Frank Turner is making coffee. The British singer-songwriter, who performed in London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, needs a caffeine fix before discussing his upcoming North American tour—kicking off Thursday in Halifax at The Marquee Ballroom. The sound of liquid pouring is audible over the phone from Germany, where he’s got a show to promote his […]
Singer Songwriter
Posted inArts + Music
Four winter stars
Gianna Lauren Gianna Lauren is made for winter, or so she says. “Months’ worth of armchair time, reading and drinking tea,” she says. “The winter season forces you to relax and get creative with yourself.” On her album Fist Through a Heart, Lauren is a bit of a mystery. She’s part wallflower, part rocker, all […]
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Talk of the Townsend
There are worse places to chase away mid-winter malaise than The Paragon Theatre on a Wednesday. The tables are laid with tea lights flickering like fireflies, the apricot beer is on special, and people lean their heads in to hear each other over the music thumping through the speakers. It’s Carmen Townsend’s third time playing […]
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John K. Samson loves his Winnipeg
A< relationship to a city is complicated, a matter of love and hate. This, John K. Samson knows well. Examining his own city, Winnipeg—and with that lens, the archetypal Canadian city—has been a career-spanning project of The Weakerthans founder and singer and now solo artist, releasing late last year his first in a suite of […]
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Jenny Omnichord on tour with her toddler
The 2008 In the Dead of Winter was a memorable one for Jenny Mitchell, AKA Jenny Omnichord. “I thought I’d broken my foot, and people kept giving me whiskey for it.” So Mitchell went to the hospital where she got a pregnancy test prior to x-rays, and “I found out I was pregnant.” Two years […]
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Mittentime Revue spreads Island cheer
If you’re hiding under the covers to avoid shopping, baking or card sending, be sure to dress in your woolies and hop out of bed for Saturday’s Mittentime Revue—a cabaret show that’ll de-stress you with its carol medleys, storytelling, poetry and songs. “It’s meant to take the piss out a little bit, and also just […]
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Wextra special: Interview with Tori Amos
On her last album, American Doll Posse, Tori Amos adopted four personas—cast in Roman and Greek mythology—to perform its 23 songs. This time around, it’s just her. She rang The Coast from her home in Cornwall, England (evening weather report: “Enh”), where she and her engineer husband, Mark Hawley, plus Marcel Van Limbeek, produced Abnormally […]
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Jolie wanderer
Jolie Holland is in Brooklyn, New York, at her apartment south of Prospect Park, when she answers the phone, turns off some tinny-sounding music in the background and says hello. She sounds tired, and explains she is getting over a cold. Her speaking voice, with just a hint of a southern accent, is surprisingly quiet […]
