Big night for this middle-aged couple last night. Got home about 12.30am! Woooooh! By the time we finished our cup of tea it was a 2am finish! Controversial and highly provocative I know but Lynda and I live on the edge. We had a fantastic couple of hours at an International Gala Evening hosted by Canadian legend Sugar Sammy. There were 7 comics from around the globe including our own Will Anderson and NZ lunatic Yrzila Carlson. Also performing was a guy we have seen on Charlie Pickering’s show back home, Loyoso Gola from South Africa. He was badly jet-lagged but very funny also. The picks of the night were German Michael Mittermeier and without doubt, the comic who had us crying with his clever naivety was Finnish comedian Ismo Leikola. Others to look out for from the first night if they come to Melbourne before I forget are, Alonzo Bodden, Steve Byrne, Jessica Kirson and Vladimir Caamano. 

The venue last night was the lavish Musee de Arts which is a large complex similar to Melbourne’s Arts Centre but with a contemporary art museum and a huge bookshop/record store attached. What was so impressive was that the subway stopped right under the complex. It took us 7 minutes at the end of the evening to exit a packed auditorium the size of Hamer Hall and be seated on the train. It just capped off what was a brilliant couple of hours entertainment.

We spent 3 hours yesterday in the Montreal Art Museum. There was an exhibition called “Revolution” which highlighted all manner of things from the 60’s from music to drugs, hippies, women’s rights, design, literature, art, fashion, Vietnam, protests and the Black Panther movement. It was a cathartic period of our history and it’s scary to think that the 60s is now a museum piece! Anyway it was an excellent show, highlights being the original “Yes” installation by Yoko Ono that intrigued John Lennon at the time and a mega screen playing Woodstock in front of an old “Who” drum kit. The museum itself was sensational also and sucked us right into its vortex! There was even a couple of rare Basquiat’s and the contemporary sculptures were really impressive.

My sparring partner and good mate at work Adam has been hassling me to go to Fairmont Bagels so we are starving ourselves and going this morning. The problem I have with Adam is that for all the worldly travel he has done, the only landmarks and experiences he remembers are those based on food! They had better be good pal! After a feed we are going to head up to the old Olympic Stadium from 1976 which is our vintage. Lynda remembers Nadia Comaneci who achieved the first perfect 10 at the age of 14. My first memory is of a Cuban 400m runner with long socks, Alberto Juantorena Danger who also won the 800m. I’ve just found a photo on Google. Perhaps it was his shorts that appealed to me as well as I still have a pair very similar. Some photos from yesterday to follow.