Back to the Darkside
Dear Dartmouth North, City planning aside, the vast majority of the problems in your community lie within your control. You are the criminals because your children are the criminals. There is nothing to do so they commit crime? Not true. They have no direction or control in their lives so they choose to find it…
Jukebox
To the editor, I am flattered that my synth-pop anthem “Hydrostone” made it onto the playlist-of-the-day recommendation on p.25 of The Student’s Guide to Halifax (August 30), however my stage name is “Jakebox,” not “Jokebox.” I know the song is a bit of a goof, but would you want your professional handle sullied in such…
A Common problem
To the editor, I am so sorry that a woman was viciously beaten in the Common a few nights ago. The police can only do so much; but it is not easy for them to do a job when they know that the law protects the offender while it leaves the victim hanging on for…
The last word
To the editor, I read the letters in The Coast submitted by Alan Ruffman (August 1, August 15) about my book, You Had Better Be White By Six AM—The African Canadian Experience in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Department of Education’s reaction to the book’s use of the word “nigger,” and I was…
O.S.I.S.T.A (On Shoulders I Stand, Tall and Alive
Monetta James exudes charisma, innate acting talent and oodles of potential as a theatrical performer. Her range of expressiveness whether in dance movement (mainly African-centric mimicking the movement of graceful cranes), singing in a clear confident rich alto, or portraying a freedom seeking slave in the American South, a troubled 30s “pop” singer modelled on…
Walk don’t walk
The heavy handed rule that students aren’t allowed to wear hoodies at Citadel High deserves the news coverage it’s getting today. But a look at the school’s student handbook reveals a regulation that will be even harder to obey. Under the heading “GENERAL BEHAVIOURAL EXPECTATIONS” the fourth point says “We will keep high traffic areas…
Bud Hunter’s Life in the Big City or Male Menopause and the Single Guy
The two-barrelled title of Bud Hunter’s play is only the first of Hunter’s many problems. How about (for seconds) opening lines like, “This probably won’t be much fun for you” (oh-so-true) and, “If my childhood had been a factory, they would’ve shut it down years ago due to poor managerial practices and a blatant disregard…
Community College
This morning CBC radio broadcast from the new Community College in Dartmouth. Much was made of the new building’s eco-friendly design and operation which, according to a press release from the college, includes: 98% recycled material in the drywall Extensive use of local products Thermally efficient walls and windows Natural light in public areas Energy…
Bud Hunter’s “Life in the Big City or Male Menopause and the Single Guy”
As Bud Hunter’s one-man play, “Bud Hunter’s Life in the Big City or Male Menopause and the Single Guy” begins, Hunter references “The Sopranos.” Tony talks with Dr. Melfi about his family and past as a means of working through and understanding his current problems and reactions, Hunter points out. To that end, Hunter’s play…
Just Another School Shooting
Hey! Guess what guys? School shootings suck! That’s the message that Just Another School Shooting tries really, really hard to convey, but falls flat at pretty much every turn. The play is centred around four high school students who survived an attack in their Hamilton high school. All the high school archetypes are here –…
Show three
My day starts with a trip to Mic Mac Mall where I find a Herald and see that Stephen Pedersen, who was even there on opening night and not the meh night, has shot a big hole in the show. He really did not dig it at all. “It is a musical, we are the…
Shows One and Two
AUGUST 31 I know 90 percent of the sold out audience, stacked full of the cast’s family members and Coast employees. Every joke hits, every song, uh, sings. Amelia’s tossing in beats and hip swings I’ve never seen before, and Matt L has made the audience his bitch. (So, for that matter, has Matt C.…
The Truth According to Morro and Jasp
It’s as rare as fur on a duck, bicycles that prefer to walk or a chorus line of clog dancing eels. And that is clowns who are genuinely funny. Not like the odious burger shiller. Or those sad sack rubber wranglers fashioning balloon animals at kids birthday parties. No-no-no. I’m talking about real clowns who…
And Sometimes Y
This is a nice surprise. A smart, funny-witty standup delivered (and written) by Kirstin Howell on the roiling turmoil of dating from a single woman’s point of view. Interspersing the commentary, well-chosen, well-sung illustrative songs well-accompanied on a Roland electric keyboard by Adam Theriault (who also doubles as a potential Mr Dreamy “gentleman caller” and…
Righteous
Cory Bowles has presence, he owns the stage. It’s hard to take your eyes off him as he becomes two very different black men in his show “Righteous.” The first man is a smart, tough drug dealer working to support his family. The second is a successful lawyer, fleeing his community and the taunts of…
Hard Candy
Tricky at the best of times with a full cast of stellar players to present a broad comedy that relies heavily on lightning speed, big, big character acting and crisp, well-timed stage business. Perhaps a well-known comparable example of this type of play is Noises Off. Hard Candy (not a theatrical version of the movie…
Dance in a Can
I don’t know much about dance. One of my earliest memories is of being hauled out of a performance of “The Nutcracker” because I kept asking, at the top of my voice, when they were going to talk. Well, Sue Gertridge’s “Dance in a Can” is a perfect introduction to dance for the uninitiated. She…
Billie’s Blues Revisited
There’s a little bit of a lot of things in “Billie’s Blues Revisited.” There are snippets of powerful song from Taryn Della and the late, great Lady Day. There’s poetry by spoken word artists Reed “iZrEAL” Jones and El Jones –poetry that carries you away on rhythmic waves to times and places you’ve never been…
Touring Green – Blog 54: Halifax Final Post (August 17)
In this, my final blog, I would like to thank everyone who supported me as I made the trek; I could not have done it without you. I have said many a time too that I was just a small part of making this whole thing happen and that I was just the lone crowd…
This Is A Play
Maybe, possibly, ought-to-be, this outing of inspired lunacy is a bona fide Fringe hit. Smart, achingly funny (the audience last night spent the better part of their time in the theatre convulsed with laughter) and damned clever. There are four characters in Daniel MacIvor’s play: a Voice Over playwright fretting about theatre’s Big Questions such…
Fringe director diary: The big one
JUNE 6 I drop a note to Chuck Teed: “If I wrote a Law & Order musical for the Fringe, would you write the music?” The reply comes back within minutes: “Fucking right I would.” JULY 18The mail brings news that the musical got accepted. I don’t have a script and only two half-attached actor-musicians.…
A Bar Scene
Allison Amirault’s Fringe offering, A Bar Scene, plays like an extended SNL sketch during which two men and two women (late-twenties/early thirty somethings) over drinks in a “meat market” play kickball with the hoary, age-old question: What is love? We scarcely know at A Bar Scene’s conclusion. Why? This swift comedy of Eros sallies forth…
Director’s Cut: 6 in Under 60
“6 in Under 60” is the kind of thing that one dreams of seeing at the Atlantic Fringe Festival; it’s excellent theatre, put together on a shoestring. Everything about the production is professional, from the performances themselves to the bridges connecting the six plays. The plays run the gamut from weird (“Rex”) to amusing (“Playwriting…
Your Exits are Here and Here – Seven Short Plays About “Love”
Here’s a tip for Bill MacGillivray, the playwright responsible for “Your Exits are Here and Here”: if you have the choice between saying something in 20 words or in 5 words, do it in 5. Please. The play, which contains charming and (almost) believable performances by a young couple who fall in and out of…
Magick
The young people of The King’s Players deserve an ‘A’ for effort, but a ‘D’ for delivery for their production of Garnet Hirst’s “Magick”. It contains some pretty complex magic tricks that need to be executed flawlessly to be believable. They aren’t. The set is attractive and well thought out, but the need to move…
Touring Green – Blog 53: Charlottetown to Halifax (August 11-15)
After the Charlottetown show, I was lucky to have a couple days break for the knee and even though I pushed it vigorously by playing some intense mini-golf on the island. After a couple days, it was time to leave that wonderful place where you can still by pop the way it should be sold,…
…for the local talent involved
Six in Under Sixty: For our money ($6 in this case), the best bang and talent pool for your buck. This play, which reminds us of film experiments like Paris je t’aime and 09/11/01, brings together six of the city’s best directors to produce, as you might have inferred, six plays in under an hour.…
Party for pennies
Looking for a sweet deal? How about 10 cents a track? Instrumental rockers Benefit Party will release their self-titled debut album at Gus’ Pub on September 1, with discs going for the low, low price of 99 cents. Why sell the disc so cheap? “We’d give them away for free but we’re not putting out…
Touring Green – Blog 52: Fredericton to Charlottetown (August 5-11)
After a couple days rest (and almost not enough as the leg situation was getting pretty dire), I departed from Fredericton on a pouring rain day and made the venture late in the day to Sussex as I waited around all morning for a Fed-Ex that was given an incorrect suggested arrival time. No harm,…
Touring Green – Blog 51: Woodstock – Fredericton (August 4)
So today, surprisingly, was the longest stretch on the Trans-Canada that didn’t have anything for about 60km. From Woodstock to King’s Landing, it was a long morning low on water and food fuel to keep the bike legs spinning. Luckily, a huge burger, fries, pie, cinnamon bun, and a jug of water fixed that when…
Shopping Spree
It’s time to face facts: Adrien Labrecque’s apartment is cooler than yours. It’s also open to the general public nine hours a day, six days a week. Labrecque is currently living in the space that houses his new clothing boutique, the Spree Designer’s Market. Living in the fledgling store while he readies it for the…
Common, feel the noise
After an August on the Common that included an armed robbery, a stabbing and this week’s disgusting table-leg beating, the Halifax Regional Police are telling officers to pay closer attention to the park-cum-gauntlet. “I wouldn’t so much call it changes to patrols,” says HRP constable Jeff Carr. “But officers who are assigned to regular patrol…
Brief counselling
To the editor, Thank you for sending Brendan Dunbar to interview me for the article “Partners in grief” (August 23). I’m assuming that it was due to space limitations that my quotes were not completed. For example, “Sometimes I wonder if we actually need a special bereavement group for same-sex relationships,” ended with “but we’ll…
The bright side, part 2
To the editor, As a lifelong resident of North Dartmouth, I find it extremely offensive to have my neighbourhood repeatedly referred to as “the Darkside.” Like any community, we have our share of crime and violence but we also have good people who work constantly to make our neighbourhood a safer place. This article was…
The bright side
To the editor, Regarding “Planning for the worst,” by Jess McDiarmid and “The young and the restless,” by Mike Landry (August 23), I have never read such a negative depiction of the place I call home. There are opportunities and programs for youth here. These articles were also riddled with misinformation: the claim that the…
Crying game
Pac-Man elbow. Space Invaders wrist. Back in the early ’80s, video-game addicts probably suffered from one of these overuse injuries—usually caused by the repetitive motion of jerking a joystick or mashing a fire button—at one point or another. The cure was quick and physically painless—a little rest and ice and you were good to go.…
Full circle Square
While you were off enjoying your summer, the citykept busy. There have been changes ranging from the unveiling of the beautiful “North is Freedom” statue at the North Branch Library, to the dubious installation of a bunch of surveillance cameras on downtown streets. There were plenty of visitors, coming to gawk during the Tall Ships…
Lager league
With doping marring the reputations of many established sports like Major League Baseball and the Tour de France, it’s reassuring to find a game that embraces the blatant use of a controlled substance. At the World Series of Beer Pong, not only is the consumption of alcohol accepted before, during and after competition, it’s encouraged.…
Thrown to the dogs
Last week, Dalhousie University and an animal activist identified as Amy Scott turned Facebook into a bizarre cyber battlefield when they locked horns over the university’s use of animals for medical trials. Dal lashed out at Amy Scott’s Facebook group, “Stop Dogs and Puppies from being murdered at Dalhousie University,” claiming it was “defamatory” and…
Get off!
Listen to our soundtrack to the week MONDAY Impress the ladies (figuratively—we’re all about gender-free fun here) with your love of local culture by checking out the free exhibition openings at Anna Leonowens Gallery (5163 Duke Street, 494-8223), usually every Monday night starting at 5:30pm. If you play your cheese right, you’ll have enough time…
The power of one
“What are you doing to be more environmentally conscious?” That was the question for the day on CBC Radio’s Maritime Noon last week. The next day the CBC aired Ian Hanomansing’s new show, Feeling the Heat, which is devoted to helping people find “ways to balance practical and environmental concerns in their everyday lives.” You…
Pridesville
Just over a month ago, the Halifax Pride festival was in full swing, and the city was abuzz with LGBTQ (that’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual or questioning, to you) activities. There was a film festival curated by Thom Fitzgerald, a Dykes vs. Divas softball game (pitting drag kings against drag queens) and tours on the…
The brilliance dance
It’s less than a week to opening night of the Atlantic Fringe Festival show Billie’s Blues Revisited, and its creator Taryn Della is going over some details with fellow performer El Jones. They are working out the transitions between the different components of the one-hour show, which includes music, stand-up, drama and spoken word. As…
Young and restless
Ah, sweet Halifax: a city known for its sturdy pubs, lively nightlife, bustling music scene and fine local breweries (and delightfully booze-soaked brewery tours). But Halifax is also a university town. Each year, bright-eyed frosh pile into the city, many of them boasting IDs branded with that dreaded scarlet number: 18. If this sounds tragically…
Bedford Prime Time
Liz Feltham steaks out a new chop house in Bedford, and considers it a cut above.
Student body building
Bryan Maycock, chair of NSCAD University’s foundation program, strides down the wide, open corridor on the second floor of the university’s new port campus. He goes right into tour mode—his enthusiasm and anticipation for kicking off the inaugural year in the south end waterfront location is evident. The 200 to 240 foundation students will bypass…
The Nanny Diaries
Scarlett Johansson has appeared in a number of movies by major filmmakers, putting in work for the Coen brothers, Brian De Palma, Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola and Michael Bay. But it’s the more conventional dramatic-comedy The Nanny Diaries that may hold her most interesting performance. The shared writing and directing team of Shari Springer Berman…
Circuit school
Adam Kelly awaits the arrival of his breakfast at a cafe near his north end home. All around him, tables are occupied by groups of friends. Voices and laughter erupt often from one crowd, causing everyone else at the closely neighbouring tables to turn in curiosity, surprise or annoyance. It’s a common enough occurrence. But…
Golden ticket
“Hey!” Dave Azzolini shouts to someone in the room. Azzolini, on the phone from Toronto, is trying to spend the afternoon relaxing. “My brother’s in town,” he explains. “He’s filming me, making me feel uncomfortable…and I’m only in my underwear so it’s even more embarrassing. Leave me alone!” That evening, Azzolini is attending a friend’s…
In yer city
NORTH END Gottingen is jam-packed. Propeller Brewing Co. (2015 Gottingen Street, 422-7767) makes micro-brews and soft drinks. The Marquee Club (2014 Gottingen Street, 423-2072) is a big bar that opens only for special music shows, but if the rumours are true, this may be changing. If you’re down and out, the Salvation Army shelter (2044…
SAVAGE LOVE
Q I’m a high-school girl with big problems. All my life I’ve worn boy clothes and had male friends, mainly because I’m into “male” things like video games and geek stuff. As high school approached, Mother Nature flipped me off with DD breasts and hips that would make Shakira jealous. I don’t even identify as…
Does high school matter?
“For many of you, this is a crucial time in your life. Some of you will continue studies at university; some will go into business while others will join the industrial life of our country… Whatever path you may follow, you have an important role to play.” —Dr. Helen Creighton, address to the graduates, Queen…
The biggest time
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. For the film fan, that is. The 27th edition of the Atlantic Film Festival is almost upon us and its schedule has just been announced. There’s plenty to look forward to: 246 films over 10 days, running from September 13 to 22. For the first time, the…
Bed spread
“Can you imagine,” says Jane Collins, “being 18 years old and being told you can’t go to the bar?” The nurse manager of Saint Mary’s University shakes her head. She’s talking about mumps, but her words could equally apply to the sheer impossibility of “quarantining” students who have contracted a sexually transmitted infection. The back-to-school…
On the lot
“So, ya wanna be in pictures?” You can imagine an agent or a producer, sitting behind a big desk in New York, Los Angeles (or even Toronto, for that matter) asking you the question. You’re young, eager to learn, eager to work, attracted to the glamour of the film business. Maybe it’s not so much…
Passive attack
Huxatable speak “I told my friend WJ that if the camera store where she worked ever chucked out the life-sized cardboard cut-out of Bill Cosby, I would take it home. True to her word, after a small fire at the store, she dumped Bill off, covered in extinguisher foam. At first all five roommates took…
Lord of the rings
Acadian Bus Lines 454-9321 Alcohol and Gaming Authority 424-6160 Atlantic Lottery’s winning lotto numbers 468-1072 Animal control 468-9219 Bin Doctor 462-7468 Canadian Security Intelligence Service 420-5900 The Coast 422-6278 Copyrights/patents 1-800-668-1010 Crime Stoppers 422-8477 Dial-a-Law 420-1888 Dial-a-Message 425-8787 Dial-a-Tire 456-7098 Environment Canada Weather 426-9090 Equifax credit checks 1-800-465-7166 Gambling Problem Help Line 1-888-347-8888 Food Bank…
Fool school
Yo, stupid! Yeah, I’m talking to you, Mister and Miss smart university student. Heh, or rather, Mister and Miss allegedly smart university student. Gee golly, you’ve mastered—aced!—the lowest-common-denominator high school graduation exams and got yourself accepted into the big ivy-covered university. Whoop-dee-frickin-doo. What does that prove? You’re annoying enough to get socially promoted out from…
Photo finish
To celebrate, grab your markers and crayons, and colour me pretty! (click for larger printable version) Want to play again? Try the Table of Contents.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Listen to the dolphin, Pisces, says Rob Brezsny.
Clothing time
Pick an outfit, then scroll down for instructions.illustrations David Howlett, programming Dean GallantDownload an old fashioned paper version of this game here This issue is different from other Coast issuesYou are in charge of what happens this school year. There are social dangers, academic choices, illicit adventures and financial consequences. You must use all of…
Higher education
If you want to know how prevalent cocaine is in Halifax, just ask a friend. Chances are they’ve heard about where to get it or someone who’s used it. Cocaine, once known as the champagne of drugs, has become a $100 can of Red Bull. “It’s become, by far, way more prevalent,” says JP Crowell,…
Choose your own Back to School adventure
You are in charge of what happens this school year. There are social dangers, academic choices, illicit adventures and financial consequences. You must use all of your incredible smarts and style and student loan money to succeed. The wrong decision could result in failing exams, severe hangovers and ramen noodles. The adventure starts here.
