Tuesday, June 23, 2009
St. Jean Baptiste Day, Time To Get Out Of Town
The fact that the two anglophone acts, Bloodshot Bill and the band Lake of Stew were re-invited to perform in a Fete St-Jean show after being dis-invited should not be taken as a sign that the celebration is becoming more open towards minorities, nothing could be further from the truth.
The only reason for the re-integration of the anglos was the intolerable level of negative publicity.
After a couple of days of futilely defending the indefensible, organizers decided that it would be wiser to beat a tactical retreat...this time.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
La Fête Nationale - 20% of Quebeckers Don't Count
The organizing committee of Montreal's Fête St. Jean celebration held a news conference to announce it's plans for the big show in Maisonneuve Park and proudly and merrily let it be known that in no uncertain terms, English artists will be excluded.
There'll be no repeat of last year's fiasco where English artists were invited, dis-invited and then reinstated to perform at a local Fête Nationale celebration in a Montreal district.
To wild applause, the Comité de la Fête nationale de Montréal through it's spokesman Guy A. Lepage, proudly announced that the celebration in Maisonneuve park will be a French only affair.
"We have a panoply of artists this year, which I think, is very representative of the Quebec we know..." Guy A. LepageMaybe Mr. Lepage doesn't know Quebec as well as he thinks. He ignores the fact that 20% of the population of Quebec is English or ethnic. Most of them live Montreal, pushing the percentage even higher in the city where this "French" only show will be held.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
René Levesque In A Skirt?I finally got around to watching a recorded TV version of the Fete Saint Jean parade which was held on June 24th.
For most anglos, attending the parade is not high on the things-to-do-before-you-die list. The parade is so far out in the east end of Montreal that those of us who would wish to attend would need to pack a suitcase.
The short parade (1 hour) clearly suffers from a lack of sponsorship, it's plainly evident that there aren't too many companies keen to be identified with what is clearly a nationalist/sovereignist manifestation. The only sponsors I could make out (aside from the state monopolies) were Amaro water and Labatt's beer. It made for an amateurish and decidedly lame affair.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fête St. Jean versus Fête Nationale -Which is it?
The recent brouhaha concerning the ousting and subsequent reinstatement of Anglo artists at Quebec's annual celebrations brings up an interesting question.
What exactly are we celebrating on June 24?
When I was young, there wasn't any doubt. The holiday was called 'La Fete St. Jean' and was a celebration of French Canadian culture. That was it, period.
The recent brouhaha concerning the ousting and subsequent reinstatement of Anglo artists at Quebec's annual celebrations brings up an interesting question.
What exactly are we celebrating on June 24?
When I was young, there wasn't any doubt. The holiday was called 'La Fete St. Jean' and was a celebration of French Canadian culture. That was it, period.
