Podcamp Montreal took place this past weekend and brought a host of media-savvy weirdos together. Podcamp bills itself as the "New Media UnConference", and the seminars are primarily for people creating podcasts or deeply engaged in social media applications who want to know what else their community is doing.

This was my first time attending the event, and I had a good time, gettin' my learn-on.

One participant interviewed experts - six cats - about the M60

The Sala Rossa was full to standing-room-only capacity for the the second night of M60: Montreal's 60 Second Film Festival. The second annual edition of the event saw 74 film-makers screening their pieces on the theme of Deception for peers, friends and fans, in a fast-moving, entertaining evening.

What can you do in 60 seconds? Other than read this post, or reply to Viagra spam?

The second-annual edition of the Montreal 60 Second Film Festival (or, coolly abbreviated as: M60) kicks off tomorrow and continues through September 9, 10, and 11, 2009.

This Suoni event involved a lovely Saturday evening in the Casa, bolstered by four acts that could best be described as post-folk, as the day’s crushing heat receded. I stayed by the door, enjoying a cross-breeze and a few pints as the show got underway. You will note that this review is too long, but I am obliged to say that the evening was as well. While each act was skilled and offered a unique variation on blues and folk motifs, a showcase of four experimental artists was simply too much. I found each successive artist suffered from audience attrition, and the show slipped into the wee hours before the headliners were ready to perform.

(photo of Faust getting his young-on, in a very dark Sala Rossa)

Boston art-rockers Cul de Sac made their first visit to Montreal this weekend, taking part in the (thus far) stellar Suoni Per Il Popolo festival. In a completely darkened Sala Rossa, the quartet used guitar, drums, violin, synth, bass, some samples and various percussion instruments to provide the soundtrack for F.W. Murnau’s 1926 silent film, Faust. Based on the Goethe piece, Faust tells the story of a man who sells his soul to the devil, in exchange for youth and the chance at gaining the love of Gretchen, ein lokaler hottie (a local hottie).

For their part, Cul de Sac provided a rollicking, layered score, weaving together everything from the minimal creaking of a bow across violin strings, to two- and three-part accompaniment, to full-on rocking numbers. It was an afternoon that showed the potential of instrumental music to move beyond being “interesting” and become something transformative.

(Prekop, Prewitt and a LOT of dudes)

While the Sea & Cake are an odd fit with the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival, it didn’t seem to bother the sell-out crowd at Sala. Boasting what can be described as “civilized set times” (ie: early start, and unlike so many shows, actually running on time), this night offered two Chicago bands that balanced clean, pop songwriting with smart changes and an intricate layering of instruments. This was a night of refreshing understatement, and it’s funny how significant that can be.

First on the bill were the Zincs, who are a traditional four-piece (2 guitars, bass and drums) with a computer thrown in every so often for texture. They played twangy indierock that reminded me (at times) of the Wedding Present, or like the Shins if Mark Kozelek were singing.

The second night of Suoni Per Il Popolo brought us a triple bill of weird, shamanistic outsider-folk music at the Sala Rossa. With gear spread all over the stage and floor of the venue, the audience members were positioned at tables that basically blended into the performance area, making for more than one near mishap as the night went by. Watch out for the guy dressed as a wizard waving voodoo scarecrows at you, or the guitarist swinging a skull-topped-staff at high speeds above his head, or the drummer tripping over the audience members’ feet and crashing headfirst into his drum kit – twice - as the show goes gets going.

Now that’s my kind of folk music…

Ah, Mutek. Where else can so many disaffected people find community?

Mutek's Thursday night’s Nocturne performances focussed on international dubstep artists, bringing out enough deep bass to shake the crack dens right out of lower St-Laurent, and knock street signs sideways like loose teeth.

Dubstep, for the uninitiated, is a relatively newish sub-genre of electronic music, taking inspiration from reggae dub, UK 2-Step and Garage music. Dubstep is typically mid-tempo (read: more head-nodding than glowstick-waving), and combines minimalist arrangements and syncopated percussion over phenomenally deep bass tones that seem to pull all the air from the room. It is a very physical sound, and if the crowd at the SAT is any indication, greatly enjoyed by its enthusiasts.

And I mean greatly enjoyed...

The Montreal Mirror has announced its Best of Montreal winners, as voted on by you, the jaded public.

Midnight Poutine, in perfect Midnight Poutine fashion, finished second in the category of Best Blog. We’re Number Two! Thank you to everyone who voted for us, and to those readers who regularly visit the blog and give us their feedback on the pieces we write. It is very cool to be bringing home the silver. That’s why we do what we do…and why we shamelessly promote ourselves.

Stay tuned to Midnight Poutine in the coming weeks for coverage of the Mutek and Suoni Per Il Popolo music festivals, great restaurant reviews, arts and film coverage, and more of the smarmtastic writing that you’ve come to expect from Midnight Poutine.

Again, thank you to everyone who cast their vote for Midnight Poutine this year. It is really appreciated.

A couple of years ago, my accomplice and I were in New York for Christmas, arriving the day before the New York Transit Strike brought the entire city to a halt. What was interesting to us (other than completely unfettered access to galleries that would usually be stuffed at that time of year) was how New Yorkers came together during the strike. People on the street were voicing their support of the union, cabbies offered flat-rates for travel within Manhattan, and the city mandated that no cars could enter midtown without at least four occupants, which made carpools essential.

So, what are Montrealers doing?

It would seem that the STM Transit Strike is as inevitable as endless Spiderman sequels (and probably about as predictable).

According to the Canadian Public Transit Discussion Board, the strike is planned for May 22 (this coming Tuesday), and will seriously curtail bus and Metro service during the week, and completely eliminate Metro service on the weekend.

But is there hope of a strike being avoided? Uh...probably not...

This Week in Blogs, Stevey posts about the cost of the Iraq War ($456 billion), and what, according to the Boston Globe, some of that money could be better used for.

Some suggestions from the Boston Globe include: free gasoline for every American for 1.2 years, 14.5 million free tuitions to Harvard University, and Medicare benefits for every American for a year. Also of note, Midnight Poutine’s financial analysts crunched some numbers and found that $456 billion would buy “a lot” of poutine.

More about Montreal and money…