A steady succession of Halifax ex-pats have been playing in clubs around the city for the past month, and October is starting off no different. Mt. Pearl, Newfoundland’s Mark Bragg will return to promote his sophomore album, Bear Music, on October 2 at Gus’ Pub. “I moved to Toronto after Halifax, but didn’t enjoy it […]
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
Shacked up
Tom Wilson and Bob Lanois will forever be distinguished as founding fathers of their hometown’s rich and influential musical history. Citing the differences in their reputations, however, one could accurately describe the Hamilton, Ontario, natives’ recent collaboration as surprising. Wilson is known as the notorious party animal behind several critically acclaimed roots-rock projects including Junkhouse […]
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Death and the king
The reign of Yazdgerd III, king of Persia from 632 to 637 AD, is not an enviable one by any standard. In his first year, Yazdgerd’s kingdom was invaded by Arab armies. Then, they occupied his capital city of Ctesiphon, forcing Yazdgerd to go into exile in 637 AD. Fourteen years later, he was tracked […]
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On a roll
“Um, this may sound strange, but have you seen a…” The painter cuts off the question in mid-sentence, as he leans over his scaffolding and opens a pack of Players. Using a fresh cigarette as a pointer, he nods, “The giant ball? It rolled that way, towards the Commons.” By the time the ball—which isn’t […]
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Weekend warriors
Seeing a genuinely Canadian film was one of the real pleasures of the Atlantic Film Festival. The CBC keeps telling us we want to see our own stories told, but there is precious little evidence of that at the multiplex. Aside from the booming homegrown film industry in Quebec, Canadians just don’t seem to be […]
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Crash of the titan
“My ego is too huge to not do something that has some impact on our culture,” said Jodie Foster in a 1997 interview, in which she also said, “I keep being in the same movie over and over again. Nobody realizes it but me.” Eight years later, one notion has fed the other to profoundly […]
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Post production
The festival is finished. For a little while, Halifax felt like a city unconditionally in love with the movies, whether a potential blockbuster starring Jennifer Lopez or an obscure international co-production no one on these shores is liable to ever see again. The Park Lane cinemas were clogged with line-ups as cinema-goers waited for the […]
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Roll Bounce
It’s easy to lose hope when theatres get overrun by heavily promoted flight plans and wedding crashers, exorcised epileptics, guys wasting their lives gardening and something advertised as being like heaven that’s closer to two hours in purgatory. But we should keep watch of the movies being thrown on screens without fanfare. Arriving without much […]
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Tried and Trews
The last time The Coast spoke with Antigonish natives The Trews, it was December of 2004. They were heading home to Canada for the holidays following 10 days of demo sessions in Austin, Texas with their friend and collaborator Gordie Johnson (Grady, ex-Big Sugar), who also produced the band’s gold-selling smash, House of Ill Fame. […]
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4,827 kilometres
Ontario writer and Exclaim! editor Jason Schneider — who co-wrote the essential Canadian rock music tome Have Not Been the Same with Michael Barclay and Ian Andrew Jack — has just released his debut novel, 3,000 Miles, on ECW Press. It follows a handful of Quebecois teens in the aftermath of Kurt Cobain’s suicide as […]
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Murph no slow one
It will be almost three years to the day since Sloan last played an open show in the streets they called home when they perform at the McInnes Room on September 23. Now residing in Toronto for the better half of a decade, Chris Murphy reassures that despite their absence, the band has kept a […]
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Lockdown at City Hall
At about a quarter to six on the average Tuesday evening, you will find a small collection of city staff and councillors milling about the front steps of city hall (and the surrounding parking lot) grabbing a final few puffs on their cigarettes before heading inside to do the business of the municipality. And occasionaly, […]
