASIS Immersive Studios will take place in the same location as the UN conference, at the Palais des congrès. Also at the venue: Dreaming of Asia is a stunning exploration of Chinese and Japanese culture, making its North American premiere at OASIS Immersions. French digital art studio Danny Rose has crafted four different experiences, including a look at shadow puppet theatre.
The Horizon of Khufu: A Journey in Ancient Egypt is a virtual reality experience that brings you into the giant pyramid in Giza, a 146-metre high pyramid built nearly 3,000 years before the Common era. Noted Egyptologist Peter Der Manuelian will be your guide. Studio PHI has brought in this for a North American first. Until May 31, in the Old Port at 2 rue de la Commune.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts explores how nature inspired two great artists of the 20th cetury. Georgia O’Keefe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art is an exhibit curated by the San Diego Museum of Art; it recreates both artists’ studios down to minute detail. Admire O’Keefe bodacious flowers and landscapes, contrasted with Moore’s sculptures inspired by stones and bones, and his Helmet heads. Until June 2.
The McCord Stewart Museum’s excellent and informative Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience. The show profiles the 11 nations living within the borders of Quebec, with testimonies and carefully curated objects. Two of the McCord’s current shows include Becoming Montreal is about the depictions of the city in the 1800s, and Wampum: Beads of diplomacy, which displays over 40 wampum belts from different collections, underscoring their symbolism and history.
Visit the city’s newest museum: Centre des Mémoires Montréalaises promises to capture the metropois’ history and citizens. Check out the vintage neon signs at the entrance, and look for the colourful balls that once decorated Ste-Catherine in the Gay Village. There are two exhibitions up now: a lookback at the 90 years of Le Chaînon, the women’s shelter and resource centre, and Détours, which focuses on hidden corners of the city. Located at 1201 St Laurent.