Basketball
Please stop shooting hoops so fucking late at night! Last time it was 2:30am, and for over an hour, but I didn’t say anything because I had just gotten home myself and I figured it would be a one time thing…beautiful summer evening and all. But on Saturday night you’re out there again! The fucking…
Halifax council OKs convention centre deal
At its regular Tuesday meeting, Halifax council OKed the framework for a contract with the province and Rank, Inc. for a new convention centre. Council did not vote on a specific, detailed contract because “the details are still being worked out,” said deputy CAO Mike Labrecque, who however assured council that those details would reflect…
The Oxford turns 75
The Oxford Theatre (6408 Quinpool, 423-7488) is celebrating its 75th (the year of diamond and gold) with classics from 1930 to 2000. In the great tradition of online voting, you get the power to choose which films will screen at one-day-only matinees. Click away and cross those fingers for your choice, the next round of…
Haliwood Insider is now The Scene
Not a huge move, just a mini shuffle. From now on, all arts news will be housed under the cozy blog umbrella of The Scene. Email scene@thecoast.ca with film and TV news and keep the tears to a minimum.
Scene and Heard = The Scene
It’s not a huge change, but it’s a change nonetheless. The Scene is now your one stop for all arts, music, film, comedy, literary, etc blog news. Email scene@thecoast.ca as usual with your arts and music news.
So long! Art Attack is now The Scene
Head to The Scene for your arts news fix from now on. In the words of Marvin from Big Brother 5: It’s been real and it’s been fun, but it ain’t been real fun. (Just kidding, it totally has, but now the fun don’t stop at The Scene). Email scene@thecoast.ca with your arts news, willya?
Old and Weird EP release tonight
Remember this? Old and Weird release their new EP, Life’s Tough Not Really, tonight at Gus’ Pub (with ISBN and Feral Children). Bring things for them to sign. Ideas include (but are not limited to): apples, baby blankets, tax returns.
Welcome to The Scene
Since we all know how well amalgamation works, we’ve slimmed down our arts blogs—no more of this frantic clicking around, you guys. Haliwood Insider, Scene and Heard and Art Attack are now The Scene. Everything arts, film and music related will now go here. Email tips and scoops and nibs and boots to scene@thecoast.ca.
The Fuller Lecture Series needs you!
There’s much news coming your way from the folks at the Fuller Lecture Series. Firstly, if you have a charitable inclination in the next 7 days, why not funnel that to the popular summer lecture series’ Indiegogo campaign? Ella Tetrault and Bethany Riordan Butterworth have decided to run all six lectures out of pocket regardless…
Ludacris, T-Pain and thou
This summer, head straight back to those golden days when you made that bong out of a Bolthouse Farms carrot juice bottle and listened to Chicken-n-Beer on repeat while drawing pictures of cartoon mice (anyone?), with the one and only Ludacris! $47 (plus service charges, advance) gains you entry to 103.5’s Energy Rush, August 25…
You can waddle off but you can’t hide
To the Kardashian clone and her evil twin who, upon exiting a store on Spring Garden, replied to the street guy’s (polite) request for change “Sorry, I just spent all my money on REALLY expensive moisturizer,” then waddled off in her way-too-tight skinny jeans in fits of laughter…yeah, that was me who hollered “You are…
Hair stylist willing to travel to a resort in Peggys Cove?
I am looking for a hairstylist that would be willing to travel to Peggys Cove for my wedding. Any recommendations? Please help! —Michelle
Bubble poppin’, panty droppin’
Unbelievable rent increases in this city in the last two years. I don’t really understand why or how a tiny shit hole mold basement could be rented for more than $700 (NOT EVEN INCLUDING UTILITIES), but lo and behold, shit hole basements are more expensive than two bedroom flats with a patio only a mere…
Tell me why?
I would love to know why after two weeks of chatting. There were many things I would have loved to talk with you about. We go out and meet for coffee for about 20 minutes, it was kind of loud, hard to make conversation with all the racket from the machines. Then you say OK…
The term “sheeple”
Dear hippies et. al: The term sheeple is fucking annoying. As soon as you use it in context, you lose all credibility and I picture unclean, bearded and insane people holding homemade cardboard signs written in sharpie with folds in it from stuffing it into your ratty ass back pack. Sheep plus people = bestiality.…
Nova Scotia Centre of Craft and Design has a makeover
When you’re feeling grungy, there’s nothing like a make-over to make you feel brand-new. The Nova Scotia Centre of Craft and Design (1061 Marginal Road, 492-2522) can probably relate. The shop’s recent make-over includes a fresh coat of fire-engine red paint in the foyer that is sure to catch the attention of customers, old and…
Lessons through DaCane Surf Shop
Surf’s up! DaCane Surf Shop (5239 Blowers Street, 431-7873) is offering clinics for beginner surfers who want to learn how to catch a wave. Anybody who has a way to get to the shop to pick up equipment and a ride to Conrad’s Beach is free to sign up for the shop’s introduction to surfing…
Ignorant prick
You were in line at a grocery store late the other night with your girlfriend, who was foreign, when you asked her if she knew what the Tattoo was. She explained what she thought it was (inked skin), and you laughed in her face like a giant asshole, telling her that it was “actually a…
Givin’ it up
To the people who use dating sites: If you ain’t gonna give it up within the first few hours… you shouldn’t be using online dating sites. Everybody knows that the real reason we use ’em is to get straight up booty. Get laid. Orgasm and bail. That’s it folks. Perhaps it may turn into a…
The pantsless street shaver
To the group of morons with the shaving cream in Victoria Park around five o’clock on Saturday. Yes, I saw you. I saw you idiots in the park slipping and sliding through SHAVING CREAM. And then, when you all had your idiotic fun, you, the man with the can, stood up. You stood up with…
Landlord hell
It started with registered letters containing ominous messages, sent weeks after we are left to think everything is fine. Then the endless inspectons two at a time, clipboards in tow. some without any advance warning at all, and taking photos!? There is no logic to any of this, no explanation. Seems we are held to…
Stupid parents
To the mother in the doctor’s office the other day, with the obnoxious tween son… If your kid is so severly suffering from ADD that he can’t sit still quietly for five minutes, YOU are responsible for taking steps to ensure he’s occupied. You get to comfortably sit there and read your fashion magazine, while…
Give me a break
To the older woman I work with… congratulations on making a shitty job even shittier. I have been nothing but nice to you (as I am with everyone who deserves it), and you treat me like shit. I’m sorry that you view me as inexperienced because I only work there two months at a time…
Hippies and climate sheeple
Do you really think that blindly accepting every environmental or carbon tax scheme is going to save this planet? The last I heard, our road taxes were never spent on roads. What makes you so naive to think that anything has changed? —Taxed and Sceptical
Landlords of Halifax
Attention landlords of Halifax, as a renter I would like to share with you a few simple tips that may cut the seemingly annoying phone calls you so attentively answer in half… 1. Where is the unit? Silly question I know but on more than one occasion I have had to ask. Simply stating “west…
Coffee survival
To the beautiful and kind barista with blue eyes at the cafe that serves mostly medical students: just being able to see you a few times a week helped me through the worst five months of my life. I might get the courage some day to tell you that in person! —Salt and Pepper
Thieving bastards
So sorry for running a business that causes many of you to succumb to your urges to take what doesn’t belong to you. Must feel good, eh? You see it, you take it. And every time you look at what you stole you can feel proud for ripping off someone who has done nothing to…
Why the convention centre sucks, part 5: Trade Centre Limited’s hidden subsidies
City council will vote Tuesday to give final approval for the convention centre, so I spent the weekend revisiting financial reports for the existing convention centre. They are extremely relevant, and councillors should pause and consider them before casting their votes. I created the above chart using numbers collected from audited financial statements found on…
Nova Scotia Business, Inc. drops $800,000 into Intelivote
The province’s primary economic development arm, Nova Scotia Business, Inc., announced today that it is dropping another $800,000 into Intelivote Systems, the Dartmouth-based internet voting firm. That brings NSBI’s total investment in Intelivote to $2.8 million. The additional funds will be use in part for “five or six enhancements” to Intelivote’s voting software, says Dean…
All I did was ask a question
This afternoon I was at a meat shop. All I did was ask a question on the type of mixed meats I wanted to buy, well the look and response that I had received from the lady was very ignorant and not very customer-related at all. What is the matter with the front cash help…
You don’t deserve the title of “mother”
If you are going to have kids make sure you have the capacity to take care of them. There is nothing worse than seeing a mother who can’t do anything for herself let alone for her kids. Instead it’s pick the phone up and call whoever will listen, whoever will be a sucker enough to…
Sin on Skin Tattoos gets new artist
Sin on Skin Tattoos (5239 Blowers Street, 446-6600) has a new artist on staff: Lacey Cormier, who hails from Montreal.
Crybaby what?
This goes out to the girl on the 1 last week that seemed to have trouble living in the world of people. Your personal space on the bus does not extend to the seat next you. When I sat down and you said ” Oh, I’m sorry, there’s nothing wrong with you, I just really…
You didn’t deserve any ice cream
I worked at a VERY busy and popular waterfront establishment on Canada Day. Both our lines (coffee and ice cream) were out the door and around the corner from very early on in the day. We had worked very hard in the upcoming days to try and make sure we were stocked up, but our…
Have some respect for once
So I’m walking in north end Dartmouth with my kid and this asshole goes “Hey, baby.” Then as I continue to ignore him he says to his friend “She’s so a hooker.” If my child wasn’t with me I would have told him off and taught him to keep his mouth shut. What is wrong…
Traffic jam Wednesday
Once again, a single accident on the MacKay bridge causes traffic mayhem for the taxpayers. If the Halifax Harbour was an airport in any other city in this country, we would have a ring road capable of sustaining 100 km/h traffic. There should be an infrastructure corridor that allows vehicles and utilities to circle the…
Pick up after your dog!
To the dog owners who frequent Long Lake. Please pick up after your pets. Picking the poop up and leaving the plastic bag on the side of the trail doesn’t count, the bag must also make it to the trash can. Today while walking my dog, I picked up 10 used poop bags along the…
Gotta cork I can borrow, then?
So, I was out shopping the other day, browsing around at some little shops in the Darkside. I had just finished a large double double with the full fat cream and a smoke, when I felt something brewing bad. REAL bad. My irritable bowel had been triggered and I knew if I didn’t hit a…
Stop lines mean stop
For real? They’re huge white lines. They’re where they are for a fucking reason. As someone who rides the bus twice a day, every day, I see a lot of you arrogant pricks glaring at bus drivers who have to do everything in their power to avoid hitting the front of your car because you’ve…
Gentlemen, please pick up after yourselves!
After your “break” in the park, be certain to clean up your coffee cups and most importantly, the napkins used to clean up your “spills”—no one wants to see that! Dispose of them discreetly or tuck them into your pockets and dump them elsewhere. True, there’s a lack of garbage cans in the area; but…
Coupon asshole
I heard you, one lane over in a grocery store on Joseph Howe, giving the cashier shit for being unable to let you redeem two “one per customer, per transaction” coupons. You insulted a supervisor, and then proceeded to bitch out the cashier some more for not being allowed to give you more of a…
Morris East turns five years old
Morris East (5212 Morris Street, 444-7663) turns five years old this month, and in celebration owner Jennie Dobbs is including ice cream cake—“layers of housemade seasonal ice cream and a fudgy centre”—on a three-course $30 prix-fixe birthday menu through the rest of July. Dobbs’ resto is a remarkable success story. She set out to create…
Internet providers
The price of cable is friggin ridiculous! First of all let me tell you why I am bitching. I only pay for internet and it cost $62 after being with them for two years, yet a starting package for a new customer is $29.95. This is outrageous. Yet another company charges $39.95 a month for…
Why I was cursing at you
Here’s the answer: YOU were not coming to a complete stop in your car as I was crossing the street. YOU were still moving in to the intersection coming towards me as I crossed the street. Yes, slow, but YOU need to stop way before being that close and in the intersection. How am I…
Mike’s Magic
Hollywood you suck! Women have never looked so pathetic and I blame you. I feel completely ashamed to be one. —Get In Line
Semi-schizoid trans-provincial escape-artist
“I love you” should be reserved for special moments of actual heartfelt experience, not to throw around like paper airplanes filled with fickle intentions. Say it if you mean it, not if you’re just going to fuck, “love” and run away. —Know Love
Adventure time
Everybody likes being in on a good secret. There’s something deliciously wonderful about knowing something really good and juicy, and then—after savouring it all for yourself—sharing it with others. Open secrets are the best secrets of all. Restaurants often have their own little open secrets, or rather, “secret” menus. McDonald’s has the unofficially acknowledged McGangBang…
Charles Bradley
“How would you define soul, James?” That’s the question journalist David Frost put to James Brown in 1970, as quoted in R.J. Smith’s new biography of the Godfather of Soul, The One. “The truth,” Brown answered. “The down-to-earth truth…it explains the hard knocks, it explains everyday life, telling it like it is. The truth.” Charles…
Give your dick no choice
Q I’m a straight guy and I’m really into having my balls sucked—it’s one of my favourite things and just thinking about it turns me on. But whenever I’ve had my balls sucked, it hurts, and ball pain is not a kink of mine! It hurts enough to override any pleasure, and I have to…
White elephant
Two weeks ago I criticized mayoral candidate Mike Savage for his continued support for the proposed convention centre, and for what appears to be an unwillingness to challenge provincial crown corporation Trade Centre Limited—an issue that will come front and centre in city politics when auditor general Larry Munroe issues his report on TCL’s improper…
Hail Sultan
Mark Sultan knows that it’s better to give than to receive. Especially when it comes to pure, unadulterated rock ‘n’ roll energy. Not that Mark Sultan has ever been anything but open. Followers of his online presence know that when it comes to sharing things that don’t always paint garage rock’s polarizing one-man band/angelic crooner…
Deltron 3030
When Canadian DJ Kid Koala (real name Eric San) was asked by record producer Dan The Automator (Daniel Nakamura) and legendary Bay Area MC Del the Funky Homosapien to join their sci-fi hip-hop project in early 1999, he had no idea the impact Deltron 3030 would have on the music community more than a decade…
The quick and the dirty
Could be the stuff of nightmares. Your name pulled out of a hat puts you centre stage with other hapless folks, performing completely original material you’ve only written and rehearsed a mere 24 hours before. But the organizers of the Quick Dirty Band show aren’t afraid. “I think half the fun of the Quick Dirty…
Fond of Tigers
“We sit in this middle ground where really hardcore avant-garde people probably think we’re The Backstreet Boys,” says Stephen Lyons, founder and frontman of Fond of Tigers, “while people who love pop probably think we’re a sonic assault squad sent to torture them.” The Vancouver septet returns to the east coast for their first show…
Conjurers’ Court House
An unseen part of Halifax is getting its big reveal. Sunday Comedy with Bill Wood (of Picnicface fame) is, for one night only, switching things up in favour of an evening of flourishes and sleights-of-hand. For the first time, the annual showcase of the Conjurers’ Court, the Halifax chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians,…
Threnodies
Susanne Chui, soon-to-be artistic director of Mocean Dance, has been working hard with three contemporary dance artists choreographing six pieces by nationally-recognized jazz guitarist Geordie Haley. A novel performance for the Halifax Jazz Festival, Threnodies unites music and dance to give shape to the mood that the music inspires. Drawing on blues, Threnodies laments the…
VANS in The Hub’s four-peat
The fourth annual VANS in The Hub exhibit features six Visual Arts Nova Scotia members’ photographs, textiles and drawings. “It’s really focused on the passage of time and kind of transient experiences,” says Becky Welter-Nolan, the programming coordinator at VANS. “Chris Brobeck’s drawings are life drawings and they try to capure a specific moment in…
Alejandra Ribera
Onstage, Alejandra Ribera is fierce and focused, her giant voice overtaking whatever room she is in. So it’s surprising to hear that Ribera gets nervous, saying a prayer and removing her shoes before she performs, worried her shaking will cause her to fall over. “I don’t remember performances,” she says. “I sort of black out…
Last Call Chernobyl releases record
It’s safe to say Last Call Chernobyl is busy: Performing July 5 at Spread the Metal Fest, as well as July 8’s eight-hour long bonanza, Give’r Fest, outside the Pavilion, releasing a new EP, a Maritime tour in July with Montreal’s Derelict, working on a music video and finishing up a second full-length album. But…
My Brightest Diamond
Shara Worden has no shortage of musical training. A multi instrumentalist as a child, Worden went on to study opera at the University of North Texas. However, it was when she branched out from her formal studies, learning to play guitar and penning lyrics, that her career began to blossom. “Doing classical music in my…
Spread the Metal Festival: Year One
“Maybe it’s not on top of the charts, but we’re still standing strong. So we’ll be here forever. United and hard we stand.” —Dimebag Darrell “Every band on the label is a band in whom I personally believe. They are all easy to work with, are immensely talented, and are willing to put in the…
Steve Reich’s 2×5
Percussionist Mark Adam has had a career-long relationship with experimental American composer Steve Reich’s work. When Adam wanted to assemble a crew to start rehearsing Reich’s 2008 piece, 2×5, in his Wolfville barn studio, it wasn’t hard to find other musicians who were equally excited about the project. “It sounded too fun to pass up,”…
The Soul Rebels
Lumar Leblanc, one of the founding members of The Soul Rebels, is just as pleasant on the phone as you’d expect from his band’s upbeat performances. He’s relaxed and in no rush, despite the fact that he’s calling from a van in the middle of a packed tour, and entirely unfazed when our connection gets…
Katy Perry: Part of Me
Katy Perry’s Part of Me goes about as deep as her costumes, keeping things sparkly and bright. We follow Perry on her world tour for a year, flitting back and forth through her past—her rise to fame from a religious family, her struggles staying signed to a record label—to her present—onstage spectacles and gushy meet…
White elephant
Two weeks ago I criticized mayoral candidate Mike Savage for his continued support of the proposed convention centre, and for what appears to be an unwillingness to challenge provincial crown corporation Trade Centre Limited—an issue that will come front and centre in city politics when auditor general Larry Munroe issues his report on TCL’s improper…
Safety Not Guaranteed
Director Colin Trevorrow’s and writer Derek Connolly’s debut feature-length movie is a quirky comedy about a writer for Seattle Magazine, Jeff (Jake M. Johnson) and two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), who investigate the story behind a classified ad looking for a partner with whom to travel back in time. Darius successfully…
Free Will Astrology
Happy Birthday! CANCER ((June 21-july 22) Let’s hypothesize that there are two different kinds of freedom possible for you to pursue. One is simplistic and sterile, while the other is colourful and fertile. The first is characterized by absence or emptiness, and the second is full of rich information and stimulating experiences. Is there any…
Savages
Moments in Oliver Stone’s pulpy drug caper, Savages, connect with the violence and horror it wants to evoke. But then Blake Lively’s sleepy, surfer-girl narration pops up and any goodwill washes away. Lively, as “O,” brings nearly nothing to her role as lady love to a couple of polyamorous pot-growing buddies (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Taylor…
Snapshot scores
Halifax is a traditional meeting place.” Alan Syliboy says as we sit in a white-walled Khyber surrounded by sculptures, paintings and instruments yet to be displayed. “It was and always has been and always be.” This Friday the Khyber will be fulfilling the role of a meeting place as it launches the first major exhibition…
The Amazing Spider-Man
It’s likely impossible to not compare this Spider-Man reboot with Sam Raimi’s recent trilogy of films. To their credit, director Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield do take some admirable swings. The webbing just doesn’t always stick. Garfield plays a Peter Parker that’s more introspective loner than outright dweeb, while Emma Stone is shiny in…
Sketched out
The Halifax branch of Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School could be closing, unless someone steps in to run the branch. Unfortunately, Miriam “Sketchy Monkey” Gibson will be stepping down after the next event. Dr. Sketchy’s is an alternative life-drawing movement with branches in most major cities in North America. But instead of the usual poses and models, the…
Madea’s Witness Protection
Boldly going where he’s gone dozens of times before, Tyler Perry dons the fat suit and wig once again for Madea’s Witness Protection. When a federal prosecutor (Perry) needs to hide a mob witness (poor, poor Eugene Levy) he reluctantly sends the New Yorker to his Atlanta aunt, Madea. Routine hijinks on silly white people,…
