Examineradio - The Halifax Examiner Podcast

It's been a few years since Halifax had a dedicated queer theatre festival, but that changes April 26 with OutFest. Produced by Page1 Theatre, the event's goal is to "provide a platform for multi-disciplinary artists to create stories that reflect our community, both past and present." Page1's artistic director Isaac Mulè stops by to give an overview of this year's program and chat about the festival's origins in Kitchener ON. Theatre maker Katie Clarke is also on board to dig into Can You Remember How We Got Here, the one-person show they wrote and are starring in (maybe).

Wonder World is the story of Isaac, who leaves a lonely decade in Halifax to return to the conservative Manitoba community—and father—that rejected him. Upon his arrival he's surprised to learn that his hometown is queerer than he ever realized, and he discovers some secrets that reframe his entire life, and possibly his future. Halifax author KR Byggdin stops by to discuss the novel's genesis, how much of it connects to their own life, the prospect of going home as their full self, and how queerness moves even in religious, rural spaces. Plus a brand-new track from Aquakultre.

The Halifax-shot, Yarmouth(ish)-set feature Night Blooms stars Jessica Clement as Carly, a high schooler who becomes embroiled with her best friend's (Alexandra MacDonald) father (Nick Stahl). Clement and writer-director (and fresh Canadian Screen Award winner) Stephanie Joline are Tara's guests this week, digging into the grey areas around relationships, the film's conception and production, and its theatrical bow Friday at Park Lane.

Halifax's reggae queen Jah'Mila is wasting no time getting back on stages around the province. This Friday and Saturday she'll perform the works of her hero Nina Simone with Symphony Nova Scotia, a progression across the past few years of one-off SNS appearances into her own headlining show. She stops by to talk about her life growing up in Jamaica, how she became part of the Halifax scene, the way the pandemic has pushed her to look at her music career, and what she'll be wearing on stage at the Cohn.

Fellow awards show and movies obsessive Lisa Buchanan returns to chat with Tara about the Oscars' full-scale return to pre-pandemic times—including the usual pre-pandemic mess! They dig into this year's attempt to bring in viewers (it will fail, it always fails) and how that decision has alienated a swath of craftspeople, Jane Campion's record-setting nominations—and perhaps award-losing comments—Kristen Stewart and Jessica Chastain, the dominance of international films, and all manner of spoilers. Plus a new song by Keeper E.

Amy Sherman-Palladino is both a thrilling and confounding creator of television—best known for Gilmore Girls, she also helmed a single season of the much-missed Bunheads, and has seen the biggest success of her long television career with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a 1950s-set series starring Rachel Brosnahan as an upscale New York woman who becomes a (gasp!) stand-up comedian. Tara is joined by her friends Denise Williams and Holly Gordon for a dissection of the just-aired fourth season, including all the Gilmore universe people who showed up (some VERY unwelcome), Susie's sexuality, ASP's blind spots as a writer, production budgets, and that time they were spoiled for  Gilmore by the Warner Brothers studio tour. Plus a new song from Don Brownrigg!

Anna Quon is the author of three novels. The first two, Migration and Low, also feature the characters of Joan and Adriana, sisters of a sort. In her third, the brand-new Where the Silver River Ends (Invisible Publishing), Quon centres a wandering Joan in Bratislava, Slovkia, on the heels of a sudden exit from Budapest. There she meets a young Roma man who guides her through the city, and helps her find a job all while dealing with constant racism against his people. It's a story of of mixed-race identity, systemic oppression, family reconciliation, and forging one’s own path. Anna stops by the show to discuss the book's writing—beginning with a summer in Slovakia 30 years back—using sensitivity readers, and what's next.

March 8 marks International Women's Day, and Music Nova Scotia has put together a day of programming topped by a huge live show at the Marquee. Pop artist Izra Fitch is on that lineup, and she stops by the show to talk about her gradual and full acceptance of the genre she loves (and loves to play), the women who inspire her, the evolution of her stage act, and that time she was Tara's student. Plus Dana Beeler from MNS phones in to chat about why this day remains important to a certain sector of its membership.

The sixth annual Halifax Black Film Festival returns with 73 films from more than a dozen countries, screening online from Thursday to Sunday. Lead programmer Joyce Fuerza beams into the show from Montreal to break down this year's program—including the two local filmmakers on the docket—as well as discuss the challenges of putting together film festivals in COVID times, which have also affected filmmaking and film distribution as a whole. Plus a brand-new single from Safeword.

Alex MacAskill, once known as Fishbone Prints and now known as the man behind Midnight Oil Print and Design House, stops by the show to talk about how he ended up in the poster game early in life, his stint in Nashville at the historic Hatch Show Print, how many beer cans he's designed for 2 Crows, how he feels looking at posters on Halifax lampposts, and how his love for cats and birds turned into art. Plus the lead single from a brand-new band, We Should've Been Plumbers.

It's been a pandemic full of learning and experimenting for Gabrielle Papillon, whose latest record Shout is an art-pop celebration of self. That includes building and producing from a home studio, mentoring with producer friends, composing and presenting an original musical (very common), and managing to squeeze in a UK tour in between lockdowns. She stops by to chat about all of this, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and the uncertain future.

Here at the top of February things are normal: It's freezing, the sidewalks are a mess, and Nova Scotia Power wants to the hike the rates. Neil Young threw a big punch at Spotify that actually landed, but was it for the right reasons? (Spoiler alert: LOL.) No one can stop talking about Euphoria, the HBO show that single-handedly revived a dead film stock and set a record for non-pornographic full-frontal male nudity — that also happens to be made by the son of an Oscar-winning producer and director (it's always the hardest-workingones who succeed). W. Kamau Bell bravely waded into The Discourse with his searing, can't-miss series We Need To Talk About Cosby, and in our only bit of joy news, Mitski finally returns with Laurel Hell (just in time for Bandcamp Friday's triumphant comeback). That's a lot for one week! Plus songs by Mo Kenney, Terra Spencer, and Aquakultre.

This week offers a rare case of Tara chatting with someone she's known and seen play for a long time, but somehow has never interrogated in a journalistic capacity. Norma MacDonald—call her classic country, folk, Americana, singer-songwriter—released her latest album Old Future one month into the pandemic, when we all thought this thing might be short-lived. Multiple cancelled release shows later (she eventually nailed it), she stops by to chat about these past few years, her day job as a nurse, what the (new) future could look like, ASMR, and an odd defense of Hotmail.

Josh MacDonald is a veteran of stage and screen, familiar to Halifax audiences through films and shows like Diggstown, Spinster, Little Grey Bubbles, and Sex & Violence. As a screenwriter his works include the horror film The Corridor and the coming-of-age story Faith, Fraud and Minimum Wage, which was based on his play Halo. He's got his playwright's hat on when he visits the show this week to discuss #IAmTheCheese, his adaptation of Robert Cormier's 1977 bestseller. On January 30, he'll discuss its evolution along with the show's director, Ann-Marie Kerr, as part of Eastern Front Theatre's Early Stages Festival.

In 1996 a movie dropped out of nowhere and revolutionized an exhausted genre—the slasher film—with a wit and self-awareness that's become commonplace now, but at the time was fresh and surprising. That movie was Scream, and over the past 26 (!) years it's spawned multiple sequels, a TV series, countless imitators, a marriage and divorce (Courteney Cox and David Arquette), and made a star out of a young Canadian called Neve Campbell. Musician Trevor Murphy and filmmaker Kevin Hartford are two Scream superfans and they join Tara on the eve of Scream 5's release (January 14) to get into all of this and much, much more.

Art Pays Me's founder Duane Jones kicks off the new year with hope and advice as he details his journey from failed accounting student to founder of Halifax's favourite streetwear line. He beams into the show to chat about his years at NSCAD, what happened when he realized his talent was being exploited, and how he turned that into a brand that demonstrates his personal ethos. Plus he and Tara discuss the series finale of Insecure, and whether Issa's choice was the right one.

It's been a wild and confusing year, but there was always—somehow—art. We take a spin through 2021's interviews and uncover resilience, surprises, and victories even in the face of multiple setbacks, shutdowns, and cancellations. Featuring Erin Costelo, Mo Kenney, the creatives behind The Crevice and Fat Juliet, Zuppa Theatre, Christy Ann Conlin, Deborah Young, Gus the Gopher Tortoise, Jane Kansas, Bretten Hannam, Stephanie Domet, Vinessa Antoine, Steve Murphy, and Hello City.

Amidst an auspicious and downtrodden record week in Nova Scotia, the leaders of its arts sector organizations drop by the show to discuss 2021 in full. Screen Nova Scotia's executive director Laura Mackenzie has perhaps the best news of all—a record year in the film industry. Music Nova Scotia's ED Allegra Swanson returns to report on her first Nova Scotia Music Week, and what musicians will need to make it in 2022 and beyond. And Dr. Cat MacKeigan, brand-new executive director of Theatre Nova Scotia, discusses the highs and (multiple) lows of the year in theatre, which has just been handed another shutdown. It's not fun exactly, but it IS informative!

A dozen local songs to score the holiday season! Some classic, some brand-new, and a handful of originals to spice up your nog. Featuring:Breagh Isabel, "Winter Wonderland"Meaghan Smith, "It Snowed"Terra Spencer, "Melt"In-Flight Safety, "Last Christmas"Ria Mae, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"Smaller Hearts, "Christmas At Home"Waants, "Another Fckn Christmas"Reeny Smith, "Dear Santa"Villages, "Writing a Letter (This Christmas)"Hilary Adams, "Sending Love"Jenn Grant, "I'll Be Home for Christmas"Quiet Parade w/Dance Movie, "The Christmas Song"

Keeper E  has made one of the most auspicious debuts in recent memory — even picking up new artist of the year at Nova Scotia Music Week last months—in the form of The Sparrows All Find Food, seven thoughtful and catchy bedroom pop songs she produced at home inSackville, NB, while drifting away from a classical piano degree. The artist also known as Adelle Elwood stops by to chat about finding her real artistic voice, being a child non-prodigy, and her first year navigating the music business (spoiler alert: it's going well).