Last February, as winter’s chill began to thaw, Cathy Busby took a short walk over to One World Cafe, minutes away from her home near the Common. She observed the posters on the wall promoting various shows and events. In particular, she thought one for Gypsophilia—a striking, swirling design on a black background—was nice. The […]
Sue Carter Flinn
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dinner and a show
It’s an involuntary reaction that occurs when you’re walking by a restaurant with big open windows: Try fighting the compulsion to check out what everyone is eating. It’s hard to avoid when you’re walking past fishbowl-fronts like jane’s on the common or Athens Restaurant. Look long enough and you’ll catch a diner’s eye, and feel […]
Posted inArts + Music
Life and times
It’s appropriate that Bruce Cockburn recorded his 29th album, Life Short Call Now, at National Treasures’ Studio, at Puck’s Farm, about a half-hour north of Toronto since he enlisted the vocal help of treasures-in-waiting Ron Sexsmith, Damhnait Doyle and Hawksley Workman (who has said Cockburn is the reason he began singing), and uncompromising US political […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Book mobile
On September 28, as weary rush-hour travellers inch towards Pearson Airport along the congested Highway 401 in Toronto, their choice of scenery will no longer be limited to flashing rearview lights and gaudy electronic billboards , thanks in part to Halifax artist Ilan Sandler and Velocity, a Burnside machining and welding company. Sandler, also director […]
Posted inArts + Music
Fall arts preview: October 2006
Written by Sue Carter Flinn, Johnston Farrow, Sean Flinn, Carsten Knox, Lis van Berkel. Halifax Pop Explosion The fall in Halifax is synonymous with busting out scarves, wearing long sleeves and experiencing exciting concerts. The biggest annual alternative music festival in Halifax returns with another amazing line-up of rock, hip-hop, folk and experimental acts, set […]
Posted inArts + Music
You’re beautiful
One sign of an excellent festival program is when you see entirely different crowds at various films. At last night’s nearly sold-out screening of American Hardcore, the architectural eyeglass frames (do all film people shop at the same store?) were replaced with shaved heads and studded leather jackets. Programmer Lee Anne Gillan thanked the crowd […]
Posted inArts + Music
Dancing scene
Occasionally as a writer, I am lucky enough to observe incredible moments during an artist’s creative process (and to get paid for it!). Watching choreographer Sally Morgan and her crew of local and German contact dancers and skateboarders during rehearsals for the dance film decoding the undertow for a Coast cover story (see the archives–I […]
Posted inArts + Music
Tears are not enough
Last night’s laughs turn to tears (ok, bordering on right-out bawling) during the screening of Snow Cake, starring Alan Rickman, Signourney Weaver and Carrie-Anne Moss, about a troubled Brit who, through tragic circumstances, ends up in Wawa, Ontario, with Linda (Weaver), a highly functional autistic woman. Directed by Marc Evans as a Canada-UK co-production, it’s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Funny bits
Last night I saw a whole whack of funny shit–but I can’t tell you about it due to the review restrictions placed on Young Triffie and Strangers with Candy. What I can tell you is that it’s pee-your-pants funny just to be in the same room with Mary Walsh and Andrea Martin, who were both […]
Posted inArts + Music
Walk of shame
Thanks Carsten, you’re the Ben Mulroney to my Tanya Kim. So after getting booted out of the (poorly marked) opening night party VIP line, we had to do the walk of shame down Barrington and back up to the other side of Argyle where we hung out with the sparkly Joe Halifaxs and city councillors. […]
Posted inArts + Music
Folk remedies
Billy Bragg is fresh from a dip in the sea, and ready to talk. Not a huge surprise—the British musician is as famous for his humourous, jagged political riffs as he is for charmingly poetic folk songs infused with genuine punk sensibility. Now he’s ready to talk about a new project. After returning home from […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Raveonettes
Published May 12, 2005.The RaveonettesPretty In Black (Columbia)The Raveonettes’ Sharin Foo was set to replace The Cardigans’ Nina Persson as Sweden’s quirkiest and most beloved songbird, but then there was the mysterious inclusion of a Raveonettes song in an American K-Mart TV commercial. “Huh?” said fans watching the cast from WB’s Seventh Heaven grooving to […]
