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The Coast | News, events, restaurants, concerts and Burger Week for Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home of the Best of Halifax Reader's Choice Awards, the award-winning independent newspaper covers the Halifax news, politics, events, concerts, movies, restaurants, and nightlife scene.
Portland Street Creperie’s dad and son duo has summer on the brain. Neil and Max Cook, who opened the Dartmouth cafe and all-day crepe joint in 2015, are adding a complementary iron-pressed element to their offerings next month when they’ll debut a bubble waffles and ice cream window within their 55 Portland Street location. The…
S ometimes, in cities like New York, there will be a random cat roaming around a convenience store. Or a sleepy dog barely visible behind a desk or counter. Halifax is no different—friendly pets can also be found in businesses of all kinds. And it’s not just cats and dogs. (There’s also a bunny.) An…
City council is finally coming around to the notion that the Halifax Convention Centre might not be the boffo moneymaker that was promised. Halifax’s elected leaders begrudgingly voted on Tuesday to pay an additional $301,500 in marketing costs the province claims we owe for setting up downtown’s new crown jewel. The city also agreed to…
With minimal effort, it appears a Halifax teenager was able to download 7,000 confidential documents containing personal information on thousands of Nova Scotians—and the government only found out about it by accident. At a press conference Wednesday, deputy minister of Internal Services Jeff Conrad described how an unauthorized user had—over two days in March—accessed private…
Stephanie Coffin and James Parker opened Coffin Skate Shop sort of quietly in September, sharing a space within Octopus Skates (5687 West Street) and filling a void in the local roller derby and roller skating scene. You see, the closest skate shop is Montreal. Considering roller derby is the fastest growing sport in the world,…
Charlottetown’s HopYard Beer Bar is heading off the Island. The popular pub will open its first Nova Scotia location at 2103 Gottingen Street (the former Johanna B. Oosterveld Centre) sometime this summer, bringing a bevy of craft beer, super-affordable snacks and hundreds of records with it. Brett Hogan and Mike Ross opened the original HopYard…
I’m not talking about the cold white fluffy stuff. I’m talking about the obscene use of cocaine in every downtown venue ever. I love partying, I love having fun, I love going to clubs, dancing, taking in live music, whatever. What I don’t love is being yelled at in the bathroom about how you “need…
The Halifax Jazz Festival, which kicked off this year with a very sweet double-barrelled announcement of The War on Drugs and Daniel Caesar, followed in recent weeks by Charlotte Day Wilson and Land of Talk, unveiled its more headliners yesterday. Canadian superstars Alvvays (July 11, Tent) and life superstar Chaka Khan (July 12, Tent) have…
Sunday the 8th in a blizzard. Super cheesy and I should have straight up asked for your number but I didn’t want to be “that guy.” You had a tattoo behind your ear or a band aid and I think you’re fairly new? If you think you know who this is , I would love…
A bizarre twist in a first-degree murder trial saw a Crown witness take the stand, only to confess to the murder in question, saying the man accused had nothing to do with the crime. Randy Desmond Riley, 27, is charged with killing Donald Chad Smith in 2010 with a sawed-off shotgun after Smith was called…
The Halifax Convention Centre just opened its doors and it’s already costing the city far more than initial estimates. New financial figures are projecting that a planned $1.8-million shortfall in the city’s HCC reserve fund has now nearly doubled to $3.5-million. Worse still, a projected $6-million surplus after 10 years of convention centre operations has…
City councillor Matt Whitman says he should have been explicitly warned that his conversation with a CBC reporter was on the record, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s ombudsman disagrees. Whitman submitted an official complaint to CBC’s ombudsman back in February after a phone interview with journalist Emma Davie about his retweet of a white supremacist…
What is wrong with you folks who drive around during a snow storm with your windows covered by snow? CLEAN THEM OFF! FFS! Is it a problem? Yes! The fact that I knocked on your window and you couldn’t see me until I wiped the snow off tells me it’s a problem. —Didn’t See Me…
Ten years ago, I bicycled across Canada for my first music tour performing my own music under my name, Rich Aucoin. The Coast, which I had been delivering just prior to this trek, was kind enough to give me an outlet to blog about my adventures. Well, now we’re doing it again, if you want…
If you watch (or hate-watch) internet chef shows, you’re going to want to check out the latest from Halifax’s psychedelic sweethearts, The Brood. Yesterday the band released a new video for the jaunty track “Munchies” and it’s a cooked to perfection parody of Vice/MUNCHIES series Chef’s Night Out, which follows Extremely Important international chefs as they eat…
A few summers ago I had a friend from out of town visit me for Canada Day. I wanted to show him around the city, and because I’m a regular transit rider, I decided we’d use public transit to get around. So, I figured the best way to start off was to buy bus tickets…
The Nova Scotia-made series Pure, which was canned by the CBC after a single season in 2017, has been resurrected by Super Channel for a six-episode second run due to air in 2019. Pre-production is underway now, with shooting expected to begin in the province later this spring. Sort of a buttoned-up Weeds, Pure stars…
To the young woman crossing Novalea and Duffus on April 3 afternoon with the 2-year-old toddler running at least 15 feet in front of her through the crosswalk: You, lady, are an idiot. That’s how kids get run over. It’s shocking to see such a lack of regard for the child’s safety. —Nervous Onlooker
ADO AKA Nathan Doucet has created a challenge for himself in 2018: Release a new five-song EP every month. The project kicked off in January with The Groove is fukd, followed by February’s Hacker Music and Matrix, which dropped on March 31. “Right now the MO—I kinda wanna change it now, but I still like this vision—this…
Halifax wants to install some real-life spam filters for unwanted flyer deliveries. On Thursday HRM’s Environment and Sustainability committee approved a staff recommendation to strengthen regulations on how printed commercial advertisements can be distributed to the city’s doorsteps. The motion—which still needs final approval from Regional Council—would create a new bylaw banning bagged commercial leaflets…
The union representing Halifax’s bus and ferry workers says contract negotiations with city hall have stalled. Local 508 president Ken Wilson announced Wednesday that the Amalgamated Transit Union is filing for conciliation as it continues bargaining for a new contract with HRM. “We’ve met over 24 times in the last 20 months,” says Wilson. “My side,…
While we’re waiting to see if the Halifax Mooseheads secure hosting duties for the Memorial Cup, see them (hopefully) score in the second round of the President Cup Playoffs—and fill the rest of your weekend with avant-garde art, pop-up plus-size shopping and more. Halifax Mooseheads President Cup playoffs round two Friday, Saturday Things continue to…
The province of Nova Scotia is clearcutting our forests and burning them for energy. It is basically a giant bonfire. It’s not a physically efficient means of producing energy. It’s not economical. The plants that do this are even subsidized by the government. They are calling it “biomass” and a “renewable energy” source. On the…
Despite public backlash and calls to cancel the event, professional bull riding is set to visit Halifax this spring. Over 68,000 people have added their names to an online petition urging the Scotiabank Centre to cancel Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Canada’s Elite Monster Energy Tour scheduled for May 26. Tony Payzant, an HRM based editor,…
If you think of queer culture, one of the first things to come to mind—for better or worse—is drag. It’s a performance art that engages with and subverts gender norms, says local genderqueer drag performer Anna Thematic. “For me, drag has often been a safer space in which to explore my own gender identity and…
Halifax has many rites of passage. One of them is to move to Toronto for a stint that may last forever. Five years ago, we added another rite of passage: Penning a Dear John letter about how the city has let us down and pushed us to the door. Today, the city is in the…
Outside In Carbon Arc Cinema, 1747 Summer Street Friday April 6, 7pm $8 carbonarc.ca Lynn Shelton makes small movies with high concepts, such as 2009’s Humpday, about two straight best friends who agree to have sex for an amateur porn competition; and Your Sister’s Sister, a single-location three-hander involving sperm-stealing. Both of those starred Mark…
Washing Machine release w/Booji Boys, Surveillance, Valerie Thursday, April 5, 10pm The Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen Street $7 Noel Macdonald would never say it, but Walk It Back, his first record with the new-wave inspired band Washing Machine, feels like a big deal. Macdonald has been playing in the local scene for years—with Moon, Long…
The Blazing World April 11-15 Neptune Studio Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street $20-$25 neptunetheatre.com Colleen MacIsaac has written and is starring in The Blazing World, previewing April 11 on Neptune’s second stage and opening April 12. As a multi-disciplinary artist—she makes theatre, comics and animation, to start—having more than one job on a project is not…
HFX Beverage Expo 2018 Sunday April 9, 9am-7pm Dalhousie Student Union Building $7/$5 hfxbev.com Get ready to get hydrated (and make sure there’s a bathroom nearby). The first Halifax Beverage Expo is taking place this weekend. “We want a really diverse crowd,” says Phil Holmans, owner of World Tea House. He’s organizing the expo with…
Being from the UK, Sara Kirk knows the power of a good baked potato. But it’s not a nostalgia for home or a craving for a loaded spud that lead to her launch Just Baked Potatoes at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market in mid-January. “I would say it’s more research-informed than passion at this point…
I f you ask Bobby Smith to choose his “more rewarding experience”—winning the 2013 Memorial Cup championship as the up-in-the-stands owner of the Halifax Mooseheads major junior hockey team, or hoisting the 1986 Stanley Cup as an on-the-ice star with the legendary National Hockey League Montreal Canadiens—he answers surprisingly but without hesitation. “The Memorial Cup.…
Jassi Da Dhaba facebook.com/jassidadhabahfx 902-410-5272 Jasvinder Kaur and Swati Chaudhary were looking for each other before they met through a friend on a Friday night two years ago. “I cannot do this by myself,” Kaur says, “so I was looking for someone I can get in touch with, someone I can trust.” “I was looking…
Wait a Heritage Minute I am the consulting producer and co-writer of the recent Lucy Maud Montgomery Heritage Minute produced by Historica Canada, where I work as Heritage Minutes manager. I was disappointed by the inaccuracies in Megan Wennberg’s recent piece in the Voice of the City section of your newspaper, in which she suggests…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aries (Mar 21-Apr 19) Aries statesman Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the United States. He wrote one of history’s most famous documents, the Declaration of Independence. He was an architect, violinist, inventor and linguist who spoke numerous languages, as well as a philosopher who was knowledgeable about mathematics, surveying and horticulture.…
Q Is there a way of breaking my cycle of being totally sexual and into someone for the first six months and then shutting down to the point that I don’t want to be sexual with them at all? What’s wrong with me? A Breaking a long-established pattern may require the aid of a therapist…
OBEY Convention is always a head trip. The three-day fest, held the weekend of May 24, calls itself “Atlantic Canada’s most adventurous music festival”—a title it lives up to beautifully as it repeatedly exposes Halifax to sounds newly invented, or that few of us knew existed. This week, the fest announced the full list of…
