Insincerity in art is transparent. And this recognition, from day one, has allowed Chicago-based Wilco the justification to make difficult decisions in the name of staying fresh and consistently producing relevant music. As the longtime collaborative friendship between founding members Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt has committed cardinal sins—including perpetually altering the band’s genre […]
longreads
Posted inNews + Opinion
Where the sidewalk ends
Giles Oland and his girlfriend Dawn MacPhee discovered what one expert calls “Halifax’s dirty little secret” on a Friday night last October. The couple, in their late twenties, spent a relaxing evening enjoying dinner with friends at a downtown restaurant. They stopped for a nightcap at a bar on Argyle and then, at about 1am, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The wheel world
It’s been four years now since Halifax passed its Blueprint for a Bicycle-Friendly HRM and progress has been, well, like riding a one-speed straight up Duke Street. That is to say, slow and painful. There’s a handful of bike lanes, curiously placed around the region with little-to-no continuity for practical, day-to-day cycling. There’s a bike […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The David
In a promo for the 47th season of The Nature of Things, David Suzuki, the 70-year-old science and environmental activist, appears as naked as the jaybird he tries to protect, wearing nothing more than a strategically placed maple leaf. Held high over his remarkably buff physique, he literally carries the world on his shoulders. Although […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Big love
There is a rock and roll version of this wedding and it’s probably the one you want to know about. I don’t blame you. I mean, how exciting can reading about a wedding be? Even a $200,000 wedding with two planners, hundreds of volunteers and a 600-pound 25-foot copper dragon sculpture travelling from British Columbia […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Paying for power
There are things we know about Rodney MacDonald, the man who will be our next premier. He is 34 years old, the second youngest man in Nova Scotia history to hold that office. When he is sworn in next week, he will be the youngest premier in the country. We also know he is a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Edge of destruction
Without charge, here’s an idea for the folks who promote tourism in Halifax. Maybe what we could do down on the waterfront is put up one of those signs, like they have at factories and on construction sites, proclaiming “This Harbour Has Been Explosion Free for 88 Years.” Without a doubt it would become a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Modern inconveniences
If you dial up Ashton Convenience Store in Upper Nine Mile River, a recorded voice boisterously declares the number out of service. I curse Aliant and Eastlink—I’m not sure which is responsible for these aggressively friendly recordings, the telecommunications multinational or the Halifax-based cable company. I wish I could turn the clock back to an […]
Posted inArts + Music
Comic boom
Thursday, July 21 was a scorcher. Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O’Malley had been living in Halifax for four months. They didn’t know many people and didn’t think anyone would show up. They’d put out the flyers and the leaflets and the posters, they’d mentioned their idea to people they’d met through the local comic […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
No place to go
Matt Smythe is homeless. And while he may spend nights sleeping on the cold concrete sidewalks of downtown Halifax, he would never pee there. “It’s a real nuisance. But unlike a lot of other people, I really take issue with the I’ll-go-anywhere approach,” says the clean-cut Ontario native, sitting behind a desk at the Halifax […]
Posted inArts + Music
The Big Hit
If there is such a thing as a higher being, she is probably smiling down at the North Street Church right now. Not because of an enlightened sermon or confession of juicy sins, but because of the loud movements and joyful sounds that are echoing off its peeling walls. For the past two months, the […]
Posted inArts + Music
War & Beats
Some philosophers judge their worth by the number of degrees behind their name, or the number of textbooks they’ve authored. And then there are the dusty foot philosophers; those whose innate wisdom is drawn from experiences in the real world. On Toronto hip-hopper K’naan’s debut album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, he pays tribute to those […]