Last month was late, this month is early, whatever, it's more JRG in yr grill, this month featuring the talents of two of the city's strangest minds: SHERWIN TJIA and RIVER CHARETTE. Come check them out, then enter the Arena that is the open mic. Is that guy dressed like a French military officer supposed to be here? Okay, but what about the guy in hospital scrubs with his face covered in bandages? No one knows. But you yourself can have five mins at the mic as long as you don't do a "tight five" or play a goddamn ukulele alright? Free, PWYC IYC, sign up when you get here.
SAHBĀ SAD and MAX SHOHAM are yr featured performers this month. The rest of the show will be... God just the usual total disaster. You get five mins tops (three mins is even better), you can do whatever you want except play music (unless it's extremely fucked up or so strange it makes people cry) or do standup. It's free, but throw some change in the jar for the performers. Sign up when you get here. See ya? See ya.
The city's most mannerly and decorous open mic returns for its 15th edition on March 12: prose welcome, poetry welcome, strange performance art nonsense welcome, just don't bring a god'amn ukulele. The show's free, but the featured performers are paid out of pocket, so consider throwing some change in the pitcher. You get five minutes, and the signup opens up whenever the host gets to the venue. And about those features: WILLIAM VALLIÈRES (author of Verses from Signal Editions) is one of the city's finest lyric poets, while ELIO IANNI (author of FAT LUCK AND FUZZY SONG from Apt. 9 Press), coming up all the way up from Toronto, will be sharing some truly idiosyncratic minimalist poems, possibly from one long, Jack Kerouac-ass typewritten scroll. IG handle is @noukuleles , see you, see you.
Laughably late announcement here, but the damn old open mic is this Thursday with the whole fuckin reading for five minutes at a time and whatnot (no ukes, no acoustic guitars, no standup). We got PAIGE COOPER (author of Zolitude), recently returned to Montreal, plus the delightful KALDEN RANGDROL DHATSENPA, author of his own destiny and also California: Above, Everything Else from @discordia.review . Come 'round, come 'round.
JANUARY 29 at HEMI G
8 p.m. $10 / PWYC
Alright, JRG Productions (totally real, we have offices) Presents a rager in solidarity with the "Palestine 13" activists who are currently facing charges stemming from the James Administration Building protest at McGill in June 2024—AKA we're gonna donate some money to help them keep their lawyers. We'll be adding some more names, but expect feverish rhythms from the windmill that is DIRTY MILK, a little solo stuff from PUBERTY WELL's MONA GENDRON, some live swordfighting in the pit from local fencers EVELYN TURPIN and ROSEMARY DAVIES, poems from returning champion of Montréal GWEN AUBE, an a/v journey into the bowels of American imperialism by Discordia Review's JACK DANIEL CHRISTIE, and some sort of something by yr ol' friend Jimmer, whose birthday it is. Come have a good time for a good cause.
Ay, show's comin' up quick, definitely didn't book the acts in the last hour! SABRINA PAPANDREA and REBECCA LAWRENCE LYNCH will read, you lucky sods. You get five minutes, do something brave or stupid, see you soon.
Alright, last one for the year, year anniversary gig. In lieu of a regular feature, yr host will be reading a selection of Good Poems by (mostly) Canadians from the past few years, followed by the usual open mic situation. You get five mins, don't play an instrument, that's about it in terms of rules. Sign up when you get here, see you in he(mi).
JRG's late this month, and there are probably 23 other lit events by mags called like EFFLUVIUM and TON PIQUANT and LITTLE HORSE, but who gives, come here instead, it's more fun. We'll have the sly dangertaped of dangertaped.com fame (possibly slinging a new zine) and the screaming marionette known only as JONATHAN, plus the open mic that most resembles a honeybee beset by a parasitic worm flying into a spiderweb sparkling with dew, or something like that. You get five minutes (tops), don't play a guitar or uke or do standup, sign up when you get here. Bye.
Let's start with what you can't do: play a ukulele, or an acoustic guitar, or do a stand-up "tight five." What's left then? Pretty much anything (poetry, prose, screaming, etc.). A sign-up list will be made available night of, you get up to 5 minutes to quiver and thrum. Our features will be the excellent Jessica Bebenek, author of the recent collection No One Knows Us There, and all the way up from Toronto (by way of Ireland) Miles Forrester, the chief historian of Slow Town. We will also have a small tribute to Jay Ryan Gobuty, the "JRG" of JRG, who passed away last year. See yas.
