Drone Day promotes maximum minimalism
Man, do you hear that? Is my phone buzzing? Yes, it probably is, but if you find yourself thinking that on Saturday, May 10, please consider Drone Day. With listening parties and shows taking place all over the country in honour of the drone, Drone Day promises to be the ultimate gateway drug to experimental…
More Than I Appear
An equal balance lies within, angelic and dark sin. No one could guess as I walk beside, what is truly on the inside. Perceptions of me, they make in their mind. It’s not their fault they are blind. To let one in on my little secret, my heart must decide as the angel knows what…
To a true friend…
As tears roll down my face, I feel lost in this place. Sad beyond all compare, knowing you were so near. Wishing I was the perfect fit, for you, your heart a place to sit. Knowing this is not the case, friendship I welcome and will face. I am stronger than I appear, you will…
We were having a great day, until…
To the barista at a certain north-end coffee spot: Yes, the kid we were with gingerly opened the door marked Employees Only. Good eye. I hope you feel good about intimidating paying customers into leaving (while implying criminal activity) over someone (with special needs) curiously peeking into your kitchen. You’re a bully, you made me…
YES, I DO UNDERSTAND
I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU TOO. -WILL WAIT UNTIL YOU FIND A WAY
Nova Scotia power
Recent earnings, you cannot be fucking serious. -Lights Off All The Time
Hold The Door
Why is it that when someone lets a door close in my face, it is almost ALWAYS a middle-aged to older woman? I guess I know why, but it feels good to bitch about it. Look behind you, ladies. -SociallyEnabled
Deal With Your Butts!
Smokers, why do you think it’s OK to litter? Deal with your own garbage. The city is filthy with your casually tossed butts. There is NO excuse for it. Most of you likely wouldn’t toss a candy wrapper on the ground, but feel it’s perfectly normal to nonchalantly drop your spent smoke anywhere you happen…
Bus Drivers
I know the bus drivers in this city take a lot of criticism. But I witnessed two situations yesterday where bus drivers went out of their way to help people. I saw a bus somehow signal to another bus to wait at a stop so that a passenger could hop off one bus and run…
Also, What’s Up
Cheers, but also, cheers. What’s up? Niiiiiice. Cheers dude. Nice, but also, cheers. What’s up? -Cheers
I Don’t Know What To Do
I don’t know what to say/ideas, words, rhymes/they’ve all gone away/Most were quite easy/a nicknack or so didn’t take more than an Inkling to know/You on the other hand/you’re a hard nut to crack/I think I’ve got it perfect/then my mind reels back/But see that’s the problem/I know that it is/this thing that I’m looking…
Dearest Deadly World
When a real angel walks among the rest of us sadistic balls of angst, selfishness and desires, you’d think you could treat her with a little more kindness instead of tearing off her wings and leaving her to bleed to death behind a locked door. She’s banging on that door with all the strength she…
A Lovers’ Dance
A lovers’ dance is patient and kind It feeds your heart, soul and mind It brings you joy and happiness within Knowing that he or she will be with you Through thick and thin. A lovers’ dance can be recaptured Only if the partner’s heart has not been Fractured. A lovers’ dance has no mistakes…
Be Honest About Your Feelings FFS
For fuck’s sake, just honest be honest about your feelings. All the cutesy poetic love rants are incredibly fucking annoying and speak to the cowardice of people. If you are into someone, just fucking tell them already. Nobody reads the Love the Way We Love and says, ‘Oh I wish some anonymous person will leave…
Mindless Self-Indulgence
Am I the only human being in this world that finds people who text 24/7 annoying? What is so goddamn important that you have to have your head buried in your phone? You text on the street and walk out in front of my car, at work, at a bank, at a grocery store, in…
This Country And Province
I wish, in this fractured place there existed a prayer, as strong as my disbelief or, in failing that, my uncertainty. -WTF Are We Doing?!
Boorish Girls On Bus
To the four girls who hogged seats on the bus: All I wanted was to sit down on a crowded bus and I did not mean to “touch” you (which I did not). The girl was right in saying you need to grow up and show some respect and manners—it’s a good thing there were…
Urban Planning? Wuzzat?
You would think that a two- or three-storey church/tabernacle the size of a fucking football field built right in the heart of of the g.d. peninsula might have given some thought to a fucking parking lot of some size—any size, really. Instead, for those of us with no driveways in this dense old urban ‘hood,…
Trying Is Just As Hard As Being A Quarterback
The Rhythm of My Heartbeat You have stolen the very breath straight from my chest. Restructured my thoughts as I am falling so quick. Twinkling bright stars burning deep within the sky. The forecast it seems a love-storm is brewing tonight. You fascinate me with written words painted from your imagination. Beauty that seeps deeper…
Just Love Dogs
I rarely find excuses to look up from the sidewalk, downtown streets almost memorized. That cute little dog with all the confidence in the world must have been reflected by its owner. You smiled. Wow, you smiled. -In Slippers And Sunglasses On A Sunday
Dartmouth EMTs
Thank you to the EMTs EHO showed up even when I insisted on taking a taxi. You were truly professional, yet human. I was concerned, yet comfortable. I had no idea what your work entailed, but when we got to the hospital, you stayed with me until a bed/pod was found. Again, thank you for…
Tangerine
I sit here with more emotion than words can express. Honour and privileged comes to mind but they still do not suffice. If your intent was to scare me off, you have been unsuccessful. If anything, you have drawn me closer. The mirrors in our homes, our inward thoughts of our souls…the whole truth, they…
Yay! Halifax! Pffttt!
This shithole of a city belongs to a shithole of a province. This place is bad now, and will NOT get better. From the little thug assholes stabbing and shooting each other to the adults being ignorant, waste-of-oxygen human beings. The tax rate, NS Power rip-off, water hikes, rent prices for shitholes while working for…
What Is Wrong With the Single Guys HERE?
You got two job offers for the same type of position, one here for $20/hour, and one out in Calgary for $32/hour. You took the Calgary offer, of course, since it pays better—makes sense. What doesn’t really make sense to me is the other main reason you chose it. “I’m tired of being single,” you…
Statement’s moving to Sunnyside Mall
Longtime Agricola Street shopping staple Statement (2606 Agricola Street) is looking on the Sunny side of things. The Sunnyside Mall (1595 Bedford Highway), that is. The furniture store, which has been sharing a space with FRED. food beauty art for about a year, will make the big move on May 31, with the hope of…
Gray Jacket Mornings
To the gorgeous man I’ve recently begun to cross paths with in the morning—next time I’m going to try a “Hi.” I have a feeling we have more in common than our choice in outerwear. -Coffeerush
Office Boy
I have caught your eye multiple times, and can’t help feeling my heart pound every time. You interest me a lot, and I would be more than happy to share a cab ride home with you again. -The Yellow Umbrella
Tired of Being Assaulted
I am tired of being assaulted by skanky cigarette smoke at every bus stop I need to go visit. You know who you are: you’re entitled to smoke where you please, just because you are outside. Well I consider it an assault to my person and criminal negligence that you are within 13 feet of…
Carrots and Picka-dots
The same cliques still exist. The cool carrots live it up, make the money, get laid, are liked by many. The poor picka-dots have to suffer, live boring lives and get action by few sexual partners because not many like them. Will there ever be a world where everyone is equal? Where there are no…
The Olympic Symphonium take a chance on something new
New Brunswick’s long-running folk-pop group, The Olympic Symphonium (Nick Cobham, Kyle Cunjak and Graeme Walker) has ventured into unexplored grounds and reached a new level of musicality and collaboration. Olympic Symphonium just released its fourth studio album, Chance To Fate, and Cunjak thinks it’s their best one yet. The band took the plunge and got…
Online Dating Sucks Already
I’m really off to a good start. The first guy I wrote to on this dating site just wrote back and told me he only dates hot girls and that it must have taken a lot of courage for me to message him. -Single Chick
Stop Bleeding
Stop bleeding said the knife I would if I could said the cut. Stop bleeding you make me messy with the blood. I’m sorry said the cut. Stop or I will sink in farther said the knife. Don’t said the cut. The knife did not say it couldn’t help it but it sank in farther.…
Best Friend Love
We are so compatible and I think we both know that. No one is more fun to talk to than you. I know we fucked this up in the past, but I really think we could have a shot this time. Any barriers, at least on my side, are purely artificial and serve only as…
Get Over It
To the customers who become irate and/or rude about debit fees: The simplest solution to your outrage is not to use your debit. I work at a store and hear the same remarks every day, the most prevalent being, “So you’re telling me I have to pay to use my card and spend money here?”…
Lawtons Girl
Your smile brightens up my entire day whenever you are at the cash, tall short- haired Lawtons girl. It ripples through my encounters with the world, causing me to treat those I work with better and beyond. It’s a soft, sweetly melancholy, big-lipped far-reaching smile you have there, Lawtons girl, and the city is better…
Say What You Need To Say!
I am so tired of people beating around the bush and being whiny victims of life. Be honest! Say what you mean, and mean what you say. I can’t guess what you want, and I don’t say things I don’t mean. Get over it. Honesty is the best policy. -Just Want Some Truth
Your Man Is A Coward and A Cheat
I don’t know you but I do know your boyfriend. He says he is with you because of the daughter you share, but claims that you are one lazy bitch and he’s tired of carrying your ass. He’s got a “friend” that you don’t know. When I say friend, I mean friend only, but if…
NORTHWEST ARM DRIVERS
…right lane is for driving, left lane is for passing. It’s not rocket science: drive in the right hand lane, pass in the left. If they are tailgating you in the right hand lane, give them the finger, they are assholes. If they are tailgating you in the left lane, move over, let them pass…
Waterfront wants public voice in Bedford
This week, residents of Bedford will have an opportunity to discuss the waterfront development that has been on hold for almost four years. The Mill Cove development was stopped after the release of the Bedford Waterfront Planning Study in June 2010. Though the report claimed residents were consulted about plans to develop the area, Waterfront…
Gord Downie, The Sadies, and The Conquering Sun
Downie’s time outside The Tragically Hip has been a bit of a space walk, teetering toward performance rant. It’s reassuring to find him in front of a band as solid as The Sadies, who benefit from Downie’s charisma. At times, you’d swear it is The Hip. The Sadies are capable chameleons. They can play country…
Seabright to overseas
“It doesn’t get better than the Seahorse or Gus’ Pub,” says Ivy Matheson, who’s been to her fair share of swanky clubs. Matheson’s posed on the cover of Elle Singapore and Elle Girl Korea. She’s been featured in an editorial spread for Marie Claire Australia, has walked in Toronto, New York and Tokyo’s fashion weeks,…
Mitch Fraser
Big on pop culture, Mitch Fraser’s designs are influenced mainly by hip-hop, and are extremely wearable. “I’m always trying to challenge myself to take something basic, like the classic T-shirt, and see just how complicated I can make it,” says the NSCAD student. His collections were inspired by the Fast and Furious series and his…
Alyson Samways
This NSCAD student has been interested in fashion for as long as her memory serves. “I started designing the moment I figured out I could cut up something I already owned and manipulate it into something I liked better,” says Samways. Her clean, minimalist look “considers contemporary art and its effect on fashion trends.” This…
Bisexual or hobbyist?
Q I’ve heard your calls for bisexuals to come out to their friends and family, and I think it’s a great idea. Here’s my conundrum: I’m not sure I technically classify as “bisexual.” I’m a 40-year-old guy who strongly prefers sex with women to men (percentage-wise I’m 70/30). I’ve had sex with dudes in the…
Thief&Bandit
Amie Cunningham of Thief&Bandit discovered fashion design when she entered a T-shirt art contest. “It was really a bit of a happy accident falling into making and creating this brand,” says Cunningham, who has a masters degree in painting and sculpting. These featured Desert Floral tights would brighten up any rainy day—or that coffee date…
Zafira Apparel is a bold fish in a small pond
Conni Zafiris is a guru of adventurous style. Playing with structure, fresh fabrics and bold colours in her latest collection, she inspires the girls to get brave. Zafiris says she was always drawn to artistic outlets as a child, but her passion to create her own kind of fashion stemmed from second-hand shopping as a…
Cypress & Argon
Ann Ramsay of Cypress & Argon knows all about nights out in Halifax. Native to Tantallon, Ramsay says her floral crop top and black pleather panelled skirt are perfect for a night downtown. “Everyone knows a night out in Halifax could mean everything. You could be at the bar first, you could go out dancing…
Taye Landry
Known for her bold fashion and furry handbags, Taye Landry is not afraid to overdo it on purpose. “The Beverly” clutch swept social media as soon as she posted it last year, bringing orders from South Africa, Italy, Brazil and New York. Bags come in faux and real fur. Landry says a going-out bag should…
Wear Blair Clothing Co.
Neons and neutrals make great friends. Wear Blair Clothing Co. has a futuristic vibe, while still echoing ’90s athletic wear. Designer Ashley Reading, who studied fashion design and merchandising at the Centre for Arts and Technology, is all about “creating stylish and elevated fashion for the modern young woman.” Inspired by shapes, silhouettes and colours…
Gillian Hannah Berry Designs
This Vintage Chain Wire Wrapped Stone Necklace by Gillian Hannah Berry Designs will pick up any LBD, when you’re heading to that bachelorette party for your second cousin (twice removed). A popular Seaport Market stop for any Halifax fashionista, Berry says her brand is “one-of-a kind jewellery with an antique flair.” She often recycles and…
Spring fashion 2014
Hot and cool seasonal looks from local designers, plus up-and-coming model Ivy Matheson. Click here for The Coast’s look at local looks! Related Stories
Zero Kelvin
This first collection of poetry from Halifax author Richard Norman is refreshingly diverse and consistently bracing. Norman pairs themes of subjectivity with scientific advancement, personal anecdote with ancient myth, and exotic geography with inner landscapes, resulting in poetry that is multifaceted and expansive. Many of the poems zig-zag their way towards an understanding then suggest…
Emm Gryner
Gryner seems to be appreciated more by fellow artists than the masses. Broader acclaim can never be ruled out if she keeps making albums like this. Her vocal range is uniquely fluid. The band and songs accentuate this asset most vividly. Opener “Pioneer” is so exuberant and concise it belongs on the radio as an…
Know the Night: A Memoir of Survival in the Small Hours
In Maria Mutch’s debut, Know the Night: A Memoir of Survival in the Small Hours, she details her life between the hours of midnight and 6am during the two years her son, Gabriel, rarely slept. Gabriel, who has autism and Down syndrome, loves jazz music and stopped speaking around five years old. As Mutch cares…
Free Will Astrology
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Taurus! (April 20-May 20) “My personal philosophy is not to undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.” So said Taurus-born Edwin Land, the man who invented the Polaroid camera. I have a feeling these might be useful words for you to live by between your birthday in 2014 and…
Meaghan Smith
It’s been five years since Smith’s major-label debut, The Cricket’s Orchestra. Where that one bent jazzy, swingy, adult contemporary-y, Have A Heart, produced by Jason Mingo and Ron Lopata, is a straight grab for a piece of the pop pie. Propulsive beats, synopated, repeated phrases and clapalongs abound, along with fun jaunts like the torchy…
Saying hello to Nova Scotia, for a reason
In the last quarter of 2013, only two Canadian provinces didn’t lose residents to other regions. Alberta was the big gainer, welcoming 5,663 new residents to Wild Rose Country’s parallel-universe economy. The runner-up was—wait for it—Nova Scotia. Two thousand four hundred and sixty-five people left and 2,736 arrived, for a net gain of 271 newcomers.…
Fennesz
Austria’s electroacoustic mastermind Christian Fennesz returns with his first proper LP in six years. Billed as a conceptual follow-up to his best-known album, 2001’s Endless Summer, Bécs feels more like an overview of the many intoxicating sounds Fennesz has created over the last 13 years. Ranging from sumptuous guitar-driven pieces that induce a sense of…
The Other Woman
Nick Cassavetes, son of John (and Gena Rowlands), directed The Notebook, so he is on our side. And based on a few obvious cuss word loops and jarring story edits, The Other Woman was probably supposed to be an R-rated sex romp that was cut to appeal to a broader audience. (That’s definitely why there…
Pixies
It’s been more than 20 years since the Pixies released their last LP, and it seems like the band picked up where they left off. The band’s latest effort, Indie Cindy, is full of LOUDquietLOUD songs and awkward chord progressions. There’s even some Gen X rap-singing, which proves 49-year-old frontman Black Francis is still capable…
Alert the Medic ring the alarm
When we’re kids, we dream big. We want to be astronauts, world leaders, rock stars. Most of us grow up and settle (happily or not), for something a little more realistic, a little less fantastic. But what if we didn’t? What if, through a magic combination of hard work and good luck, we actually get…
Behaviour Apparel
Everyone loves a little acid wash with their teddy bear T, right? Kate Wilton of Behaviour Apparel is all about comfy, casual and camo. Her outfits show personality, pairing graphic pieces with distressed denim or studs. A NSCAD graduate, Wilton founded the line in 2013, producing what she calls “wearable art while maintaining a strong…
Not Friends for life
Jono Whittle from Not Friends wants to emphasize, first and foremost, that the show this Friday at Plan B is DEFINITELY all-ages. Whittle is stoked on Plan B, which he says is a great host for punk shows, providing an “overwhelmingly positive atmosphere.” Not Friends, from St. John’s, is touring its new EP. It clocks…
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
A whip-smart, witty high school grad (Emma Stone), who is mourning the death of her father (Denis Leary) while navigating her fraught relationship with boyfriend Peter (Andrew Garfield), enters the workforce, just another girl trying to make it in New York City. She gets a good job, in her field of scientific research, at a…
Group effort
Montreal band Fakes insists it fell into punk: “We were not really familiar with our instruments when we started,” says guitarist Frankie Burge, “so it seemed like the most accessible genre to us. We just wanted to have fun and do something cathartic.” After talking about starting a band with singer Hilary King, the two…
DJ Rashad
Last Saturday, Chicago DJ, producer and musical pioneer DJ Rashad was found dead in his apartment. While he never became household name or superstar DJ during his career, he was integral in taking footwork music out of Chicago’s south side, and bringing it around the globe. His most recent LP, Double Cup, was released in…
Cafe no way
I don’t drink coffee—it makes my heart go nuts—and I usually only drink tea to be polite. Yet the pressure to ingest hot beverages is everywhere: first dates, support group meetings, awkward family visits and so on. What are the coffee-averse to do? I decided to find an answer by sampling hot-beverage alternatives at locations…
Proper Crooks
Kate Rothschild was an artist without a medium until she took a beginners’ sewing class. And why menswear? People ask her that all the time. “Why not menswear?” she asks. “I like it and it likes me.” Rothschild describes her wearable fashion as “luxe, clean and minimalist,” constructed in classic styles and shapes with high-end…
Nova Centre takes over Grafton Street
Already notorious, Tuesday night at council the Nova Centre development project assumed even greater infamy. City council voted—unanimously except for Jennifer Watts—to amend current land-use bylaws governing the zone where the convention centre will be erected (currently an iconic hole in the ground across from Durty Nelly’s and The Seahorse). That could mean losing a…
Reading is fundamental
If you’re shy about sitting in a crowd and having your death predicted before a group of strangers, don’t be. “Spirits only tell us what we’re supposed to say in front of the group,” says Laura Byrnes. “I may pick up of some little inkling of something more private, but not enough to expand on…
Bike lane delays roll on
The long-awaited and repeatedly delayed Hollis Street bike lane will finally be painted this summer, the head of the project says. Several other cycling projects will also be ticked off the city’s to-do list, says HRM’s manager of strategic transportation planning Dave McCusker. McCusker says he’s 100 percent sure the Hollis Street bike lane will…
Contessa isn’t here to make friends
In those tense moments before Big Brother Canada’s finale (Thursday, May 8) you’ll undoubtedly need something to do other than study the live feeds. Halifax’s almost-kinda-sorta houseguest Scott “Contessa” Bosse (check him on FB) and the “high emotion Scotian” houseguest Kyle Shore will help you fill the time. Bosse (and his drag alter ego Contessa)…
