It’s difficult to talk about downtown Halifax’s erstwhile Halloween Saturday Mardi Gras party without getting bogged down in details like debating the relative merits of a traditional wine skin versus hiding a pint bottle of lemon gin down your pants. Perhaps that’s why it’s so difficult to pin down when Mardi Gras started (sometime in […]
Arts + Music
Live theatre, art exhibits, comedy, literary, spoken word – The Coast guide to Halifax and Dartmouth, NS . The downtown, local arts scene – plays, writers, actors, artists and performers. Painting, sculpture, photography, stand-up, stage.
Posted inArts + Music
Behind the scenes
As I’m going through the hundreds of photographs I shot this weekend, I realize there are quite a few that don’t involve the musicians on stage. For a festival like the Halifax Pop Explosion to be successful, you need a lot of people to come together and play their own important behind the scenes roles. […]
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War & Beats
Some philosophers judge their worth by the number of degrees behind their name, or the number of textbooks they’ve authored. And then there are the dusty foot philosophers; those whose innate wisdom is drawn from experiences in the real world. On Toronto hip-hopper K’naan’s debut album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, he pays tribute to those […]
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The (Infini)heart of the matter
“I never intended to be a performer,” says Chad VanGaalen. “I was more interested in keeping an aural journal—it was quite embarrassing to imagine anyone beyond my friends and family hearing it.” The Calgary-based artist is now in a position quite contrary to his original plan. Recently signed to indie-rock beacon label Sub Pop, a […]
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The Pop shoppe
Ted Leo + Pharmacists Outspoken, poignant and exciting: It’s no wonder Ted Leo is one of the most revered figures in the indie underground. The Washington, DC-based musician and his Pharmacists deal in vibrant indie rock that mixes punk, folk and hardcore with protest lyrics. With several acclaimed records under their belts, including The Tyranny […]
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Halifax Pop Explosion Blog
HOLY FRIG!!! It’s just over an hour until the first band hits the stage at the Marquee/Hell’s Kitchen, and I’m so damn excited I think my head’s going to explode… I can’t believe it has been 10 years since I attended my first Halifax Pop Explosion. In late September 1995, I crawled into a smoky […]
