Basia Bulat to Play 2010 Halifax Pop Explosion
Last night, my husband called Basia Bulat “Bazeeah Boozah”, because he doesn’t know how to read, and now when I see her name, I can’t stop laughing. The folks at the Halifax Pop Explosion have announced their first show—-Basia Bulat with Symphony Nova Scotia. The SNS shows have become a pretty big highlight of the…
Lah-ju
To my two bestest friends— it means so much to me that you guys have been with me thru everything that has gone on in the past week, and I know you are with me for everything to come…and I love you both for it. …also, thank you for letting me love your dog like…
Koala
Ever since our first date I’ve been addicted to you. You’re sweet, handsome, and just amazing. I don’t know if it shows when I look at you, but I’m still scared to tell you most of the time. I didn’t want to get so close, but I couldn’t help it at the same time. I…
Nurse Love
To the nurses who were there during my wisdom teeth extraction in Dartmouth this morning. I can’t remember if I thanked you or not, you were all wonderful, helpful, and (very) patient with me. Thank you especially to the one who held my hand until I fell asleep, knowing I was panicked about it <3.…
Vandalism Sux
To the thugged out loser spray-painting the little shed on the Garrison Grounds by the CBC intersection the other night: YOU SUCK! If I hadn’t been afraid to approach you for fear you’d knife me or something, I would have told you to stop spray-painting that little structure. First of all, I’m pretty sad that…
Sweet Jesus in a Handbag
Why the fuck is it that you could own something (car, bike, scooter… whatever) for years, and the fucking DAY you’re supposed to be selling it you scratch/drop/fuck something up on it??? ARGH —Girl screaming obscenities at her own stupidity.
A mighty wind
Nova Scotia’s energy minister was delivering a prepared speech atop Dalhousie Mountain, Pictou County last Friday when he suddenly stopped to observe, “My god, it’s quiet isn’t it?” Bill Estabrooks was standing beneath the barely-turning blades of a 400-foot wind turbine. Six of nine turbines in the distance stood stock still. Seemingly unaware of the…
Dear Plumber
I work at a very busy Spa. We constantly have plumbing issues; and when we say jump – you say how high. Everytime we call you, it takes you 30 mins at the most to come and fix our issue… and when you arrive; we throw three or four more plumbing problems at you. Thanks…
Compton Street Turnaround
I was with two of my buddies, you were with two of your friends, we both turned around, I had a skateboard at the time…..I think your super cute, I would have waved or done something but you went into a house… shittt… —Scruff
Scurry away faster next time…
To the older woman who tried to slip a note under our door: I saw you as you scampered away like a coward. How dare you heap all your resentment from a year of living in a shitty apartment on Quinpool Road on us? First of all, none of it’s true. Last Saturday we had…
Ceaseless Boring Constant
Or, in a word, Repetitive; I know it is easy to pick on, but that’s perhaps because it is a large, incessant, pervasive din on a loop. Good luck to any artist this elephantine, cloying lump sinks its teeth into; Vampire Weekend has now become the most despised sound to ever have entered our home;…
Home of the Very Plummy $2 Cheese Slice
What a good boy am I… so it’s off to Sackville and Grafton for a small lunch… BLT and fries…”d’yawan cheese on that?”… sure… and so, sandwich okay, basic, but WTF!… Two bucks extra for the processed cheese slice?! TWO dollars for ONE plastic wrapped cheese slice! I want to say someone needs their head…
From the residents of Cubeville
When you go to a meeting on a floor that has a board room with a door and miles and miles of those little grey cubes occupied by surfs take up the rest of the floor, use some common sense. If you get a cell phone call during the meeting, don’t stand outside the door…
DEN vs JED
Denver International Airport 3PM in DEN, waiting for flight to SLC and then HLN. A little strange to be surround by English—on the TV, the woman talking at the bar, the bartender, the signs. It makes things feel a little more crowded; Spanish, when it didn’t directly apply to me—someone talking to me, the name…
Coast exclusive: interview with Louis Reznick
As Coast special issues editor and Shoptalk reporter Carsten Knox was preparing for this week’s Shoplocal issue, which will concentrate on Barrington Street, he caught up with property baron Louis Reznick, who owns the Roy Building, the Morris Tea building, the former Sam the Record Man and Ginger’s Tavern buildings, and the buildings housing Freak…
We’ve got the story morning glory: Liam Gallagher is in Halifax
Bring out the champagne supernova, Liam’s here. Two words: white jeans.
Apple Sauce
Thank you for taking this with grace. Thank you for not hating me, for still seeing the good in me, and for making me feel like the queen of all kingdoms even after everything’s burnt down. I’m sorry for everything. I wish I could tell you how shattered my heart is to see you leave.…
Bachelor Party Blues
So one of my oldest buddies is getting married in a couple months. I’m really happy for him. She’s a great girl and they’re well suited for one another. Here’s my beef. His pals from university are planning the bachelor party. In Montreal. We all live in Halifax. This isn’t the first ‘destination bachelor party’…
Old
I know of an old lady who used to date my boyfriend before I dated him. For a while i was caught up on her, thought there may have been something more than was actually there. But now I know that there is nothing there and i feel good about that. But old lady: you…
Love to the bull
Thanks for goring that matador, I hope you’re all right but I am afeared that you are dead. Sorry for the bloodlust directed against you big beautiful beasties—Painey
Big Girls
You are beautiful, and never let those bags of bones make you feel anything less.—Truth
The Blue House on South st.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for fixing your back yard! I use the semi-pathway to go from the alley through your back yard to South st and it was a terrifying death trap. There was garbage everywhere and over turned dumpsters for months (I picked them up as often as possible for you)! I…
My Best Friend,
Thanks for bringing me cookies, for laughing too long at all my jokes, for jumping wholeheartedly into my ridiculous plans, for dying your hair with me, for coming dancing every week… and just for putting up with me! I don’t know how you do it, but I’m so glad you do.—The Mental One
To my dog
You are the best thing to ever happen to me. It has been exactly two years since I walked out the Humane Society’s door with you. The first night you curled up in a snow bank and would not come inside, until you discovered your cozy basket by the fireplace! We moved across the country…
You are the best son
Thanks for supporting your mom and dad through thick and thin. Sorry if you ever get caught in the middle. We love you dearly. You are the #1 son.—Mom and Dad
Smiley face peeps
To everyone who smiles at me because my pregnant belly is showing, thanks. It makes me feel special.—Momma Kass
Marraige woes
My friend whom I admire and adore so much is getting married. This is wonderful, and I am beyond happy for her, yet I feel this crushing melancholy inside that is tearing my to pieces. I was elated when I heard of the news, but when I got home I fell apart. I began crying…
F* YOU
To the officer who gave me a several hundred dollar ticket (instead of a verbal warning) during which I was quiet, patient, and very polite: Next time you need to make quota, or have nothing better to do, please spend your time addressing issues of violence, assault, and theft within our neighborhoods instead of patrolling…
Good Riddance
To my now ex-roommate: It is so liberating, elating, and fucking fantastic to not live with you anymore. I am so glad I never have to see you again, hear your stupid voice again, or be put down again. You are a selfish, immature, spoiled bitch and it’s no wonder you have so many falling…
Give Me a Break…
I think it’s a little extreme to put a boot on someone’s tire if they park in your parking lot and don’t go in your store. Do you have nothing better to do than stare out the window and make sure everyone who parks their damn car outside your store comes in? Get a life.…
Twilight
GO DIE IN A HOLE!—Sick of Sparkly Vampires
People like you let guys do what they do
AF: I don’t understand how you could let SC off the hook, you were given all the proof needed, pof, the email, the phone number, and you were even told about being aware of where he’s at and what he’s doing, and yet you still take him back and hes only going to do it…
Love the Scouts
Thank you to the Spryfield Scout troop and volunteers for doing a fabulous job cleaning up the litter along Old Sambro Road. You guys are the best.—Old Sambro Road Runner
Boy in the Blue Shirt
I love you. That is all.—Girl in the Black Shirt
Methings
Please for the love of god stop saying that. It’s so annoying. What are you 5? God it frustrates me. Speaking of words that frustrate me, here’s a list. *Arse (that’s right up there with methinks, eww I even hate typing it, it makes me want to kill myself). *Yous guys (really? yous guys?) *Melee…
Locked underground
This is a bitch and a praise at the same time. I just want to give a big fuck you to the couple who left me locked underground at the apartment building on Tower Road on Friday night at around midnight. I had taken the stairs down too far and found myself locked out of…
Get a life
Hey protesters! Get a life. And take the mask off.—G8 is great
Stop the Madness!
To the guy with the brown Nissan vehicle that parks in the back lot of my building off Dunbrack – do you think you could take this thing in to get serviced? I am getting sick and tired of hearing your stupid panic alarm going off randomly and without reason. Does the wind set the…
Unnecessary idling
I live across from the bottle exchange on Agricola St. Every single morning they leave their trucks idling and idling, today it was from 6:15am to 6:40am. Is it really necessary? I work overnight and so when i try and go to bed around 6am, i have to put up with your trucks sitting idling…
Cops, Horses and Dented Cars
To the cops on horseback at the G8 March: learn to ride or at least know when your horse is losing it and get the hell away from peaceful protesters! Mostly this bitch is on behalf of the driver whose car was backed into by said horsecop. It left a big dent near the front…
Hatless in Halifax
Why the fuck can’t I find a decent hat shop in Halifax? In every city I’ve been to I’ve been able to find a decent hat shop. The only ones here cater to the ghetto fabulous crowd. I just want an Ivy cap, ffs.—H I H
Shut the fuck up bitches
To the bunch of young girls on the 72 bus leaving Portland Hills terminal on Sunday, you suck. The bus driver is one of the few nice ones and did not deserve being called a bitch by the likes of skanks like you. She was only doing her job. You get on the bus like…
The world bows at your feet. I get it.
So why is it whenever I feel like things are going pretty damn well in my life, someone or something has to pop up to remind me how much better my ex is doing? Am I petty for caring? Probably. But there’s nothing wrong with wanting to feel smug and awesome in the face of…
Dingle people are good people
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. You just made my summer exponentially better. To G getting rid of his old zodiac on Saturday, thank you from the most sincere place in my heart. I’ll treat her well, and rest assured I bought some life jackets. Ma said she’s never seen me smile so wide.—Kid…
Boy in Class
We’ve never spoken, but I’d like to say thank you for giving me something nice to look at during class. I don’t think I could endure the boredom were you not there in your plaid shirted ruggedness for me to dream about. You might just be the most beautiful boy on earth. Never leave (class…
$225 Jogging fine….
This could very well have been a “love the way we love” posting about how awesome it is to live in a city with parks like the Citadel and the Public Gardens. That is until, in the middle of my Sunday afternoon jog (to the casual observer it would be more like a fast walk),…
Selfish Jerk Marching Band
To the Self-Centred Jerks Marching Band that marched down Cornwallis Street 9pm on Saturday Night: What the hell are you people thinking? Marching down a residential street waking and terrifying small children who are trying to sleep? I am sure you think you are very clever, and you appeared to be having a great time.…
Text Addict
I am sick to death of you texting while I am trying to talk to you. There is no way sending a 79th “LOL!!!” to your boyfriend is more important than I am. You clearly need serious help if you cannot put your phone down for thirty seconds, and I sincerely hope you get that…
Mayflower madness
Selling hand picked mayflowers at the farmer’s market? What are you thinking? They aren’t even that common any more.—F.G.
Downtown Coffee
To all the servers at the store at Queen and SGR: you guys are amazing; unendingly patient, attentive and kind, full of energy and enthusiasm, and ready to explain without judgement, anything on the menu.—L.F.
Jay walk and I may hit you
To the scruffy looking couple (woman was either pregnant or majorly bloated) who ran out in front of my car on Gottingen St. yesterday near HFX backpackers… When you walk strait out into traffic don’t be surprised when someone doesn’t see you and must slam on their breaks to avoid denting their car! Honestly if…
Service with a sneer?
I thought folks in Eastern Canada were known for their friendly and helpful natures, but not some folks who work in customer service here. Wow… To those folks that have given me bad service: I would love to suggest you remember that you are in customer service to SERVE the public and to make some…
Your Car’s Indicator Lights: Not just Ornamental
Oh My God. I wish I had a dollar for every time drivers around me didn’t indicate when they were making a turn. With all that money I could make Trump my bitch… Seriously people, indicate for the love of Pete! It is a safe driving practice, and dare I say it, polite and considerate…
Chen Xiao
Super El Diamante is the corner store closest to Condominios Mana. It’s actually much bigger than a Canadian corner store, but that’s what it is to me; the big grocery stores are in the center of town. Evening walks to the store, just three or four minutes, show the most beautiful skies I see here…
Marco Vinicio Arroyo Marin
The storefront It seems strange me to have a tailor, but in Alajuela I do. I found Marco by chance, walking home one day, managed to remember where he was and began taking things in—shirts to be shortened, shorts to be hemmed, and finally, my Bimbo shirt, to be hemmed up and have the sleeves…
Garbage pickers!
Thank you to all of the people I saw picking up garbage in the north end of Halifax on Earth Day. It was great to see so many people doing a good deed. If only everyone cared enough every day to dispose of their trash properly, events like this wouldn’t be necessary.—Let’s all keep up…
Lady, really?
Ok, why is it that I always get caught behind someone in the line-up at the grocery store who has had a few minutes waiting to be served, but only when she is given her total by the cashier that she starts rifling through her purse for her wallet??? Please, people. Can you please be…
It’s Illegal for a reason…
I am sick to death of folks driving around the city illegally talking on their hand held cell phones. I watch them taking crazy wide turns, and weaving all over the road because they are not paying attention. They are just plain dangerous drivers, period. What I want to know is, what is so important…
And now comes the pain
Continuing my other rant… so same applies. don’t fuck with me now… seriously. I really fucked this one up big time. Pain. Pain is now all I feel… so utterly horrid and bleak. All consuming and why in my newly positive and cheerful world did I fuck it up? I did this. As bad as…
It’s Omnivore!!!
I don’t give a shit if you eat meat. I don’t push my lifestyle choice on you. But whenever there is a meat option on the menu, you loudly proclaim that you are choosing the hunk of flesh because you are a Carnivore! (Actually you are an omnivore (unless you started Atkins). Learn the word.…
Fucking Idiot
MAN, I am a fucking idiot…. I think this is going to be all cryptic bitchers so move on now if you don’t want to be confused. That means you too LS. And don’t any of you start the “WTF’ bullshit with me… not now… not ever. you’ve been fucking warned./p> Emotions are high and…
The Sphinxes of Dulce Nombre
The Four Sphinxes of Dulce Nombre North of Alajuela and north of Zooave, south of La Garita, Dulce Nombre is a small community with a school, some churches, a corner store and a community soccer field. On the end of the field by the sidewalk are concrete benches under trees, giant concrete soccer balls, and…
Restaurante Mariel
Restaurante Mariel
Everyone’s a Winner
if it ain’t Broken, don’t fix it Stoner-rock heroes Broken Ohms are currently basking in the winner’s spoils after their Q104 Molson Rock Showdown win at Monte’s. The grand prize includes $3,000 in gear and recording time at Noble Music in Enfield and the band will be featured on Q104’s Route 104 on May 9th.…
Oh, wearable art!
You are a soul-quencher. You are an inspiration. Thank you for continuing to support a cause that may not be “sexy” in the current trend of cancer causes, you’ve been there for twenty years, giving it up for the AIDS coalition. And the art just continues to excite and enthrall. Lovely, lovely.—Wearable heart
Get Your Act Together!
I finally meet a guy who’s attractive, funny, very nice, sent me flowers at my new job… only to find out he’s 32, crashing on his parents’ couch “for awhile,” and has no car…. yet he has a job, so where’s the money going?! Somehow, he can’t see why I don’t want to go out…
Coyote cull, or dumb idea
Now they want to start a coyote cull. Is this a good idea? While there are some very vicious animals around, our pets included here, there are also the very large number of those that aren’t. Can we afford to pop up 20 bucks for a bounty, sure, why not? When you have millions wasted…
Misandry and Heterophobia
In last weeks print isue of the Coast someone suggested that a recent poster campaign in Halifax was normalising trans murder. So they had taken action against a company that has made enormous contributions to the life and culture of Halifax, gay and straight. According to Unfinished Lives, a project in the U.S. run by…
Downtown Shoes
Hey, snotty tightly wrapped in spandex whores – you can eat my ass. I am NEVER going into your shoe store again. Were you hired to chase the money away? I came in ready to spend too much money on your overpriced look-at-my-money shoes. But you didn’t have the time to be civil or friendly…
How to slash the city budget
As Halifax Council and staff have been looking for ways to meet the upcoming $30 million budget shortfall, hundreds of suggestions have come in— from staff, from councillors, from the public generally. City staff has compiled those suggestions, and the full list is now available on the city’s web site. I’m linking to it, because…
Looks Aren’t Everything
I fucking hate all of you superficial bitches. You know, the ones that are soooo obsessed with a guy who’s muscular; a guy who has money and a car. Get fucking real. Looks aren’t everything that matters. And if they are for you, all you are is a woman that cares about the outside, and…
Coyote bounty
Taking revenge against nature: how cowardly. Shame on the government for bowing down to a bunch of scared and gun-happy rednecks. All this is going to do is make some yokels $20 richer with tax payer money. Instead of criminalizing coyotes maybe our government can criminalize expense system abuse or get rid of idiots like…
Goodbye Bitches
I’ve had it, browsing the bitches used to be fun. Lately though there’s far too many “I hate Nova Scotia” or “this has nothing to do with anything” bitches. If you hate Nova Scotia, leave. Many of us are able to easily find good paying jobs, if you can’t it’s your own damn problem. It’s…
Hobo With A Shotgun (And Other Awesome Haliwood Film News)
As most of you movie fans should know, local auteur Jason Treevenge Eisener has taken his fake exploitation trailer that won Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse contest in 2007 and turned it into a feature, shooting in Dartmouth right now, starring Rutger “Roy Batty” Hauer as the hobo in question. Eisener is playing in…
Chivalry
To the boys and men who still follow the ladies first rule: I friggen’ heart you guys *and* whomever taught you so well. Thanks for holding doors, smiling at my eyes instead of my tatas and not pushing me out of the way to get on the bus. Most of us appreciate it more than…
To my sweet coworker
Thank you for telling me my hair looked good today. Truth be told I felt like crap but your little kindness lifted my spirits. Funny how such a small thing can do that.—Thank you
Letter from the editor
Dear readers, The Coast went through a legal situation recently regarding privacy and online commenting, and on our lawyer’s advice we were uncharacteristically quiet about it in the paper and online. Of course, people have still been talking about it. Walking out of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court courtroom last week and into the business…
Great City of Halifax
This is a process of learning, love is It’s not what you say or what you do This is my city, this is your city too There are so many things we need to change It’d be too easy to let it overwhelm us It’d be to easy to let it stay the same Am…
It’s the hard-knock life!
It sure has been a time trying to figure everything out lately, but I couldn’t have gotten any luckier than to be going through all of this with you. I know it’s been hard for you too, so, thank you for putting other things aside to be there for me when I need it most.…
To the father of the kid with the cold at the open house last week
…Your little girl is really cute but I can’t believe I saw you let her blow and wipe her snotty nose on the patio door curtains in the rec room. Seriously, man….disgusting. You clearly knew she was doing it and let it happen.—Ger-oss
Provincial Parks – Global Warming
Now that we’ve had to accept Global Warming as a reality, perhaps the Provincial Government might want to adjust the opening and closing days for the Parks so we can enjoy them longer? The “OLD” ways of doing it by a set date must have been set in Noah’s day as the tides receded. On…
Windom Earle, B.A. Johnston and Quivers at CKDU
pooters for all CKDU Program Director Erica Butler tells us that CKDU is cranking their transmitter up to high power again today, just in time for an all-ages afternoon show in the station lobby with our favorite B.A. Johnston, Windom Earle and new outfit Quivers (featuring members of the Gideons, Cold Warps and others.) The…
Manuela lalic’s meeting accessort is “a metaphor for a collective movement”
The French artist Manuela Lalic uses found objects from her daily life to create installations and structures—apparatuses—that comment on modern society’s production and consumption excesses. For her Eyelevel exhibition—“a metaphor for a collective moment,” she writes from New York, where she’s been “adapting my work with the garbage that I find on the street” in…
Erica Sigurdson
“When I started, I thought if I could just be a touring comic and make money at this, that would be it,” says comic Erica Sigurdson. “But it isn’t quite as fun the fourth time you’ve gone through Moose Jaw.” The easygoing performer will make her third appearance at the Halifax Comedy Festival this week,…
Bordering Mexico
Last week my best friends took a springtime vacation in Puebla, Mexico. While they wandered the sunny, earthy streets of Puebla, I took refuge from Halifax’s gray, rainy days in their Facebook picture albums. Every day I was treated to photos of chalupas, cemitas, tacos arabes and deep-fried quesadillas. So I was excited when, suddenly,…
Kick-Ass is an empty comic parody
It’s possible for attitude to be at the expense of context and recognizable behaviour. Kick-Ass is a not-quite-there filtration of Daredevil, Mystery Men and the first Spider-Man (just given less genuine personality and more graphic and racist content). Peter Parker-style high school nerd Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) decides to reinvent himself as crime fighting superhero…
This day for sale
If Earth Day really mattered, no one would ever consider putting bounties on coyotes. We would compete with them, fair and square, for the food and space we need. Sometimes we would win and sometimes coyotes would win. Killing off your competition would be taboo, the ultimate offence against fair play. If Earth Day really…
Concerted delusion
Last week, I broke the news that the provincial government spent $600,000 on last year’s Paul McCartney concert on the Halifax Common. Adding in HRM’s contribution, some $750,000 in taxpayer money was spent on the event. The primary issue for me is one of secrecy—taxpayers can’t decide if such expenditures are appropriate if they don’t…
Sex, lies and text msg dumping
Q I’m a 27-year-old gay man. I had a really great first couple of dates with a guy, so for the third date I invited him to stay over. I cooked a nice dinner, we watched a movie and we had a lovely time in bed together. In the morning, we had another romp. At…
The Pack AD
Vancouver blues-punk duo The Pack AD doesn’t stop, playing 157 shows, producing a new album and driving across the country about a billion times last year. Their third album is more rock ’n’ roll, less bluesy than 2008’s Funeral Mixtape. Making the energy of their live act palpable on this album, you can just about…
Granola bars
Every day should be Earth Day, but if you can put in some time on April 22, the planet would greatly appreciate it (and you could also consider expanding to Earth Month, or Earth Life). Help celebrate the 40th anniversary of this movement with a globe-friendly cocktail at these local establishments. Morris East The downtown…
Young Rival
About 10 years ago, there was a thankfully short-lived movement to revitalize the mod scene, thanks to the likes of The Hives and a few others. While Hamilton’s Young Rival don’t go full hog trying it again, there is a more than a pinch of mod mixed in with the band’s garage rock-meets-melodic sensibility. “Got…
Meet your manga
Running a convention dedicated to Japanese animation and comics comes with a lot of responsibilities. Top of the list is warning the locals. When the Westin Nova Scotian was secured as the location for Halifax’s first-ever anime con, convention chair Lissa Pattillo decided it was important to let the hotel’s staff know what they’d be…
Free Energy
Lazy record reviewers might compare Stuck on Nothing to Thin Lizzy. And they’re right, until they aren’t. Yes, Stuck might sound like classic rock, but more accurately, this is hyper-competent revisionist history. Produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, Free Energy’s debut is all Gary Glitter backbeats, three-note solos and pool-party pop bangers. In their words,…
Ben Caplan and the Casual Smokers w/Bang Bang Burlesque
One of the best-named bands in town launches an interesting seven-week stand at the Elephant & Castle tonight. Caplan and crew—“layered, complex melodies, gruff and powerful vocals, good old rock ’n’ roll mixed with flavours of Eastern Europe,” he says of the music—will play with a special guest each week, an impressive variety including up-and-comers…
Snoop Dogg Presents
Who better than Snoop Dogg to take you on a hip-hop tour of the west coast? (Maybe Dre, but he’s holed up in a studio somewhere toying with the ill-fated Detox record.) This compilation marks the 25th anniversary of Priority Records, the label responsible for unleashing hip-hop powerhouse NWA on the world, not to mention…
Telling new stories about Dartmouth North
Camera crews and trouble come hand-in-hand in Dartmouth North. Reporters swoop in chasing the day’s headlines, whether they’re gunshots, beatings or robberies. But one group of locals decided they were sick of outsiders focussing on the negative. With the guidance of their mentor, director Ariella Pahlke, and support of United Way, nine novice filmmakers and…
Laura Merrimen
A South Shore songbird who’s played many a Halifax show, Laura Merrimen offers a debut album full of her own songs, with solid support in producer Brad Conrad and a band that includes screechy guitar from Don Hache. At times the breathlessness of Kathleen Edwards and drawl of Lucinda Williams is evident in her voice.…
Sister act
In the Maritimes one’s last name says a lot. It’s a marker that can potentially reveal your father, the place where you came of age and the chain of ancestors you belong to. The Halifax music community is just as tightly knit. Gillian Austin, lead singer and songwriter of Gillian Austin and the Brambles, won’t…
Bronson
As a portrait of a vicious, irredeemably violent man, Bronson is singularly captivating. Based on the true story of Britain’s most notorious inmate, one Michael Peterson—his alter ego’s handle Charley Bronson borrowed from the American tough-guy actor—the movie elevates assault to a kind of performance art. It’s said he’s spent the majority of his life…
Boxer the Horse’s vinyl melting pot
According to singer Jeremy Gaudet, it’s not the Tsarists who are grinding Boxer the Horse’s (named for the character in Animal Farm) gears. Actually, it’s actor Zooey Deschanel. “PEI’s a summer province—it’s inspiring in the summer, not the winter, and we try to reflect that,” he says. “We [initially] named our album 300 Days of…
Solanin
Meiko is adrift in Tokyo. She hates her job, her boyfriend is freeloading at her apartment and all her friends are as directionless as she is. When she impulsively quits her job, she’s forced to figure out exactly what she wants in life. Solanin is a deceptively simple manga about 20somethings at a crossroads. While…
Dance with Junior Boys
Who ever thought sine waves could sound so sexy? Hamilton’s electronic duo Junior Boys have been touring, getting 9.0 reviews on Pitchfork and spitting out golden albums for years, and now they’re getting it on at the Paragon. Saturday night the Boys are playing as celebrity DJs, rather than as a band, but either way…
Black Blizzard
Japanese comic master Tatsumi’s works previously published by D&Q (The Push Man and Other Stories, Abandon the Old in Tokyo) are simple, straightforward depictions of the lives of ordinary Japanese citizens in the mid-twentieth century. Black Blizzard was Tatsumi’s breakthrough work, published in 1956 when he was 21, here translated into English for the first…
Free Will Astrology
Happy Birthday! TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Yes, I know that the bull is your totem animal. But I’m hoping you’re willing to expand your repertoire, because it’s a ripe time for you to take on some of the attitudes of the king of beasts. Consider this: The naturalist and shaman Virginia Carper notes that lions…
Motorcycles & Sweetgrass
Drew Hayden Taylor excels at tension, building it from the moment a stranger named John arrives on a vintage Indian Chief bike. He rolls into the Anishnawbe community of Otter Lake to keep a longheld promise to a now-dying elder. Taylor playfully creates his anti-hero, who’s young, old, wise and wild all at once. He…
Pardis Parker fights real pain with really good comedy
Halifax comedian Pardis Parker is fast becoming a star, but still hecklers call him a terrorist. Alison Lang finds out how real pain fuels the funny. When you ask Pardis Parker how he managed to perform in front of thousands of industry bigwigs at the Hammersmith Apollo Theatre in London, England earlier this month, the…
Merlin engrosses and endures
As someone who was enraptured by Arthurian legends as a child, I think it’s wonderful that the Halifax Theatre for Young People is staging Paul Ledoux’s Merlin. What a great opportunity to turn kids on to an engrossing, enduring story. This is an action-packed play filled with swordfights and magic tricks that will appeal to a…
Space queen to return to work, spacier than ever!
I’ve been off work for a year and a half since having my baby, and although I’m very eager to get that part of my brain back, and my sense of independence, I am scared shitless of working again! How do I mentally prepare for this? I feel like such a huge space queen now.…
Missy
I found you on kijiji while I was looking for a roommate almost two years ago. I found so much more than that. You truly are one of my best friends and I am so thankful you are in my life. I’m moving out west soon and you’re staying here, I’m really going to miss…
=)
You are the best Mommy and Daddy ever. —Your #1 son
VD Layne
You were so friendly to my friends and I when we rented a movie and bought some treats the other night. When we all got to the car we remarked how friendly and lovely you were to each of us. It was really refreshing. Thanks.—Nobody
Stuck in Upper Canada
So we want to move back east. We love it there – the people, the landscape, the way of life. We see a handful of jobs in our fields, realizing that due to the smaller population, professional positions are not as frequent as more populated areas of the country. We know it will be a…
Newfs and Capers
Shut the fuck up with the “bye” shit. Even the capers are copying this stupid word. Capers trying to take on the image of being a newf. Fuck off. Your a Nova Scotian or a Newfoundlander. Its like me saying, “ha ha ha im an HRM’er, tickle me bum for a quarter bye”… Fuck off.…
“Green” grocer
To the small downtown grocery store that makes you pay for plastic bags because “they care about the environment” – why is it that all of your “organic salad” containers and your free little fruit and vegetable bags are not recyclable in this province? What’s up with that?—’greenwashed’
G8 not great
“Family-friendly” is one term we never hear connected to G8 protests but this year the Halifax-Dartmouth District Labour Council has asked protesters to be safe, not violent. In the past, protests in Canadian cities and around the world have aimed to shut down the meetings, almost at any cost. Not this year, Kyle Buott, president…
Traffic reporting
The Nova Scotia Human Trafficking Awareness Network held a symposium Monday to increase awareness about human trafficking in Halifax. Members of the network, including the RCMP, Halifax Regional Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Red Cross, met in hopes of developing more streamlined guidelines to ensure the health and safety of human…
Open Heart Forgery poetry journal debuts
Donal Power thinks the most beautiful word in the English language is the onomatopoeia “susurrus,” as in “Susurrus like a breeze through the trees,” he says. Power has 100-point font prints of his favourite poems on his bedroom walls. He likes statements phrased as questions? His sentences end in punch lines. His eyebrows dance up…
