Interview with Chéli (Part 1)

I'll admit it: I'm a fan. I love television, movies, music--the whole 9 yards. I soak up pop culture and celebrity gossip like a sponge and now, thanks to this site, I've met my first bonafide Québécois celebrity! Technically she's franco-ontarienne, but I'm not going to quibble over details. Now given the fact that I haven't done an interview, face-to-face, in quite some time, I was pretty nervous. Remember how I said I could probably pull off doing the interview in French? Um, yeah. Forget I said that. It felt like my whole vocabulary left my head in the first 5 seconds. Heck, I couldn't even introduce myself properly. «Je suis Alan» is about as fifth grade as you can get. Nice to see that Minor in French paid off, eh?

Thankfully, Chéli is a sweetheart. As we went upstairs to find some place a bit more quiet, I stammered out something about how nervous I was and she just smiled, grabbed my arm and said, "Why be nervous? Let's go shoot the shit." That's when I realised everything would be just fine. We ended up sitting in what I guess would be the staff lunch room. It's definitely a shame that I didn't have more time (and more cassette tapes) because I would have loved to capture more of our conversation for posterity. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

Anyway, I gave her a brief overview of what I'm trying to do with this site and showed her the list of questions I had prepared. I wasn't sure how much she had been told prior to the interview, so I thought it would be a good gesture on my part. After all, she was taking time out of her schedule to talk to me. The least I could do is make sure my questions were clear. So after a quick test of my recorder, we got started. What follows is the transcript of my interview with Chéli, so get comfortable.

***

AL B: So I'm here with Chéli de Musique Plus. Chéli, thank you very much for the interview.

Chéli: My pleasure.

AL B: I've got some questions, if you don't mind. Let's start off with some of the more general ones. My audience tends to be more anglophone than francophone, so chances are pretty good they don't pick up Musique Plus on their local cable.

Chéli: Sure.

AL B: Okay, so, um, where are you from?

Chéli: Originally, I'm from Ottawa. I'd lived there my whole life and when I was 21, after university, I moved to Montreal because I wanted to start a career in television. I studied journalism and I knew that TV was the medium for me. I had done radio and I had done written press at the university and that's when I found out that TV was what interested me the most.

AL B: Okay, so when did you start at Musique Plus?

Chéli: I started in September 2002, which would make me in my fourth year right now. I'm not saying that the school isn't good or that the program wasn't good, but let me tell you, I learned more in one year at Musique Plus than in 3 and a half years of university.

AL B: So how did you learn that you got the job as a VJ? Like, did somebody call you... ?

Chéli: Actually, it was really lucky. I mean, a lot of it has to do with contacts nowadays. That's why I'm always telling kids when they come and see me and ask me about it, I always tell them: don't be afraid of making contacts because that's the best way. Market yourself. A lot of it has to do with PR. There was a friend of mine who knew somebody who worked here as a videographer, so they gave me his phone number. I called him and he said, "Listen, send me your CV with a picture and, I won't guarantee anything, but we can try it out..." So that's what I did.

I sent my CV with a picture and then, maybe 3 weeks later, they called me. One of the producers, or at that time she was a producer, called me and said, "We're looking for on-air personalities." I was floored by this because I was ready to be a concierge here. I was ready to do anything here, just to be IN Musique Plus! So she said, "First we want to see if it's worth doing a screen test." So before even testing me out in front of a camera, they wanted to meet and see how I was. So we met for 15 minutes, then I did a screen test. They gave me a few things to prepare, so I did that, and then the last part of it was to meet the Vice-President of Musique Plus, Pierre Marchand, and then a month later they told me I had the job. I was pretty lucky.

AL B: Okay, so when you first found out you got it, like when you FIRST heard the news, what was the first thing you did?

Chéli: Oh God! Well, the way they did it was interesting because they wanted to film it. They wanted to show, on air, how some of us went through it, so they made me come in, along with another girl that has the job now (they hired about 5 of us at the same time), and when they called me I thought that this was it. I had the job. The way they were talking on the phone, it sounded pretty good. "Come in, we just need to finalize some things." So I get here and go to a conference room and I'm with the other girl who got the job and then about 5 other girls show up. I'm like, "Geez, I thought I had the job, but I guess not. It's still a competition." What I didn't know was that these other girls were just posing there. They were girls that already worked here. So they made us do this test and I mean it was a really hard written test with Claude Rajotte. I don't know if you know Claude Rajotte...

AL B: Um, not at this point, no...

Chéli: He's like a Musique Plus icon because he was here from the beginning on and he knows like, everything, about music, so it was kind of intimidating to have him ask us the questions. We had to write down [the answers] . All this was being filmed and as I'm writing the questions, I barely wrote any answers 'cause I didn't even know HALF the answers to these questions. In my head, I was going, "Well, at least they they still have the screen test..." To me, I didn't have the job, but they knew all along that I had it. So when they announced that, "Okay, you guys have the job," the first thing I did is, I immediately ran all the way from here, which is Bleury, to Crescent Street 'cause I worked at a place called New Town. I think I lost about 10 lbs running! So I just came in and went into the office and they knew right away 'cause the knew I was trying out. They were like, "Okay, so when are you quitting?" And I was like, "Next Monday! I have to be at work on Monday!" So they were very nice and the whole thing was a great experience.

AL B: Cool, cool. Now obviously you would have imagined what your daily life would be like as a VJ before you got the job...

Chéli: I did, but it wasn't the same.

AL B: So then, what is the biggest difference between what you imagined and what the reality is?

Chéli: Um, I would say that we easily do 60 hours a week here and you don't realise it. I had never done really practical work. It was all theoretical in university, so to actually do journalism, that's one part of my job. Not only do we prepare all the questions for the artists, we do the interview and then we're the ones who do the editing. So that, in itself, takes a lot of time. Then the thing with me is, because I'm a VJ, I also prepare my live stuff. So between editing and preparing live, you're all over the map. I think it's more the practical work of it all that I didn't expect. It's also, I mean 4 years later, it's the people recognizing you on the street or you're buying groceries and people are just talking to you. I always think I studied with them or something. They approach me right away and I'm always thinking, "Hey! Alright, do I know this person?" So that, too. I'm not used to that.

***

Alright folks, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, I'm going to stop here. In the next installment, Chéli and I discuss Québécois culture, the differences between MuchMusic and Musique Plus and assorted other goodies. Continue to Part 2 Here.

The Big Day

Oui, mes chères amies et amis, le grand jour est arrivé! I've just gotten back from doing my interview at Musique Plus! I must have checked my pockets a dozen times or more over the course of the day, making sure I had my pocket recorder and list of questions with me. It would be typical of me to forget something important like that and have to race back to the apartment. Thankfully, I had everything present and accounted for.

To be honest, there was a part of me that was sure the interview would get cancelled or rescheduled, presuming they let me do it at all. But with each step towards the corner of rue Ste-Catherine and Bleury, it became more and more of a reality. I did get one last scare, though. I checked in at the reception area and waited patiently as they called the VJ. In moments, one of my favorite on-air personalities came bounding through the door. Then there was a look of confusion as I introduced myself.

"Oh crap," I thought. "Something's up."

Then the "Powers that Be" smiled on me from above as she remembered our appointment. Après quelques instants, je jasais avec la merveilleuse Chéli Sauvé-Castonguay! How cool is that, huh? I assure you all that I'll get the interview posted as quickly as possible, but as you can imagine it's pretty tough to transcribe 40 minutes of material recorded on a cassette tape. I think I got a lot of good material, so I may very well have to break it up into 2 parts. Guess we'll see when I review the tape. to be continued...

What's In a Name?

I’m sure by now that you’ve noticed the moniker I’ve been using on here since I started this little site, so I thought I would shed some light on how and why I chose the name I did. I’ve had surprisingly few nicknames over the years, so there wasn’t an automatic choice. Of course my Fraternity brothers would likely bring up one that, despite their best efforts, never quite stuck, at least to my face. It had to do with certain lapses in judgement on my part at a few of our parties but, needless to say, wouldn’t exactly be what I would consider appropriate for an online identity.

Inspired by the rather clever title of Paige’s blog, C’est What? (Yes, I’m mentioning her site again; deal with it.), I decided I needed something catchy. That’s when it hit me: Al B Sure. I would now like to apologize for the disappointment I’ve been causing fans of the 80s R&B singer who occasionally surf by, hoping for news of their beloved artist. As you can tell, I’m not him. I get a little extra traffic out of using it but since I’m not making any money off this endeavour, I think the gods of trademark infringement will cut me some slack.

Truth be told, I have been called Al B Sure in the past. It was back in the eleventh grade, if memory serves. Chris’ uncle Bob had rented out a local elementary school gymnasium with a few old friends in order to get in some exercise, so to make things more interesting, he invited out his sons and nephew, which then led to me joining in on the fun. I think that regular readers of my blog know that basketball is a passion of mine, well this how my illustrious playing career got started.

I’ve never been one to massage my own ego (or ID or super-ego for that matter), so I’ll admit it: I’m not a good basketball player. I never learned the basic fundamentals in a team environment, so at that point I was far less coordinated than someone who’d been playing for years. My shots would have so much backspin on them that the guys would swear they could hear a buzzing sound after I let the ball go. I like to think I’ve improved a fair bit since then, though I would probably still be the 8th man on a high school basketball team. Every team needs someone who can deliver the hard foul, after all.

I was a pretty sharp contrast to Chris’ cousins and their friends, who each played basketball at some level prior to our weekly battles. I’m not sure if it was Mike or Todd who gave me the nickname Al B Sure. Just an FYI, Mike is Chris’ cousin and Todd was a buddy of his from grade school. Looking back, I shudder at the handle Todd gave himself: Darkman. Good thing he came up with that one himself, otherwise we’d all be in a heap of trouble. Imagine a group of white kids naming the only black player “Darkman”? Geez.

At any rate, I was Al B to them. Come to think of it, the name may have come from repeated exasperation at my poor on-court decision-making. “Al! Why the hell are you taking that shot?!? BE SURE next time!!!” Ah well. At least I had fun, right? So it’s with these fond memories in mind that I took up the mantle of Al B Sure and named my site Al B Here For You. So there you have it… til next time!

The Blogsphere

I know very little about blogs or "successful blogging," so I'm not going to try and throw together one of those How to Blog posts. Seems like everyone tries to put their own spin on what Tony Pierce came up with a couple of years back. Even Al B Here's favorite French Teacher from Minnesota, Michèle from Voix de Michèle tried her hand at blogging advice once upon a time. The topic has been beaten to death, so I'm not going to bother wasting your time or mine trying to come up with something profound. Instead I'm going to share my thoughts on this odd little pastime of mine, blogging.

I've come to the conclusion that blogging isn't all that different from high school. Whether anyone wants to admit it, we all want to be popular. We want to express ourselves and have others think we're cool. Is Tony the best writer in the world? No. But he's got a weekly following of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10, 000 hits per week, so he must be doing something right. I don't even approach that number, despite the constant visits by Morgan and the rest of the London crew.

If blogging is like the school cafeteria, then Tony would be sitting at the "cool" table with the jocks, cheerleaders and assorted other seniors. I'm not sure how big his network of contacts really is, but there's a mutual admiration society thing going on and with each new registration to a blog site, his audience seems to grow. He tries to maintain a quid pro quo approach to link exchanges, though I imagine that's tough to do with the volume of links he receives. That's how I ran across the blogs of both Michèle and Phil Renauld.

Glancing around the cafeteria, you'd see a table of hot girls. You know the ones. They're a little younger, usually sophomores or juniors, but you know that they'll be next in line to join the "cool" ranks. That's where you'll find Paige of C'est What?. She doesn't get near the traffic that Tony does, but she's developed a pretty loyal following of her own and has the support of Tony and Raymi. Like anything else in this world, it's connections that count when you're trying to increase blog traffic. I won't pretend that every entry is brilliant, but she's talented and keeps me entertained.

I'm not even going to try and classify Raymi. She's a phenomenon of her own. You'll either love or hate her style; there's really no middle ground. Either way, she won't care what you think. She's definitely got her own little corner of the "cool" table. There are a number of other bloggers that are somehow connected to Raymi and/or Tony and thus benefit from the sheer volume of traffic. Raymi's boyfriend, Fil, would probably get a fair amount of traffic on his own, but being hooked up with Raymi certainly doesn't hurt his exposure.

So where does Al fit into this whole dynamic? Near as I can figure, I would probably be the equivalent of the A/V team (making my current employment all the more appropriate, non?). I've been at this since late December and have been trying to find an audience beyond my own immediate circle of friends. So like many of us out there, I've turned to sites like BlogExplosion and Blogmad to increase my exposure. This is pretty much telemarketing for blogs. Users surf these sites and earn credits based on the number of sites they visit. These credits are then translated into visits from other users of the site. All you can do is hope that people stay longer than the requisite 30 seconds or so and that an audience develops. Not particularly effective, by any means, but I've run across blogs like Underneath the Mask so I suppose that makes it worth the mind numbing hours spent channel surfing the blogs. I have no idea if I've grown my audience at all through either of these sites, so feel free to leave a comment to introduce yourself if you've come though either of these sites. Chances are good that I'll link to your site.

Anyway, that's all for now. Til next time...

One Week from Today...

Looking at the calendar today, I got a wee bit nervous. At this time next week, I'll be down at the Musique Plus building on rue Ste-Catherine doing my long-awaited interview with a VJ. My close friends already know which one got selected by the "Powers that Be" in PR down at the station, but I think I'll leave the rest of you in suspense for the moment. In terms of the interview itself, I've been debating back and forth whether I should do it in French or English. On the one hand, I'm pretty confident that I could pull it off in French. The main problem would be transcribing it here for my audience. On the other hand, I wouldn't want to alientate my readers from the great state of Texas, who seem to take a fair amount of joy in cutting me off at the knees when rating my blog.

Yes, dear friends, ol' Al still wants to entertain the broadest audience he can, despite the obvious limits of the subject matter. So for all you cattle ranchers and oil barons out there, who really don't give a damn about Quebec or Quebecois culture, I'm going to do the interview in English. Truth be told, I'm also too lazy to do the additional translation if I included both English and French versions, so I'm still being self-serving while accomodating you folks. The Al in Al B Here isn't short for altruistic by any means.

Now in terms of the actual content, I think I'm going to try and keep it light. Sure, there's always the temptation to ambush a celebrity (no matter how well known) with some sort of bizarro world question, meant to completely embarrass them, but I'm sincerely psyched up about getting a chance to do this. I'm not going to repay the opportunity by pulling some low class stunt. I've done interviews in the past, but this is certainly the highest profile person I've had the chance to sit down and talk to... who knows how many times I'll get a shot at this. Better make it count, right? At any rate, it's something to look forward to. Til next time...

Site Housekeeping

I had a little time to kill tonight, so I decided to try and get my site in order. I didn't do anything earth-shattering, but regular readers may notice I've put links to some of my more "popular" entries on the right side. This way you won't have to go hunting through the archives to find and continue the ongoing debates. This will allow new visitors to join in the fun, as well. Til next time...

St Patty's Day au Québec

Ah, St Patrick's Day! The day when college students of all ethnicities and backgrounds somehow claim a piece of Irish heritage while sucking back pints upon pints of green beer. I've celebrated many such nights in my hometown of London, Ontario, but having moved to Montreal, I was looking forward to seeing how a true party city, like Montreal, would handle it. Truth be told, I'm a wee bit disappointed.

I think it's pretty fair to say that les Québécois, en particulier les Montréalais, know how to throw a good party, so what's the deal with St Patty's Day?!? I talked to Phil tonight and he decided to get a few of his buddies together to raise a few glasses in one of the Irish pubs downtown. The location of choice was one I was, oddly enough, quite familiar with: Mclean's Pub on Peel St. I hadn't been there since November of 2004 when Dré and I were in town to see Cagibi and celebrate my 30th birthday, but it left a lasting impression (mostly on my liver, I'm sure).

As we were walking down rue Ste-Catherine, we could see a massive line up for the Peel Pub, so we figured we might be in for more of the same at Mclean's. We could see a small lineup, but this was just smoke and mirrors. Though the place was busy, it was a far cry from the drunken chaos I've seen in years past at Molly Bloom's or the Brass Door Irish Pub in London. The weren't any open tables on the main floor, partly because of the imitation Irish band that was playing, so we were ushered upstairs. Truth be told, there wasn't much to see upstairs. There still weren't many available tables and there was a bit of a wait to play either foosball or pool, but it was missing the atmosphere of a good ol' Irish drunkfest. I blame this on the fact that they didn't disconnect the jukebox, thus allowing some doorknobs to play crap like Sean Paul. Nothing says luck o' the Irish like mainstream, corporately sanitized dancehall music.

After finishing my second beer, I headed back downstairs to listen to the band. Maybe I've been spoiled in my life when it comes to Irish drinking tunes, but these guys were pretty lousy. Sure, they got the crowd involved, but I hope they aren't trying to make a living off of their performances. One thing did occur to me as I listened to a tune about Whiskey: there isn't THAT much difference between traditional Irish music and la musique traditionnelle québécoise. The instruments are pretty much the same (ie. guitar, fiddle, etc), the general tunes and rhythm are similar. It's just the language and the content. The Irish seem to sing mainly about alcohol while the Québécois sing about farming. Make them instumental and I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two.

I was surprised to learn one thing, though. Apparently Montreal holds its own St Patrick's Day parade. This year it falls on March 19th so I'll be sure to avoid Ste-Cat that day. All in all, I expected more. I wonder what St Jean-Baptiste day will be like...

The Perfect Woman

Back in 1985, when I was a wee lad of 11 years old, John Hughes came out with a film called Weird Science, yet another movie starring Anthony Michael Hall. I tell you, Hughes was singlehandedly responsible for that little pipsqueak having anything resembling a career in showbiz, but I digress. This was a bizarre little movie about two geeks who use their home computer to build themselves their idea of the Perfect Woman. Their choice for the lead actress? Kelly LeBrock. Pretty lofty praise for a woman who ended up marrying Steven Seagal. Based on that act alone I believe she disqualifies herself from consideration as the perfect woman. With all this witty bashing amongst friends this past week, I figured the time was right to talk about the kind of woman I'm looking for.

In my university days, I had a major thing for cheerleaders. For those who don't know, Western boasts an ongoing undefeated streak in Canadian cheerleading competitions, back since they started the competitions 20 years ago. The girls on the team are tiny, perky, amazingly toned and can do standing back flips on demand. What's not to love? The thing is, there are only about 12 of them on a campus of 26, 000 students, so the chances of me scoring with one were pretty much nil.

Now what's the next best thing to cheerleaders? Strippers! But I'm not going to go there. I can already hear the telltale snikt snikt of claws being bared by my female audience, so we'll skip that topic for now.

Instead we'll move on to the girls who truly hold a special place in my heart: the Oarhouse waitresses. It's pretty clear that the management relies heavily on the local co-eds to keep the patrons coming back for more. The pictures seen here are samples of the charity fundraising calendar the girls put together a few years ago to benefit the Humane Society. Natalie (the brunette) and Robin (the blonde) are my all-time favorites. I can't count how many nights I spent at that sports bar, nor can I imagine how much money I dropped there, though there is a running joke amongst my friends that I put several of the girls through school...

Now before you go jumping to too many conclusions here, I would like to point out that I was actually far less superficial in my criteria by this point. Uh-huh. Sure you were. Look at those two! Are you really going to tell me you went there for their personalities?!? Actually, that's precisely why I kept going back. Since I had gained "regular" status, I got to see sides of the girls that typical clients wouldn't. They'd even hang around after their shifts (occasionally after hours, as well) to have a couple drinks with me. These girls were cool. Natalie, in particular, had a great head on her shoulders, knew what she wanted to get out of life (and her education) and busted her ass to get there. Last time I talked to her (shortly before I moved to Quebec) she was getting ready to start a good job at an Accounting firm in Toronto. She's more than a pretty face and a killer body. I think she'll surprise anyone foolish enough to underestimate her.

Anyway, it's because of these girls that I started to look for women who were more than eye candy. Attraction is still important, but intelligence and personality are now more important. Geez, I really DID type that, didn't I? Well, it's true. Ol' Al is mellowing as he moves through his fourth decade on the planet. God help me, I can't really be maturing!?!

Now I'm looking for an equal-- someone who's independent and intelligent, who has the strength of character to stand up for what she believes (push-overs are a waste of my time) and who, just by being herself, inspires me to try and reach my potential. If I can find someone like that, then I'll really have found the perfect woman. Til next time...

Sport and the Quebecois Identity

Okay, now that we've gone through a brief survey of the origin of sports in 18th and 19th century Quebec from the francophone perspective, we can better examine how sport reflects the "national identity" of French-Canadians of that era. First we saw horse racing, initiated by the English and promoted by the governor. Since we know that Quebec was essentially a rural region up until the time of the Quiet Revolution, it's easy to see how the sport was integrated into French-Canadian society. Victory on the track reinforced traditional values and their manner of living. The horses became an extension of the farmer. After all, you had to be doing something right to raise such a powerful steed, right? I'd almost equate it to the sort of pride experienced by farmers who raise the largest pumpkin for the county fair.

We also see the hesitation of French-Canadians to participate in the sports introduced by the anglos. Remember, the failure of the Patriot Rebellion in 1837-38 was still fresh in the collective memory of the people, so it's only natural that they would shun these new British sporting institutions. This resistance was further promoted by the Church, who were terrified that protestant values would sneak their way into the hearts of parishioners who participated in competitive sport.

Now after Confederation, we do see the creation of francophone clubs, which surely indicates that French-Canadians were ready to try and develop a new rapport with English Canada, not only on a political level, but on a social one, as well. Mind you, at the same time, there was also the tendancy to revisit more traditional activities, as we see in the popularity of snowshoeing clubs and canoeing. Remember, these 2 activities were common methods of travel for the coureurs des bois of days gone by. It's not a coincidence that these sports were popular. They invoke the Québécois desire to get back to nature and experience the great open spaces, as their ancestors had. The more "social" (as opposed to competitive) nature of the snowshoeing clubs also reinforce that intangible joie de vivre often used to describe the Québécois.

In Quebec, I've found that there's a bizarre fascination with the American Dream. They love the music, the films, the celebrities. Heck, you'll get more mileage with the girls here by telling them you're a American, rather than an English Canadian (probably the only place n the world that can make such a claim). This fascination has some pretty deep roots and can be seen most readily in the Québécois passion for baseball. I suppose one could interpret the love of baseball as another manifestation of resistance against their English conquerors. By playing baseball, they're rejecting the English regime, represented by the sport of cricket. Instead of baring arms, they choose to wield baseball bats and hope for liberation, as represented by the new American sport.

The fact that they felt the need to create a French vocabulary for sport demonstrates quite clearly that although there was a new agreement with English Canada, the fear of losing their culture and identity remained. By the end of the century, one could say that the anglicizing had started to succeed, at least in the case of hockey, wherein the "social nature" of sports in Quebec had been replaced by the burning passion to win on the ice.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that sport plays a part in the national identity of a country. We can see this through the proliferation of International Games during the 20th century. By examining the origins of the sport in Quebec of 19th century, we gain a new understanding of the collective mentality of French-Canadians of the time. We see that resistance against the domination of the anglos took several forms, whether it be through open rebellion like that of the Patriots, or the choice of the leisure activities, like the interest in the sport of baseball.

The fight to preseve the French language and culture even found its way onto the fields of sport. The changes to sporting vocabulary, launched by the Catholic Church and La Société du Parler Français au Canada, indicate that each facet of the life is significant to the Québécois, no matter how minor it appears to the rest of us. Finally, we see the sense of community present in the ideology of Québécois sport through the formation of more "social" than "competitive" sporting clubs. Although this analysis is obviously elementary, I believe that further research can only help in my quest to understand the modern Québécois point of view. If something as significant as sport is trivialized and overlooked, we may miss out on valuable insight. After all, this sense of alienation they seem to feel didn't happen overnight.

A (maybe not so) brief look at the history of Sport in Quebec

I've been interested in sports for as long as I can remember. I was never a major athlete, by any stretch of the imagination, but one need not be good at something to find it interesting. Most sports fans remember stats of their favorite players or other points of interest, particularly for use in beer-buzzed debates in the local sports bar. So in that way, most fans end up being sport historians. I decided to take this interest a step or two further, thanks in large part to the influence of Dr Kevin Wamsley at UWO. When it came time for me to select a topic for my Introduction to Franco-Canadian and Quebecois Civilization class last summer, the choice became rather obvious: The History of Sport in Quebec.

What follows is a translated and edited version of my research at that time. I've made cuts where necessary, if only because I don't want people's butts to go numb reading through the whole thing. I've also tried to make the language a little less formal so my devoted readers won't get bored. That being said, if you'd like a copy, with references, in the original French, please feel free to e-mail me. Even looking at it now, I know it could use more editing, but whatever.

***
When we study a people or civilization, we usually starts with their history, their religion or their literature, however there's one facet that's less researched and often forgotten, but nonetheless important: their sports. Quebec is not an exception to this practise. Despite the fact that the influence of sports can be felt throughout the province, it's often neglected by the academic community. Since I believe that any study of Québécois civilization would be incomplete without examination of Franco-Canadian pastimes, I'll try and reconstruct some of the origins of modern sport in Quebec, using the available materials.

In discussing the birth of sport in la belle province, I ran into one major obstacle: a lack of detailed reports from certain time periods, particularly pre-Confederation. This leaves us to depend on the few accounts that survive. That being said, sport pops up at the end of the 18th century in the form of horse racing. Considering the agricultural bent of the population, this is hardly a surprise. In fact, it was likely more accesible to the average Francophone farmer than the other "gentlemanly sports" of the English since they were already accustomed to raising horses. The governor of the time, Sir James Craig, encouraged the growth of this sport when, in 1808, he created the "Jean-Baptiste Cup"-- a race specifically for horses raised in Canada by Canadians.

"Modern" sports appear in the 19th century, thanks largely to British immigrants. It was during this time that we see the proliferation of sports in Montreal and the formation of clubs, ranging from curling to rowing to snowshoeing, but these were predominantly anglophone. The main exception to this was the Montreal Olympic Athletic Club, founded in 1841 which included several influential French Canadians. This was also the first club to organize a lacrosse match between white and native competitors. The Montreal Swimming Club was another "integrated" club, offering meetings in both French and English since its founding. It seems a bit odd that a city full of francophones would have so few French sporting clubs, doesn't it?

Donald Guay is one of the leading historians as it pertains to sport in Quebec from the French perspective. He suggests that the absence of francophone sports clubs has to do with a difference in ideology. French Canadians were devout Catholics from farming backgrounds. City life represented industrialization and materialism whereas in the country, they were closer to God. Sport was thought of as a manifestation of the English whose presence threatened the very foundations of the French nation. There was also significant resistance from the Catholic Church, who believed that sporting clubs threatened the family unit. Meetings for sport clubs could draw attention away from family duties, and replace time normally spent with parents, friends and children. But it wasn't just the potential disintegration of the family unit that worried the Church--it was the loss of the French language, as well!

The language of sport was almost exclusively English so, at the beginning of the 20th century, La Société du Parler français au Canada, collaborating with l'Université Laval, started a movement to come up with a french vocabulary for sport. Having watched a fair amount of RDS in my day, I'd say they succeeded on that front. It may seem like a minor detail, but in their opinion, the vocabulary of sport plays a role in the national identity. Sport is something instinctive. To succeed in sport requires rapid reactions. These actions and techniques become part of the athlete. One could say that it becomes part of one's sporting identity as an athlete. Communication also becomes instinctive and the bottomline was that the French didn't want their youth reacting "in English" during matches. They were afraid that constant use of English terminology for communication would lead to an anglicizing of the French youth.

Despite the opposition from the Church, the middle class French Canadians tried to form their own athletic organizations, often using the English model. They bought into the idea that personal development could be achieved through sport and wanted their children to have the same sort of advantages as the English. With this in mind, we find the formation of the first francophone sporting club, Le Club de crosse Champlain de Québec, in 1868. Other clubs followed, with varying degrees of success.

For the better part of the 19th century, French Canadians were disinterested in the traditional English sports, like cricket, but for some reason absolutely adored Baseball. In fact, in 1877 it ranked second behind Lacrosse in terms of both popularity and participation. What's equally interesting is that baseball wasn't particularly popular with the anglophones en ville. Perhaps this was some sort of subconscious protest? By ignoring traditional English sports and adopting an American pastime, were they subtlely thumbing their collective noses at the English?

Hockey was a different matter entirely. Though it began with a few anglophone clubs in the 1870s, it went through an exponential increase in popularity by the end of the century. It went from an anglo-protestant pastime to a full-fledged francophone obsession. French Canadians love hockey. It's become a part of their collective soul. We see its influence in their literature, for example «le Chandail» de Roch Carrier, the success of Les Boys movie franchise and in the public reactions to the deaths of long-retired players like Maurice Richard or, most recently, Bernard "Boob Boom" Geoffrion. Just what sparked their interest is anyone's guess, but it's popularity doesn't show any signs of waning. Once they got hooked on it, they took over. Even today, Québécois players dominate the sport.

There's obviously much more to say on the topic, but I think I'll take a break here. I'll likely chat a bit about Sport as it pertains to "National" identity in future entries... til next time!

Muchmusic versus Musique Plus

My return to London gave me the opportunity to catch up on some of my anglophone TV viewing--an opportunity I've not let go to waste. At the top of my viewing priority list was good ol' MuchMusic. For those of you unfamiliar with the Great White North's pop culture, MuchMusic is our distinctly Canadian version of MTV. Actually, that may not really be accurate. Since MTV has morphed into some sort of haven for reality TV and no longer plays music videos, I guess MuchMusic is more of an MTV2.

At any rate, Much is the flagship station of the CHUM Limited media empire and over its 20-some odd year history, it's become a significant influence on mainstream music in Canada. The original appeal of the station came from its underproduced, seat-of-the-pants style of broadcasting. People would walk through the shots, one would see staff working at their desks. Heck, former VJ Erica Ehm got her start on-air because of viewer response. One of the VJs had walked by the reception desk where Erica was manning the phones and the rest is Canadian broadcast history.

Now around the same time, Québec launched its own francophone music channel: Musique Plus. I had been under the impression that the Powers at CHUM ran the show there, too, but apparently they only control 50% of it. They ran with the same general formula as their English language sister station, but are naturally more concerned with giving music in Québec the attention it lacks in the rest of Canada. I've spent a considerable amount of time watching both channels, but I've come to the conclusion that I prefer the Québécois incarnation.

The easiest way for me to illustrate this is to take a quick look at the MuchMusic VJ Search and contrast that with how Musique Plus did theirs. It seems to me that Much has gone a bit too far this time. In years past, they've run contests to replace their on-air talent--usually in the form of an afternoon game show sort of thing, but this time they're running a 10 week audition process that can only be described as a bastard lovechild conceived during a reality TV orgy. They take 10 final contestants, throw them in a luxury penthouse in downtown Toronto and then send them off on "challenges" that are meant to simulate working conditions. Then they're brought back and assessed on their performance. One by one, they're picked off until we're left with the final candidate.

Watching this drivel made me ill. The set looks like a cross between American Idol and the Apprentice. Then they bring in so-called experts like Robin Black, Kardinal Offishall, former VJ Steve Anthony and some other chick to reduce these folks to quivering masses in front of the Canadian viewing public, à la Simon Cowell. It's tired, it's unoriginal and totally unnecessary. I seriously doubt that a VJ gets paid enough to put up with this nonsense, especially since the majority of the current roster of VJs, like Leah Miller, didn't have to jump through hoops like this! Sarah Taylor got picked out of the audience of Much On Demand for crying out loud! I just hope these guys are getting paid for their time and effort, if not then Much has been getting a whole lot of free labour.

Now let's switch gears and look at the VJ Search, Québécois-style. The folks down at Musique Plus know their audience and know their role in Québec pop culture. They're the voice of Québécois youth, so they left the power in the hands of the viewers. They had a series of contestants host episodes of Plus Sur Commande with the existing cohost and let the public vote on who they liked. That makes good sense to me.

Much's approach to the VJ search is pretty much exactly what I would expect out of a Toronto-based station. Rather than be original, they choose to recycle American garbage. It's a weak concept developed in a wannabe American city with an inferiority complex, desperately hoping to be mentioned in the same breath as New York and Los Angeles. Good luck with that. Meanwhile, Musique Plus takes a more practical approach and manages to maintain the sort of spirit and energy that made the original MuchMusic popular in the first place. I think Much could learn something from their Québécois counterparts. Of course, that's just my opinion... til next time!

Swing and a miss!

Last night I got the chance to face the peanut gallery over a few beers. I headed out with Morgan and OJ to the Oarhouse knowing full well that I'd get immediate feedback about this little pet project of mine. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. As per usual, Morgan came up with some constructive criticisms. Guess we'll see if I choose to incorporate those into my entries in the future. After all, every writer needs an editor at some point right? Although I imagine most editors being a little less public with their biting critiques... of course, I could be wrong.

I know there's a small segment of my readership that wants to know if Super Mom was around and if I buckled to the constant peer pressure to ask her out. Well, no. She wasn't around. I didn't even ask if she still works there or not. Whether I would have been foolish enough to flirt with her with the hounds around is another matter entirely. Besides, the clock is ticking. I leave for Montreal on Sunday. But even without Super Mom, I had a good time. OJ made the mistake of asking our waitress, Michelle, if he would be worthwhile marriage material and if she would back him in a Marriage pool. She later told me that she didn't want to shoot him down too badly in front of the boys. Sweet girl. I hope they keep her around.

Anyway, that's the news for now. Til next time...

Another Dip in the Pool--Live from London!

Greetings, one and all! I'm back in the Forest City of London, Ontario for the week. I'll be starting a new job soon, so I figured that now was as good a time as any to come back to visit the family and catch up with the yahoos who have been so kind as to use the comment section of my blog like a virtual dart board. This also seems like a good occasion to catch everyone up on the latest happenings in the Pool. I know that many of you will be unfamiliar with this little venture, so please feel free to click on this link to dig through my archives for the original post. Take your time. I can wait here til you get back... Yes, I know I linked to it twice. That was intentional. Some people aren't good at following instructions.

So now that everyone has caught up, let's see how the principle players are doing, shall we?

OJ
Of the principle combatants in this little race to eternal happiness (or misery, as Morgan would insist), it seems that, as usual, ol' OJ has taken the bull by the horns. He's out there, meeting and greeting prospective ex-Mrs. OJs, perhaps even as I type this entry. And surprisingly, he's taken great pride in my prior assessment--so much so that he's actually referred prospective dates to this very blog so the damsels can see what they're getting themselves into. I'll have to check in with Chris to see if this qualifies as self-handicapping or not. Regardless, he's out there making the effort.

Kev
Meanwhile, Kev has taken the first steps towards freeing himself from the emotional clutches of an unhealthy crush. I'm going to presume that he's serious this time and that this entry will provide the extra little push he needs to get out there and start meeting new and interesting people, rather than spinning his tires as he has been for the past... um... undetermined amount of time. He went out to a salsa dancing night at Old Chicago last week, though he didn't see anyone who caught his eye. That's bound to happen, though. Kev's taste is rather refined, after all. The important thing is that he's out there looking.

Me
As for me, there's not really anything to report. I continue to window shop, but that's about it. The boys have also been bugging me to go in and see Super Mom while I'm in town, so I figure, why not? Aside from Ashley being dropdead gorgeous, I really don't see why they keep trying to get me to ask her out. I'm thinking it has to do with the potential hilarity that would ensue if I got shot down while they're around. Boys will be boys, right?

At any rate, I'm hopeful that the new work environment will open up new opportunities to be social. In the meantime, I'll keep my eyes open and report back if necessary.

So now that I've actually got some traffic on this site, let's open it up a bit:
OJ vs. Kev vs. Me-- WHO YA GOT?!?! Leave your vote for the eventual winner (AKA next one down the aisle) in the comment section.

Be advised: multiple entries by Morgan will be dealt with appropriately.

Cruising Bar

I'm really digging deep this time, folks. I managed to find a copy of the 1989 film, Cruising Bar, in my local Videotron Super Club store yesterday. I had heard about it during my first summer at L'école de langue française de Trois Pistoles. Apparently l'animateur of the film atelier absolutely LOVED this film and made sure to play it at every session. As it turns out, he finally got a group that found the film offensive. Check that. There was ONE girl in the atelier that found it offensive and she raised Hell about it. Needless to say, I had to pick it up.

I'll give it a bit of leeway because it was made in the 80s, but I think this film reaches new levels of cheesiness. The first thing that struck me was that, at least in terms of shooting style, this film felt like Mallrats, complete with the really bad slapstick comedy. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith and his films. I own copies of most of them. I'm also really looking forward to seeing Clerks 2 when it hits theatres, but I still shake my head when I think of some of the silliness he put out in Mallrats.

Cruising Bar is the story of 4 very different guys: Jean-Jacques, Gerard, Serge and Beaudoin. It's Saturday night and these guys are hitting the bars of Montreal to pick up. Each is a caricature of the highest order. Jean-Jacques is a strutting peacock yuppy, Gerard is a cheating husband on the make, Serge is an awkward geek and Beaudoin is a brainless TV production assistant with a wicked 80s mullet. In watching the film, I wondered why the characters never shared any scenes together or what their connection might be. This is where I win the prize for obliviousness: Each of the main characters are played by the SAME ACTOR. I can see how they won a special award for makeup design in 1990.

Aside from that, there's really not too much to the film. The obligatory eye candy slot is filled by Geneviève Rioux, who was damn hot back in the day, but if you're looking for bouncing tits in this one, you'll be sorely disappointed. Overall, I can't say I would recommend this film. I didn't hate it, but by the same token, I can see how it's gone virtually unnoticed on the cinematic landscape. Til next time...

The Myth of Canadian Lacrosse

The year was 1988. I was nearing the end of my time at Jean Vanier Catholic school in London, Ontario, when the school was visited by a rather peculiar man. Though he was clearly of Indian descent, the man spoke with a British accent. He wore all white and carried with him something that looked like an oar whose shaft had been sawed off. Turns out this was a bat. I remember him standing before our class and asking what seemed to be an idiotic question at the time:

"Can anyone tell me the name of Canada's National sport?" he asked. Who did he take us for? Everyone knew the answer to that!

"Hockey!" someone piped up.

"No, not hockey." he replied.

"It's Lacrosse!" someone else exclaimed.

"No, I'm sorry. It isn't Lacrosse, either." he answered.

You could see the confusion in the crowd. Who did this guy think he was? We're Canadian damn it! We know our own National Game.

"It's Cricket!" he finally revealed.

Shock. Silence. And then muffled protests.

"Cricket is the game of the British Empire and, as members of the Commonwealth, it is therefore Canada's National Sport, as well." he explained.

Outrage! There was NO way he could be right! He must be daft! This was all just some hoax to help him with his stupid presentation, wasn't it? Wasn't it?!?

Fast-forward to the winter term of 2000 at the University of Western Ontario. I was going through my Kinesiology phase and found myself in the Introduction to Canadian Sport History course, taught by my favorite professor of all time: Dr Kevin Wamsley, current Director of the International Center for Olympic Studies on Western's campus. We were working our way through 19th century sports and its roots in Montreal when we came to the topic of Lacrosse. Again, a similar question was asked:

"What is Canada's National sport?"

At this point, we KNEW it was Lacrosse. Sure, we figured it should be hockey, but it was generally accepted that for one reason or another, Lacrosse was chosen. The answer?

"Prior to May 12, 1994, when the National Sports of Canada Act was introduced, we HAD no National Sport!"

Yes, dear friends, it's true. We've all been duped and, in tribute to my former professor, I would like to put to rest the myth that Lacrosse was ever our National Sport, prior to 1994. As it turns out, the belief that Lacrosse was Canada's National Sport can all be traced back to the efforts of one man: Dr. William George Beers--a Montreal dentist and lacrosse player/enthusiast.

Beers is often cited as the Father of Lacrosse, having gone to considerable lengths to promote the game and codify the rules. But in my opinion, his greatest triumph lies in his successful use of what I refer to as the Howard Stern effect: if you say something often enough, people start to believe it. Once upon a time, Stern would refer to himself as the "King of All Media" and, after about a year of such self-promotion, others started calling him that as well. This was pretty much the same tactic that Beers used to promote the sport of Lacrosse.

He figured that, after Confederation, the new nation needed a sport to help foster a national identity. So with the aid of the powerful Montreal sporting associations, Beers set up promotional tours and letters to media publications promoting Lacrosse as the National game. He even went so far as to claim that he proposed to Parliament that Lacrosse be adopted as the national sport as far back as 1859. Complete fabrication.

As Wamsely and Morrow point out, Beers would have been 16 years old at the time. I don't care how backwards politics has become (or may have been), but I can't see anyone listening to a 16 year old kid about what Canada needs to do to foster a new sense of national pride. In fact, they also go on to say that:

The Canadian Parliamentary Proceedings and Sessional Papers and the Journals of the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada reveal that Parliament was not even in session in either January or July 1859 and that no mention of lacrosse was made in those publications during the entire year.

I think we've all got the idea now. Beers was SO successful in his propaganda campaign, that the Canadian Lacrosse Association continues to perpetuate this fallacy on their website! But now all of you know better. For more on this subject, please refer to Sport in Canada-A History by Don Morrow and Kevin B. Wamsley.