The Traveling Montrealers

Just like the Traveling Wilburries, some of them are musicians.  Some of them are not.  Friends in exile, they have developped some sort of habit when it comes to getting away without looking back.  They get away from the rumours of the city, the siren sounds and the truckloads of beer to discover new territories.  They're the traveling montrealers.



Tonight, my friend the Drunk Rocker will leave for New York and only come back on Tuesday.  Tomorrow, it will be sweet MC and Jolaine's turn to leave for Philly, the City of Brotherly Love.  They're only going away during this long week-end because they have the occasion to, while missing all the fun that St-Jean offers here right at home.

Mr. Stitch just came back from Europe.  My friend Myriam is in Berlin right now, and Bender got back from the very same Germany just yesterday.  He was visiting Marc Romboy, Stephan Bodzin and Thomas Schumacher to make plans about the future of electro.

My friend Caroline just got back from Mexico, where she spent the last year completing her Bacc.

My friend Yugo, a.k.a. Expat, is in Barcelona right now, enjoying Sonar.  Fellow blogger LetNoManJack is also leaving for Europe on July 1st where he'll experience Berlin's Love Parade reborn, and the 10 Days Off festival in Ghent, Belgium.



My cousin Hugo, the skater / tattoo artist that all the chicks dig, went to tour the US and Mexico alone at the end of last year and is still reported as missing.  According to Mexican Manu, his fellow Slicked Style Steel collegue in the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue shop, he's somewhere in Vancouver and reportedly not willing to come back here any time soon.  His heartbreak made him run away, and it will also probably keep him from coming back.

So what's this love / hate relationship we have with our hometown ?  Why does everybody have to leave it to love it more ?  The grass is always greener on the neighbor's lawn ?  It's always better to fuck anybody else than your girl ?

I guess people like to travel.  See different horizons, different sunsets, do things they wouldn't normally do at home...

And just like Claire leaving for New York City in SIX FEET UNDER'S final episode - that I saw yesterday - while these heartbreaking flash forwards appear in the deep blue of her eyes, our traveling montrealers have a chance to get away from their routine to quietly take a look at it from a distance, rendering it easier for them to make the right decisions about their ongoing lives.