“I tend to use a lot of allegorical imagery in my music, particularly about animals and creatures of the forest,” says soon-to-be-former Halifax folk singer Cud Eastbound. “Between travelling, my dog, my friends and the occasional heartache here and there, I don’t have trouble finding inspiration in the world.” On Friday, Eastbound will release his […]
Adria Young
Posted inArts + Music
The Sadies make it great
The last time I saw Toronto’s rocking four-piece The Sadies was on a hot August night in 2011. George’s Roadhouse, the greasy truck-stop diner on the edge of Sackville, New Brunswick, was so excitedly packed for the band’s Sappyfest show that people were squeezed out the front door and dancing on the lawn. “It was […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Civic beauty
HRM, because we love you, this is your intervention. On Saturday, June 7, Halifax will join Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in a city-wide series of interventions for 100 in 1 Day, a non-profit organization founded in Bogota in 2012 to celebrate civic groups and communities. Designed to introduce the general public to all facets of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Bringing Deception: A Rock Opera to life
“It’s about a town, it’s about any town anywhere that you would go,” explains Katey Day, the long-time blues musician and writer and director of Deception: A Rock Opera. “You have your stereotypical characters: rednecks, religious figures, street people. And not only is the soundtrack fantastic, but everybody in the audience will be reminded of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Cousins
Slapstick is a 1976 Kurt Vonnegut novel about an outcast brother and sister who disguise their supreme synergetic intelligence and change the world by being “lonesome no more.” Yes, I think The Halls of Wickwire, the third LP from Halifax’s Cousins, shares themes with this novel. All the anxiety of being lost and alone rattles […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Opening NSCAD up
“Im very committed to small art and design institutions. They’re becoming rare,” says Dianne Taylor-Gearing, the incoming president of NSCAD University. She will succeed Dr. David O’Brien in August, bringing decades of experience in arts administration to the school. From the UK and currently in administration at the Alberta College of Art and Design, Taylor-Gearing […]
Posted inArts + Music
Singular Electric Voice
“I love minimalism. Not only in music but also in art, decor, film, literature and fashion,” says Matthew Samways, electronic musician and head of Electric Voice Records. “I believe there is something powerful in conveying a multitude of emotion or intent that is framed by restrictions and limitations.” On Friday at Plan B, Electric Voice […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Taking reactions
Imagine: You’re born and raised in Clayton Park by East Indian parents. By your own smarts, you get into university on a full scholarship. On your first day, your professor mispronounces your name and then your classmate asks where you’re from. You answer, “Clayton Park.” She leans in: “But where are you really from?” For […]
Posted inArts + Music
Welcome to comedy town: Our Ha!ifax ComedyFest coverage
Celebrating 19 years of cracking wise, the Ha!ifax ComedyFest takes over stages and brick walls until April 26. We talk to seven clever comedians—Greg Proops, Orny Adams, Ian Black, Doug Mutai, Steph Tolev, Kaitlin Shuvera and DeAnne Smith—to help you fill your comedy dance card. Click here
Posted inNews + Opinion
Persistence and patience
“If there is something I learned from Raymond, it is persistence and patience,” says Darren Lewis. Last Thursday, April 17, marked two years since community and LGBTQ activist Raymond Taavel was brutally attacked in the morning hours on Gottingen Street. Andre Denny, a patient at the Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth, had been released for one […]
Posted inArts + Music
Beauty Slammers: Ladies of Wrestling calls all the singlet ladies
In 1985, hundreds of Hollywood actresses answered a casting call for a new TV entertainment program. Hoping for a big break, these beautiful women soon realized they were auditioning for an all-female wrestling show meant to rival the popularity of the then-WWF. Soon, Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling–a glitzy mix of sketch comedy, campy musicals and […]
Posted inArts + Music
Greg Proops is The Smartest Man in the World
There are many times you’ve seen Greg Proops: a regular on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, a voice actor in films including Star Wars I: Phantom Menace, his podcast The Smartest Man in the World, a 2010 Casino show or the 2012 Ha!ifax ComedyFest Smartest Man taping. Now you can add 2014 to the list. […]