Susan Moss, a renowned Montreal rock photographer known for her iconic photo capturing Stephen Malkmus of Pavement getting hit by beer at Osheaga in 2010, died at age 58 after being diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Diagnosed just a month before her death and opting for medical assistance in dying, Moss was celebrated for her talent, sassy personality, and mentorship of younger photographers in Montreal's music scene. Her brother described her final days as filled with warmth, wit, and generosity towards friends and family who visited her home.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-17,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Shortly after the indie rock band Pavement took the stage at Montreal’s Osheaga music festival in 2010, a full cup of beer arced through the sky in an impossible, slow-moving lob and hit singer-guitarist Stephen Malkmus squarely in the face.
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cup → take → face
The crowd gasped.
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crowd → gasp → ?
The band stopped playing.
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band → stop → ?
Mr. Malkmus paused, wiped his face, then deadpanned, “Was that Molson or Labatt’s?”
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that → pause → face
Somehow, the exact moment was captured on film.
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moment → capture → film
And the person who took it was Susan Moss.
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who → take → it
Ms. Moss, queen of Montreal rock photographers, wild-haired master of gruff repartee, was a punk-souled, do-it-yourself workhorse and feisty, much-loved woman-about-town.
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Moss → love → town
Late on Sept. 4, news spread on social media that she had died at the age of 58.
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she → spread → 58
Few people had known that she was ill.
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she → know → ?
“Susan just knew how to put herself in the right spot,” said singer and guitarist Brad Barr of the Barr Brothers, who met her shortly after he moved to Montreal in 2005.
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he → know → 2005
“She was good at being invisible but then coming out with these amazing shots.
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She → come → shots
She always represented a certain kind of Montreal cool to me – humble, unpretentious, never schmaltzy, always on the level.
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She → represent → level
Diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer only a month earlier, the affable, no-nonsense fixture of Montreal’s cultural scene was independent to the end, opting for medical assistance in dying (MAID).
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fixture → diagnose → dying
She was initially told she had three months to live but the disease progressed faster than expected, to which she responded with characteristic grit.
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she → tell → grit
She died at home surrounded by family.
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She → die → family
“When she found out she only had two weeks left, she just said ‘WHAAT?!
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she → find → WHAAT
I need more time!!’
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I → need → time
It was a classic Susan reaction,” said her brother David Moss, who was Susan’s primary caregiver in her final month.
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who → say → month
She always said what was on her mind and not always nicely, but she had a heart of gold.
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she → say → gold
“Until the end, she was seeing people, gifting them things as they came to visit, old cameras and whatnot,” he continued.
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he → see → things
“She gave people different aspects of her life.
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She → give → life
She was saying goodbye, and she wanted to do as much of that in person as possible.
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she → say → person
She really cherished that.”
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She → cherish → that
Talented and driven, Ms. Moss was also sassy, pugnacious, and rebellious – utterly herself.
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Moss → drive → ?
She had an acerbic wit and a gravelly exterior, like a character out of a Mordecai Richler novel, but was always warm and approachable, and famously helpful to the city’s younger music photographers.
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She → have → photographers
“Whenever I did a show, I’d get offstage to go for a smoke and Susan would be there first,” singer-songwriter Patrick Watson said.
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Watson → do → smoke
“Our friendship grew from there.
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friendship → grow → ?
You do music in a city and you work with all these lovely people and you feel like you’re all doing it together.
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you → do → it
“She would always make fun of me, because when I started I was just this jackass who played piano, and she thought it was hilarious that I ended up having a career,” he laughed.
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he → make → career
“A music scene can only happen when all these different parts come together, and she was part of the magic.
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she → happen → magic
It’s a huge loss for everybody.”
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It → ’ → everybody
Born in Montreal on May 29, 1968 and raised in Côte Saint-Luc, Susan Beth Moss was as local as local can be.
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local → bear → Luc
She spent her life in and around the city.
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She → spend → city
Her parents divorced when she was 1, but both filled their homes with folk and classic rock – everything from Bob Dylan to the Beach Boys and Gordon Lightfoot – instilling in her a lifelong love of music.
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both → divorce → music
Her childhood was loving but not always easy, according to her brother.
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childhood → accord → brother
They were two peas in a pod, Mr. Moss said, two sides of the same coin.
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Moss → say → coin
“She was born into conflict,” he added, referring to the turbulence of his parents’ divorce.
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he → bear → divorce
“School didn’t resonate with her.
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School → resonate → her
My mother took Susan to a psychologist when she was 5, and he said ‘Don’t give this kid paper with lines to colour in, give her blank pages.
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he → take → pages
She needs to swim and be free.’
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She → need → ?
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
