Trip to Montreal, Quebec, Canada (Day 2, Part 3)

"No matter what anyone says
I think we´re beautiful
The most beautiful in the world..."


Warrior Soul- "Here's To the Losers"


We left off in my hotel room, where I was resting for a bit before heading out to another part of Montreal, the Mount Royal neighborhood. I had heard that this was the neighborhood for all the artists, the musicians, the Bohemians, the rejects, the riff raff, the outsiders. In other words, my people! While a lot of you may consider me clean cut and straight laced, I am a rock musician that plies my trade in an avant garde rock band. My personal beliefs may be different than many people in my field, but I don't see that as an issue when I am playing music. Music is art, art is expression, art is joy, and art is beauty. I am an artist, and race, creed, color, and political ideology evaporates for me when I am among fellow musicians and artists. We are all out trying to make this crazy world a little more tolerable for us to live in, and we all have to stick together because we are fighting for the same goal: to be heard and to be noticed. Anyway, I digress. Back to Mount Royal.


I cannot underestimate the value of having a Metro station within easy walking distance from the hotel. It made every trip to a different part of the city a pleasure. After getting off of the train and heading up to street level, I felt a different feeling in the air. Someone was playing an acoustic guitar. A produce stand was selling fresh fruits and vegetables. This neighborhood had a vibe that reminded me of Greenwich Village or St. Marks in New York City. It was gritty, but it was also beautiful. I had a good feeling music and groovy vintage clothing finds would be ripe for the taking here.


My goodness, did I feel out of place though. I might be a musician, but I did not look the part at all. In my white T-shirt, shorts, and (ugh) fanny pack, I felt like the high school nerd that I had been trying to avoid being in the years since my graduation. I did my best to blend in with the rockers and the Bohemians but I still stuck out like a sore thumb as I walked along sipping on a soda that came with my lunch (which I had at Valentines in Complexe Desjardins before I headed to the Metro). I was missing my faded torn jeans and leather jacket like Linus misses his blanket when it is in the washing machine. Still, the picturesque environs took my mind off of my square summer fashion and I walked about snapping some pictures of murals on the buildings.

I found my way to an interesting little record shop called Sound Central, which was run by a really nice guy. Found some good records in there as well, Gerry Rafferty's classic album City To City, the Styx album Kilroy Was Here, and a live album by prog supergroup UK. I knew one way or another, I would not be leaving Mount Royal without some vinyl.

After I left Sound Central, I walked back towards the Metro, because it was just too hot to really enjoy the vibe of this unique neighborhood. Then, I passed by a thrift store. Hmm, one of my goals was to find a really cool jacket up here, maybe I will. Up on the top rack in the thrift shop, right next to each other were two that caught my eye. One was black and reminded me of the jackets that Tony Iommi wore on stage with Black Sabbath, fringes and all. However, I ended up going with my second choice, a distressed brown leather jacket which has since become my go to jacket for my daily travels.

Now that I was toting a decent amount of goods, I had to make a trip back to my hotel so I could drop everything off. Yet, I wanted to hang around at least for a little bit and take everything in. Curse this hot weather, this is Canada! It's supposed to be cooler.

If I ever make another trip up here, Mount Royal is definitely a neighborhood I am visiting again, and if you are a musician or an artist, you would be a fool not to. Alas, the intense heat of the day made me beat a hasty retreat back to my hotel to drop stuff off, cool down, and change shirts yet again before I headed out to a restaurant for dinner that I had been dying to check out for a long time. I am saving the details of that meal for my next blog post.


Also, if you missed it, I am in a band. If you want to check out our work, visit us at www.clarkssecretidentity.com . Maybe one day we will have a gig in Montreal!


To be continued...