The Atwater Library is expected to draw a capacity crowd next Wednesday afternoon when Victorian novelist and poet Thomas Hardy drops by to discuss his life and work.
The author of such literary classics as 'The Return of the Native' and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' will speak at a luncheon event in the upstairs auditorium, and will later take questions from the audience. Hardy's topic will be 'My Inspiration for the Wessex Novels', and will cover the period of work from 'Far From the Madding Crowd' (1874) to 'Jude the Obscure' (1895).
"We are very pleased that Mr. Hardy has agreed to come and speak to our members," says Library Director Lynn Verge. "He is a giant figure in English literature, and we look forward to his talk."
This free event begins at 12:30 p.m. next Wednesday, and is open to the public.
The Rotary Club of Westmount will not be holding its popular garage sale and auction in the Westmount arena this spring. The sale has been an annual tradition in Westmount. It has attracted thousands of browsers over the years and has raised many thousands of dollars for the community service group.
But now it looks like the big sale has fallen victim to its own success. It seems that anything worth selling has already been sold.
"We really hoped that we could hold another garage sale this year, but we had a very difficult time collecting items to sell," a Rotary member (who asked not to be named) told me this week. "We normally pick up thousands of items from people throughout the year, but this year we couldn't collect anything more than a 'Hands Off My City' button and an old Scrabble board with the letter Q missing."
Hopefully, the big Rotary garage sale will be back in its rightful home in the arena next year, with plenty of more quality items to sell.
Classic movie buffs will be out in full force next Friday night when the Westmount Film Society presents a screening of the black-and-white1940s comedy 'Abbott & Costello Meet Duplessis'.
The plot follows John Abbott and Frank Costello as they travel to Quebec City in search of a lost maple syrup recipe, and through a series of hilarious misunderstandings find themselves recruited as Union Nationale goons, intimidating voters and stuffing ballot boxes on election day. The supporting cast of players includes the great Boris Karloff as Premier Duplessis and Nigel Bruce as Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
The movie will be presented in 3D, and audience members will be given a pair of special glasses to view the film. "This is the only way to see La Grande Noirceur," says Film Society president Amber Berger. "We'll be ducking tortière and other flying debris. It promises to be great fun."
23 Kazoos, a rag-tag group of amateur musicians from Westmount, will be mounting their all-Mozart concert next week in Victoria Hall. All of your favourites will be on the programme, from The Magic Flute to Elvira Madigan — all played on the kazoo!
"The kazoo is a vastly underrated instrument," says 23 Kazoos leader Alberto Kranberger, who has been practicing on his own kazoo since childhood. "We (the members of 23 Kazoos) are currently lobbying the government to attain official woodwind status for the kazoo." After next week's concert, the ensemble is planning to tackle the works of Gilbert & Sullivan, as the 19th-century British operetta is a genre close to Kranberger's heart. "I'm especially looking forward to transposing the liberetto from HMS Pinafore for the kazoo," he says.
23 Kazoo performs Eine Kleine Kazoomusik next Saturday night at Victoria Hall. Admission is $25 at the door, part of which will help fund the Movement to Raise Awareness and Credibility for the Kazoo.
