The Violet ArchersEnd of Part One (Northern Electric)Tim Vesely remains the unsung hero of Rheostatics. He writes the strongest pop songs in the band’s oeuvre. Vesely side project The Violet Archers allows him to set loose the pop master within, offering memorable melodies in “Co-ordinates,” “Time to Kill” and more, a lovely little acoustic ballad […]
Sean Flinn
Posted inArts + Music
John Legend
John LegendOnce Again(Good Music/Sony Urban)Even if it didn’t have Kanye West listed as executive producer, Once Again would be a substantial record. The showcase here remains John Legend’s vocals, which often sound like labelmate Jarvis Church or Gerald Eaton of the Philsopher Kings. Throughout Once Again Legend reanimates the R&B tradition laid down in the […]
Posted inArts + Music
Shotgun Jimmie
Shotgun JimmieThe OnlysDelorean RecordingsAt Marshwind Farms near Sackville, New Brunswick, is this guy, Shotgun Jimmie. He made this fine recording, The Onlys, which he’ll play for you November 17 at The Seahorse. Sometimes he sings from loneliness, not in a sad way necessarily—more like when you’re alone with your thoughts. You notice, as he does […]
Posted inArts + Music
Destiny’s child
The interior lives of kids are far more complicated and mysterious than adults believe. Sometimes it takes a 15-minute short film and a filmmaker like Adam Garnet Jones to reveal the youthful mind, and to remind the rest of us of the power of that long-forgotten state. Cloudbreaker, which screens Friday at the Mi’kmaq Native […]
Posted inArts + Music
NeoCraft Exhibits
Mary E. Black Gallery (1061/1096 Marginal) Start the day at the south end of the waterfront with The New Cartography of Craft: Charting a Course from Regional to Global. Immerse in every imaginable craft practice in one room. Sally Ravindra’s rounded pottered forms (vases and other vessels), Maria Rakel’s clothing shot through and shaped with […]
Posted inArts + Music
Big horn
Stephen Hughes laughs often and easily during conversation, out of sheer enjoyment from talking about what he’s doing. A vocalist, arranger and multi-instrumentalist, Hughes founded The Blown Gasket Orchestra with seven of his closest musical pals. Some of them go way back—for example, Hughes and guitarist/vocalist Jon Andrews first met during grade eight in Port […]
Posted inArts + Music
Pop quiz
More pop explosion:Tonight’s Listings | Blog | Playlist | Photo Blog | Public photos | Video | CD Reviews | Stories Apostle of HustleAndrew Whiteman, an integral member of the Broken Social Scene collective, taps into the solo-terrain bandwagon with Apostle of Hustle. The trio present themselves at the Marquee on October 18. “I’m a […]
Posted inArts + Music
Eyes on the prize
Downstairs at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, what you see in the Sobey Art Award exhibition is the work of five young artists from across the country. The five regional finalists in this year’s running—the first year of the annual iteration of the award—are as follows: Moncton-based Jean-Denis Boudreau (Atlantic), Michel de Broin (Quebec), […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Shifting gears
The tentative agreement that kept Metro Transit buses rolling and ferries chugging this week has been sent to HRM council and to membership of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 508 for ratification. Details of the five-year contract will not be made public until the agreement is ratified by both sides. During negotiations that ran […]
Posted inArts + Music
Table talk
In North America, we don’t share tables with strangers in public places. We’d sooner give up our spot right away, decline the request to share, or begrudgingly agree, only to rush our dinner, beer or coffee, and get gone. Even families are reportedly spending less time at the dinner table together. These social realities run […]
Posted inLifestyle
blind faith
Michelle Butler Hallet shows great empathy for her characters in her short stories and in her new novel, Double-blind, which she’ll read from at Word on the Street this weekend. Psychiatrist Josh Bozeman narrates the story of his own work with a secretive research group, the losses that plague him, the damage he’s done in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Student body building
Bryan Maycock, chair of NSCAD University’s foundation program, strides down the wide, open corridor on the second floor of the university’s new port campus. He goes right into tour mode—his enthusiasm and anticipation for kicking off the inaugural year in the south end waterfront location is evident. The 200 to 240 foundation students will bypass […]
