The 2025 Christmas holiday season in Montreal kicked off in a festive, colourful manner on November 22 with the 73rd annual Santa Claus Parade. Thousands of people of all ages lined up along the route that ran through Rene Levesque Boulevard West between Drummond and St.Urbain streets, as they witnessed the procession that included eight full-sized floats, two mini-floats and eight themed performances, as well as marching bands and dancers from Montreal’s many ethnic communities. Also on hand were a number of special guests, including Habs mascot Youppi!, the Grinch, singers from the hit TV show Star Academie, Montreal registered nurse and boxing champion Kim Clavel — who was deemed as this year’s Star Fairy of the parade, and of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus. The parade was sponsored by Montreal Centre Ville, Tim Hortons, Complexe Desjardins, Coca-Cola, the Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Rythme 106.7, CKOI 96.9, The Beat 92.5, the Montreal en Lumiere Festival, Tourisme Montreal and the Government of Quebec. Report and photos by @stuartnulman
Happy heavenly birthday Don Rickles! This photo was taken backstage at the St. Denis Theatre in Montreal during the 1998 Just For Laughs festival. Not bad for a hockey puck!
Next Monday, Canada will experience another federal election for a new government. One of the Liberal Party candidates is Rachel Bendayan, who is running for a third mandate as a Member of Parliament (MP) in the Outremont riding. I have known Rachel for almost 30 years, going back to when she was a member of BBYO in Montreal, where she was elected to serve as Regional N'siah (President) in 1997-98.
Since then she worked as a lawyer, and is probably one of the hardest working MPs I have ever seen. She is always a constant presence for her constituents in particular or the Canadian people in general, whether it be throughout her riding, in the House of Commons in Ottawa, or as a cabinet minister.
Good luck to you on Monday, Rachel!
I have been a fan of the James Bond movies since 1969 (when I was six) and the Ian Fleming novels since the age of 16. I have read every one of them and collected the US and UK paperbacks from the 1960s. I even had one of his nonfiction books, The Diamond Smugglers. Fleming published another nonfiction time, a collection of travel pieces called Thrilling Cities. It has eluded me for years. That is, until today.
During a visit to the Montreal Antiquarian Book Fair, I stumbled upon an almost pristine copy of the book, which was the US hardcover edition from 1964. The price for it was right --$20-- and I immediately purchased it. Owing to the fact that other Bond books I saw today that ranged in price between $50 and $250, this was quite a bargain.
The Book Hunter strikes again!!!!
Do you think Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most mean-spirited literary characters? Wait until you meet Professor C.D. Beekman, the protagonist of Steven Paul Leiva's latest novel The Person Who Hated People. Check out my review of the book at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
1960 was quite a monumental year for John F. Kennedy...in more ways than one. Find out why from these two recent releases about the 35th President of the United States, which I reviewed on my latest blog post at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
All in the Family. Sanford and Son. Maude. Good Times. The Jeffersons. One Day at a Time. These are some of the legendary 70s sitcoms that were produced by TV pioneer Norman Lear. Tripp Whetsell's biography Norman Lear: His Life and Times offers a fascinating, behind-the-laughter look at this marvelous and controversial career in television. Read my review at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
Believe it or not, summer is coming to Montreal with some upcoming summer festival news, including the announcement of the lineup for this year's Osheaga festival, in which Gracie Abrams (pictured) will be one of the many performers who will certainly amaze the crowd at Parc Jean Drapeau this August. Read all about it at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
Former Monty Python member Eric Idle is quite the Renaissance man. And in his latest book The Spamalot Diaries, he exhibits his talents as a playwright, songwriter and diarist, as he traces the evolution of his hit Tony Award winning musical Spamalot from page to stage. Read more about it at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
So far, Frieda McFadden has published 23 books that have sold over 6 million copies...with more to come. The Boyfriend is a recent addition to the McFadden phenomenon. Read my review of this engrossing chiller-thriller at stuartnulmansgrapevine.wordpress.com.
