When James Murphy mournfully lamented “New York, I Love You,” bringing the much-praised Sound of Silver to a close, few expected to hear from LCD Soundsystem again. Is it any wonder then, that when a copy of This is Happening turned up online before the release date, many fans ignored Murphy’s plea to wait? Happening […]
Mike Gorman
Posted inArts + Music
Playing Pirates
“I would rather vote for a pirate,” proclaimed one proud Haligonian on Q104, “than a crook!” That was Tyler Jacquard’s favourite answer to the station’s question: “Would you vote for the Pirate Party?” “That was some wonderful feedback.” More importantly for Jacquard, it was “wonderful” exposure for the east coast Pirate Party, a sparse community […]
Posted inArts + Music
Rollins along
When asked whether he’d marry, kill or sleep with Sarah Palin, Henry Rollins stutters, tripping over his words. After a few moments of silence, he chuckles, dissipating the awkward tension. “Neither. None. I don’t want to, um… No,” he sputters. “No. None of those options work for me.” Coming from a man who threatened to […]
Posted inArts + Music
Gorillaz
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s twisted collective are back for their electro-funky third studio album. Albarn, who claims Plastic Beach is about the refuse of a disposable culture, makes no waste of the beast with over a dozen collaborators. Returning artists Mos Def and De La Soul are joined by Snoop Dogg, Mick Jones, Lou […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Our Annual Halifax Fix the City list
Create an emergency shelter When the harshest winds of winter hit the city, and the streets are buried beneath a blizzard’s weight in ice and snow, where can the homeless turn in a pinch for safe and supportive care? Nowhere, since the closure of Pendleton Place, a harm reduction centre that the Nova Scotia Department […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Where holiday humbugs go to drink
The Christmas season doesn’t offer many respites from the blinking-light, carol-singing, tree-decorating storm, so we’ve unwrapped a few places where you can get out of the cold and into some good music and drinks. –Mike Gorman Bearly’s House of Blues and Ribs Down with all of this holiday cheer flooding the streets? Head on over […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Asphalt sidewalk replacements don’t measure up.
What’s wrong? Asphalt sidewalk replacements don’t measure up. Who’s responsible? Bryan Robarts, Right of Way department, 490-4000. REMARKS In early fall, the laying of natural gas pipe cut up the corner of Coburg and Oxford, which was patched with asphalt. Local residents fear that the concrete sidewalk won’t be replaced properly. Robarts insists work will […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Certainty Dream, Kate Hall (Coach House)
The waking world invades the dreamlands in Kate Hall’s first published collection of poetry. Set seemingly in the middle ground between a lucid dream and concrete reality, the poems follow Hall through a land of whimsy touched with the absolute of entropy, joined by a mynah bird that perches within many of the works, a […]