Alexis O'Hara's Portal 28/04/2009: Casa Del Popolo

"This is the calendar for the Casa del Popolo & The Sala Rossa, two of the best venues in Montreal for live music, book launches & readings, cabarets & the like. Right now the Casa listings are pretty paltry because there has been some outrageous civic repression to shut down music venues that don't have official 'spectacle' permits (and they are hard to obtain). There is some irony to the fact that the city is tearing up a bit part of the downtown core to build 'Le quartier des spectacles' which, of course, will be big mainstream venues for mainstream audiences. All the while, underground culture, the real heart of what makes Montreal such a vibrant city, is being squashed over what some believe is a turf war between the bikers & the cops (or maybe I'm making that up)."