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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.
I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m not a teacher nor do I work in the education system. I’m writing this because I’ve read far too many news articles, and status updates, and comments about the work-to-rule situation and am bored to death of the parents that blame their child’s bad grades or…
I like to go at the Emera Oval to skate. I’m a good and fast skater—I think, anyway. How many times do I have to go around the slow skaters on the inside line who are reserved for fast skater and not for beginners and red gliders? How many times have I seen safety people…
I told you a while ago I couldn’t support you anymore, because it wasn’t my responsibility considering the change between us. Which is true in some right and I was/still am very hurt and trying to look out for number one, ya know? This past week was really trying, and you crossed my mind almost…
Two things—when I’m on my neighbourhood walk, I don’t want to have to deal with your fucking pooch jumping on me and you, dumbass owner, giggling how dog must love me. Well, the feeling is far from mutual. And, in my area, the dog shit is EVERYWHERE, every goddamn 30 feet I walk. Don’t you…
[Image-1] The municipality maintains over 220 buildings, but HRM employees who make more than minimum wage only clean seven of them. Mark Cunningham, president of the Civic Workers Union (CUPE 108) says that’s not right. “It’s terrible work. It’s unjust that HRM as an employer would employ, even through third-party contractors, so many minimum-wage workers…
[Image-1] Pay-to-spay A five-year pilot project will kick off later this year to help reduce HRM’s feral cat overpopulation. “This has come a long way since we started [with] Tuxedo Stan and the Tuxedo Party in 2012,” said councillor Stephen Adams. The $50,000-a-year program was developed in consultation with Halifax’s ‘Domestic and Feral Cat Committee,’…
[Image-1] Since the 1950s, almost everything about work in the developed world has changed dramatically. Rapid technological advances continue to render many jobs obsolete. Globalization has shifted employment to parts of the world with the lowest costs and standards. Most households have gone from one income-earner to at least two. Women have fully integrated into…
Bestie, I don’t want to hear it anymore. You went on about being tired of dating douchebags and being single. Everyone in our group is coupled and you’re solo at 38, and that bugs you. Ever wonder why you’re single? You are too picky! You just stopped seeing this really sweet 35-year-old man because he…
I’m a 31-year-old single man who went out with this nice girl for almost three months. I was into her until I found out she was nearly 50K in the hole from student loans to pay for her university business degree. She graduated in 2014 and now only makes about 35K and making the minimum…
…I’ve never lived in any city with its sidewalks awash, year round, in spit gunk of all colours and pools of puke. IT IS DISGUSTING and totally unnecessary, and with treatment-resistant tuberculosis making a comeback, I think it should be tackled as a public health issue. How’s about bringing back anti-spitting by-laws? –Use a public…
[Image-1] After a full year on the picket line, members of the Halifax Typographical Union are concerned the Chronicle Herald newsroom as they know it will not be able to recover—even if an agreement is met. Union supporters rallied across the province Monday to show support for the 55 remaining members of the Herald’s unionized newsroom…
[Image-1] Thirteen of the candidates vying to lead the federal Conservative Party will debate each other next weekend in Halifax. According to a press release from the PC party, Chris Alexander, Maxime Bernier, Steven Blaney, Michael Chong, Kellie Leitch, Pierre Lemieux, Kevin O’Leary, Erin O’Toole, Rick Peterson, Lisa Raitt, Andrew Saxton, Andrew Scheer and Brad…
Thanks to the teachers for standing up to the government to get a fair pay raise and to stop the government’s attacks on the labour movement. Hopefully the deal negotiated doesn’t have any zeroes in it but fills in the first 2 years with at least half a percent raise each while keeping (or making…
Constantly, I’m told to lower my voice, usually while I’m on my cell phone talking to my mother. I explain my mother’s half deaf and still get told to lower my voice. I will not lower my fucking voice!. I’m no different than a caregiver. Understand my situation or you can shut the fuck up.…
While most of us, by now, are familiar with the central library’s gleaming glass and endless shelves, it seems it won’t be the only chic circulation desk much longer: Today, Halifax Public Libraries unveiled its five year plan, a vision of what the city’s 15 branches will look like by 2021. The plan, available on…
Dawn Ferris says it was “overwhelmingly wonderful” to see all the people who packed Grand Parade Square for the Halifax contingent of the Women’s March on Washington. According to Women’s March Canada, 2,500 people turned out to protest the new administration of the United States. Although Donald Trump has been the name on many minds,…
“There is just…a lot of people,” a woman sandwiched behind me blurts out, putting into words what each of us is surely thinking. Of course, it fails to fully deliver meaning, just as the words I am writing will fail. Fail to encapsulate the crackling energy, the swiftness of movement and the raw, desperate, raging,…
The last time PLANifax made a video on the Centre Plan, we discussed the new buildings that are coming up the city. This time, we’re talking about the old buildings—the Victorian, Georgian, pre-World War architecture that we’ve grown to love in Halifax as part of its heritage. Because when you just focus on the buildings,…
The province has avoided a Nova Scotia-wide teacher’s strike—for now, at least. The government and the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU) have reached a tentative agreement as of Friday afternoon. Teachers voted largely in favour of a strike in October. Conflict between the province and the union led to student protests and walk-outs. After teachers…
I am wondering how many other woman have been destroyed by the Family Courts of NS? How many dead beats have gotten away with having their passports returned while they travelled to Costa Rica leaving the wives with no support to feed their children while their family business cooks the books by reducing the husbands…
[Image-1] Nearly three months after they were supposed to take effect, the new salaries of HRM’s city councillors and mayor have yet to be determined—and we have Brampton to blame. Every year, city hall calculates the salaries of councillors and the mayor through a complicated formula that combines compensation figures from several other comparable cities…
[Image-1] Halifax’s Mobile Food Market—the city bus bringing affordable produce to communities with limited access to healthy food—is one step closer to providing year-round service. On Thursday, the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development committee approved a proposal from staff for a 16-week winter mobile food program, as well as supports for a transition year…
[Image-1] Bruce Lourie says Nova Scotia is doing an “exemplary job” when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases—but climate change isn’t the only thing we need to worry about. Lourie is president of the Toronto-based Ivey Foundation and was a guest speaker and one of four panelists discussing Canada’s coal phase-out at a Dalhousie University event on…
10 In Conversation With…Tonya Williams Thursday The former The Young and the Restless star hits the Alderney Landing Theatre for some real talk. Get the details here. 9 Turn The Heat Up: African Dance Saturday Brush up your moves at these classes teaching traditional African dance, dancehall and Afrobeats styles. Email admin@mcafricancamps.com to register and…
Brett Evans wants to squash the stigma around cannabis and do away with the stereotype of lazy “potheads.” He’s invented the DoobTool, a product meant to cater to cannabis users with active lifestyles. “Here’s a tool that will allow you to go hiking and camping,” says Evans, who is based in Halifax. He’s also the…
The Barrowdowns w/Nick Everett, Loveland, The Wooden Sky Friday, January 20, TKpm The Seahorse Tavern $23/$25 If you make a word cloud with all of The Barrowdowns’ social media posts, the word “dancing” stands out above the rest. As the live show developed while playing the festival circuit over the past two years, dancing became…
Villages w/Laurenn Marchand, Sarah Jane Scouten, Justin Rutledge Thursday, January 19, 7:30pm Timber Lounge, 2712 Agricola Street $20 “We didn’t want anything to do with it,” says Matt Ellis, who sings and plays guitar in Villages and grew up in Cape Breton. “Our siblings played the fiddle or the pipe—we wanted to play something loud.…
Two years ago, feeling smothered by a too-hectic life, Melissa Lloyd started doodling aimlessly. No pressure to create, no goal in mind, just pencil and paper. “I love to be busy but I came to a place and I thought enough is enough, I’m not feeling those moments,” says the designer and creator of local…
The Attempted Murder of Laura Jean w/Kurt Inder, LUKA, Jennifer Castle Thursday, January 19, 9pm Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen Street $23/$25 It’s fitting The Attempted Murder of Laura Jean plays a festival called In the Dead of Winter. Images of skulls, typically of human and horse variety, frequent the artwork of her album covers and…
[Image-1] Even though it may seem like the illegality associated with weed today is akin to the criminal severity of something like jaywalking, the fact is that here in Nova Scotia, under many circumstances, having, selling or smoking the stuff could still get you thrown in jail. That’s exactly what may happen to Shirley Martineau,…
[Image-1]When Dawn Ferris first heard the results of the US election, she was devastated. “There’s equal concern here, north of the border,” says the Halifax activist. “If you’re not a white, wealthy, fully able-bodied male under the Trump reign—you’re gonna be negatively impacted over the next four years.” People who share Ferris’ unease are taking…
[Image-1] Most of the beer consumed in Nova Scotia (by a large margin, of over 90 percent) is made by companies owned outside of Canada. We send money from our economy to theirs for something we can make better here. One measurement I invite anyone to make is to calculate the jobs/litre that craft beer…
In Conversation with Tonya Lee Williams Thursday, January 19, 1:30pm Alderney Landing Theatre $30 Tonya Lee Williams begins our phone interview from LA as direct and unflinching as the golden state’s sun: “How did you get onto the path of acting?” I ask, wondering what drew her to the field, what compelled her to play…
Hermes, 5682 North Street To Feb 7 How many different ways can we know things? You can know, for instance, the world’s highest building is in Dubai. You can also know that a fear of heights will mean simply stepping foot in it will cause your skin to prickle with terror. Both forms of truth, along…
Julie Doiron Thursday, January 19, 7:30pm w/Megan Nash, Dan Misha Goldman, Jim Bryson Timber Lounge, 2712 Agricola Street $25 Friday, January 20, 8:30pm w/Daniel Walker Good Robot, 2736 Robie Street $15 Julie Doiron is best known for making broken hearts feel better through song, but she wants to relate to the whole self. “I’m always…
Weird Harbour Espresso Bar 1656 Barrington Street Mon-Fri 7am-5pm Sat 8am-4pm WHO HE IS From the moment you step inside this espresso bar, the sound of old blues, together with the smell of freshly ground coffee, takes you to another world. “It’s a small space to seek shelter,” says owner Dan Weir, whose travels from…
[Image-1] I am writing to correct the numerous factual errors in the opinion piece submitted by Nick Horne regarding Scotian Materials’ proposed mobile asphalt plant. First, some background, Scotian Materials owns a parcel of land at a remote location north of Highway 103. We have been operating a quarry at this location for the last three…
Jennifer Castle w/The Attempted Murder of Laura Jean, Kurt Inder, LUKA Thursday, January 19, 9pm Seahorse Tavern, 2037 Gottingen Street $23/$25 Two years removed from her gorgeous, Polaris Prize-shortlisted album Pink City, Jennifer Castle continues to call out with incisive lyrics and a sharp, effervescent voice. While both Pink City and the new music that…
“One crow sorrow, two crows joy,” begins the nursery rhyme that inspired the name of Mark Huizink, Kelly Huizink and Jeremy Taylor’s new taproom. “The way we kind of think about it is you’re always looking for that second crow,” says Kelly. “Looking for the bright side of things.” 2 Crows Brewing Company’s location at…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aquarius (Jan 20-Feb 18) The word “naysayer” describes a person who’s addicted to expressing negativity. A “yeasayer,” on the other hand, is a person who is prone to expressing optimism. According to my assessment of the astrological omens, you can and should be a creative yeasayer in the coming days—both for the sake…
In 2010, Mike Mills put part of his life story to screen—the part where his elderly father came out as gay. That lovely, delicate movie, Beginners, won an Oscar for Christopher Plummer. With 20th Century Women, Mills has created an ode to his mother and cast her in Annette Bening’s image (what a privilege). It’s…
Q About a year ago, I was pretending to read my boyfriend’s mind and jokingly said, “You want to put it in my ear.” Since then, I have seen references to ear sex (aural sex?) everywhere! There’s even a holiday (Take It in the Ear Day, December 8), and I was reading a book just…
Michael Keaton’s first attempt to really capitalize on his Birdman comeback—he had a minor role in Spotlight—is valiant, but doesn’t add up to much. He’s Ray Kroc, who stole McDonald’s from the actual McDonalds, a pair of corn-fed brothers (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) with virtue and principles, things Kroc abandons almost immediately. We…
Fools Russian The American presidential inauguration may be happening Friday, but I’m still wondering: Were Vladimir Putin and the Russians responsible for Donald Trump’s win? One evident thing about Trump—among so much else—is that he is petrified that his occupancy of the US presidency will be seen as due to Putin and the Russians. His…
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Music in Halifax may be going through some changes—hopefully positive ones—if a motion by south end councillor Waye Mason goes ahead. At Thursday’s meeting of the Community Planning and Economic Development committee, Mason is asking for a live music strategy for HRM. An “industry-led live music working group” would be put together to develop the…
In 2008, Barry Jenkins wrote and directed the best independent drama of that year, Medicine for Melancholy. A quiet two-hander about a one night stand that turned into something more, essentially in real time—with some class and gentrification issues deftly weaved in—it was assured and gentle, poignant and disarming. He brings that same care and…
Kenneth Lonergan’s previous films, You Can Count on Me and Margaret, saw Laura Linney and Anna Paquin in respectively deep, nuanced, layered parts. So it’s a shame that his otherwise very fine Manchester by the Sea strands Michelle Williams, as half of a couple torn apart by tragedy, so that Casey Affleck can mope around…
Like Frozen, Moana is a princess story. Also like Frozen, it has been mismarketed to hide the fact that it’s a female empowerment story. (Unlike Frozen, its songs won’t attach themselves to the backside of your brain.) Moana (Auli’i Cravalho) is heir to the chiefdom of Motunui, a Polynesian island her people haven’t left for…
If you needed a person to save the world through words, of course you’re going to send someone like Amy Adams, whose particular brand of steely warmth—she is kind and empathetic but you should not mistake her for a pushover—has carried her from a bit part on The Office to the top of the movie…
