Le Repos
I’m back at it. My much better half and I enjoyed our yearly jaunt to Montreal, Canada, for some rest, relaxation, and poutine. Our stay at the Hyatt Downtown Montreal (a stone’s throw away from the section of St-Denis near the Université du Québec à Montréal) was comfortable and convenient. It’s part of a plaza with a pharmacy, an IGA grocery store (they’re everywhere in Montreal), a Café Starbucks and access to the Metro. The hotel breakfast was very good, serving daily soft scrambled eggs, fresh orange juice, granola with yogurt, and bacon or sausage. Ill to the taste, though, were the pancakes that looked and felt like shoulder pads. But the view across the street in the morning of unsmiling gym members working their muscles to fatigue made my hash browns go down even better.
We always want to embrace different experiences when we visit, so I asked two real Canadians for suggestions (thank you, Ernesto and Dan!) The priority is always food, so one day we joined the overflow of carnivores from Schwartz’s Deli (sorry – I have no time to stand in line for a sandwich) across the street to Main Deli. We tried the veal sandwich w/fries and onion rings – delicious! Also, the Burger Bar Crescent hit the spot (perfectly done, crispy fries) after we took in the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. It offered displays of his work we had not previously seen and with an emphasis on his love of Jazz. He was a visual soundboard for the society that engulfed him. Speaking of Jazz, that Saturday night we made our way downstairs to Upstairs Jazz Bar & Grill on Mackay St. for an evening of beautiful standards (“Body and Soul”, a Monk tune), crème brulee to die for, and the wonderful company of two couples (one pair, newlyweds.) The quartet was led by drummer Jim Doxas (pronounced “Docks-Us”) with saxophonist Yannick Rieu. The menus were covers of Jazz albums – Ron Carter’s Piccolo and Blues Farm, Trane’s A Love Supreme – quite inventive!
Trust me when I say we burned off every single calorie we ate by walking everywhere and hopping onto the Metro when our destination exceeded our physical capacity to do so. Compared to NYC’s subways…there is no comparison. Reading about the aging tubes, attacks, derailments, and fires, both in the boroughs of New York and Massachusetts this year has been frightening. When you experience civilized transportation, you beg for it where you live.
And no stay for us in Montreal is complete without shopping at our favorite book and records stores (we have a list, my friends.) We dropped in to (more like, stepped down into) Beatnik Records (mostly used) on Saint Denis St. and Atom Heart Records (mostly new vinyl) on Sherbrooke St. E. My husband scored with Ash Ra Tempel’s Join Inn (he’s so into Krautrock.) I bought Sunny Murray’s Sunshine & An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker), a ‘69 and ’70 release slammed onto one CD by Fuel 2000 in 2000.
So, back to it. The last 2022 episodes of The Jazz Disturbance and Situation Fluxus are being formulated as we speak. So much music, so many topics, no more dessert au chocolat, so little time…