Last spring, Halifax’s now-infamous “concert scandal” broke when city staffer Cathie O’Toole revealed that mayor Peter Kelly and the city’s deputy CAO, Wayne Anstey, had improperly extended millions of dollars in loans to concert promoter Harold MacKay’s firm, Power Promotional Events, and that the last two of those loans, totalling $400,000, were not repaid. Anstey […]
Paul McCartney
Posted inBest of Halifax
Best Thing To Happen In Halifax In The Past Year
OK, there were plenty of concerns in advance of the show: the cost, how the Common would look, all of that. But Saturday, July 11 was a perfect summer day, and, in case anyone had forgotten, the man was a Beatle. The biggest community love-in of the summer gathered to sing along with “Eleanor Rigby,” […]
Posted inArts + Music
McCartney review: making ladies cry and dudes dance
What a night. The layout inside the Common was a confusing maze of sights and smells—-even Steve Murphy was asking security questions. The biggest problem was folding-chair town, which stretched on for rows and rows, with no visible end in sight. And as an ATM truck tried to back up, people just picked up their […]
Posted inArts + Music
Band-made celluloid: rock film clips
In amongst his 244 soundtrack appearances, Paul McCartney has 23 official credits as an actor, mostly voiceovers and Wings DVD compilations. Of course, he did appear as himself in the Beatles movies of the ’60s, including A Hard Day’s Night, Help and Magical Mystery Tour. And in 1978, McCartney appeared in an uncredited cameo in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Concerts rouse a city on the Common
They sacrificed a VirginFest last Saturday. When The Tragically Hip pulled out of the outdoor music festival due to a family crisis, concert promoters offered a free show instead. In a summer conspicuous for its abundance of both rain and big concerts, the free-ticket offering seemed sure to at least guarantee a full house. But […]
Posted inLifestyle
My summer: Amelia Curran, musician
Originally from Newfoundland, Curran started playing as a busker in St. John’s in the mid-’90s “out of pure necessity.” She now has four records under her belt since 2000—the last, War Brides, was released nationally by Six Shooter records. The follow-up is due September 1, called Hunter, Hunter. The Coast: When you think of summer […]
Posted inLifestyle
Hot Summer Guide: Concerts and music festivals
Paul McCartney July 11 A Beatle is coming to Halifax. Some come down on the man for his stand against the seal hunt—though it sounds like these days most blame the militancy on his ex-wife, Heather Mills—or some say that his wanting to change the order of the songwriting credits on “Yesterday” from Lennon/McCartney to […]