Where is the love?
The JunoFest kicked ass and for the most part, Halifax represented itself well over Junos weekend, but the media got the shaft on the evening of the Juno Awards ceremony. Cordoned off from anything remotely accessible to the show, they appeased us with pizza, chips and beer. They even went the extra mile and blacked…
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor: In preparation for the Easter holiday, many parents will consider getting a pet rabbit as a present for their children. Rabbits do NOT make good pets for young children. Rabbits are easily stressed by excessive handling, and children therefore quickly lose interest in an animal that doesn’t like to be picked up and…
A night at the Metro Centre
A more extensive recap of the Junos show is on the way, along with pictures, but for now, here are some of the most memorable sights and memories from Sunday night’s extravaganza. Highlights from the Junos show included: 1. Buck 65 rubbing his head into Pamela Anderson’s chest to close the Juno’s show2. Fergie doing…
Day 3: Canadian Idol-who?
Look up, look way up and what do you see? Leslie Feist, singing to me. Still one night to go and the highlight of the weekend has already occurred. The Broken Social Scene performance simply blew everyone away. It included nearly the entire crew throughout the night, including Amy Millan from Stars, producer Dave Newfeld…
Take me out
Friday night proved to be everything expected from the Junos extravaganza with the city of Halifax out in attendance at every venue I stopped at. As a music writer for three years, I haven’t felt Halifax this vibrant since the ECMAs in 2003. It was as if people knew they shouldn’t miss the experience of…
Letters to the Editor
To the bouncers of Halifax:As a regular patron of many bars and establishments throughout Halifax, I find it ditrubing that many of the bouncers that I encounter are ignorant assholes with belligerant and egocentric attitudes. Although there are many kind and honest bouncers throughout the city, many dickhead, power-tripping bouncers still exist. Being a Maritimer,…
Crowds, rockstars, and beer drinking
Toronto has descended upon Halifax. At least, that’s the impression I got after Night One of the Junos festivities. While out on the town, I saw men with more product in their hair than any Haligonian woman. I think they might have been wearing make-up too. Not that they looked bad. They looked damn good…
So it begins
Here we go! A weekend of schmoozing, star-sightings, drinking, and most importantly, experiencing great live music is here. For those who aren’t in the know, this is the Juno Awards weekend and it’s a music writer’s dream come true. Especially this music writer. Ever since I knew I’d be missing South By Southwest – AKA…
Letters to the Editor
To the people of HRM, and the rest of Canada, It is time to scrap the young offenders act. Seriously. Yes, there is a strong argument to keep it intact, but I beleive that with the increasing frequency of significant crimes being performed by children – such as assult, attempted murder, grand theft auto, to…
Awards of Merritt
The diverse and talented Atlantic theatre family came together at Alderney Landing on March 27 to celebrate its brightest and its best. The 2006 Merritt Awards ceremony was a glamorous affair complete with red carpet and live band. MC Marty Burt had the audience in stitches as he took aim at the practice of hiring…
Idolize this
Chances are you’ve noticed the Juno nominations appear slanted towards Canadian Idol acts. For instance, Rex Goudie is nominated for Artist of the Year, yet he has not been an artist for a year. John-Angus MacDonald of The Trews isn’t impressed. “These people enter a competition and were groomed by the industry for success and…
Rent-fritoes
Cafe Vienna at 2198 Windsor closed March 20. A notice posted on the locked door explains that the goods and chattels on the premises have been distrained by the landlord Maria Zelios for the sum of $6959.80, due to the tenants’ failure to pay rent. An email sent to Shop Talk from Lolita Cataford and…
eBlock at the Junos
With the Junos set to descend upon the city this weekend, some civic disruptions are to be expected, including (but not limited to) the presence of Ben Mulroney. eTalk at the Junos will be filming a red carpet arrivals show along Argyle Street on Sunday, which means you, Joe Not-A-Celebrity, are not encouraged to attend.…
A synful review
To the editor, Can you please tell me what qualifications your food reviewer, Liz Feltham, has, if any? She sure doesn’t know good food when she tastes it. I am the dining room manager of Syn restaurant and have worked in many restaurants and hotels over the past 15 years. Over the years I have…
May I have this dance?
To the editor, My experience at Sensations Cabaret was not the same as articulated in “Where goes the neighbourhood?” (March 23). It is not the dark and seedy place that I pictured when reading the article. The dancers were amazing—for their acrobatic feats as much as their nudity—the staff is very friendly and the manager…
It’s all your fault
The biggest question on your mind through these fevered, Juno-drenched weeks—not, “How did they get Coldplay?” not, “Why is Coldplay here?” not, “Will Gwyneth come?”—has doubtless been, “How the fuck did Diana Krall’s Christmas album get five nominations?” Well see, it’s like this. The nominees in the biggest categories, the ones you will see on…
Canadian Music speak
Jesse F. Keeler Death from above 1979/ MSTRKRFT Favourite Canadian song of the year: Metric, “Monster Hospital”Favourite Canadian album of the year: AIDS Wolf, The LovversOn the Junos: I was nominated personally for best design but lost to a really ugly record cover. Oh well. Who will win in the future?: Seripop…and they should keep…
There’s no place like HRM
Halifax is tidying up for Juno weekend, fussing around like a nervous granny who keeps squawking that “company’s coming!” It’s one thing to empty the litter box and make the bed when you’re expecting guests, but the city’s cleaning smacks of desperation: People are coming who are better than us, so we’ve got to look…
Copy rights
For the entire school year, Krissy Arbuckle and Chantal Brushett have been on a mission to pull the plug on turnitin.com. Arbuckle and Brushett, two student union leaders at Mount Saint Vincent University, got on the website’s case in September after a student told them it was on a professor’s syllabus. On March 6, they…
International blend
Stock market virgin Tim Hortons swept onto the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges last Friday like a debutante at a caffeine cotillion, raising a cool $780 million smackers with one swish of her sugar-coated petticoats. With that kind of dough rolling around, plus the way the corporate giant has managed to knead its products…
I want my real TV
Floria Sigismondi calls herself a realist. That may come as a surprise to fans of the Juno-nominated video director, best known for creating lush otherworlds for Björk, Fiona Apple, The White Stripes, David Bowie, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson and other musical elite. “I’m just depicting things the way I see them,” she says. “There is…
Succeeder
February 3, 2005 Kathleen Edwards calls from home in Toronto. She hates it there. She moved to the city for love, from Wakefield, Quebec, to live with her guitarist and new husband, Colin Cripps. Lately she’d been coming around. But then. “Some asshole backed into me in a parking lot and left!” she says, like…
Live capture
“It wasn’t like, ‘Now’s the time to make a DVD,’ it was, ‘Now’s the time to document something.’” Joel Plaskett is discussing the philosophy behind releasing his band’s new live DVD/studio EP package Make a Little Noise on the phone from a hotel room in Philadelphia. He’s touring the States with labelmate Kathleen Edwards, though…
Mover, shaker
Bono wears a token given to him by the late Pope John Paul II, while Kanye walks with Jesus. Musicians who publicly acknowledge their faith don’t face a flogging in album sales, yet even high rollers would have lost a few greenbacks predicting the popularity of Hasidic beat-boxer and reggae star Matisyahu, playing at the…
Inside Man
Despite prevalent claims that Inside Man is a departure for Spike Lee, it’s really more of a reformatting. The tested bank caper genre is used as a front for the director’s social concerns. As New York City detective Keith Frazier, Denzel Washington leads a prestigious cast of Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Christopher Plummer, Chiwetel Ejiofor…
Jenny from the block
I first discovered Jenny’s back in my apprenticeship days; I was preparing for my journeyperson’s exam at the Nova Scotia Institute of Technology on Leeds Street, and Fridays after school we would head over to Jenny’s to relax. I’ve always been curious about Jenny, the bar’s namesake. My mental image of Jenny is that of…
On the rise
Q: How long have you been in the bakery business? A: The bakery has been in business for more than fifty years; my husband Robbie and I took it over from his parents in 1980. Our daughter is in the process of taking it over from us now; she just opened a cafe attached to…
A flash of Pam
Could there be a more fitting host for the Juno awards than Pamela Anderson? After all, she’s the type of Canadian that you forget is Canadian, and therefore perfect for a festival that has gone out of its way to feature talent from away. And we’d be fools to think that she doesn’t consider herself…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Tell the truth, gain surprising rewards, Aquarius, says Rob Brezsny.
As you like it
THURSDAY, MARCH 30 THE CASUAL FAN One of the good things about living in Metro Halifax is that every once in a blue moon, the city does something with our tax dollars that is fun. Lord knows how much money the city had to pay to get the Junos here, but they’ll try to convince…
SAVAGE LOVE
Getting used by a loser? Dan Savage has a bit of advice for you.
Making a scene
Who cares? You do. Or you should, anyway, even if you’re not one of the handful of long-time local music scenesters who’ve gone slack-jawed at the thought of two decades passed. Even if you never had a dub of a dub of a dub of the compilation’s Killer Klamz song. Even if you were born…
Martha Wainwright living
Best New Artist Juno nominee Martha Wainwright walks down the streets of Austin, Texas, cellphone in hand, drifting among the thousands of music fans and industry types congregated for the granddaddy of music festivals, South by Southwest. “Oh wait, I just walked by…” Her voice is suddenly muffled by angry guitars. She says, laughing, “I…
Juggling Juno
Halifax on ParadeThursday in Grand Parade, 5:30pm with Garrett Mason, Jimmy Rankin, Joel Plaskett, Matt Mays and El Torpedo and The Trews Now that you’ve had time to get your Juno fever under control—lots of sleeping, lots of (alcoholic) fluids, lots of headphones—and realized that this giant multi-million dollar national event is mostly pay-to-play, you…
Nickelbash
ALBUM OF THE YEARMichael Bublé, It’s Time (143/Reprise)Diana Krall, Christmas Songs (Verve)Kalan Porter, 219 Days (ViK)Nickelback, All The Right Reasons (EMI)Rex Goudie, Under The Lights (SonyBMG) Michael Catano: I raised money for CKDU FM by auctioning off a chance to smash a copy of All the Right Reasons into pieces live on the radio. I…
