halifax halifax halifax

It's been five years since I've last been in Halifax.

My first time in Halifax was over ten years ago. I was a teenager on a school trip, part of an exchange we did with a high school in Nova Scotia. They spent one week in Ottawa, seeing the sights, and then we spent a week over there. I remember running through downtown Halifax with my friends, going through the shops and restaurants and making note to myself to come back here.

The next time I visited Halifax, it was with my old band, while on an East coast tour.  I walked through the same streets downtown and some of the same shops. It was a memorable trip.  One night when we performed, the whole bar loved us and barely let us leave. On another night, someone in the audience threw something at us, probably because we were not a metal band. On the third night...I don't remember what happened on the last performance. It was probably something in between. But afterwards, we went for late night donairs, ran up the Citadel, and ate them while looking down at the city. Afterwards, we stayed up all night, walking throughout the city and talking.

Halifax always seems to be a magical experience, and I was glad to be back.

On the first night, my parents went to the casino. I didn't have any cash, so my mom gave me five dollars. I turned them into quarters and then tried my hand on the slot machines. On my first try, I won ten dollars. Hmmm. I could keep going, but for some reason I lost interest. I gave the money back to my mom. She got a pretty good return on her initial investment, I thought. My brother-in-law found a voucher for 30 cents, so we all kind of profited that night.

This is the only photo I took in the casino

Afterwards, we decided to check out a local band, the Mellotones at Bearly's. They were awesome. The dance floor was filled with dancing women and this big white guy with a shirt that said GANGSTER RAP MADE ME TO IT. He was losing his mind dancing. There were more Canadian tuxedos on that floor than I had ever seen in my life. I now want to buy an electronic clarinet.

There was an Outdoor Cat Film Festival happening at the Citadel, featuring a live performance by Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys.  That sounded pretty intriguing, but I wasn't sure if it was worth climbing back up that hill.

Visiting the public gardens

Cool trees

In other news, my band Scary Bear Soundtrack just released our new album today! It's a collaboration with our friend Avid Napper, an Ontario indie musician, and it's full of songs about the Arctic and life in general. You can listen to it and download it here.