Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Some uses of the word 'Crow' in Nova Scotia.


"You old Crow." ***Less than dignified chumminess.***

"Crowfooted." *** Bowlegged?***

"Crowing about sumpin." ***Braggin.***

"Eating Crow!" *** Taking back sumpin said to wife.

Now more about this crow motif...

Rudest thing said at a poetry reading in the East End of London (but you weren`t there so maybe you would have said worse).

"I`m not sure whether to help you out or nail you to the cross and let crows pluck your eyes out!" **True**

Comments on the performing style of a potentially not-yet-out-of-the-closet, bossy boots, bed head, who hogs the mike stand when he`s not roaming about the audience.

"Watching you perform is like giving your Uncle Bill two hits of ecxtasy and saying: get in an amongst the children." **True**

***True Fact*** My brother Mark once said to a girl in the parking lot of Saga foods at Acadia University:

"Your arse is so big twenty guys lined up side-by-side couldn`t see all of it!"

Which just goes to prove my sister's teenage high school friend was friend was right:
"Youse guys are so crows! (um, ok, gross)

Monday, February 13, 2006


You Nicked Sam Slick?
Re: Letter to The Times re: 'Dickens Rival...'
The following is an unpublished-by-The-Times-response to an article about Sam Slick which appeared in the Feb 06/2006 edition of The Times.

While I was delighted to see that Thomas Chandler Haliburton`s nineteenth century character, Sam Slick, is due to be republished in England in the form of The Clockmaker, I was shocked to see that Canada`s first literary lion is celebrated as a British Tory who may have cast an ancient figure in the British House Lords. As an international rival to Charles Dickens, the article is a curious take on a born-and-raised bluenoser who left Canada at sixty years-old - well after he had established his law and writing career in Canada and abroad via the political broadside The Nova Scotian and the popular literary masterpiece The Clockmaker: The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick of Slickville. As a rival to not only Dickens but Mark Twain, Haliburton leaves an enduring legacy of Canadian popular sayings: "it's raining cats and dogs," "the early bird gets the worm" and "facts are stranger than fiction". The fact that Canada gets nary a mention in the article suggests a paucity of research. They have a saying in the Annapolis Valley, near Windsor, where Haliburton was born and raised. "Oh My Lamb?" What will they think of next?
John Stiles

Friday, February 03, 2006

Corb Lund in Leytonstone? w/ tour notes




Some notes on the English solo Tour of Corb Lund. Leytonstone-Buckingham.

Bristol, St. Stephen or James(?) Church w/ Scott.Can these two negotiate with a phone/computer? How many Texaco`s on the A38, M4, M5? At the Church Hall, Canadian acts on the wall. Pictures of Sadies, Chuck Prophet, F. Eaglesmith. The hardest venues to find, with the keenest fans. Bristol - we liked Bristol. Full English Breakfast. Bubble and Squeak. Bangers and Mash. Served up by a lady from Africa. Come again!

Chorley, Lancs. A Working Men`s Club? First beers on Steve, well, Corb. Then the pig`s ears, 2 bags. Pub lady says, I`ll ship them to you in Leytonstone. Scott says wait till I finish my beer. The dart player, is he still playing snooker at 11:00 pm?

Stealing into the Member`s Club just to write this. Tomorrow Buckingham. Do I still think Tom is posh? All these people from Alberta. Did we not book a hotel?

Buckingham, The Granary. Red wine and another Travelodge. Decent meal and a promise of a CD. "I come from a long line of...attention seekers" Ye--ooow. Corby says, "Aging thrill seekers," somewhere on the drive. Poker for the boys in Stoke-on-Trent. But I`m going home to Leytonstone.
How Yah Doon? - Blogged