As San Francisco has Oakland and New York has Jersey, Halifax has my dear Dartmouth. I opted to settle there when I moved back from Toronto a month ago. Plenty of Haligonians think Dartmouth is just a place to drive through on the way to the airport, but here are a few of the reasons […]
Visit Halifax
Northern lights
King-in-exile of the local music scene, Sloan was the highest-profile band to come out of the mid-’90s Halifax music explosion. Though they’re longtime Toronto scenesters—it even says as much on their website—Sloan often sang of its hometown experience, as on a few key tracks from the 1999 release Between the Bridges. The bridges in question […]
Food for thinking
With an absurd amount of places to dine out in Halifax, the best spot of all to eat is actually right in your kitchen. But with assignments, social life and dating, it’s all too easy to get fast or processed foods instead. It isn’t easy balancing a student’s hectic lifestyle with their body’s needs and […]
Hidden Halifax
Almon Billiards and Social Club 6050 Almon Street, 454-7665 Turn down an alley on Almon Street and with any luck you’ll run into the right kind of outlaws and scofflaws. “Either you know where it is or you don’t,” remarks Dick, an Almon Billards’s bartender, with raised-eyebrow sarcasm on how to find the club. Behind […]
Happy 114th! from the harbour
Halifax has been all about its pyrotechnic displays this year (Canada Day, McCartney, KISS, tall ships festival), so for Natal Day’s fireworks bonanza you may want to spice up your viewing platform. “I’m on a Boat” jokes aside, watching Saturday’s show from a T-Pain-free boat gives the best view of any bridge-based show. Here are […]
My summer: Christian Barry, co-founder of 2b theatre
Although acting work takes him to Toronto, as artistic co-director of Halifax-based 2b Theatre, Barry’s always coming back here. That said, 2b will keep him moving in the next year, with The Russian Play touring to the west coast, Invisible Atom and Revisited to the UK, and the recent Homage to Montreal and southern Ontario. […]
Hot Summer Guide: Sporting events
Johnny Miles marathon June 21 Victoria Day weekend delivers an annual disincentive for HRM’s would-be marathoners, as hordes of Bluenosers (often sporting toques and mittens) stand grim-faced at the starting line, contemplating the 42.4 hilly kilometers in their immediate futures. Fear not, oh hesitant ones—it doesn’t have to be that way. You can run in […]
My summer: David Christensen, musician and collaborator
Ukulele lessons aside, Christensen started playing music seriously at age 10 when he picked up the saxophone. Now an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he’s known for his orchestral arrangements—having worked on Symphony Nova Scotia shows with Joel Plaskett, Jill Barber and Buck 65—and has played with a who’s-who of the Halifax scene. Earlier in June he added […]
My summer: Zoë Caron, environmentalist, author
Currently on the board of directors at the the Sierra Club of Canada, 23-year-old Caron, originally from a small town in rural British Columbia, is the former Atlantic Coordinator for the Sierra Youth Coalition: Sustainable Campuses Project. She studied International Development and Environmental Science at Dalhousie, with a focus on climate change on both the […]
My summer: Amelia Curran, musician
Originally from Newfoundland, Curran started playing as a busker in St. John’s in the mid-’90s “out of pure necessity.” She now has four records under her belt since 2000—the last, War Brides, was released nationally by Six Shooter records. The follow-up is due September 1, called Hunter, Hunter. The Coast: When you think of summer […]
Hot Summer Guide: Theatre events
Dartmouth Players presents Art Until June 27 Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning play is ostensibly about the perception, interpretation and value of art, but actually has more to say about the ups and downs of friendship. Serge, Marc and Yvan have been buddies for over 15 years, each with their own roles within the trio. When […]
My summer: Mat Dunlap, designer, radio host
Operating out of an office above Long & McQuade, Dunlap does design, web stuff and photography for local musicians. With Brent Randall and Dave Ewenson, he started the Just Friends collective/label in 2003. “We don’t run it as a strict business, it’s more just helping everybody out with whatever services we can,” says Dunlap. The […]

