Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Lake Of Stew, Bloodshot Bill To Play St. Jean Fête After All

Members of the Lake of Stew, a 6-piece acoustic string band based in Montreal. An invitation to the band for it to perform at a festival celebrating St. Jean Baptiste was rescinded because the band is English-speaking. Photograph by: Roger Aziz, Courtesy of lakeofstew.ca

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - It looks like two anglo bands will stay on the roster for a local Fête Nationale celebration, but only after Quebec’s international reputation took another hit.

Lake of Stew and Bloodshot Bill, neither of them household names before this past weekend, were told they might be dropped from the roster of the L’Autre St. Jean party in Rosemont on June 23 because of agitation by some nationalist organizations.

After widespread brouhaha over the two indie bands being dumped, it would appear they are back on the play list.

Read more ....

More News On The Banning Of English Bands At the Fete

Quebec minister blames 'intolerant' sovereigntist fringe for concert brouhaha -- Canadian Press
Quebec separatists want to silence anglo acts -- National Post
Anglophone bands back on roster for Fête nationale -- CBC
Quebec fête furor hits sour note -- The Toronto Star
The great big stew: By banning english, the Fête nationale becomes the Fête nationaliste -- Montreal Gazette commentary

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