Adventures in Montreal

Montreal, lining up early outfront of Saint Eglise Enfant Jesus, waiting for the doors to open at 10 am on a November Saturday. It started with a long snakey line, of ramshackle characters, each clutching cardboard boxes and bookstore totebags filled with stapled paper goods. Expozine was in its 10th year, and got extra media hype, but the basement hall was just as packed as the previous year. You couldn't really fit anymore people in that hall; come around 3 o'clock Montreal's finest had to slow elbow squeeze past one another to reach a table. Amidst this festival of underground, alternative and independent subcultures was the appearance was a couple of Red Bull promo girls, with giant can shaped back-pack coolers, handing out drinks to zinesters. But hey, no doubt, tabling is exhausting work! 

Nail in the Heart got a lot of appreciation for its cover design, but it was the Freelance Blues that kept people coming back. I had some help with my french sales techniques with phrases provided by Kim Hoang of Love Love Hill. For Nails it was: "C'est Bede D'Horreur". For the FLB it was:  "C'est bon, c'est drole; c'est plus bon que la pizza!" Or on one occasion in an entirely French conversation about FLB IV: Kobe or Not Kobe: "Il est un masseuse... pour la vache!" Next year-- more Francais cheat sheets.