I’m Katie and today is Tuesday.
News
1. The Lyle Howe hearing comes to a close…sort of
Closing arguments over accusations that Lyle Howe engaged in professional misconduct are taking place this week. Yesterday, Howe reiterated his claims that the Barristers Society is putting unfair pressure on him because of his race. He will speak again on Wednesday, then the society will make its rebuttal next week. After that, a panel will write a report on its findings. CBC’s Blair Rhodes liveblogged the hearing on Monday.
2. Time for turbines
A Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge has sided in favour of the Minister of the Environment and a pilot project putting tidal turbines in the Bay of Fundy — dismissing a civil suit brought against the parties by the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fisherman’s Association.
The decision was made on April 6 and released on April 10.
Judge Heather Robertson wrote:
This is a demonstration project to explore tidal power electrical generation in a climate of significant public interest in diminishing our province’s dependence on fossil fuels. The project has not been undertaken lightly and follows rigorous ongoing evaluation. The Minister of the Environment is entitled to the deference of this court, in making these very reasonable decisions.
3. Speaking of the sea…
Nova Scotia will have to deal with new US seafood import rules soon. Our neighbour/neighbor to the south will require proof that harvesting of the seafood minimized harm to marine mammals (Belugas! Whales! Dolphins! Etc.)
Question: Is this new rule legal? This seems like something that multinational corporations would sue over, invoking NAFTA. Usually Canada gets sued when that happens but there’s no reason that can’t change right?
4. More construction on Barrington
Road closures at Sackville and Granville streets near Barrington were supposed to finish yesterday as demolition wrapped up at the site of the old Discovery Centre (RIP). Surprise: change of plans! The demolition was complicated with the discovery of some rebar, and the road closures will continue until Wednesday, reports Steve Barry for the CBC.
Views
1. Let’s Go Fly A Kite (To Space)
Nova Scotia needs a spaceport. So says UBC professor Michael Byers, who tells Jim Brown of 180 on CBC that “Nova Scotia would have a vibrant new economic centre” if it joined the new corporate space race, adding that it’s time to “climb aboard the space revolution with Elon Musk.”
What makes him believe this fair province is the perfect place for space? Mostly, the fact that little else is here, it seems:
It’s at the right latitude to launch into polar orbit, which is where SpaceX wants to get a lot of these satellites. And it has open ocean to the south of it. These satellites are being launched either straight south and straight north, and if something goes wrong you don’t want the rocket coming down on a community. You want it coming down in the open ocean.
Maritime Launch Services thinks so too. The company has said that they want to build a spaceport in Canso for these exact reasons. It’s too early to send them an email to ask for an update on their plans, but their most recent press release on the topic was this March.
2. Views From The 6ix
Here’s another one from Jim Brown and 180. Everyone in Halifax seems to be sharing this plea to start music shows earlier, from Toronto music publicist/radio host Mar Sellars, arguing that we need to start music shows earlier:
The other week I had a +1 on the guest list for a show featuring Dude York from Seattle and Paws from Glasgow. The set times were listed as 11:30pm and 12:30am on a Wednesday night. Let me be clear. I was offering a free ticket, but I couldn’t find anyone to go with me. I even asked a 25 year old friend who works at VICE and she politely declined. She said it was too late for her. If it’s too late for a 25-year-old working in music media, no wonder music venues are struggling in cities like Toronto and Vancouver.
Ahem, please read the fine print. Ms Sellars is talking about a thing that happens in Toronto often: shows that START AT MIDNIGHT.
Halifax is not Toronto. Adam Baldwin + Like A Motorcycle are scheduled to play the Marquee this Thursday at 9 pm (doors at 8). Same with ~Neon Dreams~ at Spatz that same night (again, DOORS AT 8).
How much earlier do you want your shows to be, Halifax? Do you not even want to eat dinner and throw on something cute before heading back into the world? Please advise.
3. Why wait for weed?
So asks the Annapolis County-Spectator in response to new legislation plans from the federal government which would make recreational marijuana legal by July 2018. The editorial asks, “Why the wait? Do we really have to wait another 18 months for proclamation, when 60,000 Canadians are convicted each year for simple possession or personal use?”
The Liberals’ delay is perplexing. A task force made 80 recommendations last December. A former Toronto police chief is guiding the legislation. It’s time for the government to get its act together and provide clarity for municipalities, police forces and provinces.
[…]
[B]etween now and when pot actually becomes legalized, perhaps Ottawa should ask police forces to ease up on their zeal in laying charges for simple marijuana possession and use.
Blotter Etc.
Jin Zhao, a twenty-seven-year-old international student from China, went missing in the South End around April 4 — and investigators are asking for help to find him.
An Nova Scotia doctor is back in court today for a trial in Bridgewater over accusations that she prescribed 50,000 pills to one patient.
The RCMP wants you to slow down and stop driving so fast.
Noticed
You only have three more days to tell Halifax that you want the next ferry to be named Boaty McBoatface (or whatever). Halifax Transit is getting two new boats (one this fall and one in 2018) and they’re asking the public for naming ideas. Submissions for the municipality’s “Name Halifax Transit Ferries” contest close on April 14 at 11:59 pm.
ALSO, Fate of the Furious is out this week:
Government
City
Tuesday
City Council (Tuesday, 10am, City Hall) — adoption of the 2017/18 budget.
Wednesday
Special Accessibility Advisory Committee Meeting (Wednesday, 4pm, City Hall) — a special meeting called for the Accessibility Town Hall Meeting.
Regional Watersheds Advisory Board (Wednesday, 5pm, Alderney Public Library) — Hamton Holdings (president is Ralph Hamilton, who also controls Valhalla Holding Company) wants to build a gas station at the corner of Duke Street and Damascus Road in Bedford, and wants the required environmental setback from a wetland reduced from 100 feet to 50 feet.
Province
Tuesday
Economic Development (Tuesday, 1pm, Province House) — Dannie Hanson, a VP at Louisbourg Seafoods, will be asked a bunch of softball questions about “Rural Nova Scotia and Long Term Plans for Economic Growth.”
Wednesday
Public Accounts (Wednesday, 9am, Province House) — followup questions on the February report of the Auditor General on Health Care Funding.
On campus
Dalhousie
Tuesday
No public events today.
Wednesday
Crowdfunding (Wednesday, 9am, Weather Watch Room, Dixon Building) —Eric Fisher will speak on “Innovation Rounds – Crowdfunding for Research.”
I’ve Been Everywhere, Man (Wednesday, 8:30am, Theatre B, Tupper Medical Building) — Alice Aiken will speak about “Oh, The Places I’ve Been.”
MIM Research Project Presentations (Wednesday, 10:45am, Room 5001, Kenneth C. Rowe Management Building) — students from the Master of Information Management (MIM) capstone course will present their research projects in a poster session.
GlpG Rhomboid Protease (Wednesday, 4pm, Theatre A, Sir Charles Tupper Medical Building) — Natalie K. Goto will speak on “Interplay Between Dynamics, Gating and Catalysis in the Membrane Revealed in the GlpG Rhomboid Protease.”
Soft Architecture (Wednesday, 7pm, Auditorium, Medjuck Building, School of Architecture) — Joseph Dahmen, of UBC School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, will speak.
The Virgin Suicides (Wednesday, 8pm, Dalhousie Art Gallery) — a screening of Sophia Coppola’s 1999 film.
In the harbour
6am: Ami, oil tanker, arrives at Irving Oil from IJumuiden, Netherlands
7:30am: Reykjafoss, general cargo, arrives at Pier 42 from Argentia, Newfoundland
10:30am: Reykjafoss, general cargo, sails from Pier 42 for sea
2:30pm: Nolhanava, ro-ro cargo, arrives at Pier 41 from Saint-Pierre
3pm: Dependable, cable layer, arrives at Anchorage for quick crew change, then sails back to sea
4pm: Athens Highway, car carrier, sails from Autoport for sea
5pm: Nolhanava, ro-ro cargo, moves from Pier 41 to Pier 9
Footnotes
Carvel Clayton, also known as Certi, was released on $100,000 bail yesterday afternoon with conditions. Clayton is charged with the murder of Shakur Jefferies outside what appeared to be Clayton’s Washmill Lake Road home.
The bail release has sparked some discussion on Facebook about whether Clayton should be allowed out on bail.
It’s worth remembering that being out bail does not mean you’ve been acquitted or “set free.” It just means you’re not sitting in jail while you wait for your criminal trial. People on bail still haven’t been convicted of a crime, and the Crown isn’t supposed to be in the business of “punishing” people until they have been proven guilty.
Clayton is on house arrest with a GPS bracelet marking his whereabouts, and he has two sureties who have promised he’ll arrive in court for a preliminary inquiry later this June.
Well said re. bail!
The Fast and the Furious will definitely be at odds if HRM adopts 40kph.
On Friday, June 20, 2014 I saw Buffy Sainte-Marie at Casino Nova Scotia. Doors opened at 7:15 p.m. Concert advertised to begin at 8 p.m. At 8 p.m. SHARP, Buffy walked on the stage. No opening act. Just BUFFY and her magnificent all-indigenous band. They performed for ONE HOUR. Standing ovation. Buffy and her band left the stage. Returned for an encore during which her drummer put down his sticks and did traditional dancing.
Concert perfectly orchestrated and over by 9:20 MAX. There’s a reason why she’s a legend. She knows how to take care of herself, her musicians, and her fans. Long may she live!
When Basie, Ellington,Armstrong,Ella, Oscar, Louis, MJQ, toured Britain in the 50s and 60s they performed twice a night almost every night throughout the country. I usually went to the early concert.
Generally, if you book a show in Halifax as a local band, the house expects you to provide entertainment until about 1:00 AM. Which is fair. Many, newer but promising bands, just won’t have the material to start early and play three sets. So they will get 2 to 3 other bands to round out the show. Meaning, that if they choose to headline the night, they often won’t get on until midnight. And that’s late for many people who might want to check you out.
The shows you mention are bigger shows by bands with management who are able to play earlier shows and still make financial sense to all involved.
I’ve no idea who Neon Dreamz are, but you can bet Adam Baldwin and Like a Motorcycle have played many a show starting at 12:30, to a house that’s less full than they’d prefer. And wished they could have started earlier and played to more fans.
As a person who’s played in a local band for over a decade that will never rise beyond the booking our own shows with local bars (which we’re fine with) — the answer is to choose to play earlier on the bill and ask the bands you’ve invited to join you on the show to play after you. And when they invite your band to play a show, you play when they want.
However you slice it though, it’s getting tougher to get people out to shows on weeknights because of the internetz and all the streamtubes and tinderboxes.
Even 20 years ago this band-starting-late thing was an issue, at least where I lived in Ontario. It wasn’t so much the scheduled time, as the fact the bands always started late and then took interminable breaks. It wasn’t like that in the 70s. Maybe bar owners cracked the whip more in the 70s, I don’t know.
You notice how it says “Scheduled to start at 9pm” for Adam Baldwin’s show? I’d be amazed if it started before 9:45. Countless times I’ve gone to shows in clubs here and in other cities and after two opening bands come on, do a 45 minute set and then spend 30 minutes tearing down their equipment and setting up for the next opening act’s 45 minute set and before you know it, it’s 11pm on a Tuesday night and you’re still waiting for the main attraction. It’s like the speed limit discussion in neighbourhoods, set it to 40kmh and if you’re lucky, you’ll slow drivers to 55kmh.
Yes, I know shows here often start later than the time listed, but it’s not like bands in Toronto (where the show is often scheduled for 11. Eleven!) are unusually prompt.
re: Show start times.. Doors may open at 8pm, and “start” at 9pm, but in the end, the opening acts usually go on around 10pm, and then by the time the show’s over, it’s still past midnight, there are no more buses, and I have to work in the morning.
Katie, your posts just get better and better (with or without gifs) I did burst out laughing at the cat in the rowboat, so now there is coffee on my screen. Thank you for that. 🙂
Re: early shows
No I don’t want to go home and do anything i just want to go to the show. Doors at 8 is already late for me for a “School Night” if it’s 2+ bands. Like it seems to be set up for university students only? I don’t get it.