TIGERS READY TO ROAR IN QUEBEC Vancouver's Fond of Tigers has scored a coup that places it in some select company. The experimental noise rockers have just been chosen to play the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville , an experimental showcase in Victoriaville, Quebec, that's now in its 24th year. In the past, the FIMAV has been curated by such artists as Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and featured everyone from turntablist Kid Koala to indie upstarts Wolf Parade to Japanese sonic terrorists the Boredoms. Fond of Tigers is the only Canadian band outside of Quebec to be invited to this year's festival, which runs May 17 to 21 and will host acts ranging from jazz giant John Zorn to Japanese prog-fusionists Koenji Hyakkei. “It's one of the top handful of festivals in the world for the kind of music that we are interested in,” Fond of Tigers leader Stephen Lyons told the Straight . “There's no dance-with-your-kids-and-have-fun kind of thing, it's all pretty intense music without a lot of concessions made to popular taste. That's intriguing.” Those who can't afford airfare to Quebec can catch Fond of Tigers at the Railway Club on May 4.

MONEY FOR FREE Three times a year, the B.C. government serves notice that it's willing to spray money at the province's touring musicians. And for the most part, the hundreds of struggling artists in British Columbia pay little attention. Music BC recently announced that $100,000 in funding has been earmarked this year for its Music Industry Travel Assistance Program . Artists have until May 25 to apply for grants designed to offset the costs of hitting the road. While three such deadlines are announced over the course of a year, there's hardly a rush for what amounts to free money. “It's hilarious. Maybe people think it's too good to be true, but we only get around 30 applications for each deadline,” Music BC spokesman Nathan Stafford told the Straight . “We'd love to get more because the higher the quality of the applicants, the more money we can ask for next year.” Under the program, artists planning European tours are eligible for grants up to $4,000, with $2,000 available for Canadian tours and $1,000 for showcase events like CMW or South By Southwest. When deciding where MITAP money is going to go, Music BC gives priority to applications that look professional and well thought out. “The music is half, but your marketing plan is just as important as your music,” Stafford said. “We need to know why you are going on tour—are you promoting a new album?—and where the tour falls into your overall scheme. Having a well-put-together press kit works as well—nothing handwritten.” To help make your next cross-Canada jaunt—or working European vacation—a little more tolerable, visit www.musicbc.org .

GELDOF GOES GLOBAL Former Straight music editor Bob Geldof has orchestrated some huge projects in his time, but none may be bigger than his latest. The man who put together the Live Aid and Live 8 benefit concerts for Africa has announced plans for both an eight-part BBC television series called The Human Planet and a Web site called the Dictionary of Man . Together, the multifaceted project aims to document every human society on the planet. Geldof made his announcement at the MIPTV Media Market, a trade conference in Cannes. Noting that crews will travel the globe to document more than 900 societies that are thought to exist on Earth, he described the undertaking as “an A to Z of mankind that will catalogue the world we live in now”. As for the cost of the documentary and site, Geldof described it as “fucking huge”.