The Club House (Downtown) - Dive into deco. The '20s were sexy, sexy, sexy.

Baxo (Old Montrel) -On a cold winter night in Old Montreal, this place is hot.

● Deville Dinerbar (Downtown) - Philly cheesesteak spring rolls and R-rated shakes? We're in!

Despite occasional secessionist threats, Montreal in truth probably rivals London and Brussels for internationalist credentials--and its food scene is now starting to catch up with its demography. What it doesn't actively court is celebrity chefs.

If you enjoy the following things—outdoor concerts, not spending money, being trapped in a sea of flesh, the Arcade Fire—then do we have some news for you! On September 22, Canada's Biggest Band Ever is doing something very thoughtful and very Canadian for the city that spawned it, when Win, Regine, and the rest of em' take the stage at the Festivals of Quartier des Spectacles in downtown Montreal for a free (shit)show.

Bauhaus singer Peter Murphy once said that "All the best rock stars come from the gutter and aspire to be sublime. And that’s a great tension, it's very romantic, very glamorous." Whether he knew he was paraphrasing Oscar Wilde or not, Murphy's rather luminous statement could be effortlessly transferred to fashion's only true rock star, Jean Paul Gaultier. Born in the working class Paris suburb of Arcueil, fashion's enfant terrible has always, since his beginnings as an assistant to Pierre Cardin in 1970, had one eye cast towards the gutter and the other gazing up at the stars.

Around 2004, Montreal’s music scene exploded on to the international stage. Since then, music anthropologists have been trying to make sense of a city that has produced some of the biggest indie rock bands in North America—Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, and Chromeo, to name a few. The obvious answer is ridiculously low rents in ridiculously artist-friendly neighborhoods, but Montreal is also a city that nurtures its talent through affordable shows and diverse festivals. The latest is the M Pour Montreal festival, which kicked off last night. The festival is smaller than Pop Montreal and recalls SXSW in its infancy, before the parties and crowds overshadowed the focus on buzzy bands. M Pour Montreal is more analogous to Reykjavik’s “Iceland Airwaves” festival, where local bands are celebrated, along with a few choice international acts (fittingly, this year M Pour Montreal hosted a few great Icelandic bands).

Regulars of Montreal's Green Room are already familiar with DJ Mike Silver's mastery of music. He's been a mainstay at their Saturday-night party for years, and he can kill the dance floor with anything from obscure punk to a hip-hop slow-burner. But this Thursday, under his moniker CFCF, he'll be making his first SXSW appearance at Speakeasy, where he'll most likely play tracks from his luminescent debut album, Continent. Released late last year, this exercise in electro-pop perfection (there is zero filler on this one) has established Silver as one of the most promising DJ/producers working today. Here, he takes us on a personal tour of his Continent.

At last, beantowners can trade in their DUIs for BUIs (which by the way are a much lesser offense) and get home on two wheels, hopefully running over nothing more than an errant soda can. The Bixi bike is set to arrive in Boston in the near future. A hybrid of "taxi" and "bike," Bixi is the Montreal version of the oh-so-popular bike-sharing system that sprung from Paris two years ago (though that program certainly has its problems). Bixi bikes have the added benefit of being eco-friendly, as they are solar powered.

● MNB (Downtown) - Hookah, hootch, and hotties at Monty's latest supper club.