TIFF Day 06: I’m up, I’m up!
Now that the festival is past the halfway point, to say fatigue is setting in is not quite right—it’s seeping, it’s blanketing, it’s practically a plague. People are falling asleep regularly, and if you think you’re fighting against it, that you’re young and vital and alive, well, wait until a middle-aged man’s sweet, rhythmic breathing…
Mom and Dad Went to a Show
The past few months have heralded a regular Tribute Band Explosion in this fair city. This plus the blazing resurgence of grunge (as dictated by newspapers and designer Charlotte Ronson’s runways full of Doc Martens and flower prints) made us think the existence of a Nirvana tribute band was a foregone conclusion.However, Endless Nameless (comprised…
Another bitch about stupid little punks in Halifax
Baahhhh! Ok, so it’s this past Sunday at 7:10pm and we’re driving down Spring Gdn on our way to dinner with the fam. I wasn’t driving, and you punks are damn lucky I wasn’t and that my dear old dad was instead. So you’re driving some small white car packed with teenaged/young adult guys &…
By-law Bullshit
Fuck you to the loser with no life who has nothing better to do than to call the city because my grass is too high. I loved that tall grass, I felt like I was in the country, I should be allowed to grow my backyard anyway I want. Again, get a fucking life loser.…
Buses, Bikes, & Bitching
I ride my bike on the right hand of the road so all you motor vehicles can zip past me when ever you need (obviously if you have a motor its more important for you to get somewhere then the lowly bicycles). Hey, I understand that I’ve been in a car behind some slow ass…
Express buses???
Umm what does the word “express” mean on bus routes #34 & #35? I compared the departure/arrival times from before they changed in August, and they are all EXACTLY the same!! Where does the “express” part come in??? Still takes me an hour to get home every day!!! —What a jip
Why are people so rude/angry these days?
Why are people so rude/angry these days? It seems that with each passing day, more and more civility goes out the window to be replaced with rudeness and anger. It’s like the rage virus in 28 Days Later or somehow the monsters that eat human flesh are slowly coming to be. —Sick of angry people
You Ruined Miami Sound Machine for Me
The decision to play obnoxious music OUTSIDE of your stores twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week- brilliant, just brilliant. It’s there when I go to sleep. It’s there when I wake up. It never goes away. Is this what passes for promotion? Perhaps you could find a way to install buzzing fluorescent lights…
Utilities keep going up…wages stay the same…?
I read in the paper today there is a proposed 40% increase for the water commission. This comes shortly after a proposed increase of 12% from Nova Scotia Power Corp. Thankfully the utility review board only gave them 6.5 percent. Taxes have gone up again, making everyday small purchases harder on the wallet. I’m not…
Vegans?
It really irks me how vegans will go to a restaurant that is obviously not vegan friendly and expect people to go out of their way to accommodate their vegan only requests. Did you ever think that maybe most restaurants find your requests annoying and a pain in the ass? It’s like me going to…
Burn Holy Books?
OK, am I the only one that noticed this or am I some kind of freaking retard?! So, everyone is talking about this silly priest in Florida who is maybe going to burn the Koran. I mean there’s outrage, protests, riots in the streets, people have died in some areas of the world because of…
Disrespecting the official flag of HRM is punishable by up to $500 or 30 days in jail
You can go out and buy the Maple Leaf flag, the official flag of Canada, and then insult it in any number of ways—burn it, flush it, fly it upside down, whatever—and suffer only the loss of personal reputation. But, should you get ahold of the official flag of the Halifax Regional Municipality and proceed…
TIFF Day 05: Michelle Williams vs. Michelle Williams
I was very excited for my 9:30 screening this morning, the latest from Kelly Reichardt, who made the minimalist-but-affecting Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy. Meek’s Cutoff is her third film, and second starring Michelle Williams, and she goes back to frontier times, following three couples who’ve been promised great things await them in the…
Hottie Alert
closer to God We’re a little late to the game on this, but Scott Stapp, of the Grammy-award-winning band Creed, will be sharing his musical vision with us on a very special “VH1 Storytellers tour” where he will be playing stripped-down version of all his hit jams in ways that “fans have never heard before.”…
Useful and Pretty
You definitely deserved that 8. —The 7.8
A+ for your kind words
To my former HERH student at the Gladstone Medical Centre on Tuesday: Thanks for your kind words. Your compliment made my day and I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to share. I hope that your back feels better soon. —Your junior high teacher
Forever In Your Debt
To the nameless couple who saved my best friend from being raped near Sackville Street on Saturday night: I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER! She woke up on your couch dazed and confused knowing only that two super hero citizens stepped in and stopped the attack. I know not who you are but every day I…
Put on some pants
To the man on the cardio level of a downtown gym wearing inappropriately short shorts on Monday around 2pm… Dude, seriously, nobody wants to see that. You’re a young, good-looking guy, but those shorts riding up your thighs are ruining it. It’s not a fashion show, but please, just put on some pants. —Treadmill #1
Disgusted and Afraid
To the faceless predator who tried to rape my best friend on the streets of Halifax: I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL! You are a disgusting reminder to NEVER walk the streets of Hali alone, even on a busy Saturday night. I will never forgive myself for going home early that night. You have put…
Stolen e-reader
To the jerk that turned in my bag but stole my e-reader: I had to desperately use the bathroom thanks to mega health problems to the point I had to stop twice on my bus ride home. I left my bag behind and tried to get back to it as fast as I could. A…
Grey pick-up truck – Mackay Bridge
This is to the brainless FUCK in the grey pickup truck that tried to run me off the bridge at 6:20am this morning: Asshole! I’m assuming you take the bridge every morning… yet I can’t for the life of me comprehend that you have not noticed that there are 8 fucking tolls were vehicles are…
Swarming punks
Here’s hoping the HRP gets it together and maybe watches the one block in the city where 5-20 kids swarm people and beat them up every other night. Maybe you could conduct some sort of investigation or stakeout, instead of “Durrrrrr geez we are not sure if they are related lol”? What does it matter…
TIFF Day 04: Scandals, girlfriends, artists
I am feeling oddly disconnected from people during this festival, which happens when you spend your days in a box watching projections. I had a couple polite conversations early on, but I haven’t made any festival friends or even gotten worked up about trying to meet particular writers like I normally do. Ah well. At…
Sick and Tired
I’d like to send a big fuck you to a certain medical clinic: You’re unprofessional! Your complete disregard and disrespect for patient time is shocking! Not only did you cancel 3 appointments with me in 1 week. Seriously, 3 times in 1 week!!!! Today, I didn’t even get to see the Dr. because you were…
Keep your 8-legged freak in its confined space!
I hate spiders… so clearly I hate tarantulas! Roommate, stop taking out your nasty-ass tarantula and letting it roam around the apartment! I’m scared to death of it and I’ve told you this many times. But you won’t listen… the other day I was sitting on the couch watching a movie and HELLO there it…
Forces Recruiting
Why does the Canadian Forces run continuous ad campaigns pushing for recruitment but when you go to the recruiting center they inform you there are no positions open and likely none until 2011? —Wants to Serve Country
To the woman that catches the #2 Downtown every morning at 7ish
3 days in a row you bitch at the driver for no good reason – different driver each day. I have come to the conclusion that you are just a mean and miserable person… buy a bike or take a cab… definitely stop being an ass… —Tired of ass-hats
Too Boozed
I went to a wedding this past weekend and realized that I probably shouldn’t drink anymore. I really don’t drink too often but on Saturday, I indulged and lost control and I’m feeling incredibly bad for the things I do remember doing. On top of that I’m pissed at the fact that I actually let…
Enforce this…
It’s really interesting how the law enforcers in town are able to pull up ONTO the sidewalk on the WRONG SIDE of the road in order to get their pick-up order of Thai food. Isn’t that ILLEGAL? —Follows the rules of the road
Car bumper goes smashy smashy
One more reason to want to move from this city: Someone once again hit my car with their car and just left… No note, nothing. Thanks a lot jerk. My car is older, but didn’t have any scratches until you had to run into it. You couldn’t even have the decency to face what you…
Do you feel better about yourself?
The other day I was walking near the Windsor/Chebucto/Cunard intersection, when I saw a man in a wheelchair crossing the road in the crosswalk… When pedestrians have the walk light when crossing from one side of Windsor to the other, cars are still allowed to turn left off Chebucto onto Windsor, and other cars are…
Service Really????
Sept 9th – broken back spoke on my bike. Go into high class shop I am told they are booking for the 18th of Sept. Next day stop at another bike shop. Repair is done in less than an hour. If your business model is our health care system, good luck guys and girls. —Worksmith’s…
Pedestrians do NOT own the roads!
To the blonde haired c#$@ with the blue jacket on the corner of North and Windsor on Saturday night who decided to walk out in the middle of traffic to stop traffic for all your friends while I had a GREEN LIGHT: you are lucky I didn’t run you, and your 10 friends over. You…
Paper is litter too
I have no problem with all of the posters I see on trees and poles, etc. I always want to know what is happening in my neighbourhood. What I have a problem with is the previous posters flying around on the streets, ultimately ending up in someones yard (like mine). If you could just take…
Dan Leger hates his readers
There are lots of reasons why the daily newspaper industry is collapsing, but one is simply this: They hate their readers. I mean, why should average people choose to pay for something that insults them at every turn? But time and again, daily newspapers are siding with the comfortable over the afflicted, the bosses over…
CANCELLED: Hatebreed
what’s the deal, tough guys? Another one bites the dust…. Starting Monday, ticket purchasers may return their ticket to the Ticket Atlantic Box Office for a refund. Anyone who has purchased online or via phone will have their credit card refunded automatically. Anyone who has a question regarding refunds for their tickets may call Ticket…
The Curtain Closes on Day 11
It’s over, and I’ve failed. Sigh. I set myself the task of seeing 30 plays in 11 days at this year’s Fringe, but I only managed 28. Two plays, Mud, Blood ‘N’ Honey and Jumble House Presents Active Space Improv, pulled out of the festival part way through their runs, so I missed out. I’ll…
See Some Music and Buy a Tree for Emma Lee
Tonight at the Wooden Monkey, there will be a concert featuring Mary Stewart and Ben Caplan and the Casual Smokers to raise money for Stewart’s mom Emma Lee Stewart. Last month in this article on the lovely Mary and her song-a-day blog, we mentioned that her mom is seeking alternative treatments for metastatic breast cancer.…
TIFF Day 03: Franco, Tamblyn, Holly from The Office
TT Today began by sharing air with one Amber Tamblyn, who I consider the best American actress under 30. She was not the main event, however—that would be living performance art project James Franco, who stars in 127 Hours, Danny Boyle’s follow-up to Slumdog Millionaire, in which a man becomes trapped under a boulder while…
Great Shows amid the Controversy on Day 10
Well, the Fringe is abuzz with talk of actor Mikaela Dyke’s open letter of complaint against festival director Ken Pinto. I believe it is a brave act and that it may be a step towards making the Atlantic Fringe stronger and more professionally run. I look forward to hearing Pinto’s side of the story. But…
Love on the kitchen floor
I can’t tell you how much I miss kissing you on your kitchen floor, and just simply being around you. Knowing you changed my life. I’ve never had a friend like you, a love like you, a woman I wanted to spend my life with like you. I don’t want it to end like this…
Musical MP
Was that Megan Leslie singing and shaking with Royal Wood at the coho Friday night? Now that’s the kind of representing this constituent respects! —Shake it to the left
Fish Fish
Waking up to you every morning feels like winning the lottery. I don’t know how I ended up finding such a wonderful person in my life but I promise I will never let you go. —Bean Face
Missing our runs
We both said a break would be good, but I had no idea how hard this would be. And now you are on the other side of the water and I am missing you so much. I know you know, but I want to tell you: Running is not the same, but I think of…
Cupcakes and Wonderful People. I miss you already, Halifax.
This is to the wonderful north end baristas who randomly appeared at our table with “Bon Voyage” cupcakes (a vanilla one and a chocolate one, with “Bon Voyage” written around the plate in caramel sauce!) this evening: Thank you for making our last night in Halifax a memorable one. Our group was loud and obnoxious…
Just the way you are
I met you at a weird time in my life… just getting home from a long “business trip” that day and newly single. You were in the same boat, more or less. You showed me how healthy interaction should be between two people… I’m forever grateful. Truth is, now I’m at a point where I…
DO NOT WANT
When I say I don’t want it in the ass, that isn’t a secret challenge I’m setting up. Don’t try to be all stealthy and sneak your way in there. It’s not like I’m not going to notice! “Oh, sorry, I just rammed my junk in the backdoor even though you told me not to…
Ticks
Why did we not spray pesticides to kill the ticks with Lyme disease? Now they are spreading out and will be harder to destroy. —Sick of environmentalists fear mongering
Just ’cause it’s there!
I am taking a stand for all image makers who post their work online. So to all of you assholes who think that just because it’s on the internet it’s a free for all… THINK AGAIN! Saving an image on your computer According to the Canadian International Property Law Office (CIPO): “Copyright applies to all…
To the people who butt in line at the Seahorse on Thursday night:
We were waiting in line. You pushed in front of us, pretended you were trying to get through the sidewalk, and then, when you’d clearly butt in line, had the gall to turn around and try to add to our conversation. I don’t know if I resent you more, or the people who butt in…
Dear Beatrice, the Go-Time Lady
You’ve lied to me one too many times and I just can’t trust you anymore. I’m sorry to say that we’re through. —Disgruntled Transit User
Bus Rider Bitch
So I’ve had some interesting bus rides. But this takes the cake: buddy gets on this morning with a surfboard. A huge, 7 foot surfboard, in a case. It’s too tall to stand up on the bus, so he hauls it all the way to the back and puts it in the aisle, in between…
Chickaboom Chickaboom…
Don’t you just love it when you see a Mercedes parked where it blocks the disabled ramp to the bank while the able bodied young male owner visits the neighbouring convenience store? Never mind that someone actually needed to use the ramp… Wish I was able to see the license number clearly… —WTF???
Rock+Window+Hurricane = You’re a Fucking Idiot
To the jackass who smashed out my friend’s window outside my apartment building friday night / saturday morning: they were down from out of province. All you took was a bag of Doritos, an iPod and a GPS. Are you brain-fucking-dead? There was a brand new laptop on the BACK SEAT. It must suck to…
Mother doesn’t always know best
I am so sick and tired of girls thinking that just because someone doesn’t have the ‘right’ anatomy, that they can’t be with them. And I’m tired of their mothers brainwashing them into thinking that they couldn’t possibly be happy with a woman, seriously, what the shit? Just because you made a mistake in your…
TIFF Day 02: The worst movie of the festival
TT It’s Kind of a Funny Story: Directors Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, stars Keir Gilchrist, Zach Galifinakis and Emma Roberts at the Ryerson Saturday night. For the second day running, I was stuck in an unfortunate pattern of meh to great in regards to film quality—great if you’re home on the couch, less so…
Open letter of complaint against Fringe’s Ken Pinto
Mikaela Dyke While performer Mikaela Dyke, who’s been receiving positive reviews for her play Dying Hard, has enjoyed being in Halifax for her Atlantic Fringe run, which ends this weekend, she hasn’t been as happy with the treatment she’s apparently received from the Fringe’s director, Ken Pinto. In fact, Dyke has written an open letter…
Chillin’ with Anne-Marie on Day 9
Since the Fringe began last week, I’ve seen shows on pedophile parents, terminally-ill miners, murdered teens, failing seniors and brave cancer patients. That’s a load that can make your heart heavy, so it was a real pleasure to simply enjoy Anne-Marie Woods’ The Fringe Show — Live and Fully Improvised! The show consists of several…
Photos: Dance party on the Common
Our writer and resident dancer Shannon Fay busted a few moves (and took a few photos) on the Common, Friday night at a dance party organized by Su Donovaro and Mary Burnet. She writes: The idea came together quickly and over the course of a week they got everything together: They spent $80 to rent…
Don Clairmont comments on swarmings
[image-1] There has always been violence on the streets of Halifax, but from about 2005 to 2007, there was a disturbing spike in the level of unprovoked attacks on innocents, culminating with a series of swarmings in and around the Halifax Common and the murder of American sailor Damon Crooks on Argyle Street.
The Royal treatment
If my camera’s USB cord worked, you’d have a live photo. But hey, he’s still damn handsome. OK, maybe not the pants right off—-he is married to lovely lady Sarah Slean, after all—-but last night’s show left nobody wanting. In a cheeky mood, Royal Wood started his set with the new single “On Top of…
The south end smells like shit
[image-1] Halifax residents living in the vicinity of the sewage pumping station at Inglis and Barrington Streets are complaining of a foul sewage smell in their neighbourhood. Thursday evening, the odour was so strong that I could smell it two- to three blocks away, and while driving by in an air conditioned car. Some months…
Yeeeoooow
You make me smile each and every day. You are beautiful. You are wonderful. You are sweet. Thanks for the sandwich babe. —Me
Love Letter #1
Dear Halifax: It’s time to bid you farewell for a while. I lived, loved, and breathed you my entire life, and I take you in my heart. I’m needed elsewhere for a while, but please don’t fret – I promise I’ll return. I will miss you every day, and will think of you often, and…
Peaches
I hope that you know how much I really value our ‘friendship” or whatever it has grown into! Seeing you drive into the yard gives me a little jolt of happiness every time. I know things are very complicated and impossible for you, but the little bit that I do have is enough, and I…
I want you to eat your pet shit
It truly amazes the shit out of me that there are actually people in this city who walk their pets, let them take a shit, then pick it up and put it in a bag, tie the bag and then throw it back on the ground!?!?!?! Are you fucking serious? I don’t even know where…
Selfish, and delusional
I just wanted to thank you for twisting the story around, like you always do when you don’t get your way, and making me look like some evil kind of a thing. I also really enjoyed having you grab me by the throat, and scream at me, when I was trying to give you advice.…
What country is this again?
Alright, so the end of August and beginning of September is a busy time for people moving. The students that lived in my building just moved out and had a lot of garbage to get rid of, as would be expected. A mattress, several bags of garbage, and various other furniture. All of this on…
I Used to Love You
Thank you for screaming at me over dropping your tool kit this morning on our 20th wedding anniversary. Over those two decades, you ridiculed, mocked and verbally abused me. You would rather get hit by a bus than say one kind word to me. You accuse me of blaming everything on you when that is…
Public Space for Private Advertisements
Since when is the sidewalk an advertising space? Even if the “paint” is temporary, who gave this company the go ahead to paint the sidewalk. HRM? Paint the side of a building, and it’s graffiti. Why is this any different? —Mike
BURNING STUFF…
…is the mark of a congenital ass-hat. I’m not talking campfires, bonfires, wood stoves, last years leaves, next years grass or any combustion connected with cooking or warmth. I’m talking about making a public display out of burning something. There is no excuse, no context, no mitigating circumstance. Abso-fucking-lutely none! If you believe that you…
Sorry for you, Scared for me
I know, I get it, you have Aspergers and that sucks but can you please stop threatening to gouge my eyes out and telling my friends that you fantasize about cannibalizing me? If that’s asking too much how about a deal: I’ll let you keep drawing me as that human…fox…thing (even though a Professor told…
Crappy service in donut shop
What the fuck is up with your service these days?? Usually its pretty good but lately – and at three different locations – the service has been really crappy! Indifferent service personnel mumble something about ‘backloading’ the special and are unaware about the soup being cold. Come on, wake up and pay attention to what…
Collar I.D.
You know what I hate??? BENCH… as in Bench jackets. They look stupid and people look stupid with their collars up so EVERYONE will see that they have ‘BENCH’ written across the back. —not the way I jack’et
God damn swarmers!!
I went to submit a bitch about these fucking swarming attacks all over the North End in Halifax, and see that someone has already done so. I won’t be surprised if various others submit bitches about it, since it’s absolutely bananas!! What the hell? What kind of people get together in large groups and envelope…
It’s like driving, but all day
Fuck you metro transit. You make me late for work, your routes are more random and useless then the ramblings of a drunk tourettes patient, and if you were to ever be on time, I’d eat my own face. In conclusion: metro transit, get fucked. —Cause it’s not like I have to be somewhere
From the Ridiculous to the Sublime on Day 8
The end is in sight for my Fringe Odyssey: Twenty-three plays down, seven to go. Here’s hoping the final seven are more like the dreamy Waltz than the incomprehensible Bud Hunter! In order to give you a taste of how bad Bud Hunter: Not Plugged In actually is, I’ve decided to write this review in…
Cowardly swarming attacks around Common
Groups of cowards as large as 20 have been brutally attacking people innocently walking in the neighbourhood around The Coast office—north and east of the Halifax Common. The attacks began Friday evening, at 9:20pm, when a couple were attacked by six to eight young males on Maitland Street. Two hours later, a lone man was…
Meeting violence with LOVE
Six thoughts on the recent rash of attacks on the streets of Halifax. 1) If you believe in community and profess to be a member of the Halifax community, then you also believe that these kids are our kids. They were raised in our community, they have attended our schools, they have accessed the services…
Musicians say Seaport Market fails them
Dammien Alexander sits on the grass outside the Seaport Market, his guitar beside him in its case. No one could hear him inside, he says, and a folk guitarist was being aggressive because he was straining to be heard over Alexander’s percussionist. “This market wasn’t built for musicians,” says Alexander. The old market’s winding corridors,…
Orchid’s Curse Release an Album, and Last Call Chernobyl has a Close Call
orchid’s curse eat the rich After a summer chewing up the road on Vans Warped Tour, Last Call Chernobyl take the stage this Saturday at Coconut Grove with Black Moor supporting their buddies Orchid’s Curse, who are celebrating the release of their latest album Voices: The Tales of Broken Men. We asked LCC bassist Jay…
Resting, Planning and Laughing on Day 7
Now that that I’ve seen two thirds of the shows, scheduling the other ten now requires the same skill set as mounting the Allied invasion. I’ve spent lots of time pouring over the schedule, and I believe that I can fit it all in. Cross your fingers and wish me luck! Taryn Della is bold,…
What’s wrong: Eastlink ads on sidewalks.
[image-1] Who’s responsible? Ken Reashor, god of sidewalks, 490-4855. Remarks: Last week, with university classes about to start, some marketing genius at Eastlink decided to paint hundreds of ads on city sidewalks all over town, without asking permission, applying for permits or ponying up some kick-back money, a la bus stop ads. Reashor had hoped…
Cuts like a Machete
In 2007, though we knew there was a definite possibility, it was still hard to envision feature-length versions of the gloriously silly trailers for then-faux exploitation films that accompanied the double-bill Grindhouse. Don’t, Thanksgiving, Werewolf Women of the SS and Machete (even Hobo With a Shotgun) said more in two minutes than they could ever…
Walking shoes: Directed by DAMMSel
Léola LeBlanc wants people to see the sites of Dartmouth in a new way. “Basically I’m trying to create ephemeral landmarks,” says LeBlanc, who lives and works in the city. She sits in the cool air of a corridor at Alderney Landing, above the ferry terminal and out of the noon-hour sun and muggy wind.…
Temple Grandin
As far as movie titles go, her name needs no embellishment. Temple Grandin stands alone. Claire Danes plays Grandin, a renowned American author and scholar on the human-animal relationship who lives with autism. This is a memory play, with symbolic and illustrative animation used, more than it is a biopic. Scenes stand out and are…
Stephen Kelly: WaveUp
Halifax artist Stephen Kelly’s kinetic sculpture and sound installation, WaveUp, isn’t necessarily about isolation and the loneliness of a remote location, though that mood pervades the experience, just below the surface of the work. Attached to mechanized and levered arms, speakers are mounted to walls and suspended from the ceiling. The arms move and the…
Objectified
Regular people are seen but not spoken to—only about—in transitional shots and sequences from one industrial designer or design writer to the next. In this documentary about “our complex relationship with manufactured objects” we get the stories from talking heads, but none from average people who’ve developed a devotion to or reliance on this or…
Sub genius
Sitting at Whet Cafe, chatting about meals we’d recently eaten, recipes we’d tried and our latest market excursions, my friend Simon stopped mid-sentence and mid-cupcake and dropped a delicious bomb. Suddenly, breathlessly, he said, “Youarenotgonnabelievethis!” Barely missing a beat, he finished, “There is banh mi at the Dartmouth flea market.” This was in April, when…
Black Blizzard
Black Blizzard was published in Japan in 1956, leaving its mark on the emerging Japanese comic book industry with its longer narrative and adult-oriented story. The manga is like a Hitchcock film on paper: two convicts handcuffed together try to evade police in the middle of a snowstorm. The dated artwork looks a little too…
Pole of confusion
Eight staples per poster, four per side: that’s how you’ll recognize the work of Ian McRuer. He aligns the temporary signs one on top of another with a bit of space between, as if in an outdoor gallery. He picks up fallen, soaked and crumpled posters from the ground, though it isn’t his job, and…
Purge
Aliide Truu is an elderly woman living alone on a farmhouse in rural Estonia. When Zara, a “[m]uddy, ragged, and bedraggled” girl” fleeing her abusers hides on Aliide’s property, the two women intrinsically identify the other’s survival impulse and slowly recognize a shared history. The elder has survived historical occupation of her nation by Soviet…
Food for (sexy) thoughts
Q A few nights ago, I got drunk and knocked on my roommate’s door and confessed my attraction to him while he was lying in bed in nothing more than his skivvies. (It was dark and I stayed at the door, so I didn’t know that until after the fact.) And then I asked him…
Gentleman Deluxe
Dammien Alexander of Philadelphia, adopting Halifax as home, is a man of many names. He goes by Dame Alexander and his current project/alias Gentleman Deluxe, his third release following Beautiful and We Are Who We’ve Been Waiting For. With many handles comes a multi-faceted sound that refuses to be pinned down by a single descriptor:…
Free Will Astrology
VIRGO (August 23-September 22) “The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer; it’s that there are so many answers,” said folklorist Ruth Benedict. That’s always true, of course, but it’s especially apropos for you right now. You’re teeming with viable possibilities. There are so many decent ideas eddying in your vicinity that you…
Mills and Twisted Muse close temporarily
Shoptalk has heard that a fire last Friday, September 3 at Mills (5486 Spring Garden Road, 429-6111) has closed the place, which includes the boutique Twisted Muse on the second floor. (Calls to Twisted Muse owner Joanna Gallipeau were not returned.) The Daily Grind is soon to take up residence on the second floor, too.…
Christina Martin’s happiness
“I just have to find a spot,” Christina Martin says while walking onto a beach in Pugwash, NS, before lunch on a Sunday morning. The singer-songwriter just arrived home from a whirlwind, week-long trip to Montreal and wanted to do this phone interview via her cell on the beach. With seagulls calling distantly in the…
John Mellencamp
The yelps of Johnny Cougar have never felt so distant. Mellencamp joins producer T-Bone Burnett in the Southern rooms where Robert Johnson and Elvis Presley made their mark, as if to join spirits. The songs’ simplicity and directness may also remind you of Hank Williams. Mortality, destiny, failure and regret are balanced by pleasure at…
Jerry Granelli lets go
JJerry Granelli is a man in motion. During conversation, he moves constantly, pushing hands, lifting arms, craning neck, bending and straightening core behind his desk. While making 1313, his new solo drum/percussion/electronics record (named for the address of his office and an adjoining performance space), Granelli powered through the four-hour, one-night recording session back in…
Jill Hennessy
Jill Hennessy has declared her true passion is music and not acting. While Hennessy is best known for her work on Law & Order and Crossing Jordan, Ghost in my Head is a surprising effort, as actors-turned-musicians don’t have the best track record (David Hasselhoff, Steven Seagal). But Hennessy has bucked that trend: Ghost in…
The Acorn w/Gianna Lauren
“This time we know what to expect,” says Acorn leader Rolf Klausener of the band’s show at St. Matt’s, where the band played last HPX. “We had fun playing dodgeball in the gym downstairs with Ohbijou.” The capital city quintet comes back on the strength of June’s No Ghost, the follow-up to 2008’s Glory Hope…
Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People
On the whole, this sound—the central practice of collaging cabaret, ballroom, folk (from early 20th century North American to gypsy and klezmer), jazz, electronic effects and heavy-riffed rock and noise—has been done. Because this music is about big and bizarre gestures there’s little wiggle room. It’s already crowded by, to name just a few, Tom…
The Jon Cohen Experimental
”Anything anybody needed I would provide,” says Jon Cohen of his decade on the Montreal music scene. “You know, ‘There’s 100 guitarists on every street corner, but we need a harp. Let’s call Jon.'” After turns in The Dears and The Social Register, Cohen put his own name out in front in 2006, with augmentation.…
Bloodhouse
Six sharp tracks from local favourites Bloodhouse, this self-released tape does justice to the band’s scuzzy garage rock. Sounding (and looking) a bit like something from another era scooped up off an old car floor, the fuzzy guitars and bass lines deliver with tracks like “Digital Village” and “Eerie Power.” The distortion and reverb are…
Downtown shuffle
Last week, infrastructure minister Bill Estabrooks told the Chronicle-Herald that he’ll announce a decision about provincial funding for the proposed convention centre in downtown Halifax later this month. I’m guessing from the tenor of his public pronouncements so far that, despite a provincial budget shortfall that will soon loom to perhaps a half-billion dollars, Estabrooks…
Citizen Leslie
January 2009 Sensible is the word that drifts to mind when describing how Megan Leslie looks, waiting in the upper foyer of the House of Commons. Wide-legged brown slacks. A slightly electric-blue shirt. Brown tweed jacket. Sturdy leather boots. Definitely one of us. One of us is how our generation of newly engaged cynics described…
Keep ’em rolling
Of the 15 roller-skaters circling the Olympic Community Centre, almost every one has fallen down at least once. The guy in racquetball goggles and a red tie-dye tank top might be the most adventurous, but the newly formd Halifax Roller Derby Girls are clearly the most skilled; there’s a white-and-blue afro wig, a heavy-set gentleman…
