“I don’t know what difference it will make. I feel like I don’t know shit,” says a young man on a skateboard in Millefiore Clarkes’ film, Democracy Needs You. By the end of the four-minute clip, the same young man, sporting sunglasses and a green cap, says, grinning, “I probably will vote after this just […]
Michelle Kay
Posted inArts + Music
Chris Martin & The Trouble Shooters
The dog days of summer aren’t over just yet. This weekend may call for more rain, but there’s a plethora of local bluegrass/alt-country acts happening this weekend. Keith Urban may be rolling through town on Saturday, but if you’re not feeling the $109 ticket price, check out these options.Ten buckaroos will get you into the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Coping strategies
Sometimes we just need some advice from people who aren’t family or friends. A major change in life like going to school is stressful enough that universities have counselling centres set up to help students deal with different issues—whether mental health-related or just that unbearable feeling of loneliness from being away from home. A number […]
Posted inArts + Music
Quiet Parade w/York Redoubt, Jon McKiel
Quiet Parade may have been quiet in the past, but this Saturday, the Halifax pop band will be crowding onto the tiny stage at Ginger’s Tavern to release its debut album, Labour Day. “The name is emblematic of the kind of music I wanted to play, music that starts kind of quiet and ends loud […]
Posted inArts + Music
Katie Stelmanis’ sinister opera
Opera is kind of like electronic music. There are those that fervently love it, and others that hate it with an equal passion. So what happens when you combine the two musical styles? Katie Stelmanis does just that, and the result is dramatic vocals over hypnotic synth lines. Her sound is reminiscent of The Organ, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Crispin Glover’s big talking vaudeville
There’s a line in Wayne’s World 2: Kim Basinger’s character says to Dana Carvey’s Garth Algar, “I just want to climb into that big ol’ brain of yours and walk around.” A number of people probably feel the same way about Crispin Glover. The oddball actor/artist/author/director/musician/producer is one of Hollywood’s kookiest outsiders. (Remember the lawsuit […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hot pandamonium!
Hot Panda has a hot practice space. Its in a crematorium—and while the band produces lively, energetic pop music, its sort of fitting that the Edmonton-based quartet spends so much time in a building that roasts the deceased. Theres a fridge for our beer, says bassist Keith Olsen. The bands quirky members hone their jaunty, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Punk rock on the canvas
“oi, oi, oi.” “wickedly punx.” “i was a teenage werewolf. punk forever.” You wouldn’t normally see comments like these, or references to a Cramps song in the guest book at an art gallery, but if you peruse through the pages at Michael Lewis’s show Holidays in the Sun, at the Hydrostone Gallery until July 6, […]
Posted inLifestyle
WWOOFing around the farm
Shakeel Rehemtulla has done some unsavoury jobs. The NSCAD student and local designer once scooped out fertilizer from a huge steamy vat filled with a concoction of long-fermented yogurt, compost and manure. Along with girlfriend Carey Jernigan, they spent a week last year working on an aloe and date farm in Gujarat, India as volunteers […]
Posted inArts + Music
Plants and Animals
Apparently Iceland is not that far removed from Halifax. According to Plants and Animals’s lead vocalist and guitarist, Warren Spicer, the country with the chilly name has weather like Halifax in December. His Montreal-based band is back in North American waters after playing Iceland Airwaves, a music festival in Reykjavik. “It was like summer camp. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Partner. Lover. Spouse. Honey bunny?
Years ago, a friend was speeding along in her partner’s car when police stopped her. The officer checked the licence and registration of the car and when they didn’t match up, he asked her whose car she was driving. Her response was, “My temporary life partner’s.” Not just “partner.” Not even “life partner.” “Temporary life […]
Posted inLifestyle
Real Life
Immortal Scofield could be considered a goth dreamboat. He is tall with long, flowing raven-coloured hair, a goatee and broad shoulders. He’s gregarious and popular, enjoys moshing and being funny. He is in the bands Gorgoroth and Type O Negative and sometimes stumbles around drunk—having a good time and entertaining people. Immortal’s sister Allatu is […]