Halifax, Nova Scotia | THE COAST

Bead Pod closes

editor@thecoast.ca (Carsten Knox) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

A sharp-eyed and helpful Shoptalk reader has informed us that The Bead Pod in Dartmouth Crossing has closed.]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

ECMA Weekend photo round-up

editor@thecoast.ca (Scott Blackburn) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:00:00 -0400

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HRM's absurd obsession with secrecy

editor@thecoast.ca (Tim Bousquet) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:40:00 -0400

For the past two days I've been trying to get details of HRM's contract with Nustadia, inc. for management and operation of the new four-pad arena going up on Hammonds Plains Road. But word has come down from high that I can't have those details, because a clause in the contract requires that both parties---that is, both HRM and Nustadia---must agree to any public release of the terms.

This is beyond absurd. We have a $50 million facility going up, which will no doubt cost taxpayers millions more each year in operational expenses, but the actual amount is a state secret.

Secrecy breeds distrust, and in this case, the taxpayers should have a boatload of distrust. I'll say it out loud: there's potential for out-right bribery on a project of this scale.

Beyond that, taxpayers should be immensely concerned about Nustadia, because the company has famously botched a similar contract with the city of Guelph, Ontario. The HRM-Nustadia should be open to the widest possible public review.

That's not possible when the entire contract is secret.]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Object lesson

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:32:00 -0400

It’s hard to believe that Eyes and the Object, a new play by Loosen the Noose Productions, grew out of an improv exercise using Maritime ghost stories and legends. “It’s an original idea from the ground up,” says Mike McLeod, who plays Calvin Ballard, a modern-day DaVinci who’s a painter, inventor and the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize for physics. The idea “organically changed direction” for collaborators McLeod, Margaret Legere and Melissa Noonan, and became more of a metaphysical exploration: Ballard’s obsession with his work is isolating and soon, he only speaks to a woman he believes is “trapped in another dimension.”

Other collaborators include artists Jamie Stevens, Sarah Jean Jones and Rebecca O‘Rourke, with music by Michael Legere. There’s another silent character in the production too—-Ballard refuses to leave his studio, which is perfectly cast by the rough-hewn Shakespeare By The Sea building in Point Pleasant Park. “The space really lends itself to his sense of isolation,” says McLeod.

Eyes and the Object runs March 15 (PWYC) to March 20, 8pm with a 2pm Saturday matinee. Tickets are $15-$10, email tickets@loosenthenooseproductions.com or call 402-6764.

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Art history with the Khyber and Eyelevel Gallery

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:22:00 -0400

Good advice from the Khyber archives

Light up the candles and grab the champers because two artist-run centres are celebrating significant birthdays with archive shows. Older sister Eyelevel Gallery, who donated their archives to Dalhousie University several years ago, created an extensive online archive of exhibitions (eyelevelgallery.ca), going back to 1974’s Peggy's Cove Syndrome, in their first location on Upper Water Street. Even if you’re not an art fan, it’s a cool way to look at Halifax’s history.

The Khyber Art Society is marking their 15th anniversary with the archive exhibition, No Money Down, referring the society’s original name. “We’re putting the archives to good use, and so they’ll see the light of day,” says exhibition organizer and KAS board member Wes Johnston. Faced with “institutional memory loss and a high level of turnover and burnout”—-an occupational hazard for all low-funded non-profits—-the show of posters, letters and other ephemera is also a reminder of all the group has achieved, in terms of artistic output and political wrangling through the years. Many big-shot artists like Kelly Mark, Sandy Plotnikoff and Emily Vey Duke were involved back in the day when all three floors of the iconic building were full of art, parties and music.

Currently the Khyber board is waiting for word back from HRM and TCI Management Consultants, who are making recommendations on the future of the Khyber building and whether KAS will be in that spot for their 20th birthday. In the meantime, celebrate the past starting with Friday’s reception at 7:30pm. Show runs until March 31.

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Winter Wave Riders premieres Sunday

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:11:00 -0400

Riley Smith
Eva Madden-Hagen and surfer Lesley Choyce

And if you don't have a TV, no probs—the doc goes online Monday at cbc.ca/landandsea/. Read more in Carsten Knox's interview here.

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Obey Convention IV Line-up Announced

editor@thecoast.ca (Alison Lang) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:07:03 -0400

Oh, May is such a lovely month—-not only due to the birdies chirping and the bees and flowers fornicating, but because it's rounded out by the annual Obey Convention, Divorce Records' feast of wild music and art. This year's lineup features some treats, including Sue Carter Flinn fave Slim Twig who boasts a spooky Lux Interior/Nick Cave vibe, which in turn makes our loins scream "yes." More pompadour, please. We're also stoked to see Cape Breton's Mess Folk, who we've missed about six hundred times, and Ottawa's Holy Cobra, who sound like sunny garage dipped in poison.

It's really early, I haven't had coffee yet and I'm busy as fuck at work, so I hope you'll forgive the lack of embedding and educate yourself on all these lovely bands based on the Myspace links provided. It's Friday and I'm in love.

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Win Wellness Package with The Yoga Loft

editor@thecoast.ca (Carsten Knox) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

This month The Yoga Loft (5663 Cornwallis Street, 429-3330) is holding a $1,000 Wellness Package contest, which is free to enter. If you win, you�ll get more than just free yoga, you get a Swedish and a Thai yoga massage, a nutritional consultation, a raw food cooking class, an Ikebana lesson, a Chinese energy treatment, an acupuncture session, a chiropractic evaluation, an ergonomic assessment for your workspace, a life coaching session, natural bath and skin products, a basket of healthy and delicious treats, and more. The Loft is also starting a monthly holistic educational newsletter. For more information on all of this, visit their online presence at theyogaloft.ca.]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Chenoweth sale

editor@thecoast.ca (Carsten Knox) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Does anything say spring more than a ream of organic cotton? If you agree, visit Heroine (5775 Charles Street, 420-0328) on March 23 and 24 (Tues 5-7pm and Wed 11am-6pm) and March 30 and 31 to pick up organic cotton fabric meterage from local designer Laura Chenoweth in jersey, poplin, prints, corduroy and non-violent silk---the silkworms live to tell the tale. To learn more about Chenoweth and her work, visit her website at laurachenoweth.com.]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

In Good Company

editor@thecoast.ca (Alison Lang) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:24:00 -0400

Scott Blackburn
Peachy keen.

It’s been a good couple of weeks for the Company House. Fresh off an ECMA nod for Venue of the Year and co-owner Heather Gibson’s win for Manager of the Year, the warm, cozy Gottingen joint has also begun hosting an Artist in Residence program. Co-owner MaryAnn Daye likens the program to similar initiatives at the Cameron House in Toronto, where musicians get the chance to “present new music, fine tune older pieces and hone their performance skills in a live environment.” Natasha Peach will be assuming the role every second Monday for the next few months, working out piano tunes for your listening pleasure. Her next performance will be Monday March 15 at 9pm. Admission is free but donations for the artist will be accepted.

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Alice in Wonderland a disappointing trip down the rabbit hole

editor@thecoast.ca (Mark Palermo) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Tim Burton's latest is visually stunning, but missing emotional weight. by Mark Palermo �All the best people are mad,� is a motto in Tim Burton�s Alice in Wonderland. But is Burton himself becoming too status quo? The unique blend of warmth and rebellion integral to Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish and Ed Wood makes way for an artist performing to stupid expectations. His Alice in Wonderland is merely alright. Painting Lewis Carroll�s fantasy world in a palette of grey and red, 19-year-old Alice returns to the land she�d forgotten. Star Mia Wasikowska is…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

True Story by Adrian Lee

editor@thecoast.ca (Mike Holmes) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

by Mike Holmes [image-1]]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Curtains: Adventures of an Undertaker-in-Training, Tom Jokinen (Random House)

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Who knew death could be so entertaining? by Sue Carter Flinn CBC Radio producer Tom Jokinen quit his job to apprentice as an undertaker at a Winnipeg family-run funeral home. That's one way to get a book published: Western culture prefers to keep death at a safe distance, like meat processing, so when someone actually lifts the shroud, it's pretty damn exciting. But Jokinen makes it personal, and funny, too, mixing history, trends and facts with his own frank, philosophical troubles over death as a bloated, vulturous industry. He intuitively answers…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Hops Warrior

editor@thecoast.ca (Christine Beevis) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

For 10 years, brewer Greg Nash has brought extreme beers to local breweries and drinkers. Now, he prepares to open his own Halifax brew pub. by Christine Beevis Greg Nash runs up the narrow metal stairs in Halifax's Hart & Thistle brew pub, his 30th trip up and down since arriving at 8:30am. "Some people exercise, I make beer," he jokes. Kneeling next to a steaming copper vat, he taps a dial on the heat exchanger and watches the needle on the thermometre drop, mumbling profanities under his breath. Then he swears again as a murky brown liquid trickles slowly through a site glass. Things are not…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Remember Me a forgettable film

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Fist waving, yelling, brooding pout-face and angry bike-riding cannot make up for a bloated script and a manipulative last five minutes. by Sue Carter Flinn Remember Me is forgettable, both as a romance and an angsty family drama, with a ridiculous twist of an ending that is rightfully destined to piss off a few New Yorkers. Robert Pattinson stretches his James Dean eyebrow cock as Tyler, a sucky Manhattan rich kid wounded by the suicide of his brother and his neglectfully icy lawyer father (Pierce Brosnan). It�s the summer of 2001 (keep that in mind). After an altercation involving a cop (Chris Cooper)---ooh, he�s so…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Visit an interesting tree, Libra

editor@thecoast.ca (Rob Brezsny) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

And birthday Pisces, it's time to grow a heart protector. by Rob Brezsny Happy Birthday! PISCES (February 19-March 20) I used to have an acupuncturist who, as she poked me with needles, liked to talk about her understanding of Chinese medicine. Once she told me that every human being needs a �heart protector,� which is a body function that�s �like a holy warrior who serves as the queen�s devoted ally.� But the heart protector is not something you�re born with. You�ve got to grow it by building your fortitude and taking care of…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights, directed by Emmett Malloy (Warner)

editor@thecoast.ca (Sue Carter Flinn) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

A glossy red, white and black look at the charismatic two-piece's Canadian tour. by Sue Carter Flinn Next time Canada wants to promote nationalism, skip the bloody Olympics and hire The White Stripes instead. Even though, as Jack White points out in the concert film Under Great White Northern Lights (also playing at Park Lane on Friday and Saturday), his northern neighbour is the only country that charged the band a fee to play and the only country to turn them away at the border, The White Stripes still decided to tour every province and territory. Director…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Beer, documented

editor@thecoast.ca (Craig Pinhey) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Craig Pinhey digs through the records and discovers that Keith�s Ale was once brewed with no corn and five times the hops. by Craig Pinhey [Editor's note: A shorter version of this article appears in the paper version of The Coast. Here, Craig Pinhey goes into more detail about the beer recipes he examined.] A treasure trove of local beer history is now on tap at the Dalhousie Archives. When Halifax businessman Bruce Oland died last year at age 91, he donated records from Oland and Son, the company that once owned both Keith's and Oland breweries, to Dal. The collection is extensive---there's everything from…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Downtown openings, closings and buildings

editor@thecoast.ca (Carsten Knox) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

We smell a trend. Joining Boneheads in the southern BBQ restaurant scene is Q Smokehouse & Southern Barbeque (1580 Argyle Street, 407-4006), offering ribs, chicken, brisket, wings, sandwiches---including pulled pork, and even Louisiana po-boys---as well as delectable collection of sides, salads and desserts. Plus, it is licensed. In other resto news, Caf� Chiante, formerly at 5165 South Street but closed since a fire, is moving into 1241 Barrington Street, recently the home of TwelveFortyOne and Bear. Just a couple of doors down, it looks like Cargo & James has shut down for good. A block away, Morris East (5212 Morris Street, 444-7663) is offering a new Saturday lunch menu, featuring wood-fired skillet eggs, housemade bagels and something delicious-sounding called The Carrot Colada (made with freshly juiced organic carrots, rum and Brazilian coconut water). Oh, and Sensationally Yours has opened at 1870 Albermarle Street, offering gems, beads, jewellery and accessories. The business is reachable by phone at 425-1584. And Hatley in the Granville Mall is having a liquidation sale, they�re closing. In other Barrington Street development news, you may remember Shoptalk broke the news of Starfish Properties� plans for the former Sam The Record Man and Ginger�s Tavern building. Well, we�ve now heard those plans have recently been approved by the city�s Design Review Committee. And the CD Plus building was purchased by Churchill Steel & Timber, a company that also owns the historic Marble Building, housing Greco/Capt. Sub and Lydon Lynch Architects.]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

O, Canada!

editor@thecoast.ca (Bruce Wark) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

A deserving nation deserves a proper anthem, one for all the people by Bruce Wark Steve Harper's on-again, off-again flirtation last week with expunging sexist language from our national anthem brought back bitter memories of my misspent youth hunched over a battered Underwood. While neighbourhood kids indulged in light-hearted play---sniping at hunters in the woods or setting fire to the town crematorium---I huddled in the cellar hammering out stories, poems and columns to support Pa's addiction to Johnny Walker Black---and Blue if he could get it. (Pa often beat me black and blue when my…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Gentlemen Broncos, directed by Jared Hess (Fox)

editor@thecoast.ca (Kyle Wells) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

by Kyle Wells I don't get Jared Hess. His movies are not funny. They are as dull and lifeless as his characters, and seem to have only one joke spread throughout all three of them. After Napoleon Dynamite, Hess has been struggling to match its unwarranted success. Nacho Libre was horribly unfunny and his new film, Gentlemen Broncos, is no better. Benjamin (Michael Angarano, Snow Angels) is an aspiring sci-fi novella writer until his hero Chevalier (Jemaine Clement, Flight of the Conchords) steals…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Drink like an Irishman

editor@thecoast.ca (Melissa Buote) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Haligonian drinkers are doing their best to support the public good. by Melissa Buote From the hallowed, boozy days of Sam Mallone and Ernie "Coach" Pantusso on Cheers to weekly armchair visits to MacLaren's, the haunt of Barney Stinson and the rest of the gang on How I Met Your Mother, our culture loves to celebrate the neighbourhood pub. But more than that, we like to go to a neighbourhood pub, even if it's not actually in our 'hood. Since Halifax loves the British Isles like Scorsese loves DiCaprio, the latest spate of peninsular…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

I spy: Nina Levitt at SMU Gallery

editor@thecoast.ca (Lizzy Hill) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Nina Levitt�s interactive exhibition Little Breeze pays homage to Britain�s first female spies and secret agents. by Lizzy Hill Odds are, when we imagine a female spy it's a busty James Bond temptress or Jennifer Garner in Alias, flirting with terrorists in conspicuous disguises. Toronto artist Nina Levitt hopes to portray something a little closer to the truth in her exhibition at Saint Mary's University Art Gallery. Little Breeze pays homage to the lives of Britain's first female spies, who served in occupied France during WWII. "I was interested in the ordinary women, who really did have a big…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

In-flight safety tips

editor@thecoast.ca (Dan Savage) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

Not for airplane sex, but advice from the guy sitting next to Dan on a plane, on relationships, leather and watersports. by Dan Savage Q I am a girl who sabotaged my relationship. I was angry; I had complaints. But my real issue was a store of repressed childhood trauma, and I was working it out on the closest person to me, my BF. We had something magical, and I destroyed it. I am now willing to give 110 percent to fix it. We no longer have sex. We are hardly on speaking terms. I know now that my relationship skills are stunted but…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]

Gil Scott-Heron, I'm New Here (XL)

editor@thecoast.ca (Sean Flinn) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:00:00 -0400

by Sean Flinn This is a gift from Gil Scott-Heron, whose last studio album, Spirits, came in 1994. But the best gifts are worth the wait---witness "Running" or "Where Did the Night Go." The buzz threading through the poet and performer's baritone is beautifully matched by minimal, monolithic electronic production, courtesy of XL owner Richard Russell. His use of simple, synthesized patterns repeating, or a bass drum booming at broad intervals underscore Scott-Heron's spoken word and song, his teachings that time and experience…]]> [ Subscribe to the comments on this story ]