RIDING THROUGH THE HOOPS OF RYANAIR

Simple question on live chat with Ryanair Will I get a seat if I do not do a pre-selection – which led to will I get on the plane at all even if I did buy one. Which then led to more chats which led to the fact that Ryan Air does not tell you this: when you purchase on line you will have to pay 50 Euros at the airport if you do not come with your boarding pass in hand. After you pay on line you have to go through the check-in process on line to get that boarding pass. Shouldn’t they tell you this after you pay?  Shouldn’t they say: Okay, you’re set but you MUST check in and here is the link to do so.” (But they don’t and many unsuspecting buyers get caught at the airport having to pay .

I think anyone who is using Ryanair for the first time should go on their live chat, and ask away.

The check in must be tricky because there’s even a YouTube link as to how to do it).

No, folks it was only by asking more and more questions that happenstance r0 hours later after asking a simple question that I found this out. And guess what, it is nto as easy as one would think. In fact, it is like a game show: if you make a typo error you have to start from the beginning, and if you do it less than 4 days before boarding you won’t get on – perhaps. Worse still, the gate at the airport announcing your flight with Ryan Air comes up only about an hour beforehand, so do not be late. In fact, the first 100 passengers lining up get their bags on free, but the others many not. They say, you get what you pay for. In the case of Ryan Air you pay but you don’t get. Admittedly, their tickets are darn cheap, but the stress level of knowing if everything is really going to work out for you in the end is not worth it. I’m still debating if I want to purchase my ticket to Chania form Athens with them. It depends if I feel like gambling that day. Be very very careful. Google Complaints with Ryan Air. Good luck! 

 

BISTRO ON THE AVENUE

Taste Perfection in a Exquisite Setting

It’s rare to find a restaurant whose dishes are so seductively sublime, it’s able to reach the highest calibre of flavour purity. But Bistro on the Avenue has succeeded in doing this. By refusing to compromise on cuisine authenticity, its modern creations attain palette-pleasing paradise without excess. Simply put, you won’t want to eat anywhere else after you enter this den of delicious dishes. Cuisine class cooked with gourmet goodness. That’s what you’ll discover at Bistro on the Avenue.

Opening December 3^rd last year – thanks to owner Encan Obana – this remarkable restaurant quickly overtook 30 others – earning the rank of second best in the upscale area of Westmount, Quebec, where it is located.

                                                   Enjoy the glitter
As soon as you enter, you instantly feel special sitting amidst the royal-like Parisian decor. A stunning crystal chandelier glitters overhead, and on the walls - delicate crystal sconces are reflected in the floor to ceiling mirrors. This is neo-classical beauty basking within soft grey walls. Yet there isn’t a trace of pretension here.

A unique team of chefs produce pleasure on your plate
It all starts with the smiling waiters, who carry the spirit of Bistro’s truly caring staff. Most important, the team of four chefs have something so many restaurant chefs don’t: they are all team palette-players; they work together to bring their bi-monthly rotational menu to the peak of taste perfection.

 

Head chef, Bulgarian-born Nelly Nikola, a recent graduate of Montreal’s École de Métier, who has just returned from exploring Costa Rica’s cuisine in a 3-week stint working with the illustrious chef Randy Siles, is constantly on the look-out for freshness in produce, originality and new ideas. “We consult together, so we learn from one another. For example, Columbian talent, Johnny Miranda is a third generation family chef with over 20 years experience cooking all over the world. Our sommelier is from Afghanistan, and of course our Montreal chef inputs tremendously.”

Nelly stressed how much she values local produce. “Each dish we serve is an example of the team’s philosophy.  But locally, choose the main dish and marry the herbs without overwhelming the basic beauty of taste. Everyone has a different palette, so flexibility while maintaining freshness and taste balance is so important. We never mix lots of ingredients in one dish.”

Simplicity Creates Stunning Surprises
My friend and I recently discovered the place while casually strolling along Greene Avenue. I loved the bistro’s elegant interior. Would the food match such beauty?  I had the bacon, caramelized onion with spinach omelette for breakfast, and to date, I have never tasted such a divine omelette. It was thick, not watery or greasy. The melted Gouda cheese was generously applied, yet this omelette was not bulky or overcooked. It was exceptional. My companion ordered the strawberry, banana crepe swarming in warm chocolate, He is a crepe connoisseur, so when he raved it was indeed the finest to ever enter his mouth, I was impressed. We decided to return the following week to try some of the lunch offerings.

Unsurpassable Taste and Texture

We delved into several dishes from the menu. The result?  Never in my life have I ever had such fine tasting food. Bear in mind, I have been sent to France as a food critic, and I can honestly say, what I tasted there can’t compare to the taste pleasure at Bistro. Maybe, it’s because, here, they do not drown the dishes in sauces, and overcook the main staple, hoping perhaps that somehow presentation will supplant essential true-to-taste that Bistro on the Avenue has awesomely mastered.
I ordered the pasta with braised beef; it was mixed with home-made wide Pappardelle pasta. Very nice indeed. I also ordered the brisket whose sweetness enhanced the tenderly grilled generous portion of meat. I totally loved the veal picatta. It was flavoured in lemon juice, with white wine, capers, garlic and butter. This was a favourite for me, but it tied with the amazingly brilliant grilled chicken. So tender, so delectable, so perfectly flavoured and delicately balanced in lemon juice. On to another goodie: the shrimp burger. It was a pretty-looking paddy sporting a touch of coriander. Again, another taste bud winner!

 

I’m a frank food critic, so when I tried to find something wrong with a dish, I couldn’t. Something more to gush over was the service: on both occasions, it was superbly appealing, extremely patient and attentive.

Oh, Sweet Excellence… to sip and savour
Wines galore and so much more… at your table or at the bar. Bistro on the Avenue has a cute, unobtrusive bar at the entrance. It boasts an amazing collection of alcohol (over 36 kinds of vodka to mention just some of the varieties to imbibe) and a wine selection of over 50 international kinds. I had the 2015 Bourgogne Aligoté – a smooth white that harmonized with my shrimp burger; my companion ordered the interesting 2014 red Italian cuvée Ripasso. We ended the meal, sharing a banana crème brûlé, undercoated in delectable melted chocolate. It was deliciously sinful, but I was in heaven!

Every Monday, Bistro on the Avenue features Ladies’ Night with an awesome assortment of martinis. Tuesday nights are all-you-can-eat tartare, and Wednesday is all-you-can eat mussels.

Bistro on the Avenue’s address is:

1362 Greene Ave, Westmount, QC H3Z 2A5

Phone: (514) 939-6451

Email them at: info@bistroontheavenue.com

The website is: bistroontheavenue.com

The 27th Edition of the St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival!

Montreal's MainLine Theatre is pleased to announce this year’s St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival, The shows run from May 29 to June 18. Take your pick of over 800 performances by more than 500 artists in over 20 intimate venues this June. Celebrate quebecois, national and international artists converging in the Plateau Mont-Royal for a multidisciplinary, French and English festival of theatre, music, dance, visual arts and more!

 UNIQUE FRINGE PRINCIPLES

• No artistic direction. Artists are chosen by lottery or first-apply, first-accepted.
• No censorship. Artists are uncensored and have complete freedom to present anything.
• Accessibility to artists. Anyone can apply to the lottery.
• Accessibility to audience. Ticket prices are capped at $10 and 100% of that ticket price is returned to the artists you see on stage.

“Straight off the heels of hosting the World FRINGE Congress and becoming a finalist for le Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montreal, we’re feeling a surge of new attention,” says Executive & Artistic Director Amy Blackmore. “For many years, the FRINGE movement was one of Montreal’s most exciting secrets. Now Montrealers are embracing the spirit of the FRINGE, inspiring them to jump on board with our values of diversity, community and artistic freedom.”

Amy Blackmore

Montreal’s biggest bilingual indie arts party is jam-packed with three programs:

• FRINGE After Dark (May 29-June 18)
• FRINGE A-Z (May 31-June 18)
• FRINGE Park (June 8-18)

FRINGE audiences are encouraged to be adventurous, see a show and write their own reviews. Word-of-mouth is king at the festival, as most artists are premiering new works. Follow the conversation using the hashtag #fringebuzz to uncover this year’s mega hits.

New this year: To deepen the connection with community, Montreal Fringe launched the FRINGE MENU with favourite neighbourhood businesses. Lots of restaurants are in on this Fringe binge.

HISTORY
The first FRINGE Festival was the Edinburgh Festival FRINGE, established in 1947 by a group of eight theatre companies prevented from participating in that year’s Edinburgh Festival. This inspired the creation of Canada’s first FRINGE Festival, the Edmonton FRINGE Festival in 1982. A decade later in 1991, the St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival was founded on McGill Campus by Kris Kieren and Nick Morra. Over the years, the festival has grown to become an essential cultural variety pack kicking off Montreal’s famed summer festival season.

July 11th is International Fringe Day throughout the world, and so along with  Quebec's 35% French language shows and 35% of Quebec English shows, the rest of the pie is divided up: 15 Canadian shows and 15% international ones. I can hardly wait to feast on the amazing variety of Fringe shows! Thanks to Queen Bee herself, Amy Blackmore for leading us into the greatest Fringe hive ever. 

       Reviews follow

INTERSTELLAR ELDER (Directed by Kathleen Greenfield) 
A Snafu production

There is no end of skill and remarkable talent to Ingrid Hansen who plays Kit, a chronically frozen woman who for 200 years remains forever sleeping in her cryonic state until she is chosen to enter a space station as a custodian to dust off earth’s issues.  In fact, the planet remains uninhabitable due to a Swiss char take-over which has

 obliterated everything.

 Inspired by her own granny who felt isolated and terribly lonely in a seniors home, this quirky highly imaginative work, displays Kit’s own desperate loneliness. Kit must follow a daily ritual of waking up, peeing, drinking and more, and this Hansen does in fast motion, thereby showing off her amazing movement training. A huge puppet also takes over in this play that comes from a simple tissue and then grows into a humongous alien creature that attempts to kill her. Hansen is a skilled puppeteer, so this segment of the play towards the end was believable, clever and funny and yet scary too.

Audience involvement added yet another surprising element to it all.

 The props were so unique and used with great ingenuity. I must say Hansen if a star whose weird scenarios work as metaphors for the human condition. A must-see! Catch her as well in the play The Merkin Sisters whose sibling rivalry comes into the play as they create a huge sculpture.

BERLIN WALTZ (Directed by Devon more)

Devon More Music

The actress has moved to Berlin at a young age after the wall was torn down, and she takes a 100-miles bicycle ride down the path where the wall once was. 

As she does, she charts the history of the wall – the leaders who made Germany a truly divided nation, and how it all ended up. 

Screen projections and her own live music with wonderful lyrics spiced up the wall saga that concludes that capitalism, not socialism hit the once enclosed inhabitants like a ton of bricks falling down, much as the wall did. She makes a plea for humanity to help one another not exploit one another. What a talented versatile performer actress is! Her voice is her strongest asset.

 

JON BENNETT VS JASON DONOVAN (Directed by Jon Bennett)

A hilarious game involving the audience answering questions from cue cards read to us by Bennett on the subject of 90s Aussie icon Jason Donovan. We can blow a whistle when we want to stop and do anything we want – like get a beer or go to the toilet, and we can also get Jon to tell us stories which he did in vividly sad and funny ways. It’s us against Donovan. There’s a score keeper from the audience. Usually the audience loses; we just don’t know enough about him. Bennett is charismatic and totally entertaining. What a wacky way to get us to laugh and have a whole lot of fun! 

Nancy and Jon Bennett

POET VERSUS PAGEANT (Directed by Telia Neville)

She’s a gawky misfit with a brain big enough to conquer most any smart aleck or bully who comes her way. But Ms. Poole really wants to show off that she can also outbeautify and outbrain the bimboes of beauty pageants, and so she enters one. What is wholly remarkable and incomparably clever about this playwright’s piece is everything she says has been composed in rhyming couplets!

An Aussie actress of memorable talent with a memory to match. How she remembered all those lines of poetry is proof enough that she is indeed a poet laureate, and a lovely one at that!

AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD (Directed by Barbara Newman)

Doctors without Boredom is the name of her solo performance company. What an astoundingly compelling piece this was, and its contents really did happen. Dr Newman is in the most remote tiny village in Haiti. She is trying to deliver a baby whose forehead is obstructing the birth. This is called an obstructed delivery. She ingeniously cuts through cartilage of Martine, the mother, to bring the baby into life. But getting the baby out is preceded with its own human obstructions. Dr. Newman who hails from San Francisco, has worked in Sudan, India and other 3^rd world countries as an ER specialist. No doubt she has a mountain of on-the-edge  stories to tell, and she does so on stage with authenticity and suspense.

AIN’T THAT RICH (Directed by Kate Robards)

A moving and funny autographical tale about growing up real poor on the Texas Louisiana border. Kate’s mom taught her good values, but the falling roof over their heads and the five jobs Kate holds compels her to seek wealth. One thing leads to another and Kate who loves to talk about money is elated, until she realizes the rich are not so nice. She can’t forget her roots nor her brother who desperately needs her help. He’s an alcoholic bit too long.  

The play goes on a bit too long, and the dramatic brother episode sadly tailgates into her riveting message, but by then, we are getting a bit disinterested. Her different characters are excellently acted by this highly talented comedian. The story in itself strips naked the polarity of experiencing wealth juxtaposed to daily poverty struggles.

Here's what Kate says about this autobiographical play:

"The issues and themes in the play are my obsessions and it's all pulled from my life. The thing about working from your life is you have to be really good about checking with the people you write about. The things I'm interested in are the things we're ashamed of, and I think that's what makes good theatre, revealing our deep human truths. 

I started performing 15 minute chunks of the piece at Solo Sundays which a a solo performance showcase in San Francisco. I used that performance venue as a way to figure out my overall story. I just started writing towards experiences of growing up broke with a single mom and an older brother, and marrying someone who just had a totally different background. There were so many things that didn't make the final cut, but I'm not sure audiences want to sit through 90 minutes of just me. There is definitely a 90 minute version, but I'm really happy with the emotional movements and beats of the piece in it's current iteration."

Kate is a trained improvisor. She has an MFA in writing from California College of the Arts and is a graduate of UCB improv training.  She said that at every performance she tries try to do something new like improvising a line or finding a new way to say something. If it works, she'll keep it. That's where she's found some of mher favorite moments actually, through improv.

THE MERKIN SISTERS (Directed by Ingrid Hansen & Stephanie Morin)

 A merkin is the bushy add-on “wig” to the vagina area, and so many innovative hilarious vignettes the two women present are indeed sexual, but the total hair wig that engulphs their bodies - each has her own to wear, which the sibling thespian geniuses play with. No way to describe this one-of-a-kind entertaining show, except to say that these gals are Fringe gold.

BON COP, GOOD COP (Alain Desrochers) **

After the fast moving-events of the first film, Martin Ward (Colin Feore) and David Bouchard (Patrick Huard) have gradually grown apart as their lives and careers have taken them in different directions. Ward is now a senior officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and he is sent in to investigate what is going on with a car theft ring. Both buddies are reunited. 
It would seem Feore is the cop that is more violent than his Québécois counterpart.  Both become embroiled in wacky car chases, outing the bad guys and fending off comments made a by a corrupt FBI head who turns out to have a thing against Muslims. Lots of jibes against French Canadians and stuffy anglos. Lousy plot with confusing situations and far too much violence to balance the laughs it attempted to get. Fore was too sentimental in manner, but Huard was as amusing and with-it as Mel Gibson was in “Lethal Weapon”. Loved the first one, but this one was unconvincing and both appeared to know it. They put French subtitles only when Marti spoke in English and other characters. but God forbid, they should be courteous enough to also put English subtitles for french which was mostly spoken in the film. If they want movie to go international, they had better take the enlightened path and incorporate English subtitles.

LE FILM DE BAZIN (Directed by Pierre Hébert) **

Lovely in feel, this documentary creates a meditative looks as it presents letters and photographs taken by the filmmaker André Bazin of several old Roman churches in Italy and France. 

 Most were weathered by time or partially destroyed by bombs. Animator Hébert recreates their façades – even placing people walking outside on their grounds. Narrated by Michael Lonsdale, the film project by Basin began in 1958 but it ended that year. Bazin died of leukemia. These points of historical referencing should have had a map on the screen to show the viewer their different locations as each one was examined. As well, the ending of the film was most unclear and jumped topic speaking about Martin Luther King, Hitchcock and the White House. 
 This journey into ecclesiastic monuments, although repetitive in some parts, is most peaceful to the eye.
(Screened at FIFA).

A QUIET PASSION (Directed by Terence Davies) ****

                                I’m a poet I doth admit; this film for me is a perfect fit.

                                I related to her solitude, critical mind and harsh morals.

                                                                                                                                   Emily Dickinson (Cynthia Nixon) is so close to her family, she rarely treads beyond. She enjoys writing during the wee hours of the morning in the Amherst home. Her rejection of church and society’s repressive ideas about women fuel he verses which are mainly dark and morbid.  The irony is her verses often coincides with the films scenes. Emily was quick to judge others, cast vicious comments like swift-moving darts at those who lacked moral fiber and wit – such as her brother Austen.  Her poetry was inspired by truth and brutal honesty. No soft touch here; no nature worshiping here; no elation here. Just letting verses keep their rhyme much as she would play with words to pass time. And she paid the price for this. She was lonely. But her greatest rejection in life stared at her every day in the mirror: herself. She felt she was unsightly and suffered so much. She felt she was tainted with a mean soul. Even a suitor she would not allow to look upon her face, remaining at the entrance of her door that was ajar at the top of the stairs to address him. In the film death enters her life as she loses her father and mother, and is left alone with her devoted sister Vinnie. 

She becomes incapable of walking beyond the gorgeous gardens of this maintains close ties with her family while becoming a prolific poet whose work becomes recognized after her death in 1886. The sparring dialogue, delightful wit between her friend and herself, her sister’s elegant devotion and her father’s austere manner whose wife suffered form loneliness and melancholy was all addressed in this film. It was a beautiful portrayal of a cloistered woman who locked in her feelings along with her body inside the house. 

Elegiac in feel, the movie is a remarkable reflection of this poet who dies at the age of 53 from  Bright’s disease. but whose poems outlived her. Her genius finally received recognition posthumously.                                                                             

Two incomparable countertenors in stellar concerts

During Montreal’s Highlights Festival, The Theatre of  Early Music presented two special concerts. In the first one titled "The Lark and the Nightingale", Michael Chance and Daniel Taylor sang soprano-like pitches of such immeasurable beauty as they articulated the profoundly moving music and lyrics written by Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Profound in their religious and lovelorn themes, Purcell’s songs sublimely suited these world-class singers whose exquisite voices sonorously evoke a century international audiences are nostalgic for. The program’s setting was apt as well. Within Montreal’s graceful yet understated Chapelle Notre-Dame-De Bonsecours, Taylor with humour and modesty also gave the stage over to renowned musicians whose instruments artfully brought back the Early Baroque period. The lute (Sylvain Bergeron), viola (Pemi Paul), violins (Adrian Butterfield, Christina Zacharias), recorders (Mathias Maute, Sophie Larivière), cello (Amanda Keesmat) and organ (Christopher Jackson) were in perfect unison as they lushly filled this lovely chapel with instrumental concerto titled, "On the Death of Henry Purcell", composed by recorder/flute virtuoso Mathias Maute.

Encores were endless; perfection can produce such adulation for artists who touch our hearts in the purest way. These artists did. 

Daniel Taylor

                                                                      

Michael Chnace

The following evening’s concert titled,” Come Ye Sons of Art” featured the choir and orchestra of The Theatre of Early Music with Daniel Taylor conducting. He also sang as did Michael Chance. They repeated some songs from the previous evening, including, “Strike the Viol”, “Fairest Isle” and a lovely duet whose song’s remarkably beautiful refrain of “Oh no, Oh no” highlighted their notably lush harmonies. Another repeat from the previous concert was Matthias Maute’s “Concerto on the Death of Henry Purcell”. He masterfully performed again with Sophie Larivière. There was absolute clarity and ease despite the alacrity of tempo and notes most prevalent in the two allegro movements.  The concert’s title song featured full orchestra, choir, and soloists that sent rapture up to the imperious vaulted ceiling of Saint Léon de Westmount’s Church – concert’s venerable venue. Tenor, Jacques-Olivier Chartier, and sopranos Hélène Brunet and Jana Miller, along with the rich bass voice of Daniel Lichiti beautifully interpreted the lyric segments whose themes were of love, nature, religion and royal jubilation. In its entirety, the finale’s long vocal and orchestra piece was in fact an ode composed for the birthday of Queen Mary II in 1694, by Henry Purcell, one year before his passing. One must mention the virtuoso playing of British-born Adrian Butterfield, first violinist who received his training at Cambridge University and whose recordings are world renown. Amanda Keesmat on cello was remarkably strong. In fact, all the soloists, including trumpeter Alexis Basque and lute player, Sylvain Bergeron have performed centre stage in prestigious halls in North America and Europe.

The above concerts took place February 25 & 26.