I love a man who plays the trombone

Being a groupie of Monsieur Fortier's, I scrambled through the ice - arm in arm with Aurélia - to the Lion d'Or tonight to see him perform as part of Cabaret libre influence, a monthly-ish showcase for emerging writers-composers-performers in Québec. 

Highlights: Luc de Larochelliere being given two hours to write a deep little ditty about going to the bathroom. Thinking I spotted the guy from Tricot Machine hovering in the back. Viviane Audet's jewel-green top and her duet with Juan Sebastian Larobina. Stupendous Cuban-flavoured trumpet solo by Benoit Paradis (see below).

My new favourite crush (don't try to keep up with them):

He scats. He wah-wahs. He plays brass. He doesn't comb his hair. He's Benoît Paradis! His influences include: Georges Brassens, Andy Kaufman, Chaplin, jazz, Gainsbourg, and the noise from the refrigerator. I cannot describe his sound - so just visit his MySpace page and listen to Le trombone, to start with. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do first... thank him for his perfectly quirky performance or make him a sandwich and a glass of warm milk.

PS. Going out on a Wednesday night. I'm obviously in the Plateau now...