I missed Friday night of Nova Scotia Music Week, but here’s a summation of what I’ve heard: pillow fights, rug burns, hallway bowling, water slides, fuzzy mouth. And some amazing showcases, including Rich Aucoin, i see rowboats, Alright Already, Erin Costelo, Ghost Bees, Share, Don Brownrigg and Tanya Davis. I wasn’t sure how this weekend […]
Sue Carter Flinn
Posted inArts + Music
Nova Scotia Music Week gets ugly
In case you missed the news when Tara reported it, the race for Aliant Entertainer of the Year category is getting ugly. You can’t imagine the tension here in Pictou County–no one’s talking about it, but really, when you have Rich Aucoin, Dave Gunning, David Myles, Old Man Luedecke and Tom Fun Orchestra, shit’s gonna […]
Posted inArts + Music
Royal engagement
Growing up in the St. Margaret’s Bay area, James Gilbert had roles in “crowd-pleasing” musicals like Pirates of Penzance and Evita. He’s long left Eva Perón and Nova Scotia behind, but some things don’t change: Gilbert has a supporting role in the second season of the crowd-pleasing historical drama, The Tudors, airing Tuesdays on CBC, […]
Posted inArts + Music
Feist w/Hayden
Feist is big. Like Sesame Street huge—she appeared on the show this year for a monsterish countdown. Sometimes when musicians reach household-name status, it’s harder to reach them. But we got hold of Feist by email surrounded by her journal, a Steinbeck book, duct tape, a bag of Arctic vegetation, whiskey flask, phone bill and […]
Posted inArts + Music
What to scare
Rebekah HiggsMusician, Coast reader poll winner for Best Dressed Local ArtistOne year I was poison ivy. I sewed together an onesie out of a green velvet tracksuit, wrap my hair into two cones, and glued fall leaves to my eyebrows. But my funniest costume would have to be the Mary Kay sales woman. I wore […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Fashioning a scene
Remember when you could heat up a pot of mac ‘n’ cheese and wieners for dinner and you didn’t have to worry about whether the milk was organic, the cheese local or whether the pigs roamed freely? These days we spend a lot of time making appropriate food choices, buying from farmers’ markets and checking […]
Posted inArts + Music
Valery Gore
[image-4]Published November 06, 2008.Valery GoreAvalanche To Wandering Bear(Do Right!)Fans of Jenn Grant and The Heavy Blinkers will fall for pop-pianist Valery Gore. Like Grant, there’s that sweet voice, and both write big songs that journey along with unexpected turns. Catchy “Shoes of Glass” should satisfy anyone missing the Blinkers’ summery pop. During her experiment with […]
Posted inArts + Music
Now I eat humble pie
Nobody polarizes people more than Jian Gomeshi, other than shirts tucked in/shirts out (for the record—out. always out). But whether or not you think he’s a dreamboat, a king of Spain, or in the case of halifaxlocals.com, 25 pages worthy of douchebag, dude is the only person hosting an hour-long arts and culture show in […]
Posted inArts + Music
Pop n fresh
I was curious about Kill Krinkle Club–a lo-fi Irish-Swedish duo from Dublin, and I always try to see as many of the intenational bands as possible (will anyone ever match Zoobombs, and the Moist Towelettes’ version of “We Are Ninja”? Yeah, yeah Monotonix. Not to be all jealous, but no one who watched that go […]
Posted inArts + Music
Fear of Fighting
Fear of Fighting Stacey May Fowles (Invisible Publishing) The prologue to Stacey May Fowles’ new novel starts with the prophetic line, “There are lots of songs that have been written about girls.” The same could be said about novels that explore devastating relationship break-ups—the subject of Fear of Fighting. And yet, we’ll never get sick […]
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Nocturne: all work and lots of play
Wes JohnsonPhantom Stacks (1790-92 Granville) Describe your installation: This installation requires your personal attendance to be fully “realized.” If nothing happens, you might try a different spot. What emotions will people leave with? Depends on the crowd. I would anticipate from the drunken Split Crow patrons, confusion and/or some howling. For a more sober audience, […]
Posted inArts + Music
A Slow Start
I don’t know what it is, but I’m really slow on the take today. So slow that I actually watched Holmes on Holmes tonight for the first time. (This was after I suggested getting rid of our free cable. Duh.) Did you know that if you own a house, there’s a good chance you’ll get […]