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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.
while waiting a bus stop, you stood there with your filthy cigarette, filling the air with your toxins. As I stood there, I realized that the filthy smoke was touching your filthy tongue, passing your filthy lips, drifting to me and contaminating my mouth and lungs!!!!! I gagged at the thought. I want every non-smoker…
To the deaf woman on the 34 bus this morning who got angry at the driver for what you perceived as missing your stop in front of the TD Building, you owe her an apology. While I appreciate it is frustrating trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t know sign language, you totally overreacted. The…
[Image-1] Let’s say your friend’s band-that’s-actually-pretty-good finally gets a real paying gig at a real bar. To show support, you and your pals head down to said bar to ensure Ellen James’ Tongue (that’s the name of your friend’s band) has an audience. That’s real nice! Keep in mind, though, that your friend’s band needs…
[Image-1] Holy Hotness. To the Chinese guy with the moves like buttah and smile that made my heart melt at the Party Boots Show: I owe you a beer. Thanks for killing the dance floor and burning that guy who thought he knew how to do a proper Russian step! Hopefully I run into you…
As a pedestrian, it makes no sense to me that I need to push a button to cross at traffic lights. Can anyone tell me? I think it looks good on paper, but not in real life. Several times I go to push the button and it’s broken. No light, no beep—what does the law…
[Image-1] What gives you, a 50-year-old man with a smart phone, the right to film 40 women dancing at an outdoor zumba class in a park? You never asked any of us women, you just filmed until I told you to stop. What gives you the privilege to film women for your delectation without a thought to…
[Image-1] Tonight, June 30, you sat down next to me at the Dartmouth Bridge Terminal. You were wearing a bandana and had an amazing smile. We chatted a bit and I gave you a cigarette instead of you rolling a smoke. I was going to ask you your name and for your phone number and just…
I do not understand why The Coast has to provide a voice to people who are so mad at the world. You make it sound like Brexit means that Canada should separate next (not Quebec, but places that probably have not even thought of separating!), or that this will turn in to World War III, that…
To my family member who loves to use me as an emotional and physical punching bag: I can’t do this anymore. My sanity has been in constant flux with your temperament ever since we’ve been children. I can’t pretend to love you anymore. I can’t be in constant fear anymore of your wrath. I need to…
Waxahatchee is the indie solo project of Katie Crutchfield— a project she formed in 2010, after years spent playing in her twin sister’s punk band, P.S. Eliot. Listening to Waxahatchee is like hearing someone read their diary aloud: it’s a sound that’s characterized by melancholy and heartbreak, but it’s still tough as nails. This weekend,…
Halifax’s building boom has a way of getting in your face, whether you actively avoid the sidewalk closures, or not. Cranes are towering, drills be drillin’, and neighbourhoods are being modified and developed. Whether it’s all the result of densifying urban plans or an artificially-propped up real estate market remains to be seen. In any…
An approaching provincial election hasn’t been confirmed, but political hopefuls in Halifax Needham are already shooting for the stars. One of those candidates is filmmaker Paul Kimball, who announced his campaign last week for the riding’s Progressive Conservative nomination after being told he couldn’t run for the New Democrats. Kimball says he originally put…
[Image-1] Feeding more than seven billion people with minimal environmental and climate impacts is no small feat. That parts of the world are plagued by obesity while starvation is rampant elsewhere shows part of the problem revolves around distribution and social equity. But agricultural methods pose some of the biggest challenges. Over the past half…
[Image-1] To the parking officer named “Lloyd” – did you find it extra fulfilling writing me a parking ticket (for which I did not deserve) for not parking within 150mm of the curb (in a parallel park)? Did you realize that my very small car is also half the size of the Jeep or the…
The sidewalk had to be 10 feet wide. I’m hugging the inner side, walking at a normal pace expected of someone that is 6 feet tall. You are of the average height of a Nova Scotian man, swinging your flappy arms overtaking me. Your arm glazes mine… okay, first thought “Wtf, why?” Second thought “Is…
First off to the unqualified clowns who “built” the new long lake trail. Way to fucking go! Tear down a perfectly portioned trail for what? to drive a dump truck through? Don’t know about you but dogs don’t wear work boots nor do people on a sunny day potentially with strollers. Nice work for your…
[Image-1] On Thursday June 28 you called me a fucking asshole, you fucking asshole. You screamed at me that cyclists belong on the road, not the sidewalk. I 100% agree with you, you piece of scum. But it was the Armdale rotary at rush hour, and dying at the hands of a moron driver such…
How you continue to be in operation is beyond me. Sadly Ive had better service on Aeroflot. Do you realize how bad you have to be for Aeroflot to be better than you? —Whoosh
Its been nearly a week and no Brexit bitching? Does anyone even read the news around here any more? Or is everyone just reading the minutes of the city council meetings these days. —Cheerio
[Image-1] “When you are alone — at sea, in the polar dark — an absence can keep you alive. The one you love maintains your mind. But when she’s merely across the city, this is an absence that eats you to the bone.” I think of that excerpt from Anne Michaels’ Fugitive Pieces when I…
Gridlock Festival is the child of co-founders Matt McIntyre and Jeremy MacNeil. It’s something the two have wanted to do for years, and this summer they’ve mustered the funds, energy and guts necessary to take the leap. MacNeil knows the biz—he’s been an independent concert promoter in Halifax for the past 14 years. “I’ve always…
[Image-1] It’s now five downtown businesses that are taking legal action against the government over lost revenues from the Nova Centre’s construction. Wagners law firm announced on Monday that the Economy Shoe Shop on Argyle Street will join the Carleton, Wooden Monkey, Attica and Biscuit General Store in seeking compensation for losses suffered due to…
Halifax’s first community woodworking workshop has found itself a home. Hands-On Halifax, a proposed place for at-home carpenters of all levels to work on their craft, will be moving into 6070 Almon Street (across from the behemoth Rona) in mid-July, doing some work, and opening to the public and its members a few weeks later.…
“I’m spending my kids inheritance” That’s a bumper sticker I read today. That’s fine, it’s your money, do what you want with it. However, it’s not really their inheritance if you’re spending it, it’s just money. My question is, did your parents spend your inherentance? And if so, did they rub your nose in it?…
I take the bus x2/day everyday, and I never cease to be amazed at just how ineffectively and inefficiently our bus system operates: busses routinely 5 mins early (meaning you miss the bus) or 10-15 mins late (meaning you’ve been waiting 20 mins because you show up super early so you don’t miss it being…
[Image-1] This is a pretty big problem in Nova Scotia, but yesterday one of you almost took out a van. To the lazy drivers: if only there was a way for you to indicate to other drivers/cyclists around you that you would like to turn or merge lanes… —A vehicle’s turn signal advocate
[Image-1] Dear council and HRM staff, Today I write to you in regards to the facilitator’s report and the overall progression of the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area. Overall, I am extremely disappointed with the lack of leadership from council on this file. We truly have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this right and create a…
[Image-1] Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners wants 10 years worth of internal audits from the police department released to the public, mostly so they don’t have to read any more embarrassing reports about themselves in the press. At a special meeting held Thursday afternoon, the board listened to HRP chief Jean-Michel Blais, deputy chief Bill…
Emma FitzGerald was midway through her now-popular book Hand Drawn Halifax when she had the idea to make a colouring book version, inviting readers and creative types the opportunity to put their own stamp on her line drawings. “Three years ago in Toronto, I bought a Van Gogh colouring book,” says FitzGerald. “As a kid…
10. Film Screening › Shrek. Saturday, July 2. Who’s better, Shrek or Donkey? Decide for yourself at this dusk screening of the film! Part of the Animated City Outdoor Film Fest, you’ll have the chance to catch this beloved animated flick at Pondside Amphitheatre, Hector Gate, Dartmouth. 9. Food & Drink › Ribfest Halifax. June…
[Image-1] Last week The Coast published an investigation into a previously-unreleased drug exhibit audit done by Halifax Police that had found high rates of missing evidence, insecure storage and poor evidence continuity. As a result, HRM’s Board of Police Commissioners called an emergency meeting this week and several defence lawyers in Halifax are now wondering…
[Image-1] On a sunny Saturday on the waterfront, hundreds of people follow their local foodie instincts to the Seaport market. A short walk down the road, nestled quietly amongst the port infrastructure, a different crowd is gathering inside a small white bungalow to celebrate the International Day of the Seafarer. A handful of retired seafarers…
[Image-1] Really, your Majesty, I thought you were made of bigger tiaras than that! Your people voted out of the European Union with a near-four percent difference—a tiny margin but significant in action. Are you doing so for the right reasons? The sterling silver is taking a beating, which may foreshadow economic slams and employment…
[Image-1] Retiring from council after 25 years doesn’t mean Reg Rankin is retiring from the government payroll. The District 12 councillor has accepted a job offer from the Otter Lake landfill’s Community Monitoring Committee (CMC), and will officially start as its new executive director on November 1. Rankin announced earlier this year that he would…
Emma FitzGerald was midway through her now-popular book Hand Drawn Halifax when she had the idea to make a colouring book version, inviting readers and creative types the opportunity to put their own stamp on her line drawings. “Three years ago in Toronto, I bought a Van Gogh colouring book,” says FitzGerald. “As a kid…
For Sharestha Drall, everything is fuel for her next joke, from the iced chai latte she’s sipping to how people react to her sexuality. Delivering punchline after punchline, her eyebrows shoot up while she watches for a reaction. As an American Indian, “like, called a terrorist type of Indian,” and a self-described queer, Drall says…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cancer (Jun 21-Jul 22) Once upon a time, weren’t you the master builder who never finished building your castle? Weren’t you the exile who wandered aimlessly while fantasizing about the perfect sanctuary of the past or the sweet safety zone of the future? Didn’t you perversely nurture the ache that arose from your…
Q Is it a douchey move to pretend to be a lesbian to avoid unwanted male attention? I’m a straight single woman in my mid-30s and a very plausible lesbian in terms of sartorial stereotypes. Occasionally a guy will hit on me in an awkward or creepy way and I’ll trot out a line about…
Evidence of an evidence problem On last week’s cover story about the police evidence control problem, I feel this is skewed and opinionated (“Continuity errors,” by Jacob Boon). There seems to be an “urban myth” that the police will take seized drugs and traffic them on the street; are you saying this could be true? You…
Mateus Bistro beckons, bright and orange, on Main Street in Mahone Bay. It’s a bright exclamation point on the end of a meandering observation, a dawdle of a drive down along the Lighthouse Trail as it wraps itself around the curves of the coastline. The south shore was made for summer. Fishing villages sit tucked…
Jeffrey Innes lives on Galiano Island, accessible via small car ferry or floatplane from Vancouver, “home to a thriving community of artists, musicians, poets and craftspeople whose work captures the beauty and spirit of Galiano,” as declared by its chamber of commerce. He’s forced to stand in one place to maintain his cell phone connection,…
Rebecca MacKenzie-Hopkins still remembers the first Canadian immigration ceremony she attended. One family of new Canadians “were all wearing their Sunday best, but in red, with red hats. They were ecstatic. They all had flags and were taking photos together,” she recalls, smiling. “I can’t explain how happy it is. You can’t be sad at…
You probably don’t know the name Boi-1da, but maybe you should. Drake’s producer “since day one,” and the person behind jams like Rhianna’s “WORK” and Nicki Minaj’s “High School,” there’s more than a chance his boundary-pushing take on hip-hop has slipped into your Spotify history. Now the Jamaican-born, Toronto-based hitmaker is leaving his 416 area…
