Meeting of Styles/Can You Rock !?!

 

Recently we all heard about the cancelation of the annual Can You Rock graffiti jam here in Montreal. Every year invitations go out to select and respected writers, both local and afar, to participate in what has been considered by many to be one of the premier graffiti jams in the city. I personally look forward to events like this (and Under Pressure) that bring the crews and community together, even if loosely, for a weekend of painting, chilling, and all hours partying. I meet new writers from all over and get to catch up with some of the locals I don't get to see that often. Even more, in recent years I've made closer ties with the organizers of these events, I volunteer, take pics, and help out where it's needed or where I can. So when Can You Rock didn't get off the ground this year, I felt it on a more personal level than I expected to. It also made me think about the importance of events like this not only to the local scene and its members, but to the image that Montreal has maintained as a pillar of the North American scene in general. This last statement might be a lofty one, but it's one I stand by. This city is arguably one of the most soaked and active around, has some heavy hitters and draws the attention of writers the world over.

I decided to dig into the vault to put together a MOS/CYR retrospective to fill the void of not having the event take place this year. It's not a comprehensive post, rather just some shots I never put up, and a few re-posted deservedly. Hopefully next year things will be more manageable and the team not too bogged down in other responsibilities. Remember, this is a volunteer run event and the organizers take a lot of their personal time to put these types of events on. So big ups to the crews, volunteers, and organizers over the years for putting on some great events and here's looking forward to next year's Can You rock being bigger and meaner than ever.

 

More soon. Stay posted.

Cote-St Paul: Sept 2010

Cote St Paul (CSP) is that dead zone stuffed in between Verdun and St. Henri tangled in the tentacles of the Turcot interchange. Mostly abandoned and desolate, save for a few businesses and storage areas, this drab stretch of industrial waste land is also a major cross roads to some long running spots like CBR and Stinky's. Recently it has also become the new home for an annual graffiti jam: Can You Rock? (formerly Meeting of Styles) that has a solid spot on Cabot Street. If you missed out on the last jam then you can check my posts here and there.

And the area is drenched in tags and throwies from end to end. You could spend enough time out of your day trekking around CSP and all it has to offer. I've been going through this area pretty regularly since 2003 and have always enjoyed the little sanctuaries that I find, especially CBR. Yeah, I know its a bombing spot with nothing really pretty in it on the usual but its got character and its one of the longest running spots for bombing around that I know of.

Here are my shots from Sept 2010, again forgive the late posting, I'm catching up. I'll have Stuff from TA, Turcot, and the streets up soon.

 Bosny show tonight at SubV and a Sohoe/Getso show. More soon so stay posted.