Letters to the Editor
The on-going treatment of the Khyber Arts Society (KAS) and now the Khyber Performing Arts Society (KPAS), by the city of Halifax makes me in turn sad and angry. The club has not only hosted innumerable artist talks, panel discussions andpost-opening parties, not to mention performances, including many with SmallWooden Shoe – but most importantly…
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor: I cannot even begin to describe to you the level of horror and revulsion I felt upon seeing the full-page ad you ran in today’s Coast for a smokeless tobacco product. This is absolutely unacceptable. Smokeless tobacco is a major cause of brutal and incurable forms of cancer. Perhaps your readers would like…
By the Found
An Anablog operative was reading a recent issue of Found magazine — the one “dedicated solely to printing ‘found’ items, e.g., hilarious teenage break-up letters, fucked-up grocery lists, awkward rejection notices,” she clarifies — and noticed some Halifax content. One story is an interview with local MC and producer Classified (fun fact: he went to…
Showing off
Haligonians have been flooded with concert-going opportunities over the past week, providing us with lots of music-related talk other than Coldplay On the local hip-hop front is a new record from scene veteran DJ IV, the second volume in his Exit O series. He’ll release it February 3 at The Warehouse with appearances from Microphone…
One stop shopping
Club NRG and Showtunes are closed, and the first-floor space at 2215 Gottingen is now home to Blue Moon Bistro and a new after-hours club. Owners Chris Robinson and John Dickinson are looking to create a fresh atmosphere inspired by a “New Orleans-type style”; they plan to host lots of live music including jazz, soul…
A taxing problem
Sheila Fraser may very well be Canada’s most popular civil servant. After filing her February 2004 Auditor General’s report outlining, among other things, the shameful and probably criminal pilfering of public funds that we’ve come to know as “the sponsorship scandal,” Fraser started receiving cards and letters of thanks from Canadians. A couple from Cape…
Furry friends not fashion
To the editor, I have received emails and phone calls about how happy people are that Mitchell Furs on Quinpool Road is closing; asking if I, as a local animal rights activist, know why. The fact of the matter: who cares why it is closing as long as it is? The fur industry has its…
Cut to the chase
To the editor, Regarding the article “MacDonald Bridge” in last week’s issue: Andrew Terris has repeatedly stated both in your article and other venues that the Nova Scotia Arts Council being shut down and the Cultural Federations having their budgets cut in 2002 coincided with the launch of the Nova Scotia Music Sector Strategy. In…
Best Local Album
La De Da, Joel Plaskett Joel Plaskett indirectly made a long-term investment to receive at least some Best of Music votes when he wrote “Love This Town,” a song about his love for his hometown Halifax. “It used to be the question, ‘Do you know Sloan?’” Plaskett says from PEI where he’s doing pre-production for…
Best Recording Studio
Ultramagnetic Studios Charles Austin, co-owner of Ultramagnetic Studios AKA the Mullet, knows why his business wins time and again in this poll—he stays hella busy. The producer worked on almost 40 projects last year, recording material for a list of Halifax acts that reads like a guide to local musicians to watch, including Buck 65,…
Dog’s breakfast
Wondering what to make for supper on Chinese New Year, we talked to Jai Tsu Thompson, president of the Mu Lan Chinese Cultural Centre on Lower Water Street. She filled us in on some tasty traditions. Is there a traditional meal to celebrate Chinese New Year?There are two types of celebrations: a formal, public meal…
Best Canadian Band
The Tragically Hip The fab five reportedly lost a ton of royalty money when radio stations pulled their oft-played hit “New Orleans is Sinking” from the airwaves in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. But, after 22 years, not even a natural disaster could stop Coast readers from selecting the pride of Kingston, Ontario, as “Yer…
Best Radio Station
CKDU Diversity is a key ingredient for CKDU with news and spoken word programming, and music shows covering styles like Latin, Arabic, electronic, indie rock and more. The most visible public radio station in Halifax besides the CBC, CKDU garnered votes from dedicated listeners, some of whom are members of the station. Those who live…
SAVAGE LOVE
Dan Savage gives good advice, even in the face of insults.
Best Canadian Solo Female
Feist If there were any doubts as to her status on the Canadian music scene, they were officially destroyed after her recent weekend stint in Halifax. The two-time Juno winner put on the best shows of early 2006 with an amazing voice and breathtaking versions of material from Let It Die. “I guess because I…
Best Tour You Wish Came To Halifax
U2 Vertigo tour While Halifax played host to some pretty sweet shows this year, we still missed out on some of the biggies. Despite continued rumours of an outdoor show on the tarmac at CFB Shearwater, U2 decided to avoid our part of the country. But that’s OK, they’re bound to make their way here…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Name everything and watch your world improve, Aquarius, says Rob Brezsny.
Best Canadian Album
Nickelback, All The Right Reasons It may not have won over critics but it certainly was one of the biggest albums of the year. Whatever the reasons for a Nickelback win—the marketing machine? Chad Kroeger’s hair?—it’s hard to deny the impact of the Alberta-bred, Vancouver-based band. A simultaneous number one album in Canada and the…
Best Local Band
Wintersleep Wintersleep ruled the Best of Music poll this year, nabbing five categories that highlight not only their music, but also their album artwork (created by James Mejia) and super slick video for “Danse Macabre” (directed by Sean Wainsteim of Ghostmilk Studios, who also made “Sore”), which just happened to contain a couple of visual…
Savage Love wextra
Last week you wrote this about your readers’ responses to WILLIE and FS: “I find it odd that no long letters arrived laying out what FS was doing wrong. Is it always the man’s fault, I wonder? If something is going wrong in a couple’s sex life, the man must be to blame?” I wanted…
Best Female Solo Artist
Jill Barber While 2005 wasn’t an incredibly busy year for Jill Barber, the Port Credit, Ontario, native assures us that we’ll be hearing much more from her in 2006. “I’m just really pleasantly taken aback,” she says of her third consecutive win in this category. “It’s nice to know that even if I’m not out…
Most Likely To Move To Toronto
Wintersleep Wintersleep ruled the Best of Music poll this year, nabbing five categories that highlight not only their music, but also their album artwork (created by James Mejia) and super slick video for “Danse Macabre” (directed by Sean Wainsteim of Ghostmilk Studios, who also made “Sore”), which just happened to contain a couple of visual…
Best New Artist
Jon McKiel Amherst singer-songwriter Jon McKiel moved to Halifax five years ago and has been playing around town for a while, but it wasn’t until recently that he started getting serious about music. “I felt like it was time to get my shit together and get the songs out there,” he says of his music,…
Best Canadian Video
Wintersleep Wintersleep ruled the Best of Music poll this year, nabbing five categories that highlight not only their music, but also their album artwork (created by James Mejia) and super slick video for “Danse Macabre” (directed by Sean Wainsteim of Ghostmilk Studios, who also made “Sore”), which just happened to contain a couple of visual…
Best Local DJ
Skratch Bastid He now lives in Montreal, but Skratch Bastid AKA Paul Murphy still considers himself a Haligonian, travelling back to his hometown to play shows every month. He also stayed visible in 2005, releasing his first full-length of originals, Taking Care of Business, and placing second at the Canadian DMC DJ competition. It’s the…
Best Video
“Danse Macabre”, Wintersleep Wintersleep ruled the Best of Music poll this year, nabbing five categories that highlight not only their music, but also their album artwork (created by James Mejia) and super slick video for “Danse Macabre” (directed by Sean Wainsteim of Ghostmilk Studios, who also made “Sore”), which just happened to contain a couple…
Best Local MC
Jesse Dangerously Although it’s been a great year for Halifax hip-hop regular Jesse Dangerously, he recently stumbled upon some bad luck, losing his job in property law. Hopefully his first win as best rapper in Hal-town will cheer him up. “I was fired yesterday, so I would say that rap is my living,” he says.…
Best Local Album Artwork
Wintersleep, Wintersleep Wintersleep ruled the Best of Music poll this year, nabbing five categories that highlight not only their music, but also their album artwork (created by James Mejia) and super slick video for “Danse Macabre” (directed by Sean Wainsteim of Ghostmilk Studios, who also made “Sore”), which just happened to contain a couple of…
Best Karaoke Host
Jackie Smith According to Coast readers, the number one name in Halifax karaoke is Jackie Smith, and for good reason. A 30-year veteran of the music business, he’s by far the busiest karaoke host in town, with weekly events at Cheers (Mondays), The Parkside Pub (Wednesdays), The Colby Beverage Room (Thursdays, Fridays) and other special…
Brightening the right
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. These are what shrinks call the “stages of grief,” steps a person has to go through before fully coming to terms with a traumatic event. Consider the shock of hearing the words “prime minister Stephen Harper” for the first time. I couldn’t believe it (denial), then I expressed dismay about…
Best Local Cover Band
Shameless Pardon the pun, but members from Shameless aren’t ashamed to share their band motto, “The more you drink, the better we get.” Or perhaps it’s the sheer hard work that makes the energetic cover band the best of its kind for the third year in a row. The group knows upwards of 100 songs…
Supreme court
In a small auditorium in the Dalhousie architecture building, roughly 250 people came to debate the future of the area near Spring Garden Road and Queen Street. By the time the meeting got underway at 7:00 pm, there were no more seats. When Mark Reid of Urban Strategies Inc. formally began his presentation, audience members…
Best Single
Matt Mays and El Torpedo, “Cocaine Cowgirl” More than any other east coast act, Matt Mays and El Torpedo gained the most exposure in 2005. One of CBC hockey host Ron MacLean’s favourite groups, the Torpedo single “Cocaine Cowgirl” hit number three on the most-played rock radio tracks of the year in Canada. The mysterious…
Fire hosed
Chris Dabrowski says he’s afraid he’s on the hook for $26,000—money that the computer science student doesn’t have because he didn’t have tenant’s insurance during an accidental fire set by his roommate three years ago. That’s about one-third of the amount Dabrowski’s former landlord, Jay Abbass, is seeking as subrogated costs he incurred to fix…
Best Canadian Single
Matt Mays and El Torpedo, “Cocaine Cowgirl” More than any other east coast act, Matt Mays and El Torpedo gained the most exposure in 2005. One of CBC hockey host Ron MacLean’s favourite groups, the Torpedo single “Cocaine Cowgirl” hit number three on the most-played rock radio tracks of the year in Canada. The mysterious…
Risky business
You can almost hear the strains of a Johnny Cash tune when Tory leadership hopeful Bill Black saunters into the room. He’s dressed entirely in black. Black shoes. Charcoal pants. Black belt. Black shirt, loose fitting, open at the neck and perfectly ironed. Two identical gold pens peek from its pocket. The 54-year-old candidate also…
Best Independent Record Label
Dependent Music For the third year in a row, you’ve named Dependent—the home of Jill Barber, Brian Borcherdt, Contrived, heavy meadows, Wintersleep and a slew of other local faves—as the Best Local Independent Record Label. “I think we just have a solid group of artists that release great records,” says Wintersleep’s Jud Haynes, who also…
Best of Music 2006
Best Canadian Male MusicianBest Local Male Musician Best Local Album La De DaJoel Plaskett Joel Plaskett indirectly made a long-term investment to receive at least some Best of Music votes when he wrote “Love This Town,” a song about his love for his hometown Halifax. “It used to be the question, ‘Do you know Sloan?’”…
Under snow
The dark, cold months of January and February are traditionally slow ones for the Canadian movie business. There may be the odd series that shoots right through to March, but it’s rare that an American production will shoot anywhere in Canada right now. Filmmakers would rather not come up here when it’s cold, especially if…
Best Live Show In The Past Year
Pearl Jam, September 22 at the Halifax Metro Centre It’s been a decade since Pearl Jam was in its prime, but that didn’t stop Halifax showgoers from buying all the tickets in a matter of hours. “It proved to me that they’re still a really great band,” says Mike D’Eon, who attended the show even…
Curry on
Don’t feel bad if you don’t know about Andrea Curry. The shy, soft-spoken 25-year-old admits that she’s been under the radar on the local singer-songwriter scene. But that could change after the East Coast Music Awards take place later this month in Charlottetown. The Cape Breton-raised, Halifax-based musician is up for three awards: female artist…
Best Canadian Solo Male
Joel Plaskett Joel Plaskett indirectly made a long-term investment to receive at least some Best of Music votes when he wrote “Love This Town,” a song about his love for his hometown Halifax. “It used to be the question, ‘Do you know Sloan?’” Plaskett says from PEI where he’s doing pre-production for Two Hours Traffic’s…
Best Live Music Venue
The Marquee Club The Marquee Club may not have a cabaret license anymore, but it’s found a niche in the Halifax music scene as the venue for special events. Some of the best shows of 2005 played out at The Marquee, including Broken Social Scene with Stars last winter; the K’Naan performance at the Halifax…
The Matador
Uptight suburbanites feel edgy when they befriend a killer. That shallow but funny joke in The Matador shouldn’t work at all — the target is both easy and exhausted. Movies that poke fun at middle-class values are mostly based in the experience of watching other movies. Kids who grew up in the suburbs develop an…
Best Male Solo Artist
Joel Plaskett Joel Plaskett indirectly made a long-term investment to receive at least some Best of Music votes when he wrote “Love This Town,” a song about his love for his hometown Halifax. “It used to be the question, ‘Do you know Sloan?’” Plaskett says from PEI where he’s doing pre-production for Two Hours Traffic’s…
Best Music Festival
Halifax Pop Explosion Mix a little K’Naan with some Ted Leo, add some Japanther plus a dash of Kate & Anna McGarrigle and what do you get? According to you, the Best Local Music Festival! “We plan on doing more work to expand the festival to include other genres,” says Halifax Pop Explosion Talent Director…
Good Jean’s
If you were ordering Chinese to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Dog, you wouldn’t be barking up the wrong tree (sorry, couldn’t resist) if you picked Jean’s Chinese. This eatery makes its home in the former Pita Boys on the Robie end of Spring Garden, in an unassuming dining room decorated in a spare…
