The Coast Halifax

JANUARY 3 - JANUARY 9, 2019 • VOLUME 26 NUMBER 32 H A P P Y N E W Y E A R F R O M H A L I FA X ’ S W E E K L Y •

hamlet ’s dinner party Jackie Torrens stars as the vengeful prince of Denmark, and you’re invited to sit at the table

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This week

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nice job on the sidewalks you friggin jagoffs

Issue #1,184 VOLUME 26, NUMBER 32

@HalifaxExaminer. Posted on January 2.

JANUARY 3 - JANUARY 9, 2019

On the cover: Photographer Corey Isenor shot Jackie Torrens AKA Hamlet with her castmates Sarah English, Genèvieve Steele, Burgandy Cole, Matthew Lumley and Micha Cromwell.

The City Voice of the City Shoptalk Cover Story: Hamlet Food+Drink

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EMOJI SCOTIA

Arts Entertainment listings Love The Way We Bitch The Comic Free Will Astrology Savage Love

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Reply all A Freak situation In response to the article “Labour concerns at Freak Lunchbox,” it is apparent that we need to tell our side (City story by Jacob Boon, December 20). This business has supported many families over the past 18 years; five of our six current managers are raising or expecting children. Of course we could not have made it this far without the contributions of our team, and we are extremely grateful for the hundreds of employees we have had over the years. As business owners we must sometimes make difficult decisions in the interest of our business and the people who work for us.

We take serious labour concerns to heart and act swiftly when we are in error. We are not perfect, we have made many mistakes along the road, but in this case there were no actual valid infractions. We do not feel this was a newsworthy event but is simply about an employee who disagreed with their termination and continues to seek justification for it.

The staff member who was let go was a

Did you hear the one about the sidewalks?

Lake riding New Year’s Eve. @NOVA_SCOTIA_KAYAKER

The Coast welcomes your thoughts on all aspects of the paper’s performance and city life.

Deliver letters to the editor to 2309 Maynard Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 3T8 fax: 902-425-0013, email: letters@thecoast.ca. Post comments on any story at thecoast.ca

part-time/casual employee who we regularly accommodated with long-term personal leaves from her position. Prior to being relieved of her duty she had received a written warning for drinking alcohol on work premises, despite a no-alcohol policy implemented, outlined and signed in the terms of her employment agreement. The Coast was made aware of this warning but chose to omit this from publication. (Editor’s note: During reporting, Smith mentioned the alcohol incident but only after asking for it to be off the record, and that it not be published in the original article.)

Although all of our stores have managers, as owners we are in the flagship store on a daily basis. Not once did she approach us personally to discuss anything that was of concern to her despite her frequent interactions with us.

The decision to let this individual go with severance and no hard feelings was based on her morale issues and the negative work environment she had contributed to. In no way was it based on any legitimate labour board concerns. One of her “labour concerns” was a request for anti-fatigue mats for a job that specifically requires you to not stand still,

and to be out on the floor interacting with customers or maintaining product freshness.

(The advice from the inspector was for our staff to get better shoes.)

To compare our actions with those of the Smiling Goat is downright offensive. We pay our staff on time and well. (The employees mentioned in the article were both being paid well above minimum wage.) We at Freak Lunchbox aim to provide a clean, enjoyable work environment. We have store managers who are available to the employees and regularly review and provide feedback on performance. They work in a candy store surrounded by our personal details, handpainted artwork, happy customers and general pride of ownership that has propelled us from a small two-person company to a small 40+ person company.

We feel the retention rate of our staff in this industry is exceptional, and the happy exemployees far outweigh those who feel they were wrongfully dismissed. It is important for employees to have a voice when they are wronged, but we stand behind our decision in this case. —Erin Schwanz and Jeremy Smith, Freak Lunchbox

An excerpt from Displacing Blackness: Power, Planning and Race in Twentieth-Century Halifax by Ted Rutland: Moving analytically between Africville and the

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FROM THE EDITOR

The Coast goes daily On our office bulletin board, somebody posted this description of journalism: “It’s a tough job with insane pressure and pretty crappy pay. On the other hand, everybody hates you.”

That was pinned up years ago, but it’s still there, ringing true into the new year.

Producing a newspaper on a weekly deadline is a special kind of pressure. Scary, to be sure, yet also motivating. To the procrastinators among us (guilty!) The Coast’s Wednesday date with the printing press is the one thing that can’t be pushed off. For our staff, an eclectic group of self-starters who question authority, the deadline is a reason to work as a team. And knowing there’s an audience of thousands waiting to get the paper on Thursday is an effective rallying force to overcome obstacles. The show must go on, as they say in another creative industry, no matter what stands in the way. And there’s always something.

Computer crash, cover story falling apart, news breaking. An outbreak of the cold claiming victims throughout the office, the arrival of a defamation lawsuit that demands urgent attention, a cyberattack making it hard to send the paper’s digital pages to the press.

Hurricane, snow day, salty fog.

Holidays are a problem, too, even though we can see them coming from months away.

The bulk of our newspaper production happens Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so a Natal Day Monday vacation or Remembrance Day falling on Tuesday means just two days to get the paper out instead of three. In Coast lingo, that’s a short week.

Then there’s the shortest week, which we are going through as I write this. With New Year’s Eve Monday effectively a day off, and Tuesday, January 1 the statutory New Year’s holiday, we are left with just Wednesday to get this issue of The Coast out—starting 2019 with a rare chance to act like a daily newspaper.

If you’re reading these words, Team Coast came together to produce a paper under one of the tightest deadlines we’ve ever faced. It’s a hell of a way to start the new year. On the other hand, next week could be worse.

—Kyle Shaw

Connect with me at kyles@thecoast.ca

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52 km/hr

The speed north-bound traffic is moving from Uniacke to North Street now that Gottingen Street’s bus lane has been installed. Don’t get too outraged, though. It’s the exact same average speeds that HRM recorded on Gottingen back before construction on the transit priority measure began last June. The bus lane has been criticized by local business owners and community members for potentially creating an unsafe, high-speed corridor along a street also home to storefronts and residential. But city hall’s numbers suggest the new lane has had little impact, save potentially slowing

EDITED BY JACOB BOON / SEND TIPS TO NEWS@THECOAST.CA

down speeds. Southbound traffic from Uniacke to North has slowed from 50 to 49 km/hr, while speeds from Falkland to Cornwallis have slowed from 44 to 43km/hr in both directions.

Newly enforced regulations might make tattoos less of a pain. JOSHUA SAUNDERS

INK AND SCARS

Tattoo regulation sorely needed for scarred clients Nova Scotia’s Safe Body Art Act will finally be enforced next month, seven years after it was first introduced.

BY JOSHUA SAUNDERS

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lexis Clarke has taken to social media to warn others about a local tattoo studio that she says has left her with scar tissue and nerve damage.

Clarke was a former client at the Bedford Tattoo Guest Spot last year. Two days later, she says the sunflower design on her forearm was filled with fluid. After returning to the shop to address the problem, Clarke says the tattoo artist made an attempt to pop the blister with a thumb tac.

“He literally just picked up a tac off his desk and wiped it off with an alcohol wipe and stuck it in,” she says. “I was like, ‘What did you just do?’”

She believes the way the blister was handled and the process of wrapping up the area contributed to further infection of the tattoo, but staff at the tattoo shop argued with her about the healing process and, she says, dissuaded her from seeking medical treatment.

“I was also told never to see a doctor, no matter what,” she says. “After about a week I gave up and had to see a doctor. I had no movement in my arm or wrist.”

The owners of BTGS did not respond to several requests to be interviewed.

Clarke has since been in discussion with six other people who’ve had similar painful experiences with Bedford Tattoo. The group is talking about what appropriate action can be taken against the shop, but their options might be limited.

Nova Scotia currently has no enforced regulations for the tattoo industry. But that will finally change next month. Come February, the province will implement regulations around the body art industry, seven years after the Safe Body Art Act was introduced.

It’s meant to give Nova Scotians the confidence that the facilities that have acquired permits are using safe products and are working to stop the spread of diseases.

“Requirements that must be met at a facility

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have to do with: construction and maintenance, instrument handling and reprocessing, record keeping and developing an infection prevention plan,” says Bruce Nunn, spokesperson for the department of environment, which is responsible for enforcing the act.

A Class One permit will grant permanent and mobile studios permission to tattoo and pierce clients. Those permits will need to be renewed every 10 years at a cost of $195 plus HST. There will also be a Class Two permit available for temporary events, active for 14 days after approval, at $30 plus HST. Nunn says that many people in the industry want these regulations in place, so the department expects there will be participation from the businesses. If the rules aren’t followed, there will be consequences.

“Our public health officers will have a range of compliance tools that they can use during an inspection such as: education; inspection orders; warnings; summary offence tickets; long-form charges and revocation of the facility’s permit,” says Nunn via email.

Julie Taylor, owner of the Skin Decision tattoo studios in both Truro and Halifax, welcomes the changes, and even had the province come in for mock inspections of her studio last month in preparation of the Act’s enforcement.

Taylor says if she gets calls about potential infections she always educates her clients about the healing process for body art. She recommends her clients see a doctor if the tattoo leads to an infection.

“We’re going to go over what a normal healing piercing or tattoo would look like and then if they think they do have an infection, then I’m going to tell them to go see a doctor,” says Taylor.

None of which is much help right now to Clarke, whose doctor tell her she has severe scar tissue and some possible nerve damage from the infection. a

“There is so much negativity being shared about us but I am going to show that it’s a new era. It’s time to get rid of the stereotypes,” says Ross. RYAN WILLIAMS

NEW RADICALS

Alex “Cunny” Ross finds fame through family The hip hop artist and entrepreneur begins 2019 with plans for positivity. BY KI ROLLE

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n the Spring of 2015, a shy 18-year-old named Alex “Cunny” Ross laid down 10 of his songs over beats produced by future Halifax councillor Lindell Smith during a session at his neighbourhood studio. The “Young and Coming Up” mixtape—featuring his Centreline Studio pals such as BenG, Neptune and Honey—was burned onto 50 compact discs.

Less than 48 hours later, all of the CDs were sold out and his music was being played on repeat throughout Uniacke Square.

As he rings in the end of 2018, Ross isn’t out partying but instead putting the final touches on his third album, which he hopes to launch in the spring with the title track “Family Man.” It’s one of several ventures the young entrepreneur from Uniacke Square has in store for 2019.

“I have a few surprises up my sleeve,” he says. “This album is like an update of my life.

Through the past five years of experience, I have gained much more knowledge about myself as an artist and myself as a member of the community. It used to be about dreaming how to give back to the community, now they are helping me live my dream of starting my

own record label one day.”

Ross had only a year of songwriting experience under his belt before he launched his first mixtape, but the explosion of interest from his community launched him into quick action to create more music. In the fall of 2015, he released Family Over Fame, a 14-track album featuring other emerging local artists including Jayden Auston, Alyssa Flint, MAJE, Arenye, Woozy and RealEye, spawning the Squaretown favourite, R&B-infused single “Comin Thru.” One week later, the album had more than 1,000 downloads on mixtape site DatPiff.com. He credits fellow Square resident JRDN (AKA Jordan Croucher) for his main inspiration.

“That’s when the real hustle began,” Ross says. “I lived and breathed promotion. It was all about creating music videos, remixes when I could, performing in shows and just trying to make a name for myself as Cunny the hiphop artist.”

It was during this hustle that he got the idea to sell merchandise to promote the mixtape.

He partnered with Advanced Screen Printing and his logo designer Josh Carey to create his

broader city helps to make sense of planning’s operation in these two domains. It helps to demonstrate, for one thing, that planning’s destructive operation

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The City trademarked Family Over Fame apparel. The brand sold about 50 items in less than an hour and his clothing line was born. He’s still handling hundreds of orders of hoodies, t-shirts and ball caps, which range in price from $25 to $50, and plans to launch a new design in February to coincide with African Heritage Month.

“Social media is really the main tool for growing the business, which I plan to keep home-based” Ross explains. “I started out posting photos of me living the brand on Facebook and Instagram and that led to people asking me about the clothing line. Now I see hundreds of new faces posting photos on social media with their Family Over Fame gear. It’s a humbling and amazing thing to see.”

Four years ago, Ross also started hosting an annual free barbecue and entertainment showcase. Last year’s event saw more than 400 people turn up to celebrate his progress and the community’s resilience. Footage from his events and other community stories will be showcased in a documentary currently being filmed, featuring activists such as Lindell Smith, Marcus James, Tundé Balogun, El Jones and other emerging artists.

For Ross, his story is one of family—of his own single-mother upbringing that he says shaped his success—but also one of his community, which he considers his extended family.

“There is so much negativity being shared about us but I am going to show that it’s a new era. It’s time to get rid of the stereotypes.

We’ve got amazing people living here and we’ve got an amazing story. I’m going to do all I can through music, business and community building to make sure the positivity is lived and shared.” a

THE POLL

What would you like to see more of from The Coast in 2019? a

b

c

d

e

37%

a) Longer, investigative features

33% b)

Daily news coverage

12% c)

Opinion pieces and personal essays

0% d)

Newsletters

18% e)

Events

Next poll: What’s your New Year’s Resolution?

thecoast.ca in Africville was the result less of the residents’ impoverished class position in the urban economy than of their negated ontological position within an

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COVER STORY

Jackie Torrens AKA Hamlet.

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emerging conception of aggregate humanity. The living conditions of upper-streets residents, also poor, received at least some improvement-oriented

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COVER STORY

A rule-breaking Hamlet for the era of political rule-breakers This immersive production of Shakespeare’s still-relevant play invites the audience to the literal table, and that’s just the beginning.

BY TARA THORNE | PHOTO COREY ISENOR

Hamlet January 9-20 Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Stage 1593 Argyle Street $28-$37 neptunetheatre.com

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early four years ago, Ken Schwartz was at The Bus Stop Theatre watching a production of The Pillowman—a Martin McDonagh play cast gender-blind with Jackie Torrens, Mary-Colin Chisholm, Theo Pitsiavas and Matthew Lumley—when he was struck by a vision.

“I had this image of Jackie as an Edwardian servant and she’d set fire to all the drapes in the dining room,” he says. “And the whole place was on fire, and she was very calmly standing in front of it.”

After the performance, he asked Torrens if she’d like to co-produce and star in Hamlet, which he would direct. She was in. The production opens this Wednesday, January 9, on Neptune’s second stage.

“That door has never been open to me, playing Hamlet,” says Torrens, with Schwartz on a rickety Skype connection from the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts. A sprawling mountaintop artistic incubator and performance space in Canning, Schwartz lives there and runs, with his wife Chris O’Neill, Two Planks and a Passion Theatre. (Hamlet is a production of his and Torrens’ company Below the Salt.)

“We’re in a new period of time right now where story is changing and how story is being told is changing, and growing up as an actor who happens to be female, for most of my career I’ve been assigned roles for females,” Torrens continues. “Other roles have been shut to me. Now we’re in a period of time where there’s this exciting notion where no longer are stories going to be niched.

Stories that feature female protagonists or a protagonist of colour, they have been niched up to this point—to being a ‘woman’s story’ or a ‘Black story’ or a ‘gay story’—I think we’re moving beyond that. And recognizing that the protagonist is universal, no matter what they look like.”

“When you stage a classic piece of work, the first question you have to ask yourself—and it’s obvious—is ‘Why? Why do it again?’” says Schwartz. “It’s been done a million times, it’ll be done another million times—what do you have to say that’s slightly interesting to bother doing it again?”

For their millionth and one production, it’s in the staging: An Edwardian dining room, in which Hamlet’s characters are employees.

“The fact that the players are the servants, that the performance of the play is actually a huge transgression—it’s like art as guerilla warfare, almost—interfering with an ordered, restricted universe is something that really appealed to me,” says Schwartz. “And also just the physical idea that we’re all ‘around’ this table, and that it’s very immersive. Often Shakespearean characters are not talking to each other, they’re talking to you in the audience.”

These characters in particular will be talking directly into 16 faces each performance— that’s how many seats are available, of the room’s 195-person capacity, on the stage, in the set itself.

“As a director what I want to do is do the Hamlet where people forget what’s going to happen next,” says Schwartz. “You experience the play not as someone who goes, ‘Oh yeah, this is the part where that happens,’ but where you literally don’t know how it’s going to happen. This concept, and the way we’re approaching it, allows us to do that.”

Torrens dimisses the idea that a woman as

Hamlet is trendy stuntcasting (and anyway the tradition dates back to the 1800s).

“When I sat down and looked at Hamlet and the journey this character goes on—which is about dealing with a grave injustice that exists on a personal level and a political level—nothing to me in that journey had anything to do with gender whatsoever,” she says. “If I read Hamlet first as an audience member, there’s nothing in Hamlet’s heart that beats that I can’t relate to as a human being, and that goes the same for me as an actor. There’s nothing Hamlet has to deal with that I haven’t had to wrestle with in some form or fashion in my own heart as a human being.”

“Precepts and styles in the theatre come and go,” says Schwartz. “This idea that the theatre needs to be ‘realistic’ versus something else.

Theatre is not cinema, theatre is a collaborative art form of the imagination in which it’s not about what you look like, but about the story that you’re telling.”

“When we did Pillowman, we weren’t doing it as ‘the feminist version of Pillowman.’

And when we took on Hamlet, we didn’t think, ‘And now it’s the feminist version of Hamlet,’” says Torrens. “I just happen to be playing Hamlet.”

In this cast of six there’s a lone male, Matthew Lumley, but Torrens points out even his appearance is out of the ordinary: “All the rules are being broken in that way, castingwise: Matt is playing Polonius, he’s not an old man; I’m playing Hamlet, I’m older than Hamlet is traditionally; Micha Cromwell is in her 20s and she’s playing my best friend; Genèvieve Steele and Burgandy Code, who are my peers, they’re playing my parents,” she says. “We’re not paying attention to any of that, it’s just actors acting roles.”

“The gender is really not the concept,” says Schwartz. “It’s this concept of class hierarchy

attention in this period...The very different fate of lives and living conditions in Africville underscores the racial specificities of their subjugation. A broader

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in a really ordered universe and how the performance of the play—which we discover is being performed for a certain reason by these servants—starts to break down that ordered universe and make it very chaotic.”

“What do you do when a corrupt individual has seized the reins of power and it seems like the whole world is going to go along with this new regime and it feels like you’re the only one” who knows what’s actually up, asks Torrens. “Hamlet’s dealing with a grave injustice that everyone else has decided to cover up and it doesn’t exist, and that feeling of not being able to stand that—I just feel like I can relate to that a lot.”

Though Torrens won’t actually be burning down Neptune, by producing herself in this part, she’s stoking the flames of change one soliloquy at a time.

“If we start to tell stories where we’re doing away with traditional notions of who gets to play a character and what story it is they tell, then I think we’re right now at the precipice of story being blown wide open of who can play what,” she says. “Actors who’ve been shut out from these roles before, what they can then bring to these roles that have been traditionally denied them, and how that in the future is going to alter story.”

“What happens when you have the rise of a demagogue? You know this person is terrible, you know this person is wrong every day, but what do you do as an individual? What’s your responsibility, what can you do?” says Schwartz. “Those are the overarching concepts and questions that the work is asking.

When people come to see it, for those reasons and for how we cast it, it wouldn’t look like a production of Hamlet from 25 years ago.

That’s safe to say.” a Tara Thorne is The Coast’s arts editor.

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Opinionated

ShopTalk

A rotating column of Halifax’s thought leaders.

S M A L L B U S I N E S S N E W S C O M P I L E D BY ALLISON SAUNDERS Send tips to shoptalk@thecoast.ca

JAANA KUJALA

FACE TIME

Rebecca Thomas is a Mi’kmaq activist and Halifax’s former poet laureate. SUBMITTED

Totem poles and online threats None of my writings have resulted in violent threats quite like my comment on NHL imagery. BY REBECCA THOMAS

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n 2017, I wrote a poem called “What Good Canadians Do” for the Canada 150 events that were held on the Halifax Common. It was a part of my official duties as the city’s poet laureate. I was tasked with writing something celebratory about a country that was built on the removal and eradication of my ancestors.

So instead of writing about hockey, being polite, Tim Hortons and winter, I decided to hold a mirror up to the audience. I stepped on stage that evening and began my poem with “Are you a good Canadian?” to which the crowd responded with a great cheer. I went on to talk about how Canadians love to explore the mountains, the prairies, and ocean, all the while being a supportive community to the people who live in this country. They roared louder with each line. That is until this one: “You would never use words like squaw, redskin or Indian. Of course not, because you are a good Canadian.” Don’t get me wrong, there was still a small cheer though this time, it sounded confused. As though the momentum of cheering caught the audience off-guard and the content settled on them as they voiced their agreement.

The subsequent cheers were less robust as I began picking apart the fantasy of who Canadians think they are versus the lived reality for those of us who might not ascribe to the rhetoric of the north. See, “Canadians” are wonderful, community-oriented folks as long as you don’t challenge certain tropes. A fact that I learned quite viscerally these past few weeks when I called out an appropriative knick-knack that was associated with Canada’s most sacred pastime: Hockey.

I tweeted out a picture of an NHL themed totem pole being sold by Lawton’s Drugs,

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calling the piece appropriative. I came back to my phone to see an explosion of notifications including one from Lawton’s who said they were removing the item. What followed was a series of media interviews and deluge of internet trolls. I was called every dehumanizing thing you could imagine. I was called a mongrel, a freeloading Indian living off the backs of Canadian taxpayers, a cry baby, a snowflake, along with a wish list of violent undoings people were hoping would befall me. All for what? Because I dared to ask a company to stop profiting off Indigenous culture? Cultures that this country spent the better part of two centuries trying to destroy.

I’m not new to criticism. As an Indigenous activist, I’ve had to grow a thick skin. I’ve faced criticisms and backlash when I’ve spoken up about the killings of Tina Fontaine or Colten Boushie by “well meaning” Canadians who are compelled to share their perspectives on how those two could have somehow prevented their deaths if only they hadn’t put themselves in danger. My critique of the Supreme Court’s decision on Indigenous consent for land development passed without a whisper from the twitterverse. But none of my writings on Indigenous strife and white privilege resulted in violent threats of retribution quite like my comment on cultural appropriation that just happened to involve NHL imagery. My criticisms were about cultural theft, not about hockey.

If an Indigenous woman’s valid critique results in a rage so fierce that anonymous online threats feel like an appropriate response, then perhaps Canada should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are, in fact, good Canadians. a

Sunday best

Fresh off its launch, Sunday Rose Handmade skincare looks to give your face a little love. BY ALLISON SAUNDERS Jaana Kujala knows a lot about putting your best face forward. After starting a career in film makeup at 19, she made the shift from prosthetics to esthetics and fell in love with skin health and wellness. As a holistic skin therapist she studied skin nutrition and the clean, natural ingredients that jive best with various skin types.

“The most healing ingredients you can use for your skin aren’t in most product lines,” says Kujala, a self-proclaimed purist who uses ingredients like tamanu oil—an anti-inflammaory, anti-microbial, moisture-barrierbuilding seed oil— and prickly pear seed oil in her products. “With a lot of the skin care industry there’s so much marketing that goes into it and a lot of those brands don’t know what goes into skin health.”

After spending a few years experimenting with her own creations, handmaking small-batch creams, masks and elixirs for herself, she’s launched Sunday Rose Handmade, a line of organic, plant-based, RENOS

New year, new Ristorante aMano Our readers’ choice for Best Pasta and Best Italian food is going into hibernation for a quick minute. Bertossi Group fave Ristorante aMano (1475 Lower Water Street) rung in the new year by kicking off a renovation of its longtime Bishop’s Landing space, expanding its square footage and re-vamping the decor from floor to ceiling. The pasta maker will be on pause from now until February 19, that’s when aMano debuts its new look, and its fancy new Italian pizza oven.

cruelty-free products made in her south shore studio.

“The self care product industry is not regulated by anything—a lot of companies do what’s called green washing where you have two percent of an organic ingredient and have organic on the label,” Kujala says, adding that Sunday Rose’s inaugural 10 products are a minimum of 95 percent certified organic and use GMO and pesticide-free ingredients. “Everything is really pure so you’re getting all the nutrients right into your skin.”

For now, your thirsty skin can get its fix via Kujala’s online shop—at sundayrosehandmade.com—where she also sells holistic beauty tools, like jade rollers and brushes, and withinUs collagen products that aren’t available anywhere else on the east coast.

And if you’d like some face time with the line’s creator, she’ll be in Halifax for a pop-up next month (February 9, 1-3pm) at Bhavana Yoga Boutique (3063 Gottingen Street).

CLOSED

Life as we know it Big Life Whole Foods (84 Portland Street) closed its Dartmouth doors for good just before we snuffed out 2018. A branch of John Dalton’s macrobiotic bakery—which has been making breads and crusts since way back in 1995—the cafe served up badass pizzas and sandwiches on Portland Street for the last five years. But just because the brick and mortar is gone doesn’t mean the end of Big Life’s life; find Dalton’s latest baked goods every single Saturday morning at the Halifax Brewery Farmers’ Market (1496 Lower Water Street) from 8am to 1pm.

view also helps to discern how scientific anti-blackness shaped comprehensive planning across the entire city, not just in Africville. The promotion of

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improved public health, convenience and economy across the urban terrain was deeply shaped by the suspension or contravention of these concerns in the

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EDITED BY ALLISON SAUNDERS SEND TIPS TO ALLISONS@THECOAST.CA

“These people just want comfort food—just like everyone else, says Lauren Marshall.” IAN SELIG

First look: Real Fake Meats Just in time for 2019, the city’s plant-based butcher carves out a brand new space for itself and vegans craving a little culinary comfort. BY HALEIGH ATWOOD Real Fake Meats 2278 Gottingen Street

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large neon sign of a plump pig greets customers as they browse the seitan bacon and cashew mozzarella on display at Real Fake Meats. It’s the new nook for those craving donairs, grilled cheeses and other comfort food classics—minus the whole meat and cheese part. As Halifax’s first plant-based butcher, owner Lauren Marshall wanted to poke fun at the irony of not using animal byproducts. A throwback to mid-century butchers, a black rotary phone hangs above the cash ready to take orders for charcuterie trays and food boxes featuring a variety of fake meats and cheeses, but the only chopping block in this butcher shop is the checkout counter made of thick wooden slabs.

Marshall helmed the kitchen at EnVie for two years and worked as a chef for more than

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a decade before that. After taking a muchneeded break to study yoga and teach plantbased cooking classes, she and her friend Brandon Levesque co-founded Real Fake Meats last spring. Originally a vegan meat and cheese subscription service, the inspiration for their food boxes came from crafting binge-worthy fake donairs for Levesque’s birthday, as well as fake fish and chips for one of Marshall’s cooking classes.

“They were both so amazing! I wanted to share them with people,” she says. Within 24 hours of launching the food box service, they sold more than 75 orders. “We realized that the demand was much higher than we could keep up with. Someone drove from Fredericton just to pick up a box.” In June, she decided to bite the bullet and expand the business. After months of building Real Fake Meats from the ground up, the butcher shop opened its doors this week.

vicinity of Africville. The effects of anti-blackness are inscribed, therefore, in roads paved and not paved. In streets brightly lit and those left dark. In noxious

2019-01-02 5:25 PM

Food+Drink

Real Fake Meats, a place to pig out on plant-based charcuterie. IAN SELIG

To connect with customers, Marshall chose to have no walls separating the kitchen and the storefront. The only barrier is a small set of swinging saloon doors, which add to the old-timey butcher shop ambience. “I want people to see what we’re doing and see what ingredients we’re using,” she says about the open concept. This interaction with customers is something she says doesn’t happen very often as a chef. In the past, she says, she often remained behind the scenes.

The sleek industrial steel kitchen is a sharp contrast to the store’s wooden counters and panelling. A row of stools are lined up against the window-front, inviting people to linger.

“We have food and drinks if people want to stay and hang out,” Marshall adds. Alongside lattes and Americanos brewed from Java Blend’s North Ender roast, Real Fake Meats also offers a simple menu of nostalgic meals, such as tomato soup and grilled cheese, donairs and chicken salad sandwiches.

As Real Fake Meats joins Halifax’s family

of local vegan businesses Marshall is excited to provide people with more dining options.

“All these places help one another,” she says.

“We co-exist and support each other.” In order to offer something for everyone, Marshall is dedicated to providing gluten and soy-free options when possible. “These people want comfort food—just like everyone else—so I’m continually playing around with recipes,” Marshall says. Although a working knowledge of food allergies and dietary restrictions is becoming increasingly popular, it can still be difficult for restaurant-goers to find affordable places that cater to their specific needs.

“When I grew up, almost every night of my childhood we ate donairs or pizza,” Marshall says. “All the stuff we offer here is kind of like that type of food, because I want people to experience that physical comfort. It’s also a really good transitional food, because it shows people that they don’t have to miss their bacon or their donairs. They can have it all, and still be vegan or vegetarian or whatever.” a

facilities sited far away (for some residents) and dangerously close (for others). In various “economies” and their differently experienced effects.

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MUSIC AND ARTS NEWS EDITED BY TARA THORNE SEND TIPS TO ARTS@THECOAST.CA

COMEDY

Island oddities On their new CBC show Cavendish, Picnicface alums Andrew Bush and Mark Little bring their weirdo energy to a small town.

BY CHUCK TEED Cavendish Premieres Tuesday, January 8 9:30pm on CBC

“T

he goal was to piss on Cavendish and everything they believe,” says Mark Little. “It’s government-funded revenge.”

His new sitcom Cavendish, premiering January 8 on CBC, stars Little and former Picnicface colleague Andrew Bush, also executive producers. The show revolves around the adventures of Andy (Bush) and Mark (Little), brothers who return to Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, after years of living in Toronto.

Upon their homecoming, they discover many strange oddities—an Anne of Green Gables cult, a 200-year-old coven—that were not part of their big-city experience.

“The idea stemmed from me going there on vacation,” says Bush. “Mark and I were working on ideas for shows, and I told him some vacation stories and Mark was fascinated.

It’s not depicting Cavendish proper—it’s basically taking small towns and small-town superstitions and ramping it up to the nth degree.”

In the works since 2012, Cavendish was a part-time pursuit for Bush and Little, who were busy juggling other projects: Bush worked for Funny or Die and directed the fea-

ture Dirty 30, while Little wrote for children’s shows like Cupcake & Dino and played Simon Hunt on Mr. D. “It wasn’t in constant development,” Bush says. “Sometimes we’d think it was dead and it would come back into our minds. The first time we thought it was really going to happen was 2016. We rewrote two episodes on our own—it was initially more of an ensemble show—and focused more on the brothers and the spooky elements. It piqued CBC’s interest, and production company Temple Street came on board in 2017.” Cavendish shot around Halifax and PEI last summer.

The show’s humour comes from Andy and Mark’s reaction to Cavendish’s strangeness: Andy with guarded pessimism, Mark with gleeful enthusiasm. It’s a dynamic honed from years of working together—Bush and Little collaborations date back to 2006, when Picnicface regularly performed sold-out sketch shows at Ginger’s Tavern—but Bush says the characters are not exaggerated versions of their own personalities.

“There are elements of us in both characters,” he says. “The shitty qualities were given to me, while the good qualities were given to Mark.”

The cast also features some big names in the sketch and improv, including British

Little and Bush go hunting for small-town stories in Cavendish. CBC

comedian Kevin Eldon (Big Train, It’s Kevin) and Kathy Greenwood (Whose Line Is It Anyway, Women Fully Clothed).

“Working with them was amazing,” says Bush. “We knew their work—Kathy from Whose Line Is It Anyway, and Kevin from immersing ourselves in cool British sketch shows. Everyone had a live performance background, so they could use the script as a skeleton and just play around a bit.”

“We’re not giving them writing credits, though,” adds Little.

This is Little and Bush’s second time working on a television show together—they produced 13 episodes of Picnicface for The Comedy Network in 2011—and their first as executive producers. While their prior experience made the Cavendish experience slightly easier, starring in and producing a show brings its own set of challenges.

“Cavendish was easier because we knew how it worked, and it was a different narrative structure, instead of running around all over the city filming sketches. And being executive directors gave us the ability to execute our

vision,” says Little. “I’m not saying it’s a perfect execution, but this is our show, it’s what we pictured more or less, and the producer role gave us the power to see if we could do it.

But it was really hard, a lot of work, and if it sucks it’s definitely on us.”

That said, Little and Bush agree that CBC endorsed their vision, even if the end result is different from what you’d typically expect from the Mother Corporation.

“Each episode is like a mini-movie, and we completely swung for the fences,” says Bush.

“CBC was more than supportive.”

“Some of the notes we got back were completely unexpected,” adds Little. “Instead of toning us down, it was like, ‘Did Andy stab the child clearly enough?’”

Cavendish’s first season runs eight episodes; both Little and Bush are hopeful that audiences across the country will enjoy their creation. But if any Islanders take offense, Little isn’t pulling any punches.

“Screw you, PEI,” he says, laughing. “Come across the bridge and face us if you don’t like what you see.” a

MOVIE REVIEW

If Beale Street Could Talk Cineplex at Park Lane Opens Friday, January 4

B

arry Jenkins follows up his Best Picture winner Moonlight with a similarly lyrical, heartfelt, lusciously filmed drama. In his adaptation of James Baldwin’s 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk, Jenkins’ narrative approach is less linear than the three periods of Chiron in Moonlight: We are with a couple in love, Fonny (Toronto’s Stephan James) and Tish (KiKi Layne). She gets pregnant; buttressed by their feelings for each other, even though they’re poor Black kids in 1970s Harlem, they’re happy about it.

Then he is arrested for a crime he had nothing to do with. Jenkins weaves in and out of time, in and out of jail, in and out of New York apartments, feeding the story’s details between rapturously photographed—by his

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The Coast

only cinematographer, James Laxton—and costumed—by Moonlight’s Caroline Eselin— depictions of woozy young love.

James’ Fonny, like other Jenkins protagonists—Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes and Alex Hibbert as Chiron in Moonlight; Wyatt Cenac as Micah in Medicine for Melancholy—is similarly sensitive and has trouble expressing his myriad, deeply felt thoughts, especially once caught up in the prison system, which encourages feeling the least amount possible. He and Layne carry the movie equally, often framed in direct close-up that makes for an almost voyeuristic viewing experience—moments this tender should not be for witnesses. But this is less a movie than an actual experience, built to wash over you, leaving bits behind—of race and justice—for you to look at and think about long afterward. —Tara Thorne

Antiblackness inheres, in short, in the many lives and spaces safeguarded in this period, as well as in the lives and spaces that were sacrificed and defiled

2019-01-02 5:20 PM

Entertainment Listings Music You’re here!

Events P14 On Stage P14 Visual Arts P15

› ENTERTAINMENT AND EVENTS PICKS WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY MORGAN MULLIN

Send event listings to listings@thecoast.ca. Print deadline Thursday, 5pm

Music

SURE THINGS

DJ + Dancing DJ DXS Pacifico DJ RANDY Monte’s DJ TONY HAZE The Bitter End

Sure Thing

THE MODUM TRIO This trio (which includes Daniel MacNeil, Doug Cameron and Tim Crofts— pictured) marks its premiere performance at 2019’s Open Waters Festival, delivering what the improvisationalfriendly fest calls “an emphasis on exploring rhythmic relationships between their instruments.” Dalhousie Arts Centre, MacAloney Room, 6101 University Avenue, Jan 6, 3pm

Live Music LIKE A MOTORCYCLE W/HELEN & LUCY, PRETTY NORMAL, SHELLEY, BRADLEY JAMES HARTMAN The Seahorse, $7, 10pm LISA MACDOUGALL Le Bistro MIKE COWIE AND GERRY CARRUTHERS Press Gang Restaurant REARVIEW MIRROR: A PEARL JAM, SOUNDGARDEN AND AUDIOSLAVE TRIBUTE The Carleton, 9:30pm-1:30am ROWDY DOW Old Triangle SHIRLEY JACKSON & HER GOOD ROCKIN’ DADDIES Bearly’s, 10pm THEO MACINTOSH Old Triangle, 5pm

Thursday January 3

Friday January 4

Saturday January 5

DJ + Dancing

Big Ticket Shows

DJ + Dancing

AUDIO THERAPY THURSDAYS Reflections, $7/$9, 11pm DJ IV W/DJ OKAY TK Vinyl Retro Dance Lounge DJ RANDY Monte’s FOR THE RECORD W/DJ DOUVET Obladee, 8:30-11:30pm OUTLANDISH THURSDAYS Menz

WHO’S BAD: THE ULTIMATE MICHAEL JACKSON EXPERIENCE A tribute show that’ll have you dying to break into the “Thriller” dance in your seat, this concert sees an eight-piece band deliver horn-laced takes on tunes from all eras of MJ’s repertoire. The the longest-running Michael Jackson tribute band (and the only one that pre-dates his death) with over 100 years combined professional experience, the band earned its name by paying studious attention to Michael Jackson’s every original groove and gravity-defying dance move, says organizers. Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, 6101 University Avenue, $70.50-$82, 8pm

DJ FROST AND XS 7 Red Stag Tavern, 10pm-1am DJ RANDY Monte’s THE JAM The Seahorse, 10pm-2am PINEO & LOEB Pacifico, $5, 11pm-2am

LISA MACDOUGALL Le Bistro, free, 7-10pm THE HARBOR KINGS Staggers MIKE COWIE AND GERRY CARRUTHERS Press Gang Restaurant, 3-7pm ROWDY DOW Old Triangle

Sunday January 6 Big Ticket Shows LALA LEE & MIMISU LEE A sister duo that’s been wowing crowds since the tender age of 10, Lala and Mimisu Lee deliver a beautiful blend of piano and French horn. Lilian Piercey Concert Hall, 6199 Chebucto Road, 2pm

Live Music BLUES JAM Bearly’s, 8:30pm, free JEFF GOODSPEED AND HIS ULTIMATE BAND OF SUPER HEROES Stayner’s Wharf, 5pm, free MARK FLORIA AND TAMMY ADAMS Vimy #27 Legion, $3, 3-7pm THE MIKE COWIE VIBE TRIO W/ RON HYNES, DAVE STAPLES Morris East, Bedford West RICK GAUTREAU Staggers, 4-7pm ROWDY DOW Old Triangle SKIN & JONES The Perfect Pour, 4-7pm

Monday January 7 DJ + Dancing

Live Music GARRETT MASON Bearly’s, 8:30pm GOTTIJAM Menz, $3, 10:30pm LEITH FLEMING-SMITH The Carleton, free, 7-10pm NEW MUSIC TUESDAYS Sniggily Wiggily’s Beer, 8:30pm TYLER AND SCOTT Durty Nelly’s, 9:30pm

Wednesday January 9 Live Music ACOUSTIC WEDNESDAYS Gahan House, 8pm

ANN DENNY Le Bistro, free, 6-9pm BLUEGRASS SESSIONS W/THE SNIGGLETON STRINGBAND Sniggily Wiggily’s, free, 10pm BLUES NIGHT FEAT. JOE MURPHY AND BRAD CONRAD The Loose Cannon, 9pm JAZZ NIGHT W/THE EVAN MAHANEY TRIO The Watch That Ends the Night, 7-10pm WEDNESDAY NIGHT JAZZ W/ DAMIEN MOYNIHAN, SILVIO PUPO, RONALD HYNES The Local, 9pm-12am DODGE LEVATTE Durty Nelly’s, free, 8pm LIVE JAZZ WITH WILLEM PAYNTER AND FRIENDS Obladee, free, 8-11pm

For gallery and museum listings, see thecoast.ca.

Open Waters Festival

January 4 MOUVANCE Soprano Suzie LeBlanc leads this exploration of banishment, from texts by Acadian artists.

Sir James Dunn Theatre, 6101 University Avenue, 7:30pm

January 5 IMPROVISATION TALK BACK Dalhousie Arts Centre,MacAloney Room, 6101 University Avenue JERI BROWN W/THE JB ARKESTRA The Marquee, 2037 Gottingen Street, 10pm

THE MODUM TRIO See photo.

SAM WILSON The Marquee, 2037 Gottingen Street, 11pm TELEET ENSEMBLE Dalhousie Arts Centre, MacAloney Room TOM EASLEY QUARTET The Marquee, 10pm VOCALYPSE PRODUCTIONS Janice Isabel Jackson performs.

Sir James Dunn Theatre, 7:30pm WAY NORTH Sir James Dunn Theatre, 8:30pm

January 7

NICOLE RAMPERSAUD AND J. LEBLANC Dalhousie Arts Centre, MacAloney Room, 2pm

DALHOUSIE ENSEMBLE COMPOSERS Sir James Dunn Theatre, 7:30pm

‘NOISE KNITTING’ WITH SARAH ALBU Dalhousie Arts Centre, 3pm

OPEN COMPANY The Marquee, 2037 Gottingen Street, 10pm

DJ TONY HAZE The Bitter End

Live Music ANN DENNY Le Bistro, 6-9pm THE DELUXEDOS Bearly’s, 8:30pm JEFF BONANG Staggers, 8pm LANDING SOUND The Loose Cannon THE LEGENDARY GOLDBLOOMS Sniggily Wiggily’s THE MELLOTONES The Local ROWDY DOW Old Triangle

Live Music BIG COUNTRY RAMBLERS Bearly’s, 4:30pm BRUCE AND JAY Durty Nelly’s, 4-7pm BUCK TINGLEY & THE GALAXY 500S Bearly’s, 10pm THE CARLETON COLLECTIVE The Carleton, 10pm-1:30am DONNA AND ALEX Casino Nova Scotia, 9pm-12am

Live Music DAVE MACISAAC & LOUIS BENOIT Old Triangle, 7:30-10:30pm MORGAN DAVIS Bearly’s, PWYC, 8:30pm ONE MAN SHOW Halifax Alehouse

Tuesday January 8 DJ + Dancing ALL REQUEST W/DJ BILL KIDNEY Staggers, free, 9pm DJ MASTER Menz

for the benefits of others. The city and the new form of planning that came to preside over it would each be rather different without the fissuring effects of

13-26.32.Listings.Music01.indd 1

SOUND OF THE MOUNTAIN W/BRANDON AUGER Sir James Dunn Theatre, 8:30pm SUPERFLUID The Marquee, 11pm UPSTREAM ENSEMBLE MUSIC OF GEORDIE HALEY Sir James Dunn Theatre, 7:30pm

January 6 GILLIAN SMITH AND JENNIFER KING Dalhousie Arts Centre, MacAloney Room,1pm

SBOT N WO A performance centered on the human voice. Sir James Dunn Theatre, 8:30pm

January 8 CURRENT VISIONS: UPSTREAM ENSEMBLE/ SYMPHONY NS Sir James Dunn Theatre, 7:30pm

January 9 CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S SAFTEY LAST W/OPEN BORDERS University of King’s College Alumni Hall, Coburg Road, 7pm

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2019-01-02 5:37 PM

Events

ON STAGE

Theatre

Sure Thing

CINDERELLA: A HOLIDAY PANTOMIME If you’re yet to see Neptune’s spin on the classic tale of a girl on her way to a party with nothing to wear, this weekend is your last chance! The age-old tale gets the British pantomime treatment, filled with family-friendly humour and of-the-moment hit songs as Cinderella and Prince Charming try to outrun the clock. Neptune Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street, Thu Jan 3, 7:30pm, Fri Jan 4, 7:30pm, Sat Jan 5 2&7:30pm

CINDERELLA: A HOLIDAY PANTOMIME See photo. Neptune Theatre, 1593 Argyle Street, To Jan 5 CONCORD FLORAL King’s alum and decorated playwright Pamela Halstead returns to her old stomping grounds to deliver this emotionally charged, critically adored play that traces a chain of events unleashed by two teenagers’ discovery in an abandoned greenhouse.

University of King’s College, 6350 Coburg Road, Jan 9-13, 7:30pm, $12-$20 HAMLET An all-woman redux of Shakespeare’s famous tale about power and revenge, Hamlet is, according to Neptune, “an unexpected, immersive production set in an Edwardian dining room,” revealing the relevance of this historic tale by engaging the audience around a dining table. “The servants of a grand house challenge us to answer a question we currently wrestle with: how do we act in the face of the rise of a demagogue?” Neptune adds.Read more in this week’s cover story, on page 6.

Neptune Theatre Scotiabank Stage, 1593 Argyle Street, Jan 9-20

Comedy GOOFY MOOSE End your weekend on a funny note at this weekly stand-up sesh.

Sundays, 9pm, free BEST BUDS COMEDY SHOW Get the giggles at the Amsterdam-inspired social club’s weekly stand-up night hosted by Travis Lindsay. Bring your own cannabis. No, really. Members get in free.

High Life Social Club, 5982 Spring Garden Road, Thursdays, 9-10:30pm, $5

ACTORS: RYAN BROWN, SAMANTHA WALKES AND ANDREW PRASHAD , COSTUMES: HELENA MARRIOTT, PHOTO: STOO METZ

Thursday January 3

Saturday January 5

PLAY DATES FOR QUEER FAMILIES Queer families with kids aged six and under are invited to this play group that prioritizes BIPOC children. Drop your little one off for pay-what-you-can care or stay and socialize.

Glitter Bean Cafe, 5896 Spring Garden Road, 10am-12pm

CODE CARNIVAL: SCRATCH 3.0 RELEASE PARTY An open-to-all coding session that sees beginners and experts alike taking part in a lab-wide celebration. Discovery Centre, 1215 Lower Water Street, 10am, Jan 5-6

THREE UNIQUE HABITATS Bob Kennedy, a member of the Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society, delivers this talk discussing three diverse regions in the area and the flowers that bloom within them.

Museum of Natural History 1747 Summer Street, 7:30-9:30pm

Friday January 4 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS RIMOUSKI OCEANIC With its top player, Alexis Lafrenière, away representing Team Canada at the World Juniors, Rimouski just might get trampled by the Moose! Scotiabank Centre, 5284 Duke Street, 7pm For gallery and museum listings, see thecoast.ca.

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CONTRA DANCE Solo dancers and pairs are welcome at this wholesome evening of line dancing. Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 2096 Windsor Street, 8pm, $10 HALIFAX MOOSEHEADS VS REMPARTS DE QUEBEC Scotiabank Centre, 5284 Duke Street, 7pm

WOMEN’S CHRISTMAS An old Irish tradition, Women’s Christmas “began as a day when the women enjoyed a break from domestic responsibilities and celebrated together at the end of the holidays,” event organizers explain. Here, the Ladies Beer League gets in on the fun, throwing a festive end-of-the-holidays fete.

Brightwood Brewery, 35 Portland Street, Dartmouth, 2pm, free

Monday January 7 LECTURE W/WENDY NIELSEN Soprano and lecturer at University of Toronto, Wendy Nielsen gives this talk in room 121.

Dalhousie Arts Centre, 6101 University Avenue, 11:30am-1:30pm

SWING FACTORY Learn to swing dance with the DalKing’s Swing Dance Society.

Beginners learn the ropes from 7-7:45pm with all-level boogieing lasting until 10:30pm. First Baptist Church, 1300 Oxford Street, 7pm

MICRORESEARCH IN THE NOVA SCOTIAN CONTEXT: HOW APPROACHES USED SUCCESSFULLY IN EAST AFRICA MAY HELP TO ADDRESS HEALTH ISSUES IN NOVA SCOTIA Noni MacDonald delivers this talk. Museum of Natural History, 1747 Summer Street, 7:30-8:30pm

Sunday January 6

SICKBOY LIVE Everyone’s fave local podcast exploring what it’s like to live with an illness returns home after a North American tour for a sold-out live taping.

Cineplex Park Lane, 5657 Spring Garden Road, 7:30pm, $20

CODE CARNIVAL: SCRATCH 3.0 RELEASE PARTY Discovery Centre, 1215 Lower Water Street, 10am, Jan 5-6

SPEED DATING: AGES 20-30 New year, new you—get out there! Freeman’s, 1726 Grafton Street, 7:30-10:30pm, $35

The Coast

Tuesday January 8 FIST CITY CINEMA: OVER THE TOP Fist City Cinema is all about exploring the best-worst action flick cheese of the VHS era. Here, the group screens the classic movie that sees Sylvester Stallone compete in an intense arm wrestle to win a truck for himself and his son.

Gus’ Pub & Grill, 2605 Agricola Street, 8:30-11:30pm SILENT READING AT THE IMBIBRARY Grab a beer, crack open a book and keep your phone in your pocket, damn it! It’s silent reading time—so that means shh.

Your New Year resolution to read more will thank you. Good Robot Brewing Co., 2736 Robie Street, 6-8pm, free

Wednesday January 9 CON AIR SCREENING In honour of Nicolas Cage’s birthday (which is January 7—hello Capricorn), the Robie Street spot screens this 1997 cheese-ball flick that sees an ex-con and former U.S. ranger trapped in a prisoner transport plane when the passengers seize control. Good Robot Brewing Co., 2736 Robie Street, 7-9pm, free

COMEDY HOUR A pro-am, alt-comedy showcase featuring touring pros from across the country and hosted by Catherine Robertson.

Bearly’s, 1269 Barrington Street, Wednesdays, 8:30pm MEGACOMEDYMONDAYS A stellar lineup of comedians spinning tales of magic and adventure.

Gus’, 2605 Agricola Street, Mondays, 8pm, free PUNCHLINE PRESENTS Chanel Freire and Richie Bell host this open mic that aims to grow local comedy, one laugh at a time. Get in on the fun(ny) times Tuesdays at Oasis or Mondays at The Local (2037 Gottingen Street).

Oasis, 5661 Spring Garden Road, First Monday and Tuesday of every month, 8:30pm;

JODIE FOSTER FILM SERIES: NELL The Central Library kicks off 2019 with a monthlong hat-tip to Jodie Foster, screening a movie of hers a week. Next up?

1994’s Nell, which sees a woman raised in rural isolation interact with other people— including Liam Neeson—for the first time.

Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, 6:30pm

Submit events to listings@thecoast.ca or upload them online at thecoast.ca.

Deadline Thursdays at 5pm.

scientific anti-blackness. Situating Africville within the broader concerns of nascent comprehensive planning helps, more than anything, to unsettle the con

2019-01-02 5:33 PM

Visual Arts

Sure Thing

Castles, Cars and Clowns: A Celebration of Children’s Art Petite Picassos get their due at this showcase featuring over 200 pieces made by artists aged five to 14. Craig Gallery, To Jan 6

Galleries ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA Tue-Sun 10am-5pm, Thu 10am9pm, 1723 Hollis Street Alphabetical Order: Things Artists Have Drawn A series of prints and drawings from the gallery’s permanent collection, Alphabetical Order sees works by Nova Scotian-based makers illustrating everything from apples to zebras.

To Mar 31 Close to the edge... The Work of Gerald Ferguson Billed as a “comprehensive overview of Gerald Ferguson’s practice,” this AGNS show sees some of the artist’s signature works displayed from the gallery’s vaults, underscoring why he was included in such seminal showcases as the Museum of Modern Art’s 1970 defining exhibition of conceptual art, Information.

To Jan 13 Hiroshige: The 53 Stations of the Tokaido An epic, sprawling retrospective celebrating Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the greatest artists of Japan’s Ukiyo-e genre, sees original 1834 woodcut prints of the artists’ middle-class scenes displayed in a complete set.

To Mar 17 Ketu’ elmita’jik Jordan Bennett’s first solo show in Nova Scotia sees the artist build an immersive environment that’s filled with pop art colours and sharp lines married with the historic shapes and patterns of Mi’kmaq and Beothuk visual culture.

To Mar 31 CHASE EXHIBITION ROOM Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm, Wed 8:30am-8:30pm, Sat 9am-5pm, 6016 University Avenue Nova Scotia Society of Polish Artists show and sale A fundraiser for the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking sees NSSPA artists share a stack of canvases in a variety of styles at this show and sale. The grand reception—January 5 from 1-4pm—sees one lucky attendee walking home with a free painting.

Jan 5-27

CRAIG GALLERY Tue-Fri 12-5:30pm, Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 11am-3pm, Alderney Landing, 2 Ochterloney Street, Dartmouth Castles, Cars and Clowns: A Celebration of Children’s Art See photo, above. To Jan 6 KHYBER CENTRE FOR THE ARTS Tue-Sat 12-5pm, 1880 Hollis Street Vacant Faces Artists Arielle Twist and Brandon Hoax debut a collaborative work from The Khyber’s new Khyber Window, a street-facing exhibit space that’s viewable 24/7 from Hollis Street. To Jan 30 MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY Tue-Fri 11am-5pm, Sat-Sun 1-5pm, 166 Bedford Highway Prospect 18: Christiane Poulin, Echoes Textile artist Christiane Poulin’s exhibit blurs the line between weaving and architecture as it presents a series of woven structures that “allude to Brutalist design integrated into a landscape.” To Jan 27 TEICHERT GALLERY Sun-Mon 12-5pm, Tue-Sat 10am5pm, 1723 Hollis Street Home Away from Home Inae Kim showcases 15 pieces “inspired by the architecture, historical buildings and the colourful houses of Halifax.” To Jan 12 VIEWPOINT GALLERY Wed-Sun 12-5pm, 1459 Brenton Street The Cheerful Eye See photo below.

Jan 3-Feb 3

Museums CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21 1055 Marginal Road 1968: Canada and the Prague Spring Refugees An exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring—which saw, according to The Immigration Museum, 12,000 refugees from Czechoslovakia arrive on Turtle Island—arrives at Pier 21. It “explores the events that led Czechs and Slovaks to leave their country and the role of the Canadian government and community organizations in helping them begin new lives in Canada,” the museum adds.

To Jan 3 MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 1747 Summer Street Carrie Allison: Beaded Earth Carrie Allison, an Indigenous artist that specializes in traditional bead work, exhibits the results of her museum residency—where she worked with the museum’s archives to explore and “critically examine colonial methodologies of botanical categorization, display, and displacement”—at this showcase.

To Jan 6

Submit events to listings@thecoast.ca or upload them online at thecoast.ca.

Deadline Thursdays at 5pm.

Sure Thing

The Cheerful Eye A solo show by ViewPoint gallery member Curtis Steele sees the shutterbug showcasing what his artist’s statement calls “a selection ...of clear seeing and spontaneous discovery,” full of optimistic colour palettes. ViewPoint Gallery, Jan 3-Feb 3

ception of human flourishing that gained acceptance in this period. Africville residents, in contrast to city planners, never regarded their lives as subnormal

15-26.32.Listings.VisArts.02.indd 1

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LOVE THE WAY WE BITCH / LOVE 2309 Maynard Street, Halifax, NS B3K 3T8 Phone: 902-422-6278, Fax: 902-425-0013 EDITORIAL Editor Kyle Shaw (editor@thecoast.ca) Arts Editor Tara Thorne (arts@thecoast.ca) Deputy Editor Allison Saunders (allisons@thecoast.ca) City Editor Jacob Boon (jacob@thecoast.ca) Listings Editor Morgan Mullin (listings@thecoast.ca) Copy Editor Caora McKenna (copychief@thecoast.ca) Senior Features Writer Stephen Kimber (stephenk@thecoast.ca) Contributing Writers Chris Benjamin, Jane Kansas, Carsten Knox, Brennan McCracken Contributing Editors Melissa Buote, Lezlie Lowe, Stephanie Johns Contributing Photographers Meghan Tansey Whitton, Happy Birthday Lenny Mullins, Alexa Cude, Riley Smith Contributing Illustrators Paul Hammond, Tim Carpenter, Mollie Cronin, Jordyn Bochon Housing Reporter Sandra C. Hannebohm Interns McKenna Giffin

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!

Young blood, is there an app for that?

Hooray for holiday break but why in my negative 20 travels have I not seen one high school kid wearing anything more than clothes for gym class? I am dressed for a tour of the Arctic tundra to walk to the corner store for fuck sakes. Put a fucking hat on.

—Not Really A Bitch But I’m Still Cold Just Looking At Your Bare Ankles

❤ Your friend Willard

On Christmas morning I sat down to read The Coast as the household settled in to its routines, and found their spots to settle for the unwrapping. I didn’t know Willard, and I don’t know Lewis, but this memorial was so well-written and so touching. It had me in tears. The camaraderie, the friendship, the love that develops between neighbours, and in the best neighbourhood, at that, is something that continues to make Halifax the gem that it is.

I’ve been in this city for the better part of a decade, and I’ve lived in quite a number of rentals where it

Fucking fireworks There’s nothing I hate more.

Every fucking holiday, I get woken up out of a dead sleep by the loudest noise ever! Did a war break out?

Gunshots outside my bedroom window? No, it’s the lame fucking fireworks again, ruining our environment with black clouds of smoke and disturbing the peace. This is midnight—people are alseep. The elderly, children, and normal people are in bed. After being woken up

!

What are we going to watch this week?

Our step World Juniors Boxing Day movie-goer To the cute guy who sat three seats down from me at Vice this afternoon at Mic Mac Mall. You had longish hair and glasses, I had red hair and a big sweater. I meant to smile back at you but was momentarily too shy. —Boxing Day Bold

❤

The Coast is Halifax’s weekly newspaper, published every Thursday

by Coast Publishing Limited. The Coast’s goal is to be provocative, entertaining and truthful. Coast Publishing Limited takes absolutely no responsibility for the ice on the sidewalk. Take it up with your landlord. The Coast is printed locally on recycled stock with 23,000 copies distributed throughout Halifax, Dartmouth and Bedford. Mailed under Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 40027554.

Return undeliverable addresses to the Distribution Department, 2309 Maynard Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 3T8 (email distribution@ thecoast.ca). Staff and management of The Coast neither advocate nor encourage the use of products or services advertised herein for illegal purposes. All rights reserved. © 2018 Independent and locally owned, founded in 1993.

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Snow falling on metro Weather wonks: There are many meanings of the much-used word “messy.” Must we include it in the shrill description of a snowstorm or its aftermath? This is Canada. And it’s winter. Is garbage falling from the sky? Nope. They’re small, light flakes formed by ice crystals. Being in the snow in the city—walking, shovelling, driving­—is not being stuck in a mess, for crying out loud.

These weather reports are messed up. —Guy From The North Country

❤

from a dead sleep at midnight. After a series of loud explosion noises, that made the pets cower under the bed and run for the closet. After about 20 minutes of this heart thudding, anxiety-inducing racket, there was silence again. The pets tentatively retreated from their hiding positions with saucer eyes and we all fell back asleep. Only to be woken again at about 1am from another round of fucking fireworks that continued for another 20 minutes straight. You fucking bunch of drunks got nothing better to do?

Go the hell home and go to bed, and grow the fuck up. Like, oooh! ahhh! a fucking light show in the sky.

Get over it already, losers. Stupid fireworks suck and so do you.

People need their rest. It hurts the environment, it scares the shit out of people, babies and pets. It could give elderly a heart attack. This town and it’s stupid traditions make me sick! Fuck ya’ll!

—Nerves Are Shot, Now I’m Up!

THE COMIC

OPERATIONS Office Manager Audra McKenna (audram@thecoast.ca) Distribution Team David MacPhee, Greg Fletcher, Yvonne Cromwell Front Desk Enforcer Kyla Derry (kylad@thecoast.ca) Publisher Christine Oreskovich (christineo@thecoast.ca)

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was barely affordable but we made it our home. Nowhere, in Halifax, do I feel as much at home as I do in this neighbourhood. This one, in the article. The one, bordered by the Citadel, the Commons, the harbourfront and possibly the Hydrostone, depending on where you draw your boundary lines.

Never has a neighbourhood been so maligned, chewed up and spat out. I recall being only a child, and warned away from “the square”, without even knowing what/where it was. I think maybe that person was trying to keep the best part of the city, and most of the best people in it, a

secret, so that it could be treasured.

Lewis, I am sorry for your loss.

—North End Neighbourhood Lover

!

You want bike lanes, start paying for them As a driver, I am dismayed at the cost of cutting up our roadways for these stupid bike lanes that are more of a traffic hazard than anything. I pay huge gas taxes to pay for paved roads, and you pay NOTHING. You don’t even have to license your bike. It’ about time they brought that back and the money earned paid at least for the paint for these stupid things.

—Tired Of Paying For Stupidity

!

The Coast

or pathological, as a deficient version of some higher, normal life embodied by white people. They certainly wanted the infrastructure and services provided

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Free Will Astrology

Imagine your fantastic mess, Capricorn, says ROB BREZSNY Capricorn

(Dec. 22-Jan. 19) What themes and instruments do people least want to hear in a piece of music? Composer Dave Solder determined that the worst song ever made would contain bagpipes, cowboy music, tubas, advertising jingles, operatic rapping and children crooning about holidays. Then he collaborated with other musicians to record such a song. I suspect that as you head into 2019, it’ll be helpful to imagine a metaphorically comparable monstrosity: A fantastic mess that sums up all the influences you’d like to avoid. With that as a vivid symbol, you’ll hopefully be inspired to avoid allowing any of it to sneak into your life in the coming months.

This week’s birthdays: Ron Bates, Sam Krueger, Kirk Lahey, Gail Thorne bday@thecoast.ca

Aquarius

(Jan 20-Feb 18)

In Canada, it’s illegal to pretend to practice witchcraft. It’s fine to actually do witchcraft, however. With that as our inspiration, I advise you to be rigorous about embodying your authentic self in 2019. Make sure you never lapse into merely imitating who you are or who you used to be.

Don’t fall into the trap of caring more about your image than about your actual output. Focus on standing up for what you really mean rather than what you imagine people expect from you. The coming months will be a time when you can summon pure and authoritative expressions of your kaleidoscopic soul.

Pisces

(Feb 19-Mar 20)

In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin was a founding father who played a key role in getting the United States up and running.

He wasn’t happy that the fledgling nation chose the bald eagle as its animal symbol. The supposedly majestic raptor is lazy, he wrote. It doesn’t hunt for its own food, but steals grub obtained by smaller birds of prey. Furthermore, bald eagles are cowardly, Franklin believed. Even sparrows may intimidate them. With that as our theme, Pisces, I invite you to select a proper creature to be your symbolic ally in 2019. Since you will be building a new system and establishing a fresh power base, you shouldn’t pick a critter that’s merely glamorous. Choose one that excites your ambition and animates your willpower.

Aries

(Mar 21-Apr 19)

No one has resisted the force of gravity with more focus than businessman Roger Babson (1875-1967). He wrote an essay entitled “Gravity—Our Enemy Number One,” and sought to develop anti-gravity technology. His gravity research foundation gave awards to authentic scientists who advanced

the understanding of gravity. If that organization still existed and offered prizes, I’m sure that researchers of the Aries persuasion would win them all in 2019. For your tribe, the coming months should feature lots of escapes from heaviness, including soaring flights and playful levity and lofty epiphanies.

Taurus

(Apr 20-May 20)

The night parrots of Australia are so elusive that there was a nearly sixdecade stretch when no human saw a single member of the species. But in 2013, after searching for 15 years, photographer John Young spotted one and recorded a 17-second video.

Since then, more sightings have occurred. According to my astrological vision, your life in 2019 will feature experiences akin to the story of the night parrot’s reappearance. A major riddle will be at least partially solved.

Hidden beauty will materialize. Longsecret phenomena will no longer be secret. A missing link will re-emerge.

Gemini

(May 21-Jun 20)

Millions of years ago, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica and North and South America were smooshed together. Earth had a single land mass, the supercontinent Pangea. Stretching across its breadth was a colossal feature, the Central Pangean Mountains.

Eventually, though, Europe and America split apart, making room for the Atlantic Ocean and dividing the Central Pangean range. Today the Scottish Highlands and the Appalachian Mountains are thousands of miles apart, but once upon a time they were joined. In 2019, Gemini, I propose that you look for metaphorical equivalents in your own life. What disparate parts of your world had the same origin? What elements that are now divided used to be together?

Re-establish their connection. Get them back in touch with each other.

Be a specialist in cultivating unity.

Cancer

(Jun 21-Jul 22)

Two thousand nineteen will be an excellent time to swim in unpolluted rivers, utter sacred oaths near beautiful fountains and enjoy leisurely saunas that help purify your mind and body. You are also likely to attract cosmic favour if you cry more than usual, seek experiences that enhance your emotional intelligence, and ensure that your head respectfully consults with your heart before making decisions.

Here’s another way to get on life’s good side: Cultivate duties that consistently encourage you to act out of love and joy rather than out of guilt and obligation.

Leo

(Jul 23-Aug 22)

Here are four key questions I hope you’ll meditate on throughout 2019: 1. What is love? 2. What kind of love do you want to receive? 3. What kind of love do you want to give?

4. How could you transform yourself in order to give and receive more of the love you value most? To spur your efforts, I offer you these thoughts from teacher David R. Hawkins: “Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state

of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.”

Virgo

(Aug 23-Sep 22)

“Most living things begin in the absence of light,” writes Virgo author Nancy Holder. “The vine is rooted in the earth; the fawn takes form in the womb of the doe.” I’ll remind you that your original gestation also took place in the dark. And I foresee a metaphorically comparable process unfolding for you in 2019. You’ll undergo an incubation period that may feel cloaked and mysterious.

That’s just as it should be: The best possible circumstances for the vital new part of your life that will be growing. So be patient. You’ll see the tangible results in 2020.

Libra

(Sep 23-Oct 22)

Many plants that modern Americans regard as weeds were regarded as tasty food by Native Americans. A prime example is the cattail, which grows wild in wetlands. Indigenous people ate the rootstock, stem, leaves and flower spike. I propose that we use this scenario to serve as a metaphor for some of your potential opportunities in 2019.

Things you’ve regarded as useless or irrelevant or inconvenient could be revealed as assets. Be alert for the possibility of such shifts. Here’s advice from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”

Scorpio

(Oct 23-Nov 21)

The slow, gradual, incremental approach will be your magic strategy in 2019. Being persistent and thorough as you take one step at a time will provide you with the power to accomplish wonders. Now and then, you may be tempted to seek dramatic breakthroughs or flashy leaps of faith; and there may indeed be one or two such events mixed in with your steady rhythms. But for the most part, your glory will come through tenacity. Now study this advice from mystic Meister Eckhart: “Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart and finding delight in doing it.”

Sagittarius (Nov 22-Dec 21) You’ve always got more help available than you imagine, and that’s especially true these days. Both people you know and people you don’t know may come to your assistance and offer extra support—especially if you meet two conditions: 1. You sincerely believe you deserve their assistance and support; 2. You clearly ask for their assistance and support. Now here’s more good news about the help that’s available. Whether or not you believe in spiritual beings, they, too, are primed to offer blessings and resources. If you don’t believe in their existence, I invite you to pretend you do and see what happens.

If you do believe in them, formulate clear requests for what you’d like them to offer you. a Go to freewillastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO and DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES.

to white people, and they fought continuously, from the founding of the community until its eventual destruction in the 1960s, to receive these selectively

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Savage Love SEX ADVICE FROM DAN SAVAGE mail@savagelove.net

Lost kinkster Advice from Alexander Cheves on how to re-kindle your kink community in the post-Tumblr-pocalypse. a 19-year-old bisexual woman really Q I’m into orgasm denial and edging. With the

recent Tumblr ban on all NSFW content, I have no idea where to indulge my kinks and find my community. I’ve never needed to go anywhere else to find porn, explore my sexuality and be surrounded by supportive people—and now I’m at a loss. A few Google searches have been really disheartening. Clearly I’ve been spoiled by all the easily found porn made by women, for women on Tumblr. Hell, I’m used to it being made by bisexuals, for bisexuals.

I feel like I’m 15 again, desperately scouring the internet for anything that applies to me.

Please tell me where I can find my porn!

P.S. You wrote about how this ban harms sex workers, Dan, but please write about how it harms queer and kinky people, too!

—Missing My Porn Community

A

“Many people are scrambling to relocate their fetish communities in the wake of Tumblr’s ban on ‘adult content,’” says Alexander Cheves, a queer writer who lives in New York City. “Porn is more than hot videos—porn creates communities. I wouldn’t know half the gross stuff I’m into if it weren’t for Tumblr!”

Luckily, MMPC, the men and women who created and/or curated the content that spoke to you and affirmed your identity didn’t evaporate on December 17, the day Tumblr’s porn ban went into effect. Many have taken their clips, captions, GIFs and erotic imaginations to other platforms and some are creating new platforms.

“MMPC should devote some time to scouring Twitter for bisexual women into orgasm denial and edging, some of whom may be uploading their original content to platforms like Just For Fans,” says Cheves. “The creators of JFF are right now working on a more Tumblr-like social-media extension to their site. Other start-ups like Slixa or ShareSomeCome and social platforms like Switter have emerged in the wake of this crackdown. These are corners of the internet where MMPC can find her porn.”

Cheves wrote a terrific piece for Out that connects the dots between Tumblr’s ban on porn and the anti-sex, anti-porn, anti-sexwork and anti-queer crackdown that was already under way on other platforms (“The Dangerous Trend of LGBTQ Censorship on the Internet,” December 6, 2018). While there’s still tons of porn on the internet, as many people have pointed out (myself included), the crackdown on explicit content on socialmedia platforms is fucking over vulnerable queers. As Eric Leue, executive director of the

Free Speech Coalition, told Cheves: “Many people in straight, heteronormative communities don’t understand what the big deal is [about the Tumblr adult content ban], because their lives and cultures are represented everywhere. For those in queer, or niche, or fetish communities, Tumblr was one of the few accessible spaces to build communities and share content.”

And as long as sex-education programs don’t cover queer sex or kinky sex—and there’s no sign of improvement in either area— LGBTQ youth and young people with kinks will continue to get their sexual education on the internet. And the harder it is to access explicit content, particularly explicit noncommercial content, the harder it’s going to be for young queers to find not just smut that speaks to them, but the education they need to protect themselves.

“More youth will get hurt and more will get HIV thanks to Tumblr’s content ban,” says Cheves. “That’s not scaremongering—that will happen. Case in point: I grew up in a fiercely religious home on a 500-acre farm in the middle of Georgia with dial-up and a pretty intense parental blocker. I couldn’t access porn—I couldn’t even access articles with sexual illustrations, including sexual health illustrations. When I went to college in 2010, the same year Grindr hit the App Store, I knew absolutely nothing about HIV and nothing about my community. It’s no wonder that I tested positive at 21.”

Shortly after getting the news that he was HIV+, Cheves started an educational queer sex blog. “I answer sex questions from anyone who writes in—I stole the idea from you, Dan, to be honest,” says Cheves. “I wanted to reach those kids in the middle of nowhere, kids like me.”

While Cheves writes professionally today— you can find his advice column in the Advocate and his byline in other publications—he still updates and posts new content to thebeastlyexboyfriend.com, his original queer sex blog.

“Sites like my blog are needed now more than ever,” says Cheves. “If MMPC wants to help her community survive, she may no longer have the option of being a passive consumer—she might have to start a website or blog, wave a digital flag and find others.

The internet is so massive that censorship will never be able to keep people with niche fetishes from congregating, digitally or otherwise. It’s just going to be a little harder to find each other.” a Follow Alexander Cheves on Twitter @BadAlexCheves.

Get more Dan at thecoast .ca/savage 18 • JANUARY 3 - JANUARY 9, 2019 •

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The Coast

provided benefits. Their aim here, however, was not to ascend to a normality defined by the white majority but rather to safeguard and improve a much-

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valued form of individual and collective life that they had maintained in the face of planning-induced impairment and violence.

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