Wrapping up Ottawa Bluesfest with a time-traveling slideshow
Words by Jonathan “Mixtape Magazine” Briggins and photos by Scott Blackburn. Sunday was the ultimate genre-mashing day of this year’s Ottawa Bluesfest. From hip hop legends Wu-Tang Clan to baby-faced country sensation Hunter Hayes, there was a little bit of everything. Wu-Tang Clan definitely brought the ruckus as the New York group played on a…
Stupid Boy.
I was so happy to hear from you! I really missed you! But that all ended when I found out it was just because you needed a rebound. I should have known better this time. —Stupid Girl
Ignorant park goers
I assume that you, like everyone else, goes to the park to enjoy the natural tranquil setting. So I don’t understand why you decide to ruin that experience for others by littering so carelessly like you do. I am talking to those of you who toss your garbage out the window as you drive away.…
Zimmerman
Where were all these individuals and organisations, who are now protesting the Zimmerman verdict, when OJ was found not guilty. —Confused
Methinks you’re jealous…
You caught me on Facebook and went to the boss, saying I wasn’t being productive or doing my job. I was on my fucking break! You’ve been ignorant to me, while being cool with everyone else, since day one. At first, I couldn’t understand what your issue was with me since I was nothing but…
Hook-up etiquette
I’m an attractive single queer woman in my late 20s, who has never had a hard time finding sex partners. I don’t know what has happened to casual sex etiquette lately, but recently I’ve noticed a pattern of (potential) sex partners insisting on watching a movie/Netflix before getting it on. Wtf? If I come back…
Icy cool new KXD CLVR video
Weirdo Click’s KXD CLVR did this. Then you did this: ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ). Then everyone’s afternoon turned out rad. (GTG post this right now so the time stamp is 4:20, lol.) Related Stories
Share the Road!
I would like to apologize to the piece of shit human who decided that my turning left on a light was too slow and therefore decided to pull out and around me (as I was about to go, mind you). I realize that your massive pickup truck and need for a fucking double double is…
Bitchin’ about Love
I don’t understand how some guys are so oblivious to the girls they date. Yes, I’m in love with you. Yes, I’m just your best friend. Yes, you’re in love with her (tale as old as time). But, your family loves me, and she doesn’t even bother to acknowledge them. You say you’re not making…
A Year of Love
I love you. You make me calmer, you make me better, you make my life easier. It has been a year now, and that surely is something for someone like me! Can’t wait for another year of hanging with my best friend, being upper low class, and loving every minute of it! —Long Legged Darling
Brown haired/eyed beauty
A year or so ago, I used to travel the #68 bus to work from Alderney Landing, around 6am. You would often sit at the front. You had shoulder length dark straight hair. Light blue jacket. Sobeys canvass bag with work things? Hospital staff maybe? 40s? You are gorgeous and so familiar. I was the…
Parking Power Trip
To the parking enforcement officer who came by long lake on Monday evening: your arbitrary dispensing of tickets should see you lose your job. Formal parking at the lake doesn’t meet even a quarter of the demands for space, so people park on the side of the road. Easy. However, I saw approx. 20 vehicles…
Lambskin curls
Who would have thought such a short fishing trip would have hooked a prize catch like you? Years later, I love spending time with you and I think you’re amazing. You have a Sheldon Cooper’s brain, Superman’s biceps, a swoon-worthy smile and the sweetest mop of curls . Whether we are working out together at…
Woman of Epic Love Affair
I couldn’t imagine what it is to be cherished. Adored by one so fully alive in his love for me, free of self-protectiveness and self-concern, he held nothing back. Who delights in my memory, celebrates me to others, who in my absence feels my presence. And who loves even the brokenness in me that pushed…
Pop up video
Five NSCAD students will have their talents on display next week at Seeds Gallery’s new exhibit, Good Artists Working With Video. Curatorial intern and NSCAD student Magnus von Tiesenhausen is the curator of the event. Von Tiesenhausen is going into his final year at NSCAD and had the opportunity to intern at the gallery over…
Oblivious Chick who thinks she’s the shit
I honestly don’t know what you see when you look at yourself in the mirror. You wonder why you’re still single at 33, and when I told you that your standards are too high, you scoffed at me. I see what men you pursue and which ones you rejected. You used to be modest, but…
Lazy
Ok. I can not stand when I see someone park in the handicapped parking space with a handicapped pass, get out, and have nothing wrong with them except obesity. You are taking a spot from someone elder who may not be able to walk as well or someone in a wheel chair. People actually need…
Xtremely Annoyed
Please stop discarding your food in your back parking lot at the end of the night. This is a shared lot with many apartments. I am tired of being woken up from 4-7 am to listen to the bird wars as they fight for the litter. So far the seagulls are the dominant ones, also…
Nova Scotia
The province where employers treat their employees like shit and get away with it. Where you are given poor customer service at every turn and it is accepted. The province where you get over-taxed and are given less services and no one cares. A province where there is nothing to do, no where to shop…
The building that gives the neighborhood a bad rep
There is an apt. bldg. in Fairview that really needs to be closed down. It is full of drugs and hookers. Won’t say what street. It’s one of the sleeziest shitholes in the city. Why can’t something be done about it? I bet anyone can guess which address but don’t post here. Isn’t there a…
MacDonald Bridge Halifax-Side Bicycle on-off ramp
Who…who…or what designed this piece of crap? Does anyone know? Who was the genius who decided to make cyclists go down a hill and play cat-and-mouse with fast-moving cars on a blind corner, with zero momentum, to go back up the hill when exiting the ramp? Who was the person who, instead of listening to…
Cafe yuck
Cafe (s) are meant to be a respite This is hardly possible when every table is dirty. I feel like bringing my own cloth and bussing for them and I’m no clean freak as my apt will attest. Please guys get off your asses and clear a table, would you. You can have the best…
A toast to the East Coast
Acadia student Alex MacLean is making practical (and stylish) of his education. His clothing line East Coast Lifestyle was born in the class room and now lives on the backs of people across the region. “The whole thing truly started with an idea and some stickers which were used to create hype around campus,” says…
No consideration
I live it a neighbourhood where the houses are close together. I consider myself a good neighbour and am very conscious of how close our houses are and what type of effect my actions could have on my neighbours. It’s just the way I am. In the 10 years I’ve been in the house we…
Coffee shops are places of business
I being the coffee lover that I am frequent coffee shops pretty much on a day to day basis and have noticed something lately that irks me- perhaps it shouldn’t but it does, more and more people are using coffee shops but not purchasing anything – I think this is just absolutely rude but I…
tropical fruit trees
to whomever is responsible for the idea to add tropical fruit trees to the public gardens. nice surprise, makes me smile. —l.f.
You’re NOT helping our mother!
My sister is an idiot for convincing our mother to get another dog so soon. The place where our mother lives seems unsafe electricity-wise (lights ALWAYS flickering, things will temporarily slow down or temporarily shut off)! Our mother NEEDS to find another, safer apartment. Easier done without a dog right now. She also gave our…
Be Stillwell my beating heart
The family that drinks together, goes into business together. Isn’t that what they say? Regardless, it’s the case for Halifax-natives Christopher Reynolds and Laura MacDonald and Brit Andrew Connell, the trio behind Barrington Street’s newest liquid venture. Stillwell Beer Bar—set to open this fall—is the product of putting three hop heads together and taking inspiration…
Excommunicated
You were that friend who used people to get stuff. You were also that friend who, on a whim, adopted a pet and then decided you couldn’t keep her anymore. After i took her in, you decided to start publicly insulting me and ignoring me when i asked you why. Which is this little manipulative…
No thanks, Chris Brown
I’ve had a whole weekend to stew about Chris Brown coming to Halifax for Energy Rush. By now, there’s been petitions for, petitions against, sponsors pulling out left, right and centre, discussions of art for art’s sake, discussions about race, statements from Mayor Mike Savage and straight up plain vitriol for the abusive Brown. …
Sticky Business
Now there’s a local fast food joint here in town. It’s been here for a couple years now (they’ve even opened a second location), and it’s very popular. Which is great! They serve good food! But they also hand out these huge black and white stickers of their mascot’s face. And the customers put these…
Psycho cyclist
I think cycling to work is great and love seeing people on bikes BUT at around 9:30 AM this morning I was walking up Salter Street from Barrington when I heard someone frantically yell “HEY HEY HEY.” It was some nutbar on a bicycle barrelling down the middle of the wet street at a ridiculous…
Lazy Parker – You Made My Day
Every day I sit and watch as you do nothing but read. Reading isn’t a bad thing but you don’t do much else. You don’t work because you’re off “sick” and we both know how true that isn’t. We struggle to make ends meet. I follow you wherever you want me to go and I…
Drugs at the lake
Stop smoking pot in the woods behind the beach. — Kids Swim here.
Airport taxi fares
Sixty-three dollars fare from the airport into Halifax. I need say nothing more. —Price fixer
Please Hire Me!!!
Can someone please give me some insight on what employers are looking for these days??? I’m not talking about retail or food industry employers —but those that can actually be considered a career for some people. I’ve been a university graduate (with a business degree) for almost three years now and have STILL NOT FOUND…
City Festivals
I would never keep my neighbours awake by playing loud music until 1am. That would be incredibly rude. So why is a festival in the middle of the North end keeping me awake for the third straight night? Your permit ends at 12; I checked. It’s now 12:40 and it sounds like there’s drums in…
back to a single scoop
I love you. Illness would never faze me – I told you as much many times. I meant it. I did want to know everything because without knowing I couldn’t help. Id be with you by your side to do what I could to make you feel better and help you in any way I…
Gym Love!
Just want to say thanks to everyone for looking so damn good! Working hard to reach their goals! I know it’s hard to get up and get there, but once you’re there, you kill it! Keep it up! its paying off! If your healthy goals aren’t enough to get ya in there, the boys sure…
At Peace with Platonics
You’re my co-worker, so what I want to happen never will. You’re way out of my league, so that’s probably a good thing. You’re kind, funny, talented, intelligent, patient and holy-crap attractive but you don’t have an over-inflated ego about your obvious awesomeness. I love working with you and I’m so glad that we get…
Just a little thank you
Happy that I have the chance to meet and interact with people who restore my faith in love and good people,. Everyday I am surrounded by beautiful friends and family and whenever I stop to think about that I feel overwhelmingly blessed. So thank you to anyone and everyone that has made me feel that…
Complimenting bicyclist
Today I got diagnosed with psoriasis, and even though I was in long-sleeves and you couldn’t tell, you biked by me on South Park and stopped to tell me you loved my hair and to smile because I’m beautiful and then biked off! Thank you for making me feel so much better about myself, you…
What crayon is your favorite colour?
All this talk of you modeling and having a good life and being well off is getting me so hot for you. “Domestic partnership?” Your words are like sex to my eyes. I can’t wait to hear more about some of these “privileges” that you enjoy and how great you feel your life is. I…
Congrats
Another milestone is coming! I knew you could do it!! — Way to Go
Outlander
I contacted you several times but several times you turned me away.I want you but can not bare to be rejected again…It’s your move.Please make it in my direction. xxoo —TF
Dear Hellifux: a Rant, just in time for Summer
I came here 13 years ago. For most of that time I had high hopes for you. A port city? One that isn’t too big? Prides itself on it’s “friendliness” and community? Sure, the weather isn’t great, but hey, it has so much potential right? and one day soon, all these community people will rise…
Feeding my family
I read the bitch section every other day and there are a few bitches that repeat themselves over and over…I think this may be a new one. In the remote communities of the North the cost of food is crazy…I found a FB page that was designed to make people of the “south” aware of…
Cleared Out Dance Flooor WTF
To all the stuffy complainers at the John Scofield Show who had the dance floor cleared so they could see–Its a general admission show to one of the greatest groove machine artists ever. Sorry you couldn’t see pressed in your precious seats. Those of us with a soul HAD to dance! Jazzfest organizers WTF? —Boogie…
Another bus bitch (sort of)
When it’s a hot day like it has been recently DON’T get on an air conditioned bus and open the windows, you stupid morons! Although the A/C system itself will continue to work with the window open it won’t be as effective. The purpose of an A/C system is to remove humidity from a room…
No young’uns at the Jazz fest tent? Really?
The purpose of the Jazz fest is to promote local music and encourage Haligonians to get out and enjoy music, right? Shouldn’t we, under 19ers, be entitled to go as much as anyone else? Hell, we can go to a pub for lunch, without a guardian, where people are drinking beer all around us, and…
Hygiene For Dummies
When you take your watch to a shop to get the battery replaced, would you please, please, pretty fucking please with cream and sugar, take a tissue and a bit of rubbing alcohol and clean the two years worth of dead skin cells, dried sweat, and congealed smegma off the back of it? PLEASE? I…
Bike on Robie
Scenario: there were 2 vehicles parked on the side of the road with a 50 foot space between them. Lady, don’t weave in and out of the parking lane. when you need to take the lane, please take it and keep it. I had visions of someone trying to squeeze past you and killing you.…
Waiting for the Parade
Photo: Laani Heinar Plays featuring all-women casts are few and far between, so it’s a real treat to get to chance to Waiting for the Parade which centres on five strong, small-town Canadian women who are keeping the home fires burning during the Second World War. Janet (Shoel Strang) is a bossy, abrasive powerhouse who…
Pacific Rim
Monsters versus giant robots seems like can’t miss Oscar-bait, but a scattered plot and world-weary soul drags Pacific Rim down. For years now, massive “Kaijus” have been rising from a dimensional rift in the ocean floor and attacking cities. Humanity fights back the only way it can—forging big-dick robots that rocket punch things to death.…
Vampire Weekend
There’s a very good chance you hate Vampire Weekend. You hate their clothes, their campy melodies, and their stupid faces. But if there was ever an argument to change your mind, Modern Vampires of the City might just be it. Though it doesn’t stray far from the sound of their self-titled debut, MVOTC is a…
Frances Ha
Indie power couple Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach wrote Frances Ha together. She stars, he directs. It’s basically a long-form Girls episode (and Adam Driver is even there), wherein lost dancer Frances bumps around New York apartments, an ill-advised weekend to Paris and a complicated relationship with her best friend (Mickey Sumner). Shot in black…
Why the Rush?
A lot has happened since November 2, 1987. That was the last time Canadian rock legends Rush played Halifax. The show was at the Metro Centre, with Chalk Circle opening. Rush has released eight studio albums since then. It went from the band with the screechy singer who played “Tom Sawyer,” the weird one your…
Ian Tyson
Raven Singer (Stony Plain) Tyson accidentally strained the soothing baritone out of his voice a few years ago, so it can be a shock to hear him now. Fortunately, this didn’t stop him writing in the cowboy milieu he’s embraced since the split from Sylvia Fricker 40 years ago. Vast prairie vistas viewed mostly from…
Piper time
“The last time we played Halifax was in 2010 with A.A. Wallace’s former band, Sleepless Nights,” says Brad Weber, the force behind Toronto’s organic-electro outfit, Pick a Piper. “It’s really neat to play together again at this next stage of our work, if you are looking at us now and then. We still like to…
The Fifty Year Sword
For something so strange, House of Leaves made a big impact when it was published over 10 years ago, drawing in readers with its weird fonts, stranger formatting and narrative quirks like footnotes that went nowhere1. Mark Z. Danielewski’s latest book, The Fifty Year Sword, shows that he’s still capable of crafting a unique puzzle-box…
Grass roots
The Appalachian mountain range, from New York to Alabama, is considered the home of American bluegrass. Just a few miles north of the range, in Montreal, five-piece bluegrass band Notre Dame de Grass has been perfecting the folk-revival tradition for the last 10 years. At The Carleton on Wednesday, NDG hits both the peaks of…
Confessions of a Fairy’s Daughter: Growing up with a Gay Dad
Originally performed as a monologue, Confessions may appear to speak to a very specific, minority audience, but it’s this kind of misconception he book challenges. As Wearing comes to understand as an adult, “So long as the rest of society can get over it, the ‘gay’ part doesn’t matter nearly so much as the ‘parent’…
A country Rose
It’s a good year to be a girl making country music, from Kacey Musgraves and Ashley Monroe challenging genre conventions to Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes singing through the drama on Nashville. “I think there’s something of a revival happening right now, and I hope it’s not a trend,” says Whitney Rose, calling from the…
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Blood Dragon is exactly what happens when developers are allowed to have complete creative control and let their imaginations go crazy. Utilizing the exact same mechanics as Far Cry 3 (actual copy of Far Cry 3 is not needed to download this), Blood Dragon drops the player into the shoes of Rex Colt, a cyber-solider…
Steel yourself
The prolific folk singer Owen Steel has just released a new album, Time Machine Blues, which sounds like it was pulled out of the attic of an old Prairie house, all jangly strings, leisurely delivery and kitchen singalongs. The bulk of it was recorded in one 10-hour session at Echo Chamber, followed by an evening…
Remember Me
Remember Me poises intriguing extensional questions that, as a society, we are just scratching the surface of. Specifically memories in a growing world of social media and connection. As Nilin, you explore the world of Neo-Paris in the year 2084 on a mission to get your lost memories back. Remember Me is set in a…
Letters to the editor, July 11, 2013
Chicken little, lot Everyone is entitled to their opinion, so they say–so I can’t really fault Paulette Forhan for voicing her discontent (“I don’t want chickens in my urban neighbourhood,” Voice of the City, July 4) with Fred Connors’ small backyard chicken coop. However, nobody is entitled to misrepresent the opinions of others, and frankly…
On the House
The Marriott’s new restaurant-bar hybrid The Harbourstone Sea Grill & Pour House nails the sharing plates, and the AC. by Melissa Buote It’s hot out. The air is thick with sweat and air conditioning is the first thing on my mind. I stroll into the cool lobby of the Marriott where The Harbourstone Sea Grill…
Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANCER! (JUNE 21 – JULY 22) When the comic book hero Superman first appeared on the scene in 1938, he had the power to jump over tall buildings, but he couldn’t fly. By 1941, he was hovering in mid-air, and sometimes moving around while floating. Eventually, he attained the ability to soar long…
Gasping for advice
Q I’m a 26-year-old straight female. I’m writing because I need to ask someone what to think right now. I just fucked a guy while on holiday in Costa Rica. I thought I was sex-positive and adventurous, so why do I feel so ashamed? I’m dating a boy back in the US who I absolutely…
Natalie Maines
Wondering where the Dixie Chicks leader has been since winning a truckload o’ Grammys back in 2007? Jamming in Ben Harper’s garage, apparently. On Mother, Maines takes a deliberate step away from the successful music that afforded her a six-year break and wanders through the adult alternative section. It’s nearly all covers, including one of…
Savages
A blistering wall of anger, Rat-pedal basstone, head/sex games and Brit buzz-band hype brings Savages crashing onto the shores of North America, sending all the keyboards and Macbooks flying. Led by the deep-voiced Jehnny Beth, the quartet blasts through 10 songs (and one two-minute noise piece) with precision, force and zero sense of humour. “I…
Poetry off the page
HRM’s new poet laureate, El Jones, wants to inspire young poets and engage people to speak for themselves. by Michael Lake “We don’t live in a culture right now that values poetry,” says El Jones. “But poetry has changed.” A press conference at City Hall on June 27 announced Jones as HRM’s new poet laureate.…
Snow White
Do conjoined twins count as one person? Is Windex poisonous? Is Patrick Swayze an effective life model? These are but a few of the questions raised by SBTS’s highly original take on Snow White. Halifax has come to expect catchy music, zany antics and clever pop culture references from this company’s family shows, and Snow…
Two decades of world-class delusion
After “drop the bomb,” never have three simple words so devastated a place. The first reference I can find to anyone using the phrase “world-class city” to describe Halifax comes from 1994. That July, Fred MacGillivray was hired as president of the World Trade and Convention Centre, the provincial crown corporation now called Trade Centre…
Lisa Moore’s thrilling folklore
The hotter it gets outside the more vital the search for the perfect beach read becomes. Luckily, this year’s Canada Reads winner Lisa Moore just released her new novel Caught (June 2013, Anansi Press) and it has everything you’ll need this sweaty season—sharp lines, seedy characters and the kind of can’t-put-it-down suspense you might expect…
