Van Horne, Woodstock at Montreal?

I saw Van Horne was shut down.

From the 60's psychedelic dripped peace and love dream, to Dylan going electric, to those junkies starting off clean and ending hooked for life to brown sugar, Van Horne was nothing more than a dream, a call for redemption, a glimpse into carefree nights where anything could happen, as long as the cops let it happen.

 It was never you and I who made it possible. Yes you or somebody else organized the shows, rented the material necessary and more, but sadly, it was the cops who made it possible for a while to have shows there. But to actually make Van Horne a place to host weekly shows was a mistake. It never was a place, it was simply an open area under a bridge, the same kind as where Anthony Keatis drew blood, the same where I last saw a junky sitting, lying down dehydrated and about to pass out, the same where lovers went to make love behind their parents back.

Van Horne holds memories for all of us, but the truth is, if we want the music scene to thrive, you might want to open a bar or a basement where shows can be hosted, but make it clean and noiseless and make it rentable. The city wants to make money, people sleep and eat money. They also hate noize and youthful screams. That said, it's hard, people wine about the scene dying. It ain't the first rodeo of places shutting down, open areas being seized and controlled. It's happened for countless years. But as long as people try, make it a commitment to being implicated in the scene, run shows, ideas, festivals and more, music shall thrive. But to believe that it's a viable thing to go in open spaces, doing drugs and drinking and partying along bands playing under a bridge that my fellow reader, is a disgrace. 

On a good note, we had FM fest yesterday, MOC October was behind that, he's doing a real good job at keeping local live music a thing. We've got plenty of great opportunities and people like Sergio and others working hard to have a place, a home for none stop partying nights.