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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.
Dylan Thompson-Mackay was in high school when he got his first taste of entrepreneurship—even though he didn’t really know it at the time. It was thanks to a pen he’d innocently made in woodshop that happened to catch the attention of the right person on the golf course. “A banker from Toronto tried to buy…
Jay Hildybrant isn’t afraid to play around with ingredients, but the head cidermaker at Chain Yard Urban Cidery never wants to bury the best parts of cider under too much sugar. “For the longest time there’s been a stigmatic idea cider needs to be sweet and needs to taste like apples. To me, it’s time…
“A cool house party where there happens to be really good wine.” We would expect nothing less from Grape Witches swooping into Halifax to pour some magical wines for those attending a party at the Hydrostone Market’s brand new restaurant, The Ostrich Club. To say the least, this Smuggler’s Cove party will be a wine…
Halifax’s Planning and Development lacks clear policy guidelines and consistently fails to meet Charter-mandated timelines for processing new building applications. That’s the conclusion from a new report by HRM’s Office of the Auditor General that was presented Wednesday to council’s audit and finance committee. Among other issues, the OAG says Halifax’s planning staff have no…
Over the past few months, heat records have broken worldwide. In early July, the temperature in Ouargla, Algeria, reached 51.3 C, the highest ever recorded in Africa! Temperatures in the eastern and southwestern United States and southeastern Canada have also hit record highs. In Montreal, people sweltered under temperatures of 36.6 C, the highest ever…
Attention hackers and bored teenagers: the Halifax Regional Police computer systems are woefully insecure and the department has done little to fix the problem over the past 18 months. Auditor general Evangeline Colman-Sadd outlined her office’s concerns about HRP’s cybersecurity in a letter sent July 6 to the Board of Police Commissioners. In the now-public…
To the guy who was shirtless with camo shorts: You truly are a heartthrob! Sorry if I made it awkward as I shyly smiled and our eyes met as I was going by, and if from a distance I was checking you out. Your good mood and all things hunky made me smile bashfully. Make…
I don’t just mean your band, but you DO have excellent stage presence and songwriting skills. You’re very funny and sweet and awkward and I think it’s very cute. You were a good cuddler. Cute dates and snugs would have been plenty. I never wanted anything serious, but I think I scared you. I am…
It was #MeToo moment decades before #MeToo even existed. Gerald Regan, former Nova Scotian premier and Liberal party statesman, brought to court on eight charges of sexual assault against victims as young as 14. Journalist Stephen Kimber was there watching the trial in 1998 when Regan was eventually acquitted. He wrote about the story for The Coast…
I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone have that much fun throwing crushed cans onto a roof. You weren’t very good at it but you sure gave it a solid try. I caught you while walking through and thought you were cute. Keep doing you.—Can Enthusiast
This isn’t so much of a Bitch but more of a friendly, tired shout-out: If it’s past midnight, you should probably turn your bass down. I love your friendly, local nature, but it was two in the morning before the band closed up—which the whole block could hear from their beds, the music amplification shaking…
I’d like to nominate my roommate for making the best breakfast sandwiches in the city. She poaches her eggs the same way she poaches my heart with coffee each morning. Except she actually fries them, and they’re delicious. —Used to be a vegan
I hope you are not injured, I’m not the kind of person to wish that on anyone. But, I hope you fucked up your sports car so bad that you have to take a bus for a year while it is in the shop. Take your keys and throw them away, you should not be…
I was eating a pear. You were walking to your car. We had just finished a late evening yoga class. You were more handsome than Hades but it’s your kind eyes and smile that got me. I thought about how I should have asked for your name the the whole way home. I would love…
Drivers need to stop sneaking around the corner when the lights are all red and the walk sign is two seconds from turning one. WTF is so important that you don’t want to wait and let someone who is trying to get across the street cross? Just because the walk sign isn’t yet on is…
…you’ll give a shit that there’s no air conditioning in the kitchen. You know it’s an issue. It’s been as issue for the last three years. And you know it’s fucking people up: I’ve told you myself—to your face and in writing—about the dizziness and vomitting from the heat. I don’t give a fuck if…
We work together and you are much older than me. I know you’re attracted to me, you said so yourself! I’m into you, and I think that you’re pretty hot. I think we could have some fun, but I’m one shy lady. Let’s smoke a joint and make out or whatever.—girl with the ponytail
Matchstick Theatre ventures deep into the forest with The Woodcutter, a play written by Don Hannah and helmed by its resident director Jake Planinc. An ambitious one-hander, the show rests on the performance of its only actor, Sébastien Labelle. Labelle surrenders himself entirely to the role of Ted, a man navigating the dark forest that…
“Halifax is on fire right now,” says Andrew Flynn, the GM of The Maple’s soon-to-be in-house restaurant, The Exchange on Hollis (1583 Hollis Street). A spin-off of popular Newfoundland spot St. John’s Fish Exchange, the Halifax take on the concept will offer a “premium casual” space that’s seafood forward and aimed at satisfying a cross-section…
Two hundred years ago this summer, Parisians had their minds blown witnessing German Baron Karl von Drais’ new invention, Draisienne or Laufmaschine or “Dandy Horse.” The first two-wheeled bicycle invention would be improved upon over the remainder of the 19th century until 1880s when the new standard bicycle, the safety bicycle took hold. Two hundred years…
It was supposed to be a town hall to rally public support for improving cannabis legislation, but unfortunately, all of the political leaders invited were absent. The Nova Scotia Medicinal Association of Cannabis Dispensaries invited dozens of politicians—including provincial ministers, premier Stephen McNeil and every councillor in HRM—to the Halifax Central Library a week ago…
East coast crafts The crisp white walls house everything you’ve needed to say but have never had the words for before now. Whether you’re from the East Coast or beyond, the cards at Inkwell Modern Handmade Boutique are relatable but with a quirky, you-never-would-have-thought-of-it-yourself, twist. If you’re a Haligonian, you’ll recognize Inkwell by its 97-year-old…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) I pay tribute to your dizzying courage, you wise fool. I stage-whisper “Congratulations!” as you slip away from your hypnotic routine and wander out to the edge of mysterious joy. With a crazy grin of encouragement and my fist pressed against my chest, I salute your efforts to transcend…
Charlotte Day Wilson w/Daniel Caesar Sunday, July 15, 8:30pm Waterfront Stage $32-$38 Charlotte Day Wilson wants you to feel something—but she also acknowledges just how hard it can be to feel anything at all. The self-made R&B singer and producer—now back in her native Toronto after a stint living, studying and fronting local smooth-talkers The…
Jeri Brown Friday, July 13, 11:15pm The Carleton $20 Jeri Brown’s singing is effortless. But make no mistake: Her position as one of jazz music’s most acclaimed contemporary vocalists is the product of decades of hard work. “It is essential that the story is clear,” says Brown, who seems to hold her story with a…
Jo Treggiari, Blood Will Out launch w/Split screening Wednesday, July 18, 6pm Halifax Central Library 5440 Spring Garden Road free Ari Sullivan wakes up at the bottom of an abandoned cistern, concussed and confused with only her wits and tenacity to guide her—how did she get there and how will she possibly escape? That’s the…
The Woodcutter July 11-15, 8pm (and 2pm Sat-Sun) The Bus Stop Theatre 2203 Gottingen Street $20/$15 (students/seniors/unwaged) tickethalifax.com The premise of The Woodcutter is simple: A man, alone in the woods. “You’re not supposed to know whether he’s on the run or just hiking,” says director Jacob Planinc. “Is he a man who’s lost in the…
Daniel Caesar w/Charlotte Day Wilson Sunday, July 15, 8:30pm Waterfront Stage $32-$38 Love, loss, faith, desire and determination—hear it all when Daniel Caesar takes to the Halifax Jazz Festival stage on July 15. Closing out a year which saw the release of his successful debut album Freudian, the singer will serenade audiences with the soulful…
Land of Talk Thursday, July 12, 7pm St. Matthew’s United Church $35 Elizabeth Powell doesn’t have it all figured out, but she sure is trying. The frontperson of acclaimed indie outfit Land of Talk has just returned from a morning run when she answers the phone, full of energy and new revelations. “I had another…
Seeing Cleary now Councillor Shawn Cleary’s attack on the credentials of journalists such as Tim Bousquet or Philip Moscovitch is pure distraction—more bait and switch (“Educating Shawn Cleary about journalism,” Opinionated piece by Philip Moscovitch, June 28). As Bousquet summarizes: “The bottom line is that Cleary ran a campaign explicitly in opposition to Armco’s Willow…
Q Longtime Savage Love fanboy with a bit of a conundrum—and it’s your fault! I’m a bi man in my 30s. To use Charles M. Blow’s word, my bisexuality is “lopsided.” This means that I fall in love with women exclusively, but I love to have sex with men occasionally. My current girlfriend not only…
