{"id":1923,"date":"2009-01-15T23:21:23","date_gmt":"2009-01-16T04:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:40:19","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:40:19","slug":"mes-aieux-spin-local-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/","title":{"rendered":"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"

More profoundly than municipal policy and to a greater degree than million-dollar developments, a city’s identity is forged in its fictions.<\/p>\n

Authors like Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay have defined entire neighbourhoods within our collective imaginations. Songwriters, from Leonard Cohen to Les colocs can conjure with a few words the kind of placemaking power that planners are lucky to see in a decade.<\/p>\n

So I was excited when Mes Aieux<\/a> released a city-themed album, La Ligne Orange<\/em>, at the end of 2008. In an interview in le Journal de Montreal<\/a>, band member \u00c9ric Desranleau described how, unlike their previous repertoire which drew on traditional Quebecois folklore, their new material is based on legends lived by the Rosemont-based group:<\/p>\n

\u00abCe sont moins des l\u00e9gendes que certains sujets dont on a parl\u00e9 dans le pass\u00e9. Quoique, Antonio\u2026 Mais ce sont des l\u00e9gendes qu\u2019on a v\u00e9cues.\u00bb <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Antonio<\/em> he mentions is none other than the Great Antonio, Antonio Barichievich, local strongman-cum-strangeman, moti\u00e9 h\u00e9ros, moiti\u00e9 clochard<\/em>. The lyrics unfold the intimate details of his life, from pulling buses down Parc Avenue to selling postcards in the metro, and of his death, on a public bench in front a grocery on Beaubien street. The Great Antonio himself closes off the album with an original acapella recording and a final laugh.<\/p>\n

Other songs on this album leap beyond lived experience and imagine playful new mythologies with roots in familiar landmarks. Le f\u00e2ntome du Forum<\/em> is a lament for the ghost of Hockey hero Howie Morenz, condemned to haunt the Cin\u00e9plex Pepsi AMC<\/em> after the old Montreal Forum changed vocations in 1996.<\/p>\n

Another track, Le stade (conte complet)<\/em>, takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the Olympic Stadium unexpectedly reveals itself to be a secret spaceship and blasts the earth’s last humans towards salvation in far-off galaxies. Improbable perhaps, but as the singer reasons, something’s<\/em> got to justify the Big O’s basic failure to function as a building despite its astronomical construction cost.<\/p>\n

With plans to put the Big O to use twice<\/em> this winter – for an Impact soccer game<\/a> and a film shoot<\/a> – I just can’t seem to get this picture out of my head:<\/p>\n

\"big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks to Mes Aieux<\/em>‘s popularity, at least I’m probably not the only one…<\/p>\n

For more thoughts on song lyrics and the city, check out the Musical Map of London<\/a> put together by Guardian blogger (and once-Montrealer) Kelly Nestruck. Each point on the map quotes a song by bands like the Smiths, the Clash, the Kinks, Morrissey, and Bloc Party that references that particular landmark or place.<\/p>\n

We don’t quite have London’s long standing musical legacy, but perhaps we could start a similar one for Montreal?<\/p>\n

Graphic by me with photos by livepine and Paul Robert Lloyd (cc flickr)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More profoundly than municipal policy and to a greater degree than million-dollar developments, a city’s identity is forged in its fictions. Authors like Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay have defined entire neighbourhoods within our collective imaginations. Songwriters, from Leonard Cohen to Les colocs can conjure with a few words the kind of placemaking power thatContinue reading “Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7832],"tags":[3464,3456,3462,3451,3457,3458,3463,3461,276,2398,569,2962,125,249,3455,861,3459,25,1081,3460,3454,3453,3452,302],"class_list":["post-1923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","tag-and-bloc-party","tag-antonio-barichievich","tag-at-the","tag-bloc-party","tag-eric-desranleau","tag-kelly-nestruck","tag-kinks","tag-la-ligne-orange","tag-le-journal-de-montreal","tag-leonard-cohen","tag-london","tag-michel-tremblay","tag-montreal","tag-mordecai-richler","tag-morrissey","tag-olympic-stadium","tag-paul-robert-lloyd","tag-public-art","tag-rosemont","tag-singer","tag-the-clash","tag-the-kinks","tag-the-smiths","tag-usd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More profoundly than municipal policy and to a greater degree than million-dollar developments, a city’s identity is forged in its fictions. Authors like Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay have defined entire neighbourhoods within our collective imaginations. Songwriters, from Leonard Cohen to Les colocs can conjure with a few words the kind of placemaking power thatContinue reading "Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-01-16T04:21:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T16:40:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alanah Heffez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alanah Heffez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/\",\"name\":\"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-01-16T04:21:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T16:40:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Montreal\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29\",\"name\":\"Alanah Heffez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alanah Heffez\"},\"description\":\"Alanah is interested in place-making, education and stories, She was born and raised in Montreal, and mixes a passion for the city with the occasional jaunt into Northern Quebec.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/alanah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal","og_description":"More profoundly than municipal policy and to a greater degree than million-dollar developments, a city’s identity is forged in its fictions. Authors like Mordecai Richler and Michel Tremblay have defined entire neighbourhoods within our collective imaginations. Songwriters, from Leonard Cohen to Les colocs can conjure with a few words the kind of placemaking power thatContinue reading \"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Montreal","article_published_time":"2009-01-16T04:21:23+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T16:40:19+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Alanah Heffez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alanah Heffez","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/","name":"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends - Spacing Montreal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg","datePublished":"2009-01-16T04:21:23+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T16:40:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2009\/01\/big-o-blast-off-copy.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2009\/01\/15\/mes-aieux-spin-local-legends\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mes Aieux Spin Local Legends"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/","name":"Spacing Montreal","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Montreal Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/d9708edcbf411e2f340ef5149d0c8e29","name":"Alanah Heffez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2665e638603d91eaccfcb354cbb609da?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alanah Heffez"},"description":"Alanah is interested in place-making, education and stories, She was born and raised in Montreal, and mixes a passion for the city with the occasional jaunt into Northern Quebec.","sameAs":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/author\/alanah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20707,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1923\/revisions\/20707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}