Just got this from Pop Montreal. Check it out:
From Oct 4-8th POP Montreal 2006 invites you to metaphorically say hello to, shake hands with and give a great big bear hug to legends and legends-to-be. Inspired by the "I once saw Buddy Holly play to four people at a fountain soda shoppe…" stories of yesteryear (and fantasyland?), POP is proud to present celebrated and should-be-more celebrated artists — 333 of the kind you’ll tell your grandkids about — in special venues this coming October. Get familiar with the following artists before you regret missin’ their sets.
LEGENDS
ROKY ERICKSON & THE EXPLOSIVES
He deserves a run-on sentence. He co-founded acid-drenched garage rock top-five list staples The 13th Floor Elevators, effectively coining the term ‘psychedelic music,’ was arrested (for possession of a single joint) and sent to the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally insane where he was subjected to inhumane electroconvulsive therapy, he wrote hundreds of songs there with a fan of his who had killed his (not Roky’s) mother, he emerged in 1972 to form Roky Erickson & The Aliens, a mind-melting hard-rock science fiction/horror band, legally declared himself to be an alien from a planet other than Earth, later transformed himself into a modern-day Buddy Holly before finally re-uniting with The Explosives (1979-81) to play all of the classic, unmistakably-Roky songs from the four-stages of his incredible life. He’s played only a handful of full sets since returning in 2005, only one of which have been outside of Texas. The Portuguese Association gets transformed into concert hall one-time-only for this show.
RAMBLIN’ JACK ELLIOT
One of the last remaining archetypal true travelin’ troubadours: a traditional song collector and respecter, a (hard-)living link to Woody Guthrie, Brownie McGhee & the beat poets, an inspiration to artists as diverse as Springsteen and Beck, and the reason why Bob Dylan originally billed himself as "Son of Jack Elliot." I could ramble on about the mythical heroic cowboy poet, but you’d be better off just catchin’ him live. All of this in the beautiful Ukainian Federation Hall.
THE MIGHTY SPARROW
All you really need to know is that Slinger Francisco, aka The Mighty Sparrow, has been crowned THE UNRIVALED KING OF CALYPSO MUSIC! …and that it’s not an empty boast — he’s actually won the Calypso King of Trinidad & Tobago 8 times, The Road March 8 times.
VASHTI BUNYAN
Vashti Bunyan’s influential and cult-fave english psych-folk masterpiece, Just Another Diamond Day was followed up by another fantastic gem some 35 (!) years later. I’m told that the only thing more affecting than her voice on record is her voice live. Said to be one of the main inspirations for the new brand of psych folk played by Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and Vetiver, among others (Animal Collective), Bunyan’s ethereal voice both fits in well with her powerful friends’, as well as shows them how it’s done.
GARY LUCAS
A rare performance by legendary Captain Beefheart guitarist Gary Lucas. He will perform his live soundtrack to the 1920 German Expressionist silent film The Golem. The original film (supposedly an influence on every cinematic telling of the Frankenstein story since) tells the tale of a 16th century Rabbi who fashions a man out of clay in order to save the Jewish community from annihilation. Anywho, the press calls this "5-star" show "hauntingly brilliant and meticulously timed," and all around "overwhelming." The Film Pop folks says its going to be fucking cool. Watching a movie, let alone one about a rabbi, in the Eglise-St-Jean Baptiste should be goosebumpworthy.
GARY WILSON
The mythical and mysterious experimental musician/performance artist, known as much for his 20+ year self-imposed exile as for his 1977 album You Think You Really Know Me. He returns to the stage after many a year spent working in an adult film store. His cult following includes Beck, who shouts him out in "Where It’s At (Two Turntables And A Microphone)", The Roots’ ?uestlove, Simpsons creator Matt Goening, and Peanut Butter Wolf.
LEGENDS-TO-BE
JOANNA NEWSOM
This brilliant singer-songwriter-‘harper’ is a lot like a modern version of The Band, without the whole ‘band’ thing, in that that she effortlessly – well, its probably effortful, but that doesn’t show – and idiosyncratically blends a world of influences: Appalachian music, traditional folk, psych-folk, and pop into something entirely new and vital. Her songs, both child-like and weathered, act as a passport back to the fantastical and fantastically detailed lands dreamt up in our childhoods that we remain otherwise alienated from. We’re all better for it.
SOCALLED
"Somewhere between the honeymaker cadences of hip hop and spiralling syncopations of klezmer is a musical territory exclusive to one man, so-called. State it simple and Socalled is a hip hop innovator, a blender of traditions new and old, a deliverer of gestures blistering and bold. Inspired by the like-spirited traditions of hip hop and klezmer, by musics that reference and reanimate, Socalled plunders forgotten gold from the long-ignored archives of Jewish, Balkan, and African American sounds. He recasts these in a fresh vernacular of clashing rhythms, floor-pounding beats and wit-whimsical rhyme."
CADENCE WEAPON
This 2006 Polaris Music Prize nominee single-handedly got everyone to shut up about E-town’s thriving indie scene to instead bounce their heads to the ultra-clever self-aware lyrics of this Edmonton rapper/producer. Apparently raised in a library of music, Cadence Weapon’s albums will no doubt be essential stock in the libraries of the future (or whatever e-quivalent will replace them).
GONZALES
Gonzales returns to Pop Montreal this year, following up his festival-ending, jaw-dropping performance w/ Irving Fields with a festival-starting, very rare (soul-shaking?) pipe organ show. He’s wowed music fans as rapper Chili Gonzales, producer of Feist, and one-man somehow classy and down and dirty showman. This year it’s happening at Eglise St-Jean Baptiste, using an organ built in 1915 by Casavant Freres that was later restored in 1995-96. It’s an experience to hear the organ in regular use, but added to that will be the unique showmanship of the man they once called Chili.
EDU K
Baile funk is taking over the planet and Edu K is leading the army. If that wasn’t impressive enough, you can add to his resume that he was formerly the lead singer of seminal Brazilian punk band, De Falla. In any event, he’s making a global impact, and we’ve got a burnin’ feeling that the aftershocks will be hitting for years to come.
RODNEY GRAHAM BAND
It’s only a matter of time before the same kind of scrutinous study of Graham’s conceptual artwork is exerted on his music. A founding member of new-wave cult-legends U-J3RK5 (f. Ian Wallace & Jeff Wall) and member of power-pop super-group Volumizer (f. members of Pointed Sticks and Dishrags), Rodney Graham writes sometimes serious, seriously terrific songs of his own. Whether singing a Cohen-meets-Smog-like verse turned infectious power-pop situationist chorus ("I’m a Time Waster"), an absurdist (?) cowboy lament, or a tune for Albert Hoffman’s LSD trip that rips off/pays tribute to Syd Barrett, Graham brings the same kind of a-little-thought-edness to his music that he does to his art. He’ll be playing both at the Musee, for a black tie affair, and then later in the week at Fractal for a late-night boozecan show.
ANDRE ETHIER
Lead singer of the Deadly Snakes (RIP), the legendary Canadian rock ‘n roll soldiers so damn good that even Greg Oblivian joined them for a time, guest of the Silver Hearts, accomplished German expressionist-influenced painter, and now ‘next-Dylan’-tagged solo singer-songwriter. Ethier is pretty much all-around brilliant.
…not to mention 320+ others as well as films and indie arts fair , the fmc policy summit and a whole lot more. for more info, tickets, passes and schedule please visit http://www.popmontreal.com
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Nothing to do New Year’s Eve? Here’s and event for all you music lovers out there, especially those who grew up in the glorious 80’s. I decided to go to this shindig last year after one of my new favorite bands, The Eyeliners was added to the bill. This is one of the best New Year’s Eve events I’ve been to, even better than Y2K in Vegas, so if you’re anywhere near southern California, you should check it out. The Orange County New Year’s Eve (OCNYE) will feature almost 30 bands including Blondie, The English Beat, the Violent Femmes, The Knack, The Tubes, Brett Michaels of Poison and more. Event founder, Rich Goodwin, say he started the event “simply because there was nothing to do in OC” (or anywhere else in Southern California for that matter). But when he came up with the idea nine years ago he had no money and no clout to get it done. After building a company called Vidsion Entertainment which managed 40 world-wide events in just 6 years, he sold it and went after the one event that eluded him for nine years-the OCNYE. Last year’s inaugural event had 15,000 attendees despite rain and wind storms coming through just 30 minutes prior to showtime. But, almost miraculously the skies cleared up in time, the water drained and the event went off as planned, highlighted by performances from Lit, Joan Jett, Sugar Ray on the main stage. 
Tickets to OCNYE are still available for the event and there are local partner hotels with shuttles available to the venue-so you can tie one on in your own private cabana or in one of the many lounges and you can leave the driving to someone else. Happy Holidays…and whatever you do, be responsible. Don’t Drink and Drive!
