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of 350 FOUR MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT Issue Twelve November 2011 FOUR MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT: ISSUE XII conceived and composed by Kevin Lo and John W. Stuart editorial assistance: Jessica Alley, Sophie Le Phat Ho, Sara McCulloch, and Heather Stewart Expozine photos by Camille McCouat ( 2, 42, 44, 124, 126 ) and Denis-Carl Robidoux ( 10, 40 ) cover illustration by Billy Mavreas in collaboration with Archive Montreal printed by Imprimerie Kata Soho Première queStion Pourquoi faire un fanzine ? Oui Pourquoi ? Pourquoi ! RentRons dans le vif du sujet, Dans le flan aux œufs de la question. Je dirais que tu dois faire un zine pARcE Que tu es un être de fantAsme oPpressé par la société. qu’eSt-ce que ça veut dire ? qu’on vole tA VOix sur-aiguë cOntinuellement. qu’on te met des mots dans la bouche et Qu’apRès On te cOnVainc que t’as vraiment dis ça. que les mêmes truieS Qui écrivent leS mAgazines débileS Que tu lies sont cElLes qui se Plaignent de ton mode de vie sOus pRétexte que c’était écrit dedans le magazine. tU VOis la crosse ? dEuxième queStion Comment faire un fAnzine ? C’eSt pas compliqué. le pire, C’eSt de mettre dAns l’étAt de ChOc-toxique. tU Te soûles la gueuLe d’ineurgidrinque. tU Te gaVes de haine enveRs teS aïeuls et tu éCris. dans le FOnd un zone, C’eSt juSte une Feuille, Des mots et deS décORations. Vincent Couture Clémentine, Numéro 5 Ten years is a short, long time. A moment, an eternity. Ten years ago I was quitting my first ‘real’ job in Toronto and moving back to Montréal. The FTAA protest in Québec City was a fresh scar in my mind and body, a permanent reminder of the world that exists outside of my relative priviledge. It was also my first glimpse into the world of possibilities that emerges when we finally say no and do it ourselves. We met on the front lawn of the VA building, smoking cigarettes and fuming at the world, trying to find the place, our place, where graphic design might contribute to the struggle. Trying to learn how to do it ourselves. It would eventually lead to this zine, and many other projects, some doomed to failure, others still growing. At the time though, all we had were a few ideas and a new city splayed in front of us. Then those towers fell, and shit got uglier, meaner, more dangerous. Ten years on, and things are still pretty ugly out there. I think of Troy Davis murdered last month. I think of Palestine. I think of the austerity and poverty we are promised. I think yourself these days is pretty damn of the screens we stare at and the political, even if it is about the cats words and gestures we now lack. in your alleyway), Expozine emerged Over time we mobilised, and we out of necessity. From a couple of forgot, and we mobilised again and tables set up in the venerable Sala forgot again. We got jobs, we lost Rossa it has grown into two sweat jobs, had our hearts broken and packed days in a church basement, mended inumerable times. We kept with almost 300 exhibitors each smoking and fuming. year and thousands upon thousands passing through. It continues to grow Yeah, it’s still ugly out there… because people feel the need to make something that speaks of their Despite it all, I have to say it’s still experience of; art making, gender beautiful in here. Inside all these identity, politics, being, or just plain hidden spaces, the backrooms of madness. It grows because people small bars, factory loft apartments have so many things they need where strange jazz rings out, snowy to share. alleyways speckled by poppy seeds and all the wobbly balconies This November, Expozine celebrates attached to them. Immense church it’s tenth anniversary. In collaboration basements where we meet and with Archive Montreal, this issue of exchange. The margins of the page. Four Minutes to Midnight is dedicated to that celebration and to all those Expozine, Montreal’s annual small that have participated in the festival press, comics and zine fair, is one over the years. It is by no means an such place. It’s emblematic of all attempt at a comprehensive nor these spaces, of a bubbling and authoratative anthology. It is an frothing creative culture that won’t intimate sampling of those we’ve take no for an answer. Inspired by rubbed shoulders with in the beautiful the Anarchist book fair, but without space created by Expozine. the ideological bent (though I would argue that making honest shit John and Kevin Lianne Zannier Les Chations du Quartier four minutes Zinebec: When will it come? BY ANDY BROWN Originally published in La Voce del Popoplo, Vol. 1 No. 1 Fall /Automne 2001 Montreal is the only major city in Canada that does not have an independent book fair. Toronto has Canzine (run by the folks at Broken Pencil magazine), a small press fair, and a cut-and-paste festival. Ottawa, Vancouver, even Edmonton all have zine and book fairs. But where is our Zinebec? Ironically, Montreal is positioned to have the most diverse and successful fair of any city. What I see at Canzine are hundreds of tables of the same thing (with a few notable exceptions), yet I am constantly amazed by the amount of book/magazine/CD launches, commix jams, and cabaret shows that take place around Montreal, sometimes two or three a week. And those are just the ones I know about or in which I am involved. Montreal has an internationally renowned bandes dessinés/comix community, independent record labels, artist book exhibitions, some of the best zines in the country, Distroboto, and a spoken word community which has become the envy of other cities. And at the risk of banging my dear reader over the head, remember all of this is in two official languages. The recent success of the Anarchist Book and Freedom Fair proved that there is a lot of interest in independent publications. However, 12 to midnight Simon Bossé Mille Putois those tables were filled solely with politically–oriented tracts. If these kinds of crowds will come out for a single genre, imagine the potential in a fair that would feature many vibrant and overlapping scenes. We need a fair that is representative of all the communities and all the languages which make this city such a unique place to live. Montreal hosts an impressive array of homegrown culture. There are only a handful of English–language small presses operating in the city, but there is a wealth of talent. Perhaps this is because the mentality here is to be truly independent, which means not being dependent on Chapters to sell your book, nor on government subsidies in the form of grants. So the cultural product is out there, but it must be sold through alternative avenues since mainstream culture has monopolized the distribution networks. We have been very adept so far but the most beneficial way to sell and promote these independent publications is at a huge and diverse fair. Zinebec is born! The gauntlet has been thrown down. Who shall pick it up? 13 14 BY JESSICA ALLEY I had lived in Montreal less than a month when a co-worker took me to a show at Cagibi. I was so new to the city that I got lost trying to find her place on Colonial, wandering north on St-Denis instead. But the night was beautiful and I was free, surrounded by unknown ruelles and dimly lit avenues, engulfed by a polyphony of languages; an outsider in the middle of everything, hungrily taking in this pauperized bounty of prosperity. This night is pertinent to my memory for many reasons. On our way to the show, we stopped at a dep to buy beer for the walk. In Nova Scotia, such conveniences simply don’t exist. Cagibi turned out to be a cozy closet-sized cafe of mismatched armchairs, worn-in upholstery, softly glowing table lamps and a fusion of aromas that wafted lazily around the room, coiling under noses and erupting tummy rumbles. The show was a Neil Young tribute; a suitable marriage, I thought, of my love for Neil and my newly discovered love for Montreal. But most important were the cultural discoveries I made that night: a zine called Four Minutes to Midnight and something called a Distroboto, an ingenious machine that serves up small packets of hand-crafted art. It would take more than a few months, but eventually I would walk up the right avenue in this cultural landscape and find myself just where I wanted to be — surrounded by heaps of zines and scores of Distroboto machines. 15 four minutes It’s in a commercial loft off of rue Beaubien that Archive Montreal calls home. This is where I found myself one evening last June, amidst hundreds of zines and old cigarette vending machines awaiting their reincarnation as Distrobotos. This is where I met Louis Rastelli and spent the next few hours chatting with him about his DIY lifestyle and Expozine. Louis Rastelli is a founding member of Archive Montreal, a collective of friends and associates who have been a prominent part of Montreal’s independent arts scene since the early 90’s. Archive Montreal is the umbrella organization responsible for Expozine, Montreal’s annual zine fair, the Distroboto network of art-vending machines, and several other cultural initiatives centered on the promotion of independent literature and art.

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