We called it way back in August 2019, when we covered Jamacian-born, Halifax-based musician Jah’Mila for a feature on the Halifax Urban Folk Festival: “If you’re not already addicted to the artist’s distinctive, roots-y reggae, her HUFF showcase will have you hooked,” we decreed, begging readers to stop what they were doing to turn up […]
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Posted inArts + Music
Neptune is (sort of) back!
Feb 26 update: As of the most recent COVID-19 restrictions—announced at a Feb 26 provincial press conference—arts and culture events are no longer permitted in HRM until further notice. Read more of the latest news about COVID-19 here. Back when COVID-19 was a new term–back when we were just starting to realize something big was […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax council not interested in defunding police
This week Halfiax’s budget committee voted on the police budget, but talks about how HRM spends its money on policing have been buzzing for more than a year–since El Jones’s presentation on defunding the police to the Board of Police Commissioners in January 2020, to a global movement demanding the police and prison industrial complexes […]
Posted inArts + Music
Two Halifax artists nominated for Canada’s prestigious New Generation Photography Award
Back in 2019–when our collective existential crises mightn’t have been new, but were certainly fresher than they are now–seeing a Séamus Gallagheroriginal in my Instagram feed was the sort of jolt to stop me mid-scroll, to make me sit up and actually look at what I was seeing. The 2018 Starfish Award winner and 2019 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Stephen McNeil gives his last presser as premier
Nova Scotia’s first COVID-19 press conference was held nearly a year ago, on Friday, March 13. It featured Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, who was a new but soon-to-be-very-familiar face for many Nova Scotians. Sitting directly beside Strang (remember a time before physical distancing?) were premier Stephen McNeil, then-health minister Randy […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Rent for a one-bedroom up 20 percent from last year 😢
The latest Canada-wide report from rental housing advertiser Rentals.ca bears the bad news everyone already knew–renting in Halifax is still a shit deal. The majority of Halifax units included in the Rentals.ca report are in downtown Halifax, the west end and Clayton Park, but the report does have data spanning the whole of HRM. Of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Halifax’s Eli Goree nominated for a Black Reel Award
Real ones have known since his time hosting Street Cents–or at least since the time he played Malik on CBC’s Da Kink In My Hair–that Eli Goree has serious star power. Now, it seems like the rest of the world is catching up on the Halifax-born actor’s greatness: Yesterday the Black Reel Awards (a certifiably […]
Posted inArts + Music
Look inside The Blue Building, Halifax’s newest gallery
A building can be a chrysalis, transforming its contents and inhabitants–and, through this, its community–as it morphs from one thing to another. The Blue Building art gallery opened to the public last week, and even from the outside one thing was imminently obvious: The new arts hub at 2482 Maynard Street (the project that houses The […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax police force blows IT security, then lies about it
If Halifax Regional Police’s information organization skills were a desk, that desk would be piled high with mismatched papers and zero-context sticky notes. There’d be a bunch of mugs, each with a crusting ring of mold forming at different heights of abandonment, and three cell phones—one encrypted, one broken and one that primarily uses Facebook […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s vaccination effort needs a shot in the arm
The pandemic has been called a lot of things, but lately it’s come to be known as “a race against time.” Humanity is rushing to get COVID-19 vaccines into as many arms as possible before the current viral variants, or a new mutation, render the vaccine useless. This race is happening everywhere at once, with […]
Posted inArts + Music
Roxane Gay knows the way
Roxane Gay at Afterwords Literary Festival Sunday Oct 4, 4pm Zoom; eventbrite.ca for tickets and details It’s early morning Halifax time when Roxane Gay answers her call from The Coast. The New York Times bestselling author and journalist has just finished self-isolating in Iceland, so she’s understandably keen for an efficient chat (after all, her first […]
