Sobey Art Award 101
Shary Boyle Right before the Sobey Art Award announcement a few weeks ago, I spoke to AGNS director Ray Cronin and Rob Sobey about their trip to London for the Turner Prize announcement. The Turner, which is presented annually to a British artist under 50, is as well known and discussed in the UK as…
Get your ECMA showcases right here
Tony Dawe The Sidewalks play the ECMA Rock Stage The 2010 ECMA showcases have been announced. The 2010 East Coast Music Awards, Festival and Conference is set for Cape Breton from March 4-7.
Anna Quon book launch tonight
After a mini-tour of Toronto and Kingston, Halifax writer Anna Quon finally gets a hometown reception with launch of her debut novel Migration Songs, tonight, Tuesday, November 3, 6-8pm at The Company House. Quon began writing the book back in 2006, gathering feedback and encouragement during a summer literary program in Russia. She then put…
Product of the week: Turbine Cosmetics
Lisa Drader-Murphy wants to see you put your best face forward. The fashion designer and entrepreneur, who produces a gorgeous line of women’s clothing and accessories, recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of her Turbine Mineral Cosmetic and Skin Care. Along with professional make-up artist Thierry Papineau, Drader-Murphy redesigned the 110-piece, all-mineral and pure botanical collection…
Lazy people at work
You wonder why you didn’t get the job. Well, I can tell you for starters it may be because you are lazy and even lucky to have the job you have. People know at work you can’t handle much and you like to go on the internet and read papers, when you should be working.…
Purel is your friend
In light of this glorious Swine ’09 epidemic, I encourage you all to take a good, long, hard look at your doorknobs. They’re not as clean as you think.—Dino
Late night Halloween lovin’
I just want to thank all of the pateint, kind, and hilarious patrons who decided to stop into my place of work for a late night bite to eat before, during, or after your Halloween parties. It was an incredibly stressfull night, but the fact that so many of you were so understanding about your…
Paging Dr. Awesome…
To the doctor at the walk-in clinic: Thanks for telling me to leave the clinic with my doctors note in my pocket (so I wouldn’t have to pay for it). It was a pleasant break from the usual bureaucracy, and I did enjoy that coffee on you!—Now excused from work.
How to drive in traffic
Good thing I seldom drive in this city or I might lose my mind…. Just a reminder, Haligonian commuters: 1) When the light turns green, remove your foot from the brake, and – this is the key – push the gas pedal! There is NO REASON to allow ten car lengths of empty space between…
To the Hair stylest that styles kindness
Thank you so much to the lady who found my bus pass, called the school, and kept it safe. It being the beginning of the month, made me want to cry when I lost it. Thank you for finding it. You deserve to be noticed.—Student with out pass
H1N1 vaccination & the military
I know this post probably will not appeal to the average reader of The Coast . . . but here is goes anways; since the H1N1 Vaccination is not available to every Nova Scotian unless you fall into a ‘high risk category’. The Military within the Maritimes have started poking their personnel this week and…
Everyone loves Halifaxcakes.com
For her daughter’s first birthday, Nanette Shroff went to Costco to buy a cake and went online to see what other people were doing to decorate them. She wasn’t impressed. “You see what other people have done and go, ‘I could do that.’ My first goal was to be the mom who decorated her own…
Transit plan: not perfect, but necessary
Forget about the fast ferry to Bedford. Forget about an airport bus. Make the Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road shopping districts car-free so more buses can use those streets, but cut the already paltry bus service to Dartmouth Crossing. Increase transit use by 18 percent in five years, by spending $93 million on new…
Picture this…
…young postie (not the regular guy) parks his delivery truck behind a small special needs bus on a residential street to deliver mail in a small apartment building. Accomplishing this, he gets in his truck and drives it to the front of the special needs bus, parks, and proceeds to walk into the adjacent small…
Life must be pretty Boring…
Why does it bother you if others enjoy/dress-up/go out for Halloween? Ya, I’m talkin to you, you snobby little 20something year old on the #20 who felt the need to huff and puff at everyone who got on the bus dressed up on Friday. You even went so far as to make comments loud enough…
The Armpit of Canada
N.S. mom finds razor blade in Halloween apple Doesn’t that headline say it all? The kind of mentality required to hurt children or cause harm to your neighbour runs RAMPANT in this fuckin’ hole! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? Not enough drive-by shootings for ya? Fuck.—Devil’s unwilling neighbour
HotWheels
to the jackass in the 24 hour dartmouth sobey’s parking lot: why couldn’t you just put your cart all the way away? they have that little bump thing that will keep it from rolling around and hitting other people’s cars. instead you just gave it a shove and walked away. then you just watched it…
Slayer/Megadeth Canadian Carnage tour dates postponed
My very favourite Slayer needs a backrub From the Roadrunner Records site: Poor, poor Tom Araya from Slayer hurt his back and both Slayer and Megadeth have postponed their Canadian Carnage tour, including their much anticipated Halifax stop.
Video: Michael Jackson’s Thriller shuts down Gottingen
Not the first time the undead have taken over Gottingen, but we’ll never see this again. In the Dead of Winter’s annual fundraiser, For the Dead, is a musical exorcism, bringing the Carter Cashes, Patsy Cline, Dusty Springfield, Roy Orbison and more back to life for just one awesome night. It’s close to midnight and…
To the guy who sat behind me and put gum on my coat.
This is to the guy who sat behind me, and basically acted like an obnoxious idiot for the whole bus ride on the 20 downtown Friday night. I know what you look like. I know what you sound like. I know your the one that put gum on the back of my jacket; and I…
Halloween Stupidity
To the dumbass in my building who tripped the fire alarm: You must be a special kind of stupid if you think a smoke machine at your halloween party was a good idea. I hope you’re proud of yourself for making the entire building evacuate in the dead of night. I know the people with…
TO THE COAST!!
I am late on this, but thank you for the free tickets to FLOGGING MOLLY!! I just moved to Halifax and it made my month! me and my friend had the greatest time everrrrand met some cool people before the show!! minus a few feet bruises it was awesome! and thanks to the chick that…
Rights!
A female police officer arrests a man for drunk driving. She tells the man, “Sir, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you…”The drunk says: “Tits.” Giggety—Ahh fuck it, it’s haloween
Economic Inaction Plan
Am I the only one who has noticed no construction activity or workers these past 2 weeks on the Fairview Overpass? I realize there’s probably a good reason for this, but I can’t find anything telling me what said reason might be. I’m thinking 6 months might have been too wishful an end date. Stop…
Halifax is not your Dumpster!
To the ass I saw on Robie Street throwing garbage from her car: Really??? EVERYONE knows that littering is disrespectful and thoughless. Didn’t you learn that in elementary school like the rest of us? If you add up all the people in the world who think their individual actions don’t matter then it’s easy to…
Driving Lesson
Just an FYI for anyone driving in Dartmouth. When you’re turning left off of Eisener Blvd (where the Portland Estates Superstore is) on to Portland St there are TWO left hand turning lanes. Stay in your FUCKING LANE! In the last 24 hours I’ve encountered two separate drivers who cut from the inside lane to…
2 for 1 Blondie tickets tonight
According to my red hot source, Blondie tickets are 2 for 1 tonight if you know the password. The password is “HALLOWEEN” (very original, guys). This offer is not online, only in person or on the telephoooooooone, get down there on your knees, etc, etc. Contact Ticket Atlantic here!
Melissa Auf der Maur added as opener for Halifax and Moncton dates with the ol’ STP
Keep Auf der Maur weird Severely cool-looking bass player/singer/ex-Hole/ex-Smashing Pumpkins/Dad has street named after him in Montreal/photographer/all-around witchy woman Melissa Auf der Maur is coming to the east coast with the Stone Temple Pilots for their November 24 date at the Halifax Metro Centre and to Moncton on November 23 at the Moncton Coliseum. She…
What not to wear: a big Halloween don’t…
is that a cigar in your hand… This two-buck hobo costume from the local dollar store makes our list for “most deserving of those gross black-and-orange Halloween kisses.” And what’s with that claw hand? Last week on Mad Men, little Bobby Draper went as a hobo (and psycho-sister Sally went as a gypsy), and we…
How councillors voted on making appointments in public
Here’s how Halifax councillors voted on Linda Mosher’s motion which would have changed council policy such that appointments would be made in public: Adams: Yes Barkhouse: No Blumenthal: No Dalrymple: No Fisher: Yes Harvey: No Hendsbee: No Hum: Absent johns: No Karsten: No Kelly: Yes Lund: No McCluskey: Yes Mosher: Yes Nicoll: Yes Outhit: No…
To the person in posession of the black wallet that I lost on the 80 Halifax Bus Thursday night
Keep the cash with my compliments and best wishes. Keep the November buspass, you’re welcome! Hey, I was the one that dropped it, you just found it right? Just send the rest back to me. Please. Pretty please. That’s a week of my life and even more money replacing all of that stuff. There was…
Game Time
You may think it’s funny, but when we are sharing a mutual, intimate climax together, I don’t want to hear the sports announcers in the background screaming homerun and the crowd insanely cheering. Shut off the damn TV!—Foul ball
In the H1N1 Line
To the lady who gave me ten dollars for playing with other peoples kids. You rock! Thank you very much! I wasn’t expecting to get anything out of it other than a bit of fun (and a way to spend a few hours), but the money helped me go on a school trip and I…
Auto Consultant
Thanks for all your help! I’m a young female first-time car buyer who didn’t stand a chance in negotiations. I know cars mechanically, but couldn’t have gotten myself a decent price to save my life. You got me a car that I absolutely LOVE, 13 years newer than my old car, for a rock bottom…
Sick? Take your H1N1 home.
For all those suffering of the flu this fall and are afraid of it possibly being H1N1 (even if you are labeled “high risk”), stop. Do not go get tested. Do not go to the hospital. Do, however, get some Tylenol and go home, because that is all they are offering at Halifax’s hospitals today.…
school wishes superseed criminal code?
Why does a school get to say whether or not to allow the police into the school when a crime has happened on school grounds???? My daughter has been the target of bullies for over 2 years, we have been working with the school to get her some help, all with nothing to show for…
To the actors, writer, producer of “A Beautiful View”…
It was mesmerizing. It is plays like this that make me love live theatre. Last year’s gem was Ubuntu… it still haunts me. This year it is yours. Thank you so much.—Neptune subscriber
Waterfront Perks reopens
The Perks next to the ferry terminal has either successfully gotten an injunction on its eviction order (see Wednesday’s story: Perks coffee evicted from ferry terminal digs) or has otherwise resolved the conflict with landlord Michel Lindthaler: I received word late last night that the coffee shop will be open its regular hours today, and…
Atlantic Fashion Week night one recap
Last night, the Mercedes Benz showroom on Kempt Road was driven by another type of power: the exceptional talent of young, east coast fashion designers. Now to me, Kempt Road might as well be New Brunswick (pretty happy tonight’s at Hunter Street), but I’ll admit that the industrial, high-ceilings and steel beams work well as…
Council sticks to secret appointments
At Halifax council’s Tuesday meeting, councillor Linda Mosher brought forward a proposal to change existing policy, such that in the future all council appointments to boards and commissions are made in public. Supporters of the status quo maintained that holding council discussion of applicants’ qualifications in public would be an invasion of those applicants’ privacy.…
Ontario folk singer Taylor Mitchell killed in Cape Breton
Taylor Mitchell, who was scheduled to play at the Carleton on Sunday, November 1, was hiking the Cape Breton Highlands National Park when she was attacked by coyotes and died in hospital from the wounds. She was in the middle of an east coast tour promoting her new release, For Your Consideration. The talented 19…
Let the urban revolution begin: Spacing Atlantic launches
If the last week is any indication, there’s reason to be hopeful when it comes to conversations around Halifax’s urban affairs and public spaces. In the past, any discussion about architecture, development, transit, etc., has been monopolized by two groups: the rigid heritage-savers vs the tall offices=economic progress crew. The debate has been shrill and…
Rush to see this Russian Play
Please excuse me while I gush, but the King’s Theatrical Society production of Hannah Moscovitch’s The Russian Play was such a pleasant surprise, I really feel I must. Since I’d never attended any theatre at The Pit, (an inauspicious but accurate name, as you must descend into the bowels of the Arts and Academic Building)…
Gone Drinkin’ provide you with new songs, punk themes
Local punk band Gone Drinkin’ are generously releasing their newly recorded (but yet to be mastered) album, Destructive Mind, one track at a time on their MySpace page, so you can eagerly anticipate their early February album release show. They just posted the first of many songs, “Missing the Point”. “Missing the Point” is about…
An open letter to morons
Entertainers spend a lot of time honing their craft. They perfect it until it is ready to take onstage. When they are up there, they deserve our attention and respect – even if they’re not as good as we’d like. Until you spend your time putting something together (besides Lego), I’ll thank you to at…
Tim Horton’s Barrington/Sackville Street
I want to express my thanks to the morning staff of the Tim Horton’s at Barrington/Sackville. It’s sad that you’re closing and I wanted to pass along my regards to cheering me up (whether you knew it or not) and for all the laughs. My mornings will never be the same!—Cinnamon Raisin Bagel
H1N1 Frenzy…
I’m so sick of hearing about H1N1. The information is so back and forth I have to wonder if everything we’ve been told has been shear guesswork. As for those trying to talk me into getting the vaccine…do you honestly think I would put something in my body that was rushed through testing in the…
Rwandan history channelled through art
When Rwandan artists Bill “Coco” Ruterana and Jean Yves Masengo sit down to talk about their work, it takes only minutes for Masengo to start finishing Ruterana’s sentences, and Ruterana to finish Masengo’s. The two men met almost 15 years ago, just after the Rwandan genocide. “Artists in Rwanda, you can count them on two…
Halloween mixers: Bobbing for cocktails
Elephant & Castle The underground bar at Elephant & Castle is going all out with a long list of Halloween-inspired drinks, including Voodoo Child, Bitchy Witch, Ghoul Drool, Eyeball Highball and Dagger Bomb. Head over Saturday to find out what makes the magical potions. 5171 George Street, 405-8875 Celtic Corner Public House The Irish pub…
Scare tactics: 3 concerts, 3 costumes
GWARw/Lamb of God, Job for a Cowboy</p> Thursday, October 29 at 8pm, Cunard Centre, 961 Marginal Road, $45 adv/$50 door, ticketpro.ca, sonicconcerts.com, 888-311-9090 “Some people see the glass as half-empty, some people see the glass as half-full, I see the glass as broken and being rammed up someone’s butt.” Such is the philosophy of GWAR’s…
City dress codes: local costume inspiration
JIMMY MELVIN JR. Hat, sweater, sweatpants and shoes from Source for Sports (5657 Spring Garden). Previously owned necklace. Fake “there is no rats in the Melvin family” rodent, $0.49 from the Salvation Army Thrift Store (5280 Green, also available at Glow Parties, 3600 Strawberry Hill). Start working now on your “five o’clock shadow.” MAYOR PETER…
Todor Kobakov,
This is solo piano music from a classically trained indie-rock keyboardist who’s toured with Sarah Slean and Small Sins, among others, and co-founded Major Maker. The wryly titled Pop Music from Bulgarian-born Kobakov offers mostly instrumental music, except for two songs featuring vocals and words written by singers: “Carpe Diem” by Emily Haines (whose Soft…
Broken bylaw enforcement process.
What’s wrong? Broken bylaw enforcement process. Who’s responsible? Nobody, everybody, who knows? REMARKS As the city fends off charges of arbitrary bylaw enforcement, we’d like to again call attention to Mitchell’s Environmental Treasures at 2183 Gottingen Street, which has been the target of bylaw enforcement for at least five years, to no avail. We suggest…
Something Good
Oftentimes you forget what makes your life so good. Rap band Something Good is here to remind you with an album of beats from Focus Aside (real estate salesman Chandler Haliburton), emceed by Hali rap veterans Markit and Boy-Ill. The secret ingredient is former DJ Olympics champion Y-Rush, with cuts to bring us back to…
New name for Halifax Library
I picked up the paper this afternoon and the first thing I saw was your survey: “What should we name the new Halifax library?” (October 22). The answer came to me immediately, that it should be named The Muriel Duckworth Library in honour of the remarkable citizen, educator and activist who died in August at…
Ecoholic Home, Adria Vasil (Vintage Canada)
Popular NOW columnist Adria Vasil follows up her book of environmentally sound Canadian products and services with more practical tips, this time focusing on the home. Leaving the Birkenstock crew in the dust, Vasil understands that her readers don’t want to be scolded, and most don’t have thick wallets or time to make homemade laundry…
Mission of Burma
Disappointing. The first two records Mission of Burma made after reuniting, especially ONoffON, were astounding. They sounded as urgent and vital as anything the band made in the earlier days, perhaps even better: angrier and more angular, with a desperation that so many comeback albums lack. But The Sound is ordinary and uninspired, which is…
Cirque du Freak a relentless turkey
How do relentless turkeys like Cirque du Freak attract the kind of talent like director/writer Paul Weitz, co-writer Brian Helgeland, actors John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Ken Wantanabe and Salma Hayek? Who got this ball rolling and where can I address my nasty letters? This year has had its share of kiddie movies that play…
Canada Postal Service no longer a government service
Recently I received a small parcel from Idaho. Postal cost: $5.99US ($6.25CDN). I asked the postal clerk how much it was to mail it back. She weighed it and said, “$11.40—over 75 percent more, but,” she added, “it’s going out of the country so you don’t have to pay GST. If it were going to…
The Garden
The box for The Garden compares the Oscar-nominated documentary to The Wire, David Simon’s (fictional) street-level look at the tiny moral compromises, bureaucratic limitations and subtle corruption that can influence civic politics. It’s a fair comparison—Simon’s semi-fictionalized Baltimore is a place where the right decisions and actions aren’t necessarily the most politically feasible ones; as…
Shearing Pinx
Starting out as harsh instrumental noise, this record gradually builds up layers, adding and subtracting from the wall of sound, vacillating between sheer noise and punk rock. The comparatively lighter sounds of the first half of the record lead up to the sharp blasts of sound of “Xenophobe/Frostflood” on the b-side, into the screams of…
Coco Avant Chanel keeps tight focus
Anyone hungry for fashion gluttony should continue to wait patiently for the Vogue doc The September Issue, or rent Valentino: The Last Emperor. Adapted from Edmonde Charles-Roux’s biography, Coco Avant Chanel, starring the always-endearing Audrey Tautou, focuses on Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s early days. Life is bleak—Chanel and her sister are abandoned at an orphanage by…
is this it for Michael Jackson?
A prelude to “Smooth Criminal” has Michael Jackson edited alongside Rita Hayworth and Humphrey Bogart in clips from Gilda and In a Lonely Place. Coming from anyone else, this would be unwarranted ego-tripping. But no other pop music artist (not Elvis, not Madonna, not The Beatles) ever made as powerful an impression on film images…
Next Day Air
It can’t figure out how to begin or end, but for the 80 or so minutes in between, Next Day Air is an underestimated genre surprise. The feature debut of hip-hop video director Benny Boom is smarter and funnier about human nature than The Pineapple Express, the Friday sequels and most Guy Ritchie crime sagas…
Cordell Barker’s perfect timing
Cordell Barker created a monster called The Cat Came Back. His 1988 animated short, which he made at the National Film Board, haunted him. “Oh yeah, I just lived under the shadow of that thing forever,” Barker admits on the phone from San Francisco, where later that day, he will present to Pixar. “In a…
Your heart will beat like a hammer at CrossFit
CrossFit Kinetics (5540 Cunard Street, 497-1557) is a new fitness club in the heart of the north end and Cunard and Creighton. It may surprise you with its Spartan décor: 1,700 square feet in a former auto body shop, no machines, just weights and rings and mats and space. “We’ve taken away all of the…
The Warlord, written and illustrated by Mike Grell (DC)
Grell’s sorcery, sword-and-Automatic-Magnum opus has been revived twice since he left the book in 1982, and the most recent series (2006) that he didn’t write has been quickly forgotten. So it’s especially good to have Grell once again steering the tale of Travis Morgan, an American military man turned freedom fighter in an other-dimensional, timeless…
Various Artists
Unless you find Rod Stewart or 10cc’s “The Things We Do For Love” frightening, stick to Jerry Goldsmith’s score for The Omen or spit your pea soup over The Tubular Bells’ The Exorcist. Better yet, track down John Carpenter’s original Halloween soundtrack, and give those trick-or-treating kids and their parents sugary nightmares.
Crown Diner closes
This one we missed until recently. The Crown Diner, (5171 Salter Street) has been closed since this summer, according to the helpful staff of Cabin Coffee (1554 Hollis, 422-8130), their downstairs neighbours at the corner of Hollis and Salter.
Amelia a one-note wonder
A quick perusal of the Wikipedia page for Amelia Earhart indicates a complex character best suited for the close analysis of a 400-page book, not a two-hour movie that will certainly include Earhart’s (played here by Hilary Swank) “greatest hits,” like her solo flying accomplishments and the attendant fame and fortune, her lovers—husband George Puttnam…
Rose Cousins is golden
Rose Cousins is glowing. Sipping on a coffee one wet Halifax morning, her bright eyes—despite the early hour—and warm smile tell the story of her last three years as a full-time musician, even before she opens her mouth to speak. “Since I’ve released my last CD I almost feel like the three years has been…
Atlantic Fashion Week night two recap
Night two of Atlantic Fashion Week is always dedicated to professional or established designers, as compared to Wednesday night’s emerging talent event. This season though, we felt the absence of Katrina Tuttle, who wowed them at Toronto Fashion Week, deux fm (Anna Gilkerson has a new addition that doesn’t involve eco-fabric) and Turbine, who has…
Foul language
Veteran Israeli journalist Amira Hass received a lifetime achievement award last week in New York for her unrelenting coverage of the oppression of Palestinians in Israel’s occupied territories. During her acceptance speech to the International Women’s Media Foundation, Hass confessed that she didn’t really have a lifetime of “achievement,” only a long record of failure.…
Cuff the Duke stay in the ring
When it comes to writing song lyrics, Wayne Petti likes to keep things at a distance. “I don’t often get too personal in music,” the Cuff the Duke singer admits over the phone from Toronto. “Usually I try to write stuff we all can relate to.” A perfunctory appraisal of the Cuff the Duke catalogue…
Questioning the validity
Q I’m a 67-year-old woman, almost 68, who has been married four times—once widowed (with three kids in their 40s who’ve turned out pretty well), divorced three times. I recently met someone online: 48, a wealthy, educated man with two boys, 12 and 14. He lives the cuckholdt lifestyle and is looking for a woman…
Shearing Pinx cut it up
Far from its jam space in the Mouldy Village, a grungy building on Vancouver’s downtown east side, Shearing Pinx is regrouping. Its guitarist Erin Ward moved to Montreal a few months ago, so other members Jeremy Van Wick and Nic Hughes have been playing under different names as a two-piece at home, and touring through…
Dry ice’s spooky airs
It’s like Tom Fleet doesn’t know what he’s got in his hot little hands. Or maybe it’s that dry ice—the must-have of heavy-metal roadies and scary-movie set decorators—is just so been-there-done-that for Fleet that he simply can’t share the enthusiasm we everyday Halloween-lovin’ schmucks feel about the stuff. “Yeah, I sometimes use it at Halloween,”…
Monster chicken
Odds are, the chicken that winds up on your table today is quite a different beast than it was 50 years ago. Thanks to careful genetic selection, Canada’s commercial chickens have enormous breasts, twice as big as the ones they had in the ’70s. Comercial white broiler chickens, often called Meat Kings, can grow twice…
Studio A Cafe opening weekend a success
Sound Market Studios (6208 Quinpool Road, 492-4408) new cafe and venue, Studio A Cafe, held their first shows this weekend (Friday, October 23 with Big Game Hunt, Broken Ohms, Chesterfield and the Ottomans, Cicada and Saturday, October 24 with Last Call Chernobyl, Chris Martin and the Troubleshooters, Deerfield, The Numbered Head) and you’ll be pleased…
