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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.
After a nearly too close for comfort six-week campaign that did little more than expose how poorly we Canadians are educated in the ins and outs of our governance system—and puff unearned wind into fringe party ideology—Halifax (and the country) gets another go at Liberal leadership. All four Liberal incumbent MPs in Halifax Regional Municipality…
Award-winning artist Ursula Johnson gathered with Diane Mitchell and Robin Metcalfe last Wednesday night under dimmed lights—laughing, teasing and talking like old friends. They sat in front of a full audience at St. Mary’s University Art Gallery for the catalogue launch of Johnson’s ongoing exhibit Mi’kwite’tmn (Do You Remember). The 160-page publication tells the story…
[Editor’s note: In time for suddenlyLISTEN’s second showcase of the season—a concert on Oct 20 at 7:30pm at Art Bar + Projects that aims to combine composition with computer programming—we asked writer Andrew Bethune to share a review of sL’s Sep 17 season-opening show, titled Urban Pipes] Silence. One musician sits behind his drums, eyes…
Folk music strained through an indie-pop sieve is the signature of Nova Scotia’s own Dave Sampson, who arrives at The Marquee on Oct 19 to celebrate his new album, All Types of Ways, with a hometown(-ish) show. Sampson was born in Cape Breton and spent time in Nashville as he cut All Types of Ways,…
Seven months after the release of Scot Wortley’s report on street checks—which found that Black people were five to six times more likely to be street checked than their proportion of the population would predict—the province has made up its mind. Today, justice minister Mark Furey announced a permanent ban on the practice of street…
With plenty of deep breaths and a few sideways smiles, Stephen Adams made it through his announcement with almost no tears in City Hall Friday morning. Adams, Halifax’s longest-serving councillor, told colleagues and media that this year would be his last in politics. Adams, says he chose to make this announcement now in order to give…
A year after the legalization of the cannabis industry, it’s time to shed some light on the specific science and agricultural knowledge that comes with producing high-quality cannabis. Providing consumers with accessible and accurate information about what they’re consuming, and where it’s coming from is at the forefront of the cannabis movement. Whether you’re a…
A nna Duckworth hails from Kingsburg, Nova Scotia. Her neighbours growing up remember her as an imaginative and intelligent free spirit beneath an array of fabulous costumes, showing sure signs of integrity and journalistic curiosity. A King’s Journalism grad and former Coast writer, in 2016 Duckworth left her place in Canadian publishing—living in Toronto, working…
You always remember how to ride a bike, but the work that goes into racing a bike might be worth forgetting. After an intense hill climb, road-cycling race or training session, there’s a lot going on with the body. Cyclist Nicholas Witzke cites two of the things he has to manage: inflammation and increased levels…
Leah is recently single, perpetually broke, and in need of a change. Moving to Pleasureville, where she has inherited her grandmother’s house, seems like an obvious, temporary solution. Soon enough, she has opened a sex shop—and feels newfound determination to make it work, despite the odds. It sounds like a perfect setup for a plucky…
QI’m a Seattle local who basically grew up reading your column. I think you’ve always given really sound advice, so I’m reaching out. My boyfriend and I have been together for two years. We started out poly, but I was clear from the start that when I fall in love with someone, I lose all…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIBRA (September 23- October 22) In ancient holy texts from India, soma was said to be a drink that enhanced awareness and alertness. According to modern scholars, it may have been a blend of poppy, ephedra and cannabis. In Norse mythology, the beverage called the Mead of Suttungr conferred poetic inspiration and the…
Exhibit 100, Old Memorial Library, 5381 Spring Garden Road Do you remember unicorn nails? Unicorn slime? Unicorn frappuccinos? Do you remember when social media was so soaked in glitter, rainbows and horns that it looked like a unicorn factory exploded? Jonathan Monaghan does. He’s a digital artist from Washington, D.C., who’ll be exhibiting his work…
Exhibit 400, Parking garage beneath Staples, 2003 Gottingen Street T ough Guy Mountain is a Toronto-based artist collective that has been operating for the past seven years. With several of its members being from Halifax, the collective is excited to showcase its work on home soil for the first time at Nocturne 2019. “We do…
Exhibit 104, Cathedral Church of All Saints, 1330 Cathedral Lane For NAT Chantel, the release of human sound is more than auditory. More than just a release from the entanglement of vocal cords. For Chantel, sound is presence. It is reclamation. It is consciousness. It is repossession of a voice once lost. It’s “a way…
Exhibit 203, 1749 Argyle Street (best viewed from across the street) N ova Scotian artist Anne Macmillan joins Halifax in bringing the visual art scene to the streets at this year’s Nocturne. Macmillan, who hails from Wolfville and has art degrees from both NSCAD and MIT, focuses much of her work on challenging the idea…
Exhibit 117, Skosha Experience Store, 5553 Clyde Street Bbblegum & Bruises is an art exhibit and interactive storytelling event developed by the former co-owner of Riot Snack Bar and Vandal Doughnuts—two eateries that were designed to tempt your inner child. “I think that’s pretty much what I want to do, is to bring out the…
Exhibit 211 Barrington Street entrance to Grand Parade Square, 1770 Barrington Street Jessica Lynn Wiebe has been keeping her calendar packed. She’s currently writing a piece for Visual Arts News and has started a residency at Centre for Art Tapes where she’s building a body of work from a past residency with a Canadian Forces…
Bliss Bowls Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market 1209 Marginal Road Saturdays and Sundays Erin Lecky, founder of Bliss Bowls, discovered her love for smoothie bowls while visiting Bali a few years ago. “I didn’t get very good at surfing,” she says. “But I did find the most delicious smoothie bowls. When I came home, I was…
Exhibit 202, Peace and Freedom Park, at South and Hollis Streets E xploring topics like migration and identity is sometimes difficult. It can open controversial discussions or ones that were once concealed. For interdisciplinary artist Camila Salcedo, she doesn’t shy away from these topics. Instead, her art faces them head-on. “I personally believe that borders…
Exhibit 200, Scotia Square second floor window (best viewed from Halifax Transit terminal Bay 1 at Barrington after Duke Street) When examining the work of Caroline Monnet, two words are bound to come up: Indigenous and regal. As a woman with Algonquin, Quebecois and French ancestry, her hybrid portrayals of Indigenous culture and an aesthetic…
On September 30, in the town Westville, Nova Scotia—155 kilometres from Halifax—town councillor Lynn MacDonald surprised even herself when she put forward a motion to take back a proposal for exploratory coal mining on town land. She was effectively squashing a proposal that she had brought to council with a motion of support nearly a…
Canada is not having just one election on October 21. We’re having 338 elections. In order to decipher all the bullshit coming at you this election season you need to: first, understand how your vote elects a parliament; second, know how that parliament becomes government and; third, make a stiff drink or cry or both.…
W hen Guy Paul Thibault hits the stage, he goes into what can only be described as a self-induced trance. The singer-songwriter can crank out as many as 150 songs during a performance without stopping—not even for water. “I’m not big on taking breaks,” Thibault reflects on his extreme, if not dehydrating, commitment to giving his…
I was asked to reflect on the lack of people of colour running in the four federal ridings in Halifax Regional Municipality. This statistic is so unsurprising—I didn’t think it was worth writing about—but I do think it’s an important statistic to know, so here it is: There are no people of colour running for…
The protest vote It’s great to see young folks around the world standing up to protest the environmental destruction of our planet (“Young people aren’t fucking around with the climate,” The City section story by Mallory Burnside-Holmes, September 19 ). As a teen in 1970, I was inspired by David Suzuki to get involved in…
