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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.
To the thin gorgeous university gal (with the muti-coloured hair, denim shorts, nose piercing, ripped fishnet stockings and Rage Against The Machine t-shirt) on the #1 around 6pm on Tuesday the 22nd, and got off by Coburg Coffee…We need more daring self-expressive ladies like you in this city full of college-bound clones and wannabes. It’s…
Halifax Urban Folk Festival August 27-September 3 multiple venues halifaxurbanfolkfestival.com The Halifax Urban Folk Festival began in The Carleton back in 2009, expanding to multiple venues over the years—nine of them this round, including The Anchor, Timber Lounge, the Marquee and Tempo. The Carleton’s flagship shows have come to feature the festival’s biggest names backed…
Recent headlines have highlighted that abortion access in Nova Scotia might be the worst in the country. It’s been almost 30 years since the Supreme Court of Canada held that barriers to abortion access may violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and yet in Nova Scotia it’s clear that significant barriers remain. In our…
It seems like it’s impossible lately to go a day without hearing about the rising tensions between North Korea and the United States. The two nations’ equally dramatic leaders, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, have turned the world’s attention toward their political game of who-will-strike-who with a ballistic missile first, and everyone is watching. Well,…
Slut August 24-26 Sir James Dunn Theatre, 6101 University Ave free What is a “slut?” That’s a question that’s been on the minds of over a dozen Halifax women who are bringing Katie Capiello’s play, Slut to the stage, presented by LunaSea Theatre Company. It follows 16-year-old Joey del Marco’s deposition in her sexual assault…
Dhaba Sweets & Spice Shoppe 8 Oland Crescent facebook.com/dhaba002 Dhaba Sweets & Spice Shoppe will launch a new online service in September to cater to communities outside of Halifax who do not have access to traditional Indian sweets or spices. “Lately, we are seeing people come from Cape Breton or Lunenberg on the weekends buying…
Celebrating 25 years in the music festival biz, Halifax Pop Explosion Music Festival and Conference (October 18-21, 2017) has announced even more bands slated to perform this year. Among them are METZ, The Courtneys, Yukon Blonde, Rural Alberta Advantage, Bambii, Ralph, Julie and the Wrong Guys, Partner, Lido Pimienta and Malcolm London. Early bird festival…
Aubrey Plaza continues her summer of weirdness, following up July’s improvised convent romp The Little Hours with the very black comedy Ingrid Goes West. Plaza’s Ingrid is depicted as insane from the outset—the opening scene sees her pepper-spraying a bride after not being invited to the wedding and we soon find out they barely knew…
“Filipinos are known for feasts,” says Mary Panaligan on a break from the lunch rush at Mr. Bern’s BBQ on the Run. “If there’s a birthday party, it’s a feast. We wanted to offer not just street foods, but a feast. You’ll feel like you’ve been to a party.” It’s been just under two weeks…
“We just want to bring something new and fun to Halifax,” says Catherine Luo, regional manager of the Sushi Nami restaurant family. After over a decade of opening sushi and Japanese restaurants across the city, the downtown location of Sushi Nami Royale—which has moved from its Dresden Row home to 1458 Queen Street—will open September…
Tarot: The Road To The Self Thursday August 31, 7-8:30pm Art Bar +Projects 1873 Granville Street free/PWYC Jonathan Stewart says most people associate tarot cards with fortune telling, but there’s much more to learn about them. “I still don’t actually know if I believe in fortune telling,” says Stewart, having first come across tarot as…
Look. I get it. You had your heart broken, and are afraid to commit to someone because you don’t want to go through it all over again. Well. I’m tired of being your friends-with-benefits-girl. I want something more than what we are doing. You are truly a wonderful, handsome, caring man, and I’m so tired…
It’s 2017 and Jale has a “new” song—the gods have smiled upon us. The upcoming Brave New Waves session was recorded in the spring of 1993, remixed by Kevin Komoda that year, and will—finally—be released as a record September 8 (preorder here, limited edition on blue vinyl, oooo). The album features songs that would eventually end up…
<i>Centuries of Silence: The Discovery of the Salzinnes Antiphonal</i> Curator: Judith Dietz Through October 29 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 1723 Hollis Street It’s not uncommon for art galleries and museums to be compared to churches, but the rooms filled with choir songs and religious portraits in Centuries of Silence: The discovery of the Salzinnes Antiphonal…
To the cyclist in the watermelon helmet who tried to pass me while I was coasting on a downhill in a bike lane: the correct way to pass another cyclist is to ring your bell (if you don’t have one, get one! it’s an important safety item) and say “on your left” to indicate where…
Embracing the only real tangible result of the Ivany Report—using the word “Ivany”—the Nova Scotia Community College is honouring Ray Ivany. To that end, NSCC’s waterfront campus will henceforth be known as the Raymond E. Ivany campus. The bold rebrand was announced during a ceremony Tuesday in Dartmouth. “NSCC is a place where youth are…
Are we entering a new Dark Age? Lately, it seems so. News reports are enough to make anyone want to crawl into bed and hide under the covers. But it’s time to rise and shine. To resolve the crises humanity faces, good people must come together. It’s one lesson from Charlottesville, Virginia. It would be…
The municipality’s top planner is out of a job. That’s according to a memo emailed to HRM staff on Tuesday afternoon by chief administrative officer Jacques Dubé. “Please be advised that effective today Bob Bjerke, director of planning and development, is no longer a member of the Halifax Regional Municipality team,” writes Dubé. “We wish…
I have to be honest, this is a very biased review. I have been a huge fan of Three Sheet ever since I saw them open for Shad at the Grawood in 2012. Unbeknownst to me, they had already been on the Halifax scene for many years and I have been fortunate enough to see…
Belgian Beer Fest Sunday August 27, 1pm Stillwell Beer Bar 1672 Barrington Street Stillwell co-owner Chris Reynolds has been on a mission to bring more Belgian beer to the bar’s taps, having travelled and tasted what the country has to offer multiple times. The Belgian takeover of his dreams—“12 kegs and a slew of bottles”—is…
Amy Goodman in Halifax Saturday, September 30, 8-10pm (doors open at 7pm) Ondaatje Theatre, Dalhousie University goodmanhalifax.eventbrite.ca Adding to the list of much-loved journalists heading to Halifax this fall (Scaachi Koul and Peter Mansbridge among them), longtime Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is slated to appear in town this September. Democracy Now! is an independent…
To the driver of the black car that almost hit me on August 19 around midnight. I might have overreacted. True, you almost hit me but I was also wearing all black with my hood up in the rain. Not very easy to see. so sorry cursed you out! —Hard To See
Police commissioner Waye Mason is calling for HRM’s legal team to look into new rules around the department’s use of street checks. On Monday, the city councillor told his colleagues at the Board of Police Commissioners that he’d be making a motion on the matter at its next meeting in September. Mason wants the municipality’s…
Update: This event has since been cancelled. While retirement means slowing down for some, it doesn’t look like former CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge has been sleeping in or taking up gardening: Since stepping down from hosting The National this July—after holding the seat for a whopping 29 years—Canada’s grandpa has been gearing up for a…
I had my dear grandmother visit for a month this summer. She uses adult diapers, which are 10 times stinkier than a baby’s diaper. Halifax requires Haligonians to put their diapers in the clear bag. HALIFAX ONLY PICKS UP MY GARBAGE ONCE EVERY TWO WEEKS! WTF!? THIS SHIT HAS TO GO SOMEWHERE! DON’T JUST LEAVE…
Light some candles, check your horoscope and get ready! Today’s the day that most of North America (Halifax included) will see an astrological event so rare its last appearance was in 1979: The total solar eclipse. Between two and five this afternoon, the moon and sun’s paths will overlap, with the moon passing between the…
I just wanted to applaud The Coast for this week’s issue with the two beautiful humans on the cover. Thanks for including and even—gasp—celebrating people of all shapes and sizes. While we’re all trying to be more tolerant and accepting, overweight people are still routinely discriminated against and ridiculed, with little support from anyone and…
Recycling halifax has new radio ad about “grasscycling.” “Grasscycling is when you let your lawn cuttings fall into your lawn. It is a great new idea and you should try it!” OMFG! City hall is paying someone a good salary to come with…um…nothing! Hey, dumbass! It is called mowing with a mulching blade. It has…
I biked by you crying outside the Old Library the other day. I considered stopping to see if you were all right, but then I decided that that would be kinda intrusive and I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable. Anyway, I hope you are having a better day today! —Concerned Cyclist
Stage Kiss is Sarah Ruhl’s charming comedy about two actors struggling to separate their roles onstage from their roles in romance. A woman (Francine Deschepper) has been away from the stage for many years and is cast in a play opposite her former lover (Christian Murray). As they begin to rehearse an overwrought 1930s melodrama,…
Ritchcraft’s (AKA James Ritchie) newest single, sounds surprisingly happy for being about something so sad. “Park Bench (Let Go)” is the latest from the Haligonian producer and musician, and it’s about that most fertile of songwriting territory—love lost. “The entire song is about an ex-girlfriend,” Ritchie says. “I had a tough break up some years…
It sounds like a line from Trailer Park Boys, but the ASSHOLE that gave my friend from out of town a parking ticket at 7am couldn’t be satisfied with just leaving the ticket and moving on…but sat his bald ego in his pretend cop car and waited for her to come back and leave. But…
More than half a million dollars isn’t bad for a government rebate, especially in the newspaper business. The Chronicle Herald’s Saltwire Network received $664,474 in federal funding this year as a direct result of buying up the competition’s newspapers in Atlantic Canada. It’s money that would have gone to Transcontinental but hadn’t yet been awarded…
10 Anguish and Rapture Thursday // Friday Hannah Genosko takes us on a tour of the gallows of her imagination, exploring experiences of revelation through the perspective of invented, outsider artist Elevia Anne Mitchell. The result? Eerie, scratchy, mixed-media work that blurs the line between religious fervor and mental illness. 9 Summer Cafe Con Sunday…
I’m sure it gets boring behind the counter of a small store, and maybe you hadn’t seen your buddy in ages. Regardless, if someone you don’t know comes in the store it would make good sense not to shit all over another independent business, especially when you don’t know if that ‘new’ customer in your…
When Krista Kirby and Stevie Fort settle into their chairs, flowy, all-black ensembles rustling on their seats, it’d be easy to think the two were sisters. The pair—who curate vintage and thrift finds for their plus-size pop-up shop The Bounty—finish each other’s sentences and share clothes so often they’ve nicknamed pieces. “I didn’t realize how…
Name: Sophie Drapeau and Tobias Age: 27 Spotted: Creighton Street Wearing: Sweater, Zara; jeans, Levi’s; shoes, Vans from Little Burgundy, Halifax Shopping Centre How would you describe your style? Simple, comfortable and sometimes sophisticated. I like to purchase items that are timeless and could be combined in multiple outfits. Who/where do you derive inspiration from…
RCHMND 1869 Granville Street WHO THEY ARE Co-owners of RCHMND, Kristi Smith and Peter MacDonald met while working in Toronto and realized they had a lot in common, including a desire to open a retail concept in Halifax. Since its 2012 opening, RCHMND has become the cultural hub that discerning Haligonians didn’t realize they desperately…
Emma Piirtoniemi’s “Surf and Turf” necklace The perfect statement piece made from carved acrylic, leather and sterling silver by jewellery artist Emma Piirtoniemi. Her work is on display at Studio 21 on Hollis Street until September 12. emma-piirtoniemi.com, $695 Cosmic Tree Essentials’ Elemental Coloration Lipstick in Blackberry Cosmic Tree Essentials is an Annapolis Valley-based company…
Kris Bertin is the Dalí of despair. And that’s a good thing. In his debut collection Bad Things Happen, Bertin writes about the abyssopelagic darkness in which his characters meander with an inexplicable warmth. Agony and anguish are treated with clever prose and the reader oscillates between empathy and the thrill of voyeurism. In “Girl…
OVAV video/EP release w/Dirt Stache, Cringeworthy and Last Call Chernobyl Friday, August 18, 6:30pm Plan B, 2180 Gottingen Street $7 The post-hardcore band OVAV formed when its five members were still teenagers. Now in their early and mid-20s, the music they make—propulsive, dynamic, dark and heartfelt—has grown with them. The new single “A Reflection,” part…
I love a Q&A as much as my collection of ties and shoes—136 and 42 respectively. My mother counted them in an effort to shame me, try again, lady. This being the Fashion Issue, I decided to have a Q&A with some Haligonians whose style I admire. Ellen Yeung style blogger lovebyelle.com @theminimalistedit What’s the…
Anti Fashion 5687 West Street It was an immediate obsession when I discovered Anti Fashion on Instagram—the overall aesthetic oozed vintage Franca Sozzani (former editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue). I had to meet the mastermind behind the brand. Like any artist, Andre Merlo enjoys breaking the rules (of fashion)—he sources clothing from Value Village and estate…
Erica Penton feels as if she’s in a master’s program of one. The (mostly) self-taught seamstress is one year into her handmade wardrobe project, and half of her closet is now made up clothing of her own making. She’d become frustrated with “fast fashion” and had a tough time finding pieces that fit her. Making…
When Tabitha Osler, NSCAD instructor and visionary behind the upcoming children’s line Faire Child Makewear Limited, talks about the environment, her eyes light up: “The world is at a tipping point. Fashion is the second most polluting industry next to oil,” she says. Osler explains that since starting in the industry, at the concept-driven Royal…
It’s been over six months since a progress report was released by the restorative inquiry examining past abuse at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children. Officials plan to have their next update ready for the fall, to be made public shortly after MLAs resume sitting at Province House, says inquiry spokesperson Tony Smith. Smith,…
Comics to the max Please always publish an illustrated The Coast (The Comics Issue, August 10). Don’t ever stop. —Zso Michele, Halifax Mind the geese Three years ago, soon after moving from the countryside to Dartmouth, I witnessed an amazing sight: I couldn’t believe my eyes seeing geese actually using the crosswalks in the city.…
One of my dystopian nightmares (I know that term is redundant but I want to emphasize just how scared and disgusted it makes me) goes like this: At some point in the not-so-distant future, everything that makes Halifax livable, lovable and distinct (common lands, public spaces, historic buildings, heritage neighbourhoods) has been razed and replaced…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Leo (Jul 23-Aug 22) “If you love someone, set them free,” said New Age author Richard Bach. “If they come back, they’re yours; if they don’t, they never were.” By using my well-educated intellect to transmute this hippie-dippie thought into practical advice, I came up with a wise strategy for you to consider…
Q I’ve been wondering: Since there are lesbians out there who occasionally crave cock, does the reverse also happen? Are there gay men who occasionally crave pussy? —This Possible? A There are gay men who watch football—hell, I have it on good authority that some gay men play football, TP. So anything is possible. (Also,…
It was practicality and convenience that sold Kaylin MacKenzie on becoming a condo owner. After years of renting, she’d realized that finding a place she loved wasn’t easy. “When I started crunching the numbers I realized that renting a place I would really like was not going to cost that much less than owning a…
