Tonight, some of Montreal's finest DJs will get behind the decks to honour the late Adam Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, in a benefit show we're producing with Pop Montreal. It'll be a night of good tunes, sick beats, and lots of vinyl scratching in memory of one of hip-hop's greatest innovators.

There's a certain idyllic vision I have of folk artists on tour. I imagine them living in a world where everyone travels by train, where each evening brings a new hootenanny in a new town, where shows happen in pubs and houses of kind folks, and where everyone eats biscuits. A lot of biscuits. I had thought this world ceased to exist when Woody Guthrie settled in New York, but no, apparently Canada still has it locked down. Or at least a couple of our city's intrepid singer/songwriters lived the dream for the last two months.

Last Friday the music world lost a great artist, innovator, and humanitarian when Adam Yauch, aka MCA of the Beastie Boys, died following a long battle with cancer. We at Midnight Poutine have teamed up with Pop Montreal to honour him in the spirit of his work: with a big dance party. Door proceeds will go to the Canadian Cancer Society. The evening will feature appearances from members of the Montreal DJ community. It's all happening on May 18th at Jackie & Judy. Check out the event page for more information and stay tuned for announcements on the lineup and other cool stuff. Best be getting started on a Beastie Boys costume!!!

In the meantime, if you need any help remembering why Adam Yauch was awesome, go here.

Wow. Thanks. I'm not quite sure how we've pulled this off five times in a row, but once again we've been voted #1 blog in the Montreal Mirror's Best of Montreal poll. Either you really, genuinely love us, or we have a name that's easy to remember. Or something in between. Nonetheless, we really, genuinely love you, our readers, and we're exceedingly happy to keep bringing you our coverage of the best stuff this city has to offer. Even if you stopped voting for us, we wouldn't stop working for you. That's a promise.

All our love in 2012 and beyond,

The Midnight Poutine Crew

The next Midnight Poutine showcase is soon upon us. Once again, we'll be entering the outside world to bring music directly to you, the (presumably) real people who read our site. When preparing for the event, I took a moment to talk with our opener, Prime Cuts, who will be kicking things off with their unique brand of drum and synth music. Many people might recognize Riley Fleck from the Arbutus Records band TOPS behind the kit. This is his project outside of that band, and on Saturday, we'll get one of their rare performances.

The third Saturday in April is Record Store Day. It's a day for supporting the treasured but endangered ritual of purchasing real recordings from real people in a real place. There shouldn't just be one day for it, but hey, there are plenty of deserving things that don't get a day at all. (Cheese Day, anyone?)