Willow’s Pet Place empty
Much-loved Dresden Row pet supply joint Willow’s Pet Place (1526 Dresden Row) has closed down. There’s no indication whether the business will reopen in another location, and owner Kyra Foster has not responded to messages.
Steamy’s shuttered?
Steamys (6300 Quinpool Road) has had paper covering its windows for some weeks now and no one there is answering the phone, which suggests the sausage and burger joint is done like dinner.
Twenty-three downtown developments, and most won’t get built
The Dalhousie Planning and Design Centre has produced the above map of downtown, detailing 23 development projects—all proposed and approved, some built, some still awaiting construction, but most just a distant dream—which was in turn sent to me by Paul MacKinnon of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission. “Developers are buying and assembling land, hiring architects,…
Carmen Townsend Is Opening for Heart
Carmen Townsend just announced via Twitter that she will be opening for Heart on their ENTIRE tour across Canada. Pretty sweet! They’re coming here February 3, in case you’ve forgotten. I haven’t. (and Mel I swear to God I am dropping money off for you tomorrow.) The tour begins January 28 in St. John’s and…
Hell’s Kitchen! Oh, I mean cafe.
To the owner of a very popular cafe in downtown Halifax: You should be ashamed of yourself! Proactive staff coaching is one thing, but rudely berating them in front of customers (in the process holding up the line in your own restaurant) is another! This happens almost every time I come in! Your staff is…
Dear Bus Zombies,
If you are standing in the front of the bus, MOVE ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK so other people can get on. Sincerely, —Person With Ass Hanging Out The Door
I’d rather be in your parents’ basement
To say things were complicated is an understatement, but even though the odds were against us, man did I have fun. Maybe I shouldn’t have left, in a new city of five million people, I can’t get you out of my head. I would have stayed if you asked me to. —Still thinking about you
Worth the wait!
To the one waitress and the one man preparing the food and working at a fabulous sushi place in Halifax. thanks for being so hardworking tonight. It must be hard to balance the demands of the people walking in, the phone ringing, the take out and delivery but you did it with grace and kindness…
Bed Bugs
To the hotel I stayed at Sunday night… I should have known something was amiss when you did not want my credit card to take an imprint for the charges when I checked in and asked for cash. Your hotel is a cinder block roomed fucking bed bug infested shit hole. Being exhausted and late…
Burned Coffee
I walked into a coffee shop and asked the manager of the store for a coffee, as she was serving me I asked why one of their stores closed. She said to me, “They just did.” Very rude bitch. So, I paid for the coffee and said the debit is a little much for a…
Oh, Halifax
There’s always gonna be douche-clowns and dickheads (bouncers and jersey shore wannabes maybe?), but overall, Halifax, your a friggin beaut-train-supreme for all the good eastern girls and boys! —Back soon
Weirdy Beardy
To the strangest man on Novalea Drive, you’re my best friend in all the world. You’ve made the last 6 months the best 6 months of my life. I’m sad we’re going to be apart for so long, but one day we’ll have the dream team back together. Make sure you visit. —Macchiato Pussycat
I can’t hear you over your screeching tires
Dear gentleman who almost hit me on South & Tower yesterday, I hope you had a lovely evening. your wife must be so proud to be in the vehicle with you, especially after all those nice expletives you shouted at me out the window for daring to cross at a crosswalk. You know that big…
The boy with the yellow cup
I told you hot water was free, we talked about Hey Rosetta! and you kept coming back. You’re cute. I wish I wasn’t leaving on Sunday, or I’d ask you out for a drink. —Blue-Haired Barista
Hamachi Steak House reopens
Hamachi Steak House (1477 Lower Water Street, 422-1600) has been closed since the beginning of the month for renovations but reopens this Friday, January 14. “We are creating a little more of a Hamachi feel and look at this location.” says Boris Mirtchev, one of the co-owners. “This will involve an expanded lounge area with…
Rabid Gerbils Like Presents Too
I am one of those people who work in the late hours of the night/ wee hours of the morning. You’ll see me scurrying about in several south end nieghbourhoods like a rabid gerbil. Yes, I am your newspaper delivery person, trying to get your newspapers to you in a timely fashion. During the 2010…
Random Chatter
I was wandering about at the Frog Pond on Saturday morning snapping some photos. I was in the company of many people happily doing their thing wandering in the snow. I want to send a special shout-out to the fellow and his dog who stopped to chat with me as I was freezing my hiney…
Jenn Grant Busts It On Maynard
Jenn Grant’s new album Honeymoon Punch drops today, and along with it comes a new video for her song “Getcha Good”, shot in Grant’s North End hood with some slick dance moves, horns and rainbows. (Keep an eye out for Coast photographer Aaron Mackenzie Fraser going ham on the streets of Maynard and Falkland.) I…
More Oval Musings
It saddens me the people of HRM are less than enthusiastic about the Canada Games Oval. Finally, something we can get excited about! People are being active – in winter no less! To those who say the Common isn’t the place for this venue I ask – where would you put it? If it was…
Samaritans to the rescue
Thank you so much to the lady driving the Park and Fly at the airport Saturday night/Sunday morning and the man waiting for CAA. My boyfriend and I were EXHAUSTED after a 10 hr day of flying and finding my car battery dead was devastating. To the man waiting for CAA who lent us his…
First Date Steak
Thank you to the woman eating a steak in the restaurant I visited last night. The fact that you were not afraid to order a steak on a date not only promotes healthy body image and confidence, but allowed me to feel more comfortable ordering what I wanted to eat rather than a salad out…
Grace
Whoever invented the idea of saying grace at a meal time is fucked in the head. I am not going to let my meal get cold by saying grace or let a loud mouth say it before my mashed taters gets ice cold. So for all of you out there the next time I put…
Shrek Love
You are just fantastic. We’ve created lots of memories together and you are always a great friend (even when I beat you at Simpson’s trivia). Who would have thought that four years and two cats later we would still be so happy? You did. Thanks for keeping the faith dear. I love you. Happy Anniversary.…
To the sexxxy girl who has my name
We started off sharing each other’s name but ended up sharing each other’s hearts (ahhhhhhhhhh). And if I do say so myself, I wouldn’t have wanted to spend my time with anyone else. Thanks for being my month long GF… It’s going to be real boring without your constant snoring. There! Now you can stop…
Wintersleep on Letterman
Wintersleep is going to be playing on David Letterman this Friday, January 14, around midnight. It’s totally true. Check their website if you don’t believe me. They say they’ll be playing an “old fav of ours.” (At this very moment, a friend is reading over my shoulder and yelling “Or-CA! Or-CA!”) Then in a couple…
guess this is the last one
I remember my first post here about you, and the few that followed tracked how much closer we were getting. Now, I care so much about you that I have to let you go, because we can’t be together. Tomorrow, I’m going to do the hardest thing I’ve had to do and tell you that…
Beaver Tails sweet spot
Marianne Peryer has hit a jackpot, of sorts. Her understanding is that when the tender went out for a food and beverage stall at the new Skating Oval on the Halifax Common, her Beaver Tails franchise was the only application. “We had no idea what was going to happen here,” she says on a chilly…
Shirt Shack to close
The long-running t-shirt retail and printing shop in Scotia Square, The Shirt Shack (423-8759) will close on January 29 after 35 years in the business. Owner Steven Rappaport will be holding down the fort until then with sales to clear out the remaining merchandise.
Shameful Taxi Service
After waiting 20 minutes for my taxi, I called back to see how much longer I had to wait. When I asked the dispatcher (who I will leave unnamed) how much longer I had to wait I was told that she “could not just pull a time out of her ass” and that my cab…
Halifax boot sale
Going on right now at Fashionably Dead (5239 Blowers Street, 406-7050) is an inventory clear-out sale on footwear, where you’ll find all shoes and boots at 50 percent off the stickered price until the stock is gone. “Everything from high tops to these boots,” explains owner Kate Rankin. This impressive and slightly intimidating footwear, which…
Proposed Quinpool development may create traffic problems with drive-thru
Louis Lawen’s Dexel Developments is moving forward with plans to build a new building at the corner of Quinpool Road and Beech Street. As sketched in an ad on Kijiji (no longer live), the building will consist of a 2,000 square-foot first floor, envisioned as a coffeeshop, and an equally sized second floor office space.…
Colindale Love
I love you babe. I have loved you since we sat in the field under the stars 10 years ago. Being with you is the best thing in my life. —BR
Creepy cars
To the two gentlemen smoking on North St. Saturday night, thank you. There was a red car following me on my walk home. I needed him to see me not alone. It worked and he gave up. Thank you for your concern. I got home ok! —Silly girl walking alone
Ignorance
It took me 2 and a half years to realize what I had, I know what I had now. I lost you because I was afraid of commitment. I see now that you are happy. I only wish you didn’t tell me that I still had a chance and kissed me. I wait forever, until…
I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU
To whoever consigned their copy of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia to a store on Barrington, you are my hero and you have opened my eyes to the greatest musician in human history. I will listen to that record to my dying day. —The best impulse buy EVER
Bicycle factory coming to Halifax
Bicycles will soon be manufactured in Halifax. Entrepreneur John Wesley Chisholm and partner Roger Nelson, who have been operating Halifax Cycle Gallery (6299 Quinpool Road, 407-4222) for about a year, are about to embark on their next enterprise, Halifax Bicycle Company. The pair plan to get the new factory up and running this summer, produce…
Happy Birthday You Asshole
I can’t believe how mean and inconsiderate you are. You couldn’t even be bothered to get a cake. It was his first birthday for god sakes! You wonder why he is always acting so bad, this kind of treatment is why. You should be ashamed of yourself, most cats only get 15 birthdays. —Think Of…
What a Treat!
I tried to buy gift certificates from your coffee shop and my card wouldn’t work, but when I went to hand you back the gift certificates, you told me to take them and come back later to pay, even though you’d never seen me before and had no reason to trust me. You are a…
HRM Police
Thanks to HRM’s Police for taking that armed dope dealer off the streets in Dartmouth last night. Our streets and children are just a little bit safer tonight. —Ha
Tuck in your shirt and be a parent!
Radio alert: “stay off the roads, unless it’s an absolute emergency.” I guess coming to the mall just to look around and waste my time, is an “absolute emergency”? Those of you who dare take your kids out, risk your lives on the terrible non-plowed roads and highways, just to kill time in the mall…
Trials and Errors
The trial to determine who is at fault for the accident I was in in 2000 is OVER!! WOW, the judicial system, as unfortunate as it would like itself to appear, had to put up with the costly burden of attending to the rights of an ordinary citizen. Okay, so I know little of how…
Monster plows
I watch in disbelief and horror; the snow plows going back and forth over and over, scraping the pavement and dumping tons of salt on Northwest Arm Drive. There is no snow left you people! You removed every snowflake ten passes ago! What are you still doing? We pay taxes to have these monsters ruin…
You are religious!
Let’s get this out into the open shall we? I am fucking sick and tired of those “non-religious” drones that copout on religion whether it’s Christianity, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Agnostics, Wiccans, devil worshippers and the like are all worshipping a religion as well. You may not be worshipping in a world religion but yes you…
A nice house-warming present
To the asshole(s) that broke into my place and stole my computer last night: thanks, I clearly didn’t need a laptop as much as you needed crack. And thanks for scaring the shit out of my roommate, she was more than thrilled to find someone running out of our kitchen with our most expensive possessions.…
A high five to bus drivers who stick to their guns!
Thanks bus drivers, for turning away people with large strollers. It’s annoying that they won’t fold them and that the rest of us have to try to squeeze past them to get on the bus. It’s annoying to sit with my knees crushed by a stroller while a child throws toys and cheerios all over…
Skeletors
To all you skull-faced hoodie wearing motherfuckers. It’s not cold out certain days, so what the fuck are you hiding from? —Man At Arms
Make It Stop!
Am I being a total prude or is anyone else grossed out by a bunch of unappealing 40-something men talking about erotica in possibly the most annoying commercial ever? I don’t really get how it can run every five minutes all hours of the day, when it talks about grabbing a rock-hard ass, among other…
Recently Engaged: Christine & Dave
I fooled Christine into thinking an end of November trip to New York City was for her birthday (which was Friday the 26th). I was thinking I would pop the question Thursday after the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade but the weather was bad and we were both tired from an early flight so I procrastinated (sounds…
Your service sucked!
To the waitress who served my wife and I: I have to say your service was the worst fucking service ever! You walked right past us 4 times before seating us. You took 10 minutes to get our drinks. You took another 10 minutes to take our order! I asked why you were taking so…
Enjoying the radio… just a little bit more
Remakes are usually pretty hit-and-miss in my books. Some artists destroy songs by changing them up too much while others put an amazing spin on them. I’m in love with that Alone Again song… I love that she kept with the original Heart format for the chorus. “Till now I always got by on my…
Local Music for Local People
if any of you can guess what movie this is from, you get a snack. A few bands round here have kicked off the New Year by putting their music online for you. Some choice tracks include Husband and Knife’s sonorous cover of Joy Division’s “Disorder” at husbandknife.bandcamp.com, Quivers’ ripping “Graveyard” from http://quivers.bandcamp.com and a…
SnauBar brings Asian fusion!
Known as downtown destination of Middle Eastern delights, SnauBar (1535 Dresden Row, 406-8555) is now offering a broader Asian menu. New executive chef Tian Xue has partnered with SnauBar owner Teddy Zaghloul to create a selection unique new menu items, including “sizzling, fresh stirfries made with succulent chicken, flawlessly seasoned beef and crisp vegetables.” You’ll also…
Fid hosts Grand Pre chef
Downtown eatery Fid Resto (1569 Dresden Row, 422-9162) has invited Jason Lynch, executive chef at Le Caveau, to prepare a meal for 50 lucky people on Wednesday, January 19. The three-course menu will include white beans, lamb porcini risotto, seasonal vegetables, valley apple turnover, local blackberry ice cream and more. Visit fidresto.ca for more menu…
Buck 65 Needs Zombies This Sunday
this beat is sick Buck 65 is shooting a music video this weekend at the Bloomfield Centre and apparently he needs some zombie extras. The Facebook event announcing this opportunity adds the caveat that the zombies must be “innovative” as opposed to “blood and guts.” Titillating! You can learn more by checking out the Facebook…
Muppets Do Kanye West’s “Monster”
Depending on your feelings about the Muppets, this video – featuring spliced-together footage that somehow perfectly matches Kanye West’s “Monster” – is either pretty dumb or the best fucking thing you have seen all week. I am the latter, due to the fact that Miss Piggy raps all of Nicki Minaj’s lines. In leather. Also,…
House Arrest?!
I read yesterday that someone was given house arrest because he faced danger in jail. What the fuck? I thought jail was supposed to deter! Welcome to Canada, where our justice system is officially fucked! If you commit a crime, we absolutely don’t want to imprison you if that may cause you to be subjected…
Litter picker upper
Much love to the lady I saw a week ago picking up litter as she walked along Harvard. Nice to see someone cares while everyone else is tossing fast food wrappers from their SUV window. —Take pride in yer hood
Havana Nights opens
Now open in the former location of Mexicali Rosa’s is Havana Nights (5680 Spring Garden Road)—which should get all Johnny Castle fans all excited, am I right? Hey, you don’t need to have loved Dirty Dancing or its sequels to enjoy Havana Nights, a Cuban restaurant and nightclub. Friday nights try free salsa lessons, Saturday…
Sailor Jerry turns 100
Legendary tattoo artist Norman Keith Collins, otherwise known as Sailor Jerry, was born in Reno, Nevada on January 14, 1911. Though he went to the great tattoo parlour in the sky in 1973, Utility Gallery (6070 Quinpool Road, 420-1348) is recognizing Collins’ centenary and influential work with a special day of discounts on tattoos based…
Washroom Equality!
I’m not usually a feminist or scream for equality… but the other night while at a sports bar on Spring Garden Road watching Canada’s loss against Russia, I was in line for the female washroom when I heard in the men’s washroom there is a television so they can keep up with the game. Why…
Save the children, save the pug!
To the big fat ugly looking Slug man/Shrek who walks the pug in the South End. Get a life, stop getting so drunk and waking up the neighbourhood. Where the hell are the cops when you need one? You’re blowing around this place drunk in your shitty car like you’re the only one who exists…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
What gives a person the right to judge or out-right say, “you are so fucking ugly”? I have met people throughout my life that are so sweet and kind that it breaks my heart when I hear another call them ugly. This seems to escalate when one is drunk. A certain bunny named Pam A…
Fat, good for nothing, cats and dog
That big black mouse virtually ran over you to get to the kitchen. C’mon! It’s been stealing food for over a month now! If you don’t get off your lazy asses, I’m going to give it its own bowl—with your food in it. —Tired of foot prints in the butter
Guns for Christmas
As if the shotgun, the semi-automatic, the missile launcher and the gatlin-like gun wasn’t enough, one of you threw in a battery operated machine gun. Do you know how hard and fast those bullets fly? Do you realize how much they hurt? The kids pad up and wear their Dad’s safety glasses when they play…
Accessible eats
In order for a restaurant to be considered accessible, the premises must be “reachable and enterable by all who so desire,” says Gus Reed of the James McGregor Stewart Society (jmcgs.blogspot.com). “And patrons may want to use the washroom,” he continues, “so there needs to be an acceptable facility.” These would seem to be pretty…
Alcoholics unanimous
In the Country Strong trailer, Gwyneth Paltrow, dressed in black lingerie and drunken rage, rips a bottle of alcohol from her honky-tonk beau’s hand. “Give it to me!” she spits and yells, crying and red-faced, slumping to the floor. This is the cue that her character, country star Kelly Canter, has hit skidsville. Fighting for…
Baby Eagle flies free
When Constantines guitarist Steve Lambke first began writing and performing material as Baby Eagle five years ago, it was casual, to say the least. “The first bunch of songs I wrote to keep myself entertained, as it was clear that they were not going to be Constantines songs,” he explains. “But then when I went…
Baton Rouge coming downtown
Shoptalk has learned that succulent ribs and steaks will be the order of the day at the Starfish Properties-owned Morse Tea Building between Hollis and Upper Water Streets when Canadian chain Baton Rouge opens this spring. Baton Rouge is owned by the Moncton-based Imvestcor Restaurant Group. and the franchise owners are Maxime St. Pierre, Leo…
Mastering JFK
NOTE: This show is postponed, but a rescheduled date’s in the works. Refunds available at point of purchase. When Jesse F. Keeler picks up the phone in his Vancouver hotel room he sounds exhausted. This is because he spent a few days puking last week in the most un-rock ‘n’ roll way possible: food poisoning…
Nicolas Cage has been cursed
The battle against the Black Plague wasn’t fought by a ragtag crew of American-accented knights, priests and criminals led by Nicolas Cage. But such an alternate history, the one posited in this absurd period thriller, would probably have been way more fun than the real thing. After a dozen or so years of slaughtering infidels,…
How to fix the city
“Any other minority group would not accept having a ‘not welcome’ sign on the door. I pay taxes, I shop and go out to dinner, so why am I not welcome in Halifax?” says Ben Marston, one of many wheelchair users who feels marginalized by the city’s dawdling to make this a more wheelchair-friendly place.…
Welcome, We’re Doomed
It’s been a year in the making but We’re Doomed is ready to reveal themselves. The Halifax-bred progressive rockers came together when drummer Scott Tiller moved back from Toronto and began building what he calls an “all-star lineup” of musician friends. The band played their first show before Christmas at Tupperware Remix Party’s CD release…
You booze, you lose with Country Strong
Like a pop-country ballad that’s more Twain than twang, Shana Feste’s Country Strong is a glossy, superficial, manipulative melodrama powered by counterfeit emotions. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as alcoholic singer Kelly Canter, who’s sprung early from rehab by her husband-manager (Tim McGraw) for a comeback tour. This displeases the noble country crooner (Garrett Hedlund) with whom…
Inaccessible Spring Garden
1. Corner of Birmingham Street and Spring Garden Road The curb cut is too narrow and leads the person in a chair out into traffic in order to cross Spring Garden Road. Ben Marston says the curb cuts are especially difficult in the winter. “The crews say they dig them out, but then the sidewalk…
Open Waters floods Halifax
The Sir James Dunn Theatre will be flooded with weird and wonderful sounds this weekend for the revival of the Open Waters Music Festival of New and Improvised Music. The festival ran for two years in the late ’90s, but was then put on hiatus. After Halifax hosted the Canadian New Music Network forum last…
Oz gets psychedelic for a good cause
Strange things happen when you play Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon in sync with The Wizard of Oz. Coincidence or not, watching Dorothy and the gang do their thing with a psychedelic ’70s rock soundtrack is pretty damn cool. This rare opportunity to watch The Dark Side of Oz at the Oxford comes…
Free Will Astrology
CAPRICORN (December 22-January 19) “We have to stumble though so much dirt and humbug before we reach home,” wrote novelist Herman Hesse. “And we have no one to guide us. Our only guide is homesickness.” That’s the bad news, Capricorn. The good news, according to my analysis, is that 2011 could very well be the…
Good Samaritans
Thanks to the guy on the #10 the other night that even after I couldn’t hear him due to blasting tunes on my headphones—got off the bus to give me something I left behind! And to the awesome bus driver that waited for him so he could do so. —Headphone Gal
Get his juices flowing into you
Q I’m a 27-year-old divorced woman. I married the first man I ever had sex with, and we had a very vanilla sex life. He refused to try any play with dominant/submissive roles. My fantasies have always involved my submission. My current boyfriend is very open and experienced. With him, I’ve tried being held down…
Inaccessible Spring Garden
1. Corner of Birmingham Street and Spring Garden Road The curb cut is too narrow and leads the person in a chair out into traffic in order to cross Spring Garden Road. Ben Marston says the curb cuts are especially difficult in the winter. “The crews say they dig them out, but then the sidewalk…
Fear and Seeking in Nova Scotia
Chad Pelley, a novelist and Atlantic Canlit blogger out of St. John’s, recently wrote: “The world is ending. No one else seems concerned about the global freakshow of weather worldwide this last two years. Time to quit your job, kiss strangers and travel the world while you still can.” A few days later my uncle,…
Rewriting History
I was listening to the news this morning and it was announced that some of Mark Twain’s great works will substitute the ‘N’ word with ‘slave’. As ugly and unacceptable it is to use the ‘N’ word in today’s society, defacing a classic that was written over 100 years ago to be politically correct burns…
A studio study
The smell of hops hits at the bottom of the stairs. It’s not an awful smell, it’s just pungent, like dirt after a rain storm. After some time the scent blends in, but doesn’t go away. That odour is like home-baked bread to the artists who work above Propeller Brewery. For 14 years, Halifax artists,…
Get absurd with the KTS
The King’s Theatrical Society first play of 2011 borrows from the repertoire of nineteenth century absurdist playwright Alfred Jarry. Director Iain Soder chose this “vicious attack at human vice” because it was the funnier, and lesser known of Jarry’s works. In fact, it wasn’t even performed for 20 years after it was written. Ubu Enchained…
Frozen waste
Composting is a big deal here in town, with green bins everywhere. Some of us have figured out that in order to eliminate odours and the seasonal clouds of fruit flies, compost bins can live in the freezer. Here’s a specially designed silicone container that remains flexible in the freezer for easy storage and compost…
Suzanne Caines’ work in progress
In September Suzanne Caines spent four days talking to strangers on Saint Mary’s campus. These conversations about special or memorable places were videotaped to become part of, and the inspiration for, Caines’ installation Spaces of Places.”It’s about having an intimate moment with a stranger, sometimes people divulge a lot of information…and sometimes they don’t.” A…
Keep the Common skating oval
Keep the oval. That message is coming through loud and clear from the 1,000-plus (some days over 2,000) people skating on the Common skating oval. The original plan was for the oval to be open to the public before and after the Canada Games in February, but then dismantled in March. There are six refrigeration…
