Weather’s maddening isn’t it? Just when you thought summer had finally arrived in these eastern climes, it decides to spend the better part of a week raining cats and dogs. Which sucks, but I should remind everyone that it doesn’t rain indoors and The Carleton is a great place to come in out of the pesky rain.

If you haven’t been downtown recently, you’ll see by the photo above that the Nova Centre folks have finally gotten around to putting up the promised “hoarding” around the site so now you can see this colourful display instead of the gnarly construction stuff going on behind it…

I’ll also remind everyone that our kitchen is REALLY good, and easy on the wallet, so you should come in for lunch and/or dinner this week (while the rain falls). You’ll be happy you did – and so will we!

It’s Friday night (July 17th) and whether you just got paid (as the song goes), or not, we’ve got cool doings happening at The Carleton.

Firstly, Happy Hour starts at 4 PM – just about the time the sun starts thinking about coming back to our corner of the street after making its way around the Nova Centre construction – so there are cheap cocktails and appetizers on our fab deck while you look across the street at the new hoarding on the fence of the construction site to try to figure out what it means…

Then… we’ve got Toronto‘s alternative rockers The Wooden Sky (with bassist Jon Hynes opening) on stage at 7:30 PM. Last night’s show was packed – and fantastic – and, believe it or not, there are still a few tickets left ($15 – you can get them by clicking on the show listing to the left of this post). If you decide to go, make sure you get there early for dinner to grab a great seat for the performance!

Later on in the evening we’ve got another great Toronto band – The Old Salts – taking the stage. They’ll be making live music after 10 PM and it’s only $5 at the door to get into the joint.

We like to think the weekend starts on Thursdays during the summer and do we have a night of entertainment TONIGHT (July 16th)!

Toronto’s The Wooden Sky performs at 7:30 (bassist Jon Hynes opens the show). Somehow there are still tickets left so your plan should be to come for dinner around 6 and then settle in for what will be a fantastic evening of indie rock/folk. The aforementioned tickets are only $15 and you can get them by clicking on the show just to the right of this post.

Later in the night, local Jessie Brown continues her Resonance Residency at The Carleton, along with special guests The Stogies and Mike Ryan from The Town Heroes. We’ll have live music on the stage around 9:30 and it’s $8 at the door to get in.

It’s an awfully nice night out there tonight (Wednesday, July 15th) and it’ll be a nice night on The Carleton patio and inside the club too! SW Ontario reggae/ska/party band Too Nice play the joint this evening.

Live music starts after 9 PM and it’s only $5 at the door to get in. If you dig reggae and ska classics, as well as stuff from The Clash and The Specials, you’ll have fun. If you don’t, you should!

I know it’s been taking its sweet time but it finally looks like summer has found its way to Halifax. That means any right-thinking human should be looking for a patio for lunch, dinner and/or after-work drinks. Fun Facts: The Carleton has great food, The Carleton has great drinks, The Carleton has a killer Happy Hour menu Monday to Friday from 4 PM to 6 PM, The Carleton is the only patio on Argyle Street with sun after 5 PM!

What are you waiting for!?!

It’s fitting that Steve Poltz (the best solo entertainer we’ve ever seen and Carleton mascot) is playing The Carleton on Sunday, June 21st – Father’s Day – because Steve loves his dad A LOT and that’s cool because Joe Poltz is awesome.

We think you should seriously think about taking your dad out to dinner and a Steve Poltz show for Father’s Day! It’ll change his life and he’ll thank you over and over and over again. Even if your kids won’t take you to the show, or if your dad has sadly passed already, you should come.

Saturday’s show is SOLD OUT now so this will be your only opportunity to see Steve for quite some time. He’ll be off touring Australia again and God knows where else before he makes it back to his hometown of Halifax. Spread the word, there’s nothing quite like a Poltz show. Will he actually wind up nekked? I wouldn’t put it past him…

If you’ve never seen Steve do the full meal deal version of his famous Jewel hit You Were Meant For Me before, check out this show we shot in my garage years before I opened The Carleton. Priceless stuff and just a hint at what his shows are like.

Tonight’s (Thursday, June 18th) show – the fourth in this year’s annual run of dates at The Carleton – is sold out but we’ve just released more tickets for tomorrow’s show (Friday, June 19th). The band didn’t need them for their guest list so they’re now up for grabs! Reminder that this is a special early show and gets underway at 7 PM!

As most folks are now painfully aware, the sun on Argyle Street isn’t what it used to be pre Nova Centre construction but check THIS out…

Once the late afternoon rolls around, the sun comes back to our patio just in time for after-work Happy Hour! So if you’re looking for that lovely yellow orb in the sky, the only place you’ll find it on Argyle Street is The Carleton.

I do not spend enough time extolling the virtues of my kitchen and its hard-working staff (led by chef Jeff Preston). They are a creative, capable bunch and are unfairly overshadowed by our award-winning live music venue status. That should change!!!

This Sunday, June 7th, we’re hoping you’ll join us for dinner as Jeff and his crew prepare a night of seafood specials in conjunction with an equally special performance by Toronto‘s shantymen, Pressgang Mutiny. The band is in town for an event at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic and will then come to sing for our dinner patrons that night.

To encourage you to attend, there will be no official cover charge, the lads will pass the hat and we hope you’ll contribute if you like their a cappella take on traditional sea shanties. Give the video below a gander to see what they’re about.

Jeff tells me we’ll have the following special on offer for Sunday’s dinner specials:

Appetizers – Shrimp Creole and Coconut Lime Scallops

Entrees – Grilled Sesame Tuna and Blackened Atlantic Salmon

A great combo of East Coast cuisine and traditional seafaring songs. Dinner starts at 6 PM and live music will happen around 8 PM. Grab some friends and make a night of it!

The Carleton turns 7 next week and we’re doing a bunch of nice things to promote that celebratory fact. Things get underway on Mother’s Day – Sunday, May 10th – with the astonishingly good, Juno Award-winning, Meaghan Smith.

Our show is the only one she’s doing after postponing her Canadian tour. It’s a very rare chance to see this Sire Records recording artist in her home town. Show time is 8 PM and tickets are $25.

Sensational Australian songwriter Jordie Lane (one of our absolute favourites) brings Clare Reynolds with him for a just-announced (we found out he was hanging out in Chester with Old Man Luedecke!) duo show on Wednesday, May 13th.

This will be Jordie’s first headlining show at The Carleton and it’s about time. The show will start at 8 PM and tickets are only $10 at the door. Our pal Jont (just finishing an album with help from Joel Plaskett and now performing as The Infinite Possibility) and our own Jon Cornwall will be doing short sets to open!

On Thursday night, May 14th, our very good friends The Stanfields perform an exceedingly rare acoustic show to help us during our special week.

The last time the band did this, over a year ago, they sold out three nights. This time around it’s one night only and if you didn’t get your act together to get tickets, you blew it. The show is SOLD OUT.

Fridays are fun nights at our place. They’re all about not sitting down and quietly sitting through an intimate performance, rather an opportunity to rock out, dance, chat and generally let the hair down as they used to say! Friday the 15th we’re featuring some of the new young bands in our midst…

Members of  last year’s winner of Casino Nova Scotia’s Artist In Residence program – The Brood – will join the fantastically-named Owen Meany’s Batting Stance (gotta love a John Irving fan, I say)  along with Campbell Woods and Ostrea Lake to provide entertainment on the night. Live music will start at 10 PM and it’s a measly $5 at the door to get in. You’re welcome…

AND, what would Saturday nights be without the mighty Carletones, the best rock’n’roll house band in Halifax. Featuring most of Matt Mays‘ touring band – including lead singer and star-in-his-own-right Adam Baldwin. They’ll be on stage as usual on the 16th to wrap the week up.

The band usually manages to start making noise at around 10:30 PM and, as always, it’s only $5 at the door to get in. I’m encouraging them to bring along some special guests so come down to see who shows up!

If there’s any justice in the world, we should also have our patio open for the weekend of our 7th anniversary celebrations. When it is, make sure you come out to enjoy the sun and take a look at the progress of the Nova Centre across the street. It’s starting to get, um, LARGE…