This afternoon, in a move sure to flabbergast longtime French fry fans in Sydney, a worker at Fuzzy's Fries offered a patron a plastic packet of ketchup. Civilization, as we know it, may be in peril. Former owner Don "Fuzzy" Bacich, who founded the landmark chip wagon at The Esplanade and Townsend St. 40 years ago,* offered a selection of salt, pepper, and vinegar, but had no truck with ketchup. He knew his proud creations owed their universal acclaim to the golden simplicity of their potatoey goodness. A little salt? Certainly. Some vinegar? Sure. But to slather his chips with the garish, tomato-based condiment...

07 July, 2013

When the Rollings Stones played the Halifax Commons in September, 2006, Mick Jagger impressed the crowd by using the term "Haligonian," and even pronouncing "Newfoundland" correctly. Forty years into his career, the rock superstar still had the professionalism to get every local concert detail exactly right. I have never seen an effort to sprinkle a touring show with meaningful local references to match what Old Crow Medicine Show frontman Ketch Secor displayed last night at the Nashville-based, alt-bluegrass band's Membertou show in Sydney. "It's intimidating to play the violin in a city that has a 60-foot-high statue of one," Secor told the...

04 June, 2013

Air Canada did not respond to Contrarian's invitation to explain its price gouging on the Halifax-Sydney run, where it often costs more to get off in Halifax than to fly on to Toronto or St. John's (original complaint here). However, an Air Canada employee has argued forcefully that Sydney Airport (now called J. A. Douglas McCurdy Airport) "has extremely high fees and rents even for a Canadian Airport." I challenged my correspondent for specifics, and he responded: I called the YQY airport and asked how much it cost to land an airplane. There does not seem to be anything published. [An employee] said it...

03 October, 2011

Contrarian needed to make a reservation yesterday from Toronto to Sydney. The fact I had to get all the way to Sydney meant I couldn't use Porter Airlines' magnificent service from Toronto Island Airport. Porter is the upstart airline known for its curious, retro habit of treating passengers as welcome guests. Leaving from the Island Airport avoids the time and money wasted getting to and from unspeakable Pearson. So I made a quick check to see if Air Canada could accommodate me from Toronto Island. To my astonishment, I found the following: $219.36 is an almost unheard of low fare. As I snapped...

19 September, 2011

Contrarian friend and New Waterford video artist Ashley McKenzie, now serving temporary exile in Halifax, has put some of her wonderful still photos on line. McKenzie previously recorded the demolition of Sydney's Vogue Theatre in this clever video....

27 June, 2010