Island Life

[Architype]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

It does extend farther in some ways. For example, I read recently that all the members of the local band Repartee moved to Toronto to try to build their career. In the United States, it's extremely unlikely for anyone to have to move such a vast geographic distance to pursue a career in music. There's more than one place to go. But in Canada, for anglophones, things like that are almost always going to be Toronto.

The disconnect is that, if they do make it big, Toronto didn't shape Repartee. It's just where lots of people in lots of fields have to go in Canada to get ahead. But that still counts as reach, just not cultural influence in the way we generally mean it.

This isn't surprising at all. It's always been the case for artists or musicians, etc. To mention a famous one, Bob Dylan moved from Minnesota to New York to start his career.

[ue]

There's still plenty of kids that make the odyssey from the Eastern US to Los Angeles to pursue a music career. Sure, there's other centres, just as there are within Canada, but LA is the predominant city. Not sure what SHH is thinking.

[SignalHillHiker]

I'm just thinking it's a different structure. There is no single city in the United States where most aspiring musicians have to go. There are several. The reasons for it are obvious enough, but that doesn't change the fact it is a real difference.

Canada doesn't have that. Sure there are examples of anglophone musicians going to other cities (CBC even had a story about a guy from Toronto who moved here to pursue his music career a few months ago), but it's not the norm.

Some of the American cities - Memphis is probably the best example - also have a stronger claim of ownership over their genres of music, and influence over their artists.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Landlocked!!



SSP

True islands should have at least this much water on all sides.

Is it called the Island of Laval too btw?

Oh hey northeast Ottawa (Byward Market) is an island thanks to the Rideau Canal. This makes it really easy.

[Acajack]

The island that Laval sits on is called Île Jésus.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Pinion

True islands should have at least this much water on all sides.

Does that mean that Montreal is a Fake island?

Montreal's being an island is partly why the city was established where it is. Not a trivial fact.

[zahav]

Conde Nast just released their People's Choice Award winners in various categories, including world's best islands. Vancouver Island came in at #6 in the world, notably the only non-tropical or Mediterranean island on the list!

http://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/...ce-awards-2014

[matthew6]

Living in Montreal, I really dont get the sense that I am on an island. It is actually a rather large island and I get the impression that one can go weeks without actually seeing water.

[Rico Rommheim]

The majority of people living on the island of Montreal probably don't have a strong relation with the river(s) surrounding the island. Most of the population has clustered around the industrial canals and in the neighbourhood around the mountain.

But on the rare occasions that I visit the river-side neighbourhoods in say Verdun, or Lasalle, or Lachine or out in RDP or Pointe-aux-Trembles, I'm struck that other Montrealers have a completely different relationship with the river.

[GreaterMontréal]

The Hochelaga Archipelago (Montréal Islands) has a population of 2.5M.

320 islands

[ue]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I'm just thinking it's a different structure. There is no single city in the United States where most aspiring musicians have to go. There are several. The reasons for it are obvious enough, but that doesn't change the fact it is a real difference.

Canada doesn't have that. Sure there are examples of anglophone musicians going to other cities (CBC even had a story about a guy from Toronto who moved here to pursue his music career a few months ago), but it's not the norm.

Some of the American cities - Memphis is probably the best example - also have a stronger claim of ownership over their genres of music, and influence over their artists.

This is completely false. Many aspiring musicians in Western Canada head to Vancouver as Toronto, in fact, probably just as many head west as they do east, if not more. Within the Francophone sphere and even within Anglophone spheres, there is also a strong Montreal element in the mix. Toronto is predominant, sure, but so is Los Angeles. Both countries have some splintering of streams but there is still one clear dominant force.

[matthew6]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

But on the rare occasions that I visit the river-side neighbourhoods in say Verdun, or Lasalle, or Lachine or out in RDP or Pointe-aux-Trembles, I'm struck that other Montrealers have a completely different relationship with the river.

It shouldn't be a rare event. Verdun is awesome. One of my favourite Montreal hoods.