Bunnies After Work

A couple of days ago, I was wandering through the Student Centre of the #10 ranked party school in North America, when I saw a sign posted on a bulletin board. It was black and white with a logo known around the world-- a sleek-looking bunny rabbit. Apparently a certain campus pub had invited the local girls from the recent pictorial to do a magazine signing. Well, I think we all know where Al was tonight, don't we?

I was already working late today, so it didn't take too much motivation for me to stop by for a beer or three. The funny thing was, the girls were 2 hours late in showing up, so I pretty much got there on time! Amazing that they all of a sudden got modest, eh? Anyway, the appearance was also tied to a donation for women's breast cancer charities, so I have yet another reason to justify my attendance. But truth be told, I wanted to see what these girls looked like, in person. I hadn't even seen the issue ahead of time (no, seriously!), so this was going to be a surprise all-around.

The two who showed up were Brynn Chudleigh and Phylis Syd (both pseudonyms, obviously), and yes OJ, Brynn was one of the ones sharing the strawberry. At any rate, as I waited for the girls to arrive, I started thinking about the whole Playboy thing. What would these girls look like? Would they be the type who'd catch my eye otherwise? Truthfully, I don't know. Sure, they're both attractive, but I can name a group of waitresses in London who make these girls look pretty average. In fact, I know quite a few women who could easily earn a spot in the world's premier men's magazine.

So why did these girls do it? Well, according to Brynn, the money was pretty sweet. She'd also said that she'd had enough of a good time that she's consider doing it again. Funny since this comment came from the only girl in the pictorial who didn't get naked. I didn't hear anything similar out of Phylis, but based on her other online work, it's pretty clear she has no problem with nudity. According to the write-up, Phylis wants to be an actress, so this is probably just a career move for her. I would like to say, though, that they both seemed very nice. Certainly no attitude or ego being thrown around.

I also came to the conclusion that people get worked up over nothing. Take the Saugeen Stripper, for example. If she was able to handle the initial uproar and attention, then it's probably blown over by now. I am curious, however, to know if she did decide to tough it out or if she transferred or dropped out. Wherever she is, I wish her good luck.

Now I'd like to take a moment to open up the floor to the females of the audience (Presuming any of you bothered to read down this far). If you were asked to pose for Playboy, would you? And please explain your reasoning for either a yay or nay. It'll be fun to see who's actually brave enough to respond. So c'mon ladies, leave some comments. I'm curious to see your reactions.

Capitulation

Ok, I surrender! I've been trying my best to get a good handle on the interview material, but I'm just not fluent enough to pick out all the words when I'm trying to do the quotes. The quality of the recording doesn't help, either, that's for sure. So now I'm left with the choice of just saying, "Screw it!" and posting the whole thing in English, or swallowing a pretty hefty charge to get the recording transcribed so I can get this puppy done. The typical anglo response would be to just do the whole thing in English and forget about the potential francophone audience who might stumble upon this when looking for news of their favorite band. I'm not ready to do that yet.

One of the things that I find so hypocritical about us, as Canadians, is that we seem proud of the idea we come from a "bilingual country", but to be honest, that isn't the case at all. The fact is, we have 2 large populations (one larger than the other) who speak 2 separate languages. Very recently, a biopic of the life of Maurice Richard was released in Ontario and, according to the review, the film includes subtitles for the French dialogue. While I acknowledge that it's necessary to help the English audience understand, I still find it pretty sad. I wonder if there are subtitles for the English dialogue in the Quebecois version...

On a positive note, I was impressed to see that the Toronto Sun bothered to take notice of the Montreal group Malajube in a recent article. We're so oblivious to what goes on inside the Quebec border. No wonder there's such fervor to the separatist movement. Would we even really notice they were gone if they left? I'll pick up this topic again, no doubt, but I wanted to give OJ his blog fix for the day.

Transcription Services (or lack thereof) in Montreal

If this were the Boston Globe, I’d have been long since fired. Thankfully, this is not the Boston Globe and deadlines are pretty much set by me and my energy level. That being said, I’ve been remiss in my writing duties and, no doubt, disappointing my ardent following of 3 faithful readers. I could come up with any number of excuses, but I think that one will suffice: I’ve been lazy. Regardless of how much I enjoyed doing the interview with Biz, I’ve found the inevitable task of pouring through the micro cassette recording to be less than appealing. So I’ve been investigating alternate means.

Last time out, I did a full transcription, word for word, of my conversation. However that was in English. That’s just not going to happen this time. I took a giant leap forward by doing the interview en français, but now I’ve been left of the daunting task of going through a mediocre-quality recording to pick out interesting quotes, in French, and then translating them for my readers. I can already hear Morgan telling me to “Suck it up! This is what you wanted, remember?” And he’s right (he has an annoying habit of being right). But before leaping headlong into this task, I felt it was only prudent to explore what else may be available. That means: transcription services!

From what I’ve been able to find, there are only a handful of transcription services in Montreal. And let me tell you, it’s a good gig if you can get in on it. There was one company (who shall remain nameless) that charged $0.10 per word. Yes, you read that correctly. So essentially, a one hour interview would likely cost in excess of $900 to have transcribed (plus applicable taxes, of course). The word “ouch” comes to mind, along with several other rather colourful metaphors. Another, charged by the audio hour. Okay, now we’re talking here. Their rate? $300 US per audio hour, plus the recording would have to be sent to New York (despite the existence of a Montreal office). Additional fees would be incurred if the quality of recording is lousy (which it is). The last company seems to be, more or less, a local entrepreneur. She charges $4.50 per audio minute, but because she’s moving offices, nothing would be ready before May 1. Definitely the most reasonable, that’s for sure, but given the fact that I want to put things out in a somewhat timely fashion, she’s not an option.

So essentially, I’m back to square one. Al, his micro cassette recorder, and a notepad. With any luck, it’ll be ready to go this weekend. Til next time…

Another Special Guest Appearance

It's with a great deal of excitement that I make the following announcement. Around noon today, I'll be meeting with Biz from Loco Locass to discuss more music, culture, history and likely a wee bit of Quebec nationalist politics. I know the name won't mean a whole lot to my anglophone audience, but trust me, this is pretty darn cool! I'm in the midst of putting my questions together, so I won't say too much more now. Hopefully I can come up with some interesting stuff. Guess we'll find out. Just 2 hours til I meet with Biz...

An Historic Occasion

Okay, so maybe my title is over-stating things a bit, but I still found today to be quite interesting. I received an e-mail response from Dr Jarrett Rudy from the Quebec Studies area of McGill's Department of History, containing an invitation to the book launch for Michael Gauvreau's latest work, The Catholic Origins of Quebec's Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970. It took me all of 30 seconds to mull it over before accepting. Granted, I have absolutely no background in religious history, aside from my dabblings in ancient religions and mystery cults, but the title looked intriguing enough to make me want to take a look.

I think anyone familiar with Quebec will have heard of the Quiet Revolution, at least in passing, and when one looks at the monumental scale of the churches here (even in villages of a couple thousand people), I think it’s fair to say that the Church has an incontournable place in the collective memory of the Quebecois. So for Gauvreau to examine the Church’s place in such a defining time in the province’s history provides a definite appeal, at least for me. It’s all fine and well for me to explore pop culture and whatnot, but there has to be a starting point for everything.

I’m not going to delve too much more into the topic at the moment because I’ve barely had the book in my hands for an hour and trying to recount the author’s presentation really wouldn’t do the topic justice. So I guess my avid readers will have to wait a wee bit for me to revisit this topic. I’ll also be taking a look at Dr Rudy's book, The Freedom to Smoke: Tobacco Consumption and Identity, and if his schedule permits, sit down with him to discuss his findings and maybe grab a comment or two about the upcoming non-smoking legislation. So that's some of what I've got coming up. I'll also be giving a brief tour of Quebecois beer. You know that topic will be well-researched, that's for sure. Til next time!

What I learned

I’m still somewhat giddy over my experience at Musique Plus last week (a week ago today, in fact), so I thought I would take a moment to reflect on what I’ve learned so far from all of this. First, I need to invest in a digital camera. Presuming I manage to continue on with my weird and wacky attempts at interviewing Quebecois celebrities, I would like to have something more personal to remember it by, as well as to provide proof that I did, in fact, do the interview.

Second, I’ll really have to reconsider the style I use for presenting said interview. On the one hand, I like being able to provide, verbatim, exactly what the person has said. That way I’m not taking anything out of context or painting my own image of the person. I allow them to do that, themselves. It allows fans (or even just casual readers of this blog) a glimpse into the personality of the person I’ve chosen to interview. On the other hand, it’s a royal pain in the butt to transcribe the full contents of a half hour interview. I have no idea how long it actually took me to get the thing done, but the fact that it required 3 instalments says something.

Perhaps it was easier for me to justify a full transcript of my conversation with Chéli because she said a lot of interesting things. Somehow I doubt that future interviews will go as smoothly or provide me with the same amount of content. She speaks her mind. I like that. A good interview is a cooperative effort between the interviewer and the subject and, let me tell you, she made my life SO much easier by being so easygoing and down to earth. On the off chance she decides to come back and read my postings again, I would like to sincerely thank you, Chéli, for everything. You rock!

Third, I learned that I have to work harder on my French. The fact that I lost any semblance of a vocabulary during our introduction shows that I’m not nearly as comfortable with the language as I had hoped. I suppose that would be the same for anyone during times of stress, but I still found it embarrassing. By the end of the hour together, I’d somewhat regained my composure, though I think it’s pretty obvious that I stammered and babbled my way through the questions. If I’m dealing with someone whose first language ISN’T English, then I should do my best to be clear and concise with my questions. Actually, I should be clear and concise, regardless of their first language.

In terms of the content, itself, I was surprised that she discussed her insecurities as candidly as she did. I never would have thought she’d get grief over her accent. Sounds pretty darn good to me! But then again, I’m just une tête carrée, right? I find it ironic, considering the Quebecois have such an inferiority complex over the fact that they don’t speak “proper” French, that they would give a fellow francophone grief over their accent. In a twisted sort of way, it makes me feel a bit better about how potential employers had reacted to me over the course of the past several months. At least I know I’m not alone.

If anyone out there has any feedback they would like to provide, please feel free to do so in the comment section. Til next time…

Interview with Chéli (Part 3)

Well, folk, here we have the third, and final, installment of my interview with Chéli Sauvé-Castonguay. For those joining the party in progress, you can find Part 1 right here. So without further ado...

***
AL B: One of the things that I was also wondering about: given your position in the public eye, does that put you in a different position, as far as doing projects I the community? Take Bono, for instance. He’s big on promoting causes and things like that.

Chéli: Right, right.

AL B: Considering your position in the community, is there anything that you do or that the station does as far as outreach programs?

Chéli: Yeah, for sure! Especially because of our demographic. I mean, it’s mostly kids that watch us. I would say the age group for Musique Plus, without including MusiMax, would be from like 7 to 18. We’re trying to get an older public, like to 24, but right now I would say that’s the biggest. Y’know, the mass. That’s where they are. That’s who’s listening to us. So definitely, we involve ourselves I everything and right now I’m with, most of the VJs actually, who aren’t smokers, are involved in what’s called «la gang allumée»…

***This is when I hear the telltale pop of my audio recorder, telling me that I’ve run out of tape on this side. We make a few joking comments about old school technology as I flip the cassette.***

AL B: Alright, flipped the tape.

Chéli: I love tapes. Okay, so yeah. La gang allumée. That’s a program to just entice kids to not smoke or stop smoking. It’s kind of scary how kids smoke at a very early age now. So we just basically go around now, it’s like a contest. They do a project and if their project is chosen, there’s a VJ that goes to see them at their school.

AL B: Oh, okay.

Chéli: And this is for the whole province of Québec. That’s one thing. The other thing that I love to do—it’s always kids. It’s always related to kids, education and all that. So another thing that I constantly do is go to schools and speak about the importance of bilingualism, because of my job and because I do both. Some of the hosts here do not speak English.

AL B: Really?

Chéli: Yeah, some of them don’t. Or if they do, very little. Not enough to be able to do it on air. That’s why the ones that are fully bilingual are always given the chance to travel, do interviews with major international artists, and also do those interviews live. So I can’t stress more how important it is to be bilingual nowadays. There is such thing as being proud of your language, but you have to have an open mind. We can’t hide the fact that English is the universal language. So that’s another thing. I always involve myself that way and I always go and talk to kids and tell them and explain to them how I got to this point.

AL B: Okay, now the music industry in Québec is pretty much self-sufficient from what I can tell and it’s pretty much also unknown in the rest of Canada. That being said, are there any sort of hidden musical treasures that you would recommend?

Chéli: That are French…?

AL B: La musique québécoise.

Chéli: La musique québécoise. Oh there’s SO many bands! I mean, because if you look at the Maritimes, they love that folkish kind of music, like Blue Rodeo. There’s so many bands that are from there that are big in the rest of Canada, but if you like that kind of music, you have that here à la bonne franquette au Québec! We’ve got les Cowboys Fringants that I think are known pretty well in Canada. Well, they’re not THAT known. That’s the thing.

Um, let’s see, let’s see, let’s see… I don’t know if people know Jean Leloup, but if they know Jean Leloup, a new one that resembles a lot and who’s worked with him, is Anik Jean. She’s a French singer. And then there’s more like, I don’t even know how to describe their type of music, but it’s part of la relève that we call here… Yann Perreau, Ariane Moffat, Pierre Lapointe, Stéphanie Lapointe, who’s nominated for a Juno. Actually Stéphanie Lapointe is nominated for a Juno, along with Anik Jean that I already mentioned.

In terms of the hiphop world, there’s great talent in the hiphop world., that’s French hiphop. Yesterday I went to this launch and his name is SemiBruce. He started this label called Bootleg and the beats, I tell you, the beats are awesome! It’s French rap, but I think it’s great. All these guys, instead of trying to go in through Canada, they have to go in France if they want to enlarge their careers. There’s SO much talent! It’s hard to… there’s also Les Respectables… there’s a bunch, there’s really a bunch to be proud of.

AL B: Okay, now in general, there is almost like an expiration date on the career of any VJ…

Chéli: Yes.

AL B: …because it’s…

Chéli: It’s TV!

AL B: Exactly, it’s TV. So what sort of aspirations do you have when you reach that “certain age?”

Chéli: Well I’m always frightful. I’m telling you, I never feel secure. From the moment I started here to now, I never felt secure. I think that’s, in one way, very important, because you never want to let it go to your head. Anybody can do this job, and that’s what they want. They want to show the public that anybody that watches us could say, “Y’know what? I could do this job.”

So I’d hopefully stay, if I do stay in TV, I want to keep going in this cultural [vein]. Anything that’s culture, basically: entertainment, film, music. Those are all the things that interest me. Because I’m franco-ontarienne, I’m constantly fearing that that I won’t be able to have a job at TQS, TVA, Radio-Canada or y’know, those big stations or big enterprises here because I don’t have a Québécois accent. Sometimes people watch me and think, “hmmph! Maudite anglophone! I don’t understand what she’s saying!” They don’t feel the link. So that’s always been something that gets me that I’ve always feared.

So if ever that doesn’t work out, another thing that always interested me was travel shows and National Geographic, so I might just fall into trying to become a videographer, a photographer or something like that. Y’know, keep my options open, because I think sometimes, especially nowadays, we tend to glamorize artists and people. People are famous for no reason nowadays and I find that very… frivolous. Sometimes I go home, although I love what I do, I love my job, I love music. I love this. It’s fantastic! I couldn’t ask for better stuff, but I go home and you watch Biography channel. You watch National Geographic and you’re just like, “Wow. What am I doing? What is the significance of what I’m doing?” It’s so little. It doesn’t represent anything. I’m not saying I want to go save the world, but I’m saying that sometimes I want to do something that has meaning. And I can actually bring information to people that will be more than just, “Hey! So you’ve made 5 million dollars and you have no talent. Excellent. Love it.” You know what I mean? Sometimes that’s what it is. I’m not degrading or berating what I’m doing because I know that culture and entertainment is a big part of our lives in our society. And people, after a hard day’s work, like to tune into that kind of stuff because it feels better. It’s something light and easy-going. But it’s just that when you’re always in it, sometimes you just get fed up with these people.

AL B (laughing): I totally understand. So my last little question is: do you have any suggestions for me, during my little “voyage of discovery” here, of things that I absolutely must, either see or experience, while I’m here in Québec?

Chéli: Okay. Right, right, right. Okay. It’s funny because I’ve been here 4 years, so I’ve also been discovering. I’m franco-ontarienne, so there’s so many things that I’ve discovered here… You HAVE to go to Québec City. You’ve probably done that, but if you go there in the winter time, during the Carnival, you have to have… what is it called? Caribou! Oh, no. Is it Caribou? Ugh! It’s like a type of alcohol.

AL B: It’s Caribou.

Chéli: Is it Caribou?

AL B (chuckles): Yes.

Chéli: Oh! So you’ve had it?

AL B: I haven’t had it, but I’ve heard of it.

Chéli: It’s not that good, but you still have to have it. And the way to do it is, when it’s the Carnival, you go to that strip of all the bars…

AL B: La Grande Allée.

Chéli: Yes. La Grande Allée. Then there’s a bar—an ice bar—and you go have it there.

AL B: Okay.

Chéli: So that’s cool. Another thing, but you’ve probably already done that, too, is la cabane à sucre. This is the time to do it. You go in the morning, you have your eggs with… okay, they’re like beans, so we call them des bines à mélasses. So you have that there at la cabane à sucre. There’s syrup, you have your bacon with your syrup… it’s really fun! You can go on a horse ride and go get your own maple syrup. There’s des cabanes à sucre everywhere around the region of Montreal, so that’s another thing… Assist to the Jazz Festival, which you probably already did, but…

AL B: I actually only got here in September, so…

Chéli: Oh! So it’s coming up this summer. Right here at the Complexe Desjardins there’s a bunch of different stages… oh then Francofolies, Festival du Jazz, these are all things that are going to happen this summer. This city, in the summer, is amazing. It’s fantastic! You’ll never want to leave Montreal. It’s a beautiful city. It never sleeps and people are so fun! Like I said, «la joie de vivre.» People are dancing in the streets. There’s stages, there’s music. It’s beautiful. So Jazzfest, Francofollies, these are definitely the 2 festivals to look out for this summer.

Hmmm. Le Festival du Film du Monde. That’s another one, but that’s more around Fall. That’s films that are from here, films that are from outside, everywhere à l’étranger. That, again, is fun. That’s another thing I love. We embrace different cultures here, more so, I believe than anywhere else in Canada, apart from Toronto, obviously. But stil, I think, here we embrace a lot of outside cultures.

What else? What else? What else? Go on the terrasses in the summer. Drink beer on the terrasses in Old Montreal and you’ll really feel it. I think that’s pretty much it. I can’t think of anything else that’s very “Québec”… If you go to the little bars in Old Montreal, they have little bands, every weekend, every Saturday night, that are very bonne franquette type of music. People are drinking beer, dancing. It’s really good! It’s really fun! So Old Montreal is definitely a place to go to.

AL B: Well, I appreciate your time.

Chéli: My pleasure, my pleasure.

AL B: Thank you very much.

Chéli: I appreciate your questions. They were good! I felt bad. I couldn’t find the words sometimes!

AL B: No, no! It’s alright! It’s okay!

***

So there you have it. Je voudrais remercier la belle Chéli. Elle est très sympathique et très charmante.

I hope you've all enjoyed the interview. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future.

Interview with Chéli (Part 2)

Picking up where we left off in the last installment, Chéli and I had gotten the niceties out of the way, so it was time to move on to the heart of the interview: la culture québécoise. Since I do recommend that this be read in chronological order, please click here to find Part 1 of my interview with Chéli before continuing on.

***

AL B: Now one of the things that I'm interested in is la culture québécoise...

Chéli (smiling): Yes!

AL B: And one of the things that I picked up when I got here was 101 mots pour comprendre le Québec...

Chéli: Le loi 101?

AL B: No, it was in l'Actualité...

Chéli: Oh! L'Actualité!

AL B: It was a special issue. It had a series of essays, well, more like mini-essays, on Québec.

Chéli: Okay.

AL B: It's obvious that there is a difference between Ontario and Québec in terms of just the feel of things and the culture out here, so in that sort of spirit, how would you describe Québec? Whether it be culturally or spiritually or whatever. I guess I'm interested in the soul of Québec, from your perspective.

Chéli: One of the main reasons I was driven to coming here in Montreal, I mean, if I wanted to do television, I could have easily tried it out in Toronto and do it in English, but I think what led me to Montreal is the language: French. I've always wanted to live in French and be able to go to restaurants and go to stores and always speak in French without having to, all of a sudden, speak English. What attracts me to this French culture is «la joie de vivre.» People here are, what I like to say, «bons vivants.» We love to live. I mean, there's a reason why the economy moved from here to Toronto. We take one hour lunches, two hour lunches... we're not driven by money and, y'know, that's why you don't see Americanism or anything like that. We don't grab any of that. We stick to our culture. We stick to the arts, the music--and we do it for the love of it. Everything that's economics or work and all of this, we're not driven for it. That's what I like about the people here. So the «joie de vivre,» I would say.

In terms of the culture, there's a tremendous sense of pride and I understand why: because you have to fight SO hard to keep it within the country, if you think about it. I know that a lot of Québécois don't refer to Canada as being their country, it's Québec that's their country, but I still like to say that Québec is part of Canada. I'm a franco-ontarienne and I'm so thankful that Québec is still linked to Canada because, if it wasn't for Québec, then people like me, who lived in Ottawa or in Winnipeg or all those French communities, would never have French schools or anything. I'm sure that the moment Québec leaves, forget about it! There's no more French in Canada! So that's what I love about Québec. I feel secure that I'll be able to live, forever, in French.

AL B: Okay, cool. Alright, so your sister station, MuchMusic...

Chéli: Yep.

AL B: ... has become more and more important in the entertainment landscape of English Canada.

Chéli: Yes.

AL B: So what sort of role do you think that Musique Plus plays in Québec?

Chéli: Well, it's definitely changed since its beginning when it started in '86. Because in '86, it was, like MuchMusic, there to catapult or to present new bands and new groups and underground groups. I mean, it was the first time you had a video for music. For Québec, most importantly, I think, it's that everything is local. I'm part of the Music Committee, the Video Music Committee, and it's always very important for us to add local content. Again, we're proud of our music. We're proud of the artists that we have here. We have a lot of talent here in Québec and that's the only way that they can actually have some air play. Nobody at MuchMusic is going to air Atach Tatuq or bands like les Cowboys Fringants or, you know what I mean, unless you're on like, French Kiss...

AL B: At like, 6:30 in the morning...

Chéli (laughs): Exactly! So I think that, first and foremost, that's what Musique Plus does for the local groups.

Now when I say it changed a lot, it's that now we're competing against stations like MuchMusic, MTV, VH1, all those stations, which would maybe explain why we also buy these TV reality shows. We also air clips like 50 Cent and all these guys-- all the American ones. At this point, it's a question of mass appeal. As much as we're proud of our local stuff, I think that even the people that live here in Québec hear 50 Cent on the radio and therefore, want to see the video. We know that they watch the Simple Life or they watch this and that, so we figure that, hey! Instead of having them watch it on MTV, let's get them to watch it here on Musique Plus! So that's kind of the reason why, I think, we've changed into a bit more of an Americanized [product]. But what I like about Musique Plus is that we haven't completely fallen towards that and I hope we never will, because of the local content and because we stay grounded that way.

AL B: Now what would you say would be the biggest difference between, say, MuchMusic and Musique Plus?

Chéli: I think the most obvious one is that, again, we're not Americanized. Like, our artists go in Europe, in France. If they want to go International, they go in France. Artists that live in Toronto, if they want to go International, they try to break the American market. Even the way we are, in front of the TV, the VJs... the people they choose, that each station chooses, and the way they direct these VJs is completely different. The mentality is completely different. Here, and I'm not saying that one station is better than the other, I'm just saying that it's evident. It's obvious by the way we do things...

AL B: Don't worry, I already said it for you. I did a little commentary on MuchMusic's VJ search versus the one from Musique Plus...

Chéli: Oh yes?

AL B: I've already given the thumbs up to Musique Plus.

Chéli: Aww! Thank you, that's sweet!

AL B (shrugs): So, y'know...

Chéli: Well, y'know, I have no shame. I'm proud of this station. I'm proud of what it represents and what I was saying, what I like about here is they pretty much give us carte blanche in terms of how we want to dress. We don't have little cue cards under the camera that we read when we're on air.

AL B: Right.

Chéli: If we're live, we're live. We prepare our stuff. We have somebody who's there to direct us and make sure we're not going out of line or whatever, but it's basically up to us. Whereas, I know how they operate at MuchMusic and it's not like that. They DO have cue cards under the cameras. You can see them. Sometimes they're actually reading!

AL B: Which is actually a big departure from the way they began.

Chéli: Of course! Moses Znaimer, what he wanted, when he first started CHUM Television and MuchMusic, was to have people without makeup. They wanted people without makeup, in front of a camera, a camera that moved, you know what I mean? THAT was reality TV! And now, it's like, all pre-taped, all flashy with all kinds of things. They're going much more toward that than we are, thank God! But even we've changed a bit. We're a lot more pre-tape now. There's much less live because it's probably less costly...

AL B: One of the things that always totally blew me away is when you guys do the interviews, particularly with the anglophone artists. I can understand what you're saying in both languages and it amazes me that you'll take the answers that they've given in English and pretty much translate them on the spot without missing anything at all. I'm watching that and shaking my head, thinking, how are they doing that??? So, um, well done!

Chéli (laughs): Well, thanks! That's cool! Thanks!

***

Looks like I'm going to have to split this up into 3 parts. In the next installment, Chéli talks about community involvement, the hidden treasures of Québécois music and things that I've got to be sure to visit and experience now that I'm in Québec. Continue to part 3.