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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.
“Uhh Uhh Uhh Gotta giddit gotta giddit uhh uhh gotta giddit” You mixin on repeat or wut breh? —Keep the day job brother
Dear readers, It’s time. This year, we’re changing our Best of Halifax Readers’ Choice awards. Since the debut of our readers’ choice survey in 1995—back when the ballots were handwritten and the winners only took up two pages in the paper—we’ve been trying out different ways to make the survey stronger. And with stronger came…
To the inadequate management of this poorly designed apartment building undergoing a full-blown foundation makeover: FUCK YOU. Maybe let your tenants know about construction before you start a six-month long JACKHAMMER job. We work from home, and this is our hell. —Pissed off thesis student
[Image-1] You stole my heart on an island in the dead of winter. Since then we’ve feasted, traveled to space and made the world our mattress. You’ve taught me more than I knew I was capable of learning. No person could make me smile like you, no place could make me feel like home as much…
[Image-1] I moved back east to a “small town” thinking that I would not have to deal with shady contractor handymen carpenters. Boy was I wrong. I am amazed at how many of these “professionals” can barely start a project on time, let alone finish one. This is my chosen profession, to be a contractor,…
Why is it so hard for people to wrap their minds around the fact that when people love each other—or are straight-up fucking each other—they like to smush their junk together? Its a thing. —Trib life
[Image-1] How long did it take you to get to work today? The Coast employs staffers from all across the municipality, which means some lengthy trudging through still-uncleared sidewalks and streets in opening things up this morning. We’re hopeful the roads will clear up before everyone goes home this evening, but that looks like a…
Last night marked Dartmouth’s chapter of The Big Lift neighbourhood meeting hosted by Halifax Harbour Bridges, rescheduled from last Tuesday’s snow shitstorm to, you know, another crappy Tuesday. The bridge’s closest neighbours gathered in the Dartmouth Sportsplex Nantucket Room to a pretty nice spread of squares and coffee and a panel of bridge representatives, each…
[IMage-1] Welcome to The Coast’s ongoing coverage of the Big Lift. Get comfortable, we’re going to be here for a while. For the next 18 months, Halifax and Dartmouth are going to have to get acclimated to reduced use of the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge as significant and necessary repairs aim to extend the life…
Hold up, there’s a pinball machine, a puggle, a WWE wrestling belt, cult movie references and skateboarding? Halifax filmmaker Dave Hung has tapped into my deepest fantasies with his new short, Oddfellows, which screens this Friday at the Oddfellows premiere party at Pro Skates (6451 Quinpool Road). Produced by Our Dynasty, Our Destiny (ODOD), the…
[Image-1] Right now the jagged peaks and valleys of unclean sidewalks along our public roads are an impassable nuisance. But snow banks can be climbed (if you’re able). You can have snowball fights, or go sledding down their slopes. Slush puddles are just gross. You can’t have slush fights. Nobody goes tubing across scummy brown…
[Image-1] Dear American firms/businesses: Please leave Canada and do not return. We do not need your type of jobs or your idea of what “Canada” wants. Please do not come here looking for a free ride (taxes, wages, rebates, et. cetera) since we can give to our own people instead of you coming here and…
Welcome to the local liquor store. Ten employees working. One cash open. Fifteen people in line. —Sobering up waiting
Why in the fuck does the sweat under my breasts smell like Parmesan cheese?? —L’eau de fromage
[Image-1] Thank you every day for being all I need. I’m sorry I neglected you, and I promise I never will again. —All the love
WHAT WE KNOW: Counting Crows haven’t toured across Canada in 15 years. Counting Crows will be, though. This spring. Counting Crows is touring 2014’s Somewhere Under Wonderland. Counting Crows has a reasonable expectation of selling a good number of tickets at the Scotiabank Centre, for the evening of May 21—doors at 7, show at 8.…
As a Newfoundland-based seven piece, Hey Rosetta! is a small indie orchestra. After witnessing their dynamic vistas for nearly a decade, playing dive bars, campus pubs, hotel ballrooms and even going door-to-door caroling (or better known as wassailing in Newfoundland) together a few Christmases ago in St. John’s, it was an honour to experience the…
[Image-1] But it’s still worth giving a shout-out to you (and all the other cool, awesome moms out there that never stop trying to look after their kids). Even if you weren’t my mother, I’d be proud of how much you’ve accomplished and how hard you work. Enjoy retirement, you’ve definitely earned it. —Proud kiddo
[Image-1] To the blonde, bitchy waitress at a certain well-known establishment: I could hear you. I could hear you after you took my order and called me an “uppity bitch” because I asked for a side of bacon with my cheese omelet and you didn’t know how to charge me for it. I watched you…
Free speech is great. Hate speech is not. If I could help it, I would never have an abortion, I don’t agree with the process of having metal tools scrape my insides. But I would let my teeth rot out before I preached to any person that abortion is so wrong. It is so disgusting…
[Image-1] This love goes out to…. Milk and cereal, Cereal and milk and also… Peanut butter jelly time peanut butter jelly time —Childhood favs never get old
Stopping in Dartmouth on their Canada-only tour, San Francisco’s Journey perform July 31 at Alderney Landing (doors 7pm, show 8pm). Q: How many tables will you flip if they don’t play “Don’t Stop Believin'”? A: (in unison) ALL Tickets go on sale, Friday, Feb. 27 (they are $75.50. AHEM), available at the Alderney Landing box…
So here’s a hint: before you start talking about how psychologically abusive people are, maybe think about your actions. For starters, throwing a frying pan at someone and then calling them a little bitch for complaining about it, because you are a female and that someone is a male, is fucking sexist Especially if that…
[Image-1] I park my truck far away from any cars usually at the end of the parking lot. One: so that people can see my company signs on this side and the back. Two: so some A-hole will not park beside me and dent my truck. What happens? Some douche will park right beside me no matter how…
[Image-1] February 1 to 7 is Eating Disorders Awareness Week, an international event that encourages understanding of eating disorders. As psychologists and as scientists who study and treat eating disorders, we recognize eating disorders are often greatly misunderstood, and we want to raise awareness about these common, costly, and impairing disorders. Eating disorders involve serious,…
To the jerk in the reddish Honda speeding down Barrington by Scotia Square around 1 PM today……DOUCHE! A young man had hit the crosswalk button to cross a very busy street, lined with buses and large vehicles. Instead of cars stopping, they just kept going even though the crosswalk lights were flashing indicating he was…
[Image-1] We get a lot of press releases during our day. Some of them are useful, others not so much. Presented without judgment or context, this past month’s weirdest releases. Bending Over Backwards Is For Gymnasts—PsychTests’ Study Reveals Why Being Too Nice Is A Disadvantage “What would Mr. Rogers do if the people who lived…
Just when you thought nothing in the world could make your tiny offspring any cuter Sewn By Blythe—the monster-inspired (the non-scary kind) line of handmade works of Halifax crafter Blythe Church—swoops in with a pre-Valentine’s pop-up shop. Prepare to fall in love this Saturday, January 31, Church’s adorable stuffed monsters (and tooth fairy monsters), leather…
[Image-1] This week’s meeting of Halifax Regional Council was already rescheduled after Tuesday’s moderate snowstorm. Prior commitments on Wednesday meant when the meeting did happen it was considerable shortened. As such, the public will have to wait to hear discussions on stray livestock escaping from farms, cost-sharing bridge repairs, campaign finance reform, strengthening our African…
Yer boys In-Flight Safety have been chosen—along with fellow Canadians Chantal Kreviaziuk and Yukon Blonde—to represent Canada’s chilly and cool musical output during Grammy Week in LA, February 5 at a private affair presented by the Canadian Independent Music Association. Who knew the Grammys needed a whole week though? Good news for the In-Flights, and…
Good things come in small packages, and on small canvases. And Argyle Fine Art (1559 Barrington Street) appreciates those little things, which is why it hosts its Pre-Shrunk sale and exhibit on a yearly basis. And it’s back for you viewing (and buying) pleasure. Here’s how Pre-Shrunk looks by the numbers: each of the 200-plus…
[Image-1] It takes Lucy Wallace two hours, every single day, to shave and cover her facial hair. The 20-year-old transgender woman wants laser hair removal and a tracheal shave to remove her Adam’s apple, but those “cosmetic” procedures aren’t funded by the province. Now, she’s taken to GoFundMe.com to crowdsource the $15,000 she needs and…
[Image-1] In the TD bank at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Birmingham Street, there is a mural-sized photograph of nearby Barrington Street, taken on a warm spring day in 1944. It shows sidewalks crowded with civilians, uniformed CWACs and soldiers on leave. Bright red trolleys roll amongst the cars, flags and awnings hang…
[Image-1] “Price under more heat for sexual harassment than anyone since Merino and gives a final with 69 questions,” reads the Facebook post. “What a boss.” That’s what one Class of DDS 2015 Gentlemen wrote this past spring. He’s referring to current dentistry professor Richard Price, and former Dalhousie professor Arturo Merino. They’re two of…
[Image-1] Dalhousie may be headed to court and they would probably lose. The press conference on January 21 from Bruce and Sarah MacIntosh—lawyers of Ryan Millet, one of 13 students from the DDS Class of 2015 Gentlemen Facebook group—was shocking, sensational and disturbing. The lawyers revealed the multiple violations of procedural fairness that may lead…
WHO HE IS After his rise as a battle rapper, Quake Matthews has been grinding since his 2010 debut, The Myth, laying down tracks with everyone from Laura Roy to Dylan Guthro to Neon Dreams, working with Freeway, appearing in The Source and putting out The Book of Matthew and Corrado. On Friday, the King…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aquarius (Jan 20-Feb 18) In 1899, the king of the African nation of Swaziland died while dancing. His only son, Sobhuza, was soon crowned as his successor, despite being just four months old. It took awhile for the new king to carry out his duties with aplomb, and he needed major guidance from…
“It’s kind of a weird story.” “I got time,” Myles said, awkwardly. He caught himself remembering a detective from a Dick Tracy-type movie saying the same thing to a distressed client at a bar and felt a little embarrassed. Myles waited for her to share. Quiet between people scared Myles. As it—the quiet—lengthens it becomes…
Q I have a dildo that I loooooove, and I was wondering if it’s safe for me to use it in both my ass and my cunt. I would clean it in between uses/orifices, of course, and it has a flared base, so it’s safe for anal play. Can I do this or do I…
There goes the condo-hood YES to Kris McCann’s anger towards people who move into downtown condos and then complain about the noise (“Not in my backyard,” Voice of The City, January 22). I live in a condo in a boring, quiet part of town because my kid needs sleep. I knew that about my family…
My mother studied baking and pastry art at NSCC’s Akerley campus. In the late 1980s all of us kids let go of her apron strings, so she took those strings in her own hands, tied them a little tighter and set off to master croissants and cakes, tortes and tuiles. While she was attending NSCC,…
A small sampling of some fresh local art brains. FYI: Galleries are a great place to warm up and provide just enough inspiration to coast on until the spring. Click here for the full feature.
Wandering into Peter Van Gurp’s recent exhibition at Anna Leonowens Gallery you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d mistakenly walked into a room under construction. A pallet, cardboard boxes, a road work sign, an orange barrier, a length of chain, cinderblocks—Van Gurp’s pieces are so unremarkable in their everyday familiarity that you may not notice…
“Right now I’m focusing on Ancient Aliens theories,” says artist Kyle Martell. “I’ve been watching it a lot on TV and thinking about that. There’s this weird racism in show—it’s like watching a train wreck.” Much like Ancient Aliens, Martell’s work, images of which can be seen on his website/digital sketchbook gorgeorwell.tumblr.com, dwells in the…
Merray Gerges started CRIT in 2012, with NSCAD’s then-student union president Sarah Trower. Three years later, CRIT is still going strong, producing quarterly broadsheet issues—on newsprint. Let it sink in that someone started a physical newspaper in 2012—packed with essays, reviews and interviews about art and artists in Halifax and beyond. Today, Gerges is editor-in-chief…
“I’m a very sentimental person,” says artist Katherine Nakaska. “Sentimentality is one of those feelings that the art world sometimes considers less important than it really is.” Predominately working in photography, Nakaska creates beautiful prints—ephemeral work that suits her darkly romantic subject matter. “I’m interested in themes surrounding memory and tangibility. In the past year…
Brandon Brookbank’s photographs capture places normally packed with life and action, in a state of abandon. These are still friendly places—rec centres, public pools, cardio theatres—but without folks to enjoy them, the photographs have a tree falling in the woods vibe. In his newest work, in an exhibition titled Pools and other nouns, Brookbank made…
Spaces and places Young Offenders Gallery has moved spaces (2130 Gottingen, one floor down) and has some cool projects for winter. BSide Gallery (2180 Gottingen) is really blossoming under the direction of Laura Baker-Roberts, Britt Ward, Emily Lawrence and David Figueroa. Hermes (5682 North) has also come under new leadership, with a group of local…
In the somewhat erroneously named A Most Violent Year—it’s actually one month at the end of said year, which is 1981—Oscar Isaac is Abel Morales, who owns a modest but expanding fuel operation in New York City. Married to a gangster’s daughter (2014 MVP Jessica Chastain, all ice blonde and hard Rs), it’s important to…
Eyelevel Gallery’s annual fundraiser—and chance to get glamourous—is coming up this Saturday night. In its fifth year, Silver and Gold is a semi-formal art function: part exhibition, silent auction and raffle, part cash-bar dance party. The fundraiser takes place at sponsor location Maitland Terrace, to familiarize supporters “with the space of our February exhibit,” director…
Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Until the advent of the birth control movement, both practical considerations and societal expectations placed women firmly on the path of this schoolyard rhyme. In What a Young Wife Ought to Know, playwright Hannah Moscovitch explores the emotional and physical costs of living in a time where fertility could only be…
Owner of Agricola Street’s Afishionado Fishmongers, Hana Nelson, has launched a cooking series teaming up with local chefs and businesses to educate Halifax on cooking local seafood. The Afishionado Chef’s Series Cooking School hosted its first session last month, with Dan Vorstermans, chef and co-owner at Field Guide. The theme of Vorstermans’ evening was the…
