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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.
Debra Granik has made only three features in her career, six or seven years between each, but that small catalogue displays a filmmaker of confidence, depth, grace and uncommon quiet, with a genuine, respectful sense of place. (Kelly Reichardt is also this kind.) Where most directors would rush to fill the space, to make the…
When Ariel Gough and Edwina Govindsamy first met—on a friend date set up by Gough’s mom—there was good energy right away. “I think the first time that we met for coffee at Starbucks, we just clicked and knew that we wanted to start something together. It took us awhile to figure out what that was,”…
Wasabi, sake and pickled ginger are three flavours most people expect to find in a Japanese restaurant, not in a cocktail, but Marika Bouchard thought it was worth a shot. “It’s fun to experiment with the ingredients you think might not work,” Bouchard says. “I love getting behind the bar and creating different things—it’s like…
Allegations of a sexual assault committed 16 years ago by spiritual leader Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is credible, say investigators, and there’s corroborating evidence the Shambhala leadership knew of the incident at the time. An update released this week by Project Sunshine investigators contains new details on an attempted rape that is alleged to have taken…
At long last the dilapidated laundromat on the corner of Agricola and Woodill Streets is being picked up, dusted off and reimagined. Later this summer Cafe Lara will come to life in a renovated version of the 2347 Agricola Street building, aiming to be a neighbourhood space that’s comfortable, inviting and a celebration of the…
AstroTurf looks and feels like grass—in an all-too-perfect way. But it’s not grass. Now the well-known artificial turf’s brand name has taken on a new meaning, referring to purported “grassroots” efforts that are actually funded and supported by industry and political entities. Some people, organizations and campaigns around everything from forestry to fossil fuels look…
This is for the rockin’ gal I met climbing the cliffs at Blomidon this past Sunday looking for amethyst. You were the gem of the day. Regret not exchanging a little more info. Keep on rockin’—Just another rock hound
WHY is every beach in this city a goddamn bio-hazard? Even the relatively remote lake beaches that you have to hike in to are littered with cigarette butts. Do you people think that shit’s not garbage? Do you think the world is your ashtray? Do you think the “government” has an obligation to provide you…
Yesterday, I threw a coin in the fountain and wished for you to be mine. Now, I patiently wait for the universe to do its magic. I can’t wait for results to see what fate has in store for us!—I may be a tad superstitious
I stopped to help you with routine maintenance on your Dad’s Subaru. Hope I was of some use and brightened your day in the midst of a family health crisis. Sorry to introduce myself twice. I was absolutely gaga and couldn’t think straight. Hope I didn’t seem like a blithering idiot! Hope your loved one…
I’m sorry I pissed you off at the corner of Cornwallis and Gottingen! I’m a new cyclist in the city and I’m still learning. It can be very overwhelming sometimes and I won’t get better without practice. It’s like learning to drive a car: Sometimes we make mistakes. Give us newbie cyclists a break sometimes,…
I was in a change room on Saturday and you put the top of your cellphone camera above the wall, stupidly thinking I wouldn’t notice. Well I did notice, and although you got away I wanted you to know your sad and pitiful pervert days are numbered. Think about your mom/sister/daughter/people in your life, and…
To the woman who sarcastically yelled “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be okay!” after our arms bumped downtown on a sidewalk today: WTF is your problem? It’s your fault we collided at all! Maybe try staying on the right instead of forming a wall? Take your shitty passive aggressive comment and shove it. Do you…
To the girl who made fun of me for putting on sunscreen as I was walking down Agricola Street: Really? Sorry that some of us have to reapply frequently, because they care for their health and don’t want to end up looking like a fucking Oompa Loompa like you. Have fun with your faded tattoos…
To the lovely fellow who was having a small yard sale on Agricola Street on Monday: Thank you! My partner and I came to look over your collection of VHS tapes and DVDs and ended up staying to chat. I hope you see this so you can know that we really enjoyed talking with you…
I’m a preacher’s kid and I’m trans. I’m not a believer and I never was but I spent my childhood conscripted into ritual practices, performing a personhood that wasn’t mine, essentially because the family enterprise demanded it. I was expected to be what I was expected to be, not what I am. That I would…
The year 1997 is when Mike Savage first tried—and failed—to enter politics. It’s also the year his father, John Savage, resigned as premier. The mayor joins us in studio to talk about both events and his family’s history in Dartmouth of yore. University of King’s College professor Susan Dodd is also here to discuss the…
“It kinda felt like cultural knowledge FOMO.” That’s how Kat Estacio explains the feeling that became Toronto gong-punk ensemble Pantayo. The group—an all-women collective of immigrant and second-generation Filipinos—grew out of a desire to form a deeper connection with their culture and identities. And so together they dove into the history and sheet music of…
It’s a festival-filled weekend as Lebanese Fest, Cat Fest and the East Coast Kite Fest take off around town, but there’s lots more going on, including Dre Ngozi and Nino Brown melting the dance floor at Lion & Bright and sculptor Robert Murray gets his first solo Nova Scotian show. Monster Jam Saturday, Sunday Jacked-up…
Shakespeare By The Sea opens its first show of the season with Alice in Wonderland. A remount of a previous production, the family show will run in repertoire this summer with Othello and Twelfth Night. This barbershop musical has Alice (Melissa McGoogan) fall through the rabbit hole to learn an important lesson about self-confidence. The show…
…Look into my 10-year-old son’s eyes and tell him the reason you killed his dad you on your car ride home was because he was cycling in front of you and that was an inconvenience.—His Dad
Despite a motion from city hall and explicit media requests, the union that reinstated former Halifax Transit worker Arthur Maddox after he was fired for attempted assault has yet to release a statement in solidarity with members who face racism and discrimination. Halifax CAO Jacques Dubé has already apologized on behalf of HRM after a…
How far have we really come concerning race relations and equity in Nova Scotia since the desegregation policies of the ’50s and the civil rights movement of the ’60s? So close, but yet so far, sums it up. We have made many inroads as people of African descent in regard to building capacity and infrastructure…
Lisette Sumbu, phone to her ear, quickly finds a quiet room at her sister’s house while her brother-in-law babysits her toddler son. She’s holding it together, even belting out a hearty laugh, as she describes a tumultuous year as constituency assistant for Cumberland North MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin. Then her voice cracks. “It broke my heart.…
Fungus EP release w/No, It’s Fine., Dimension Boys, Stand Back Friday, July 6, 10pm Gus’ Pub, 2605 Agricola Street $6/$8 “She been around the block / she don’t like to talk about it,” sings Vivika Ballard on “Fungus Theme,” a swamp-country stomper from her band’s debut EP, D’well, out Friday. Which block she’s talking about…
Hanksfest featuring A League of Their Own July 6-12 (fest runs to Aug 2) Cineplex Park Lane 5657 Spring Garden Road $6.99 cineplex.com/events Tom Hanks is turning 62 on July 9, and to celebrate Cineplex has created Hanksfest, which across the next month will screen four of the actor’s classics, including Apollo 13, Forrest Gump…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) An open letter to Cancerians from Rob Brezsny’s mother, Felice: I want you to know that I played a big role in helping my Cancerian son become the empathetic, creative, thoughtful, crazy character he is today. I nurtured his idiosyncrasies. I made him feel secure and well-loved. My care…
Tony Ince’s failing Dear premier Stephen McNeil, I am very disappointed with your continued acceptance of cabinet minister Tony Ince’s poor performance as the provincial representative for African Nova Scotians. The September 21, 2017 mandate you wrote for minister Ince includes creating a dynamic Black community through issues such as electoral boundary reform, employment, training,…
Q In a recent column, you said you never hear from married couples whose sex life got better and more frequent over the years. Well, now you have. My wife and I were married 24 years ago, and we are currently having more sex and better sex than we did in the first years of…
Jane Kidd, Curious and Material Remains To August 26 Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, 166 Bedford Highway Meticulously and intricately hand-woven, Jane Kidd’s tapestries in Curious explore human agricultural intervention and ideas of a “post-natural” world. In her three distinct series: Wonderland, Curiosities and Land Sentence, she composes strange landscapes and collages, merging botanical…
To all of the people who cut through my neighbourghood during morning rush: Just stop.It is not faster than staying on Quinpool. It just isn’t. Quinpool may seem worse, but there is room for all of those cars. Jubilee doesn’t have that room. It has a shitty three-way stop that takes forever to get through.Yet…
