Whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, right? Or else it cripples the economy, hobbles journalistic credibility, and puts children in cages. 2017 was just the warm-up and 2018 felt like the trial-run that gave us serious doubts about our ability to cope as a species. Next year the best situation we can hope for is probably a Planet of the Apes showdown where Nicolas Cage is our only hope.
Come to think of it, let’s enjoy what we have now while we still have it. Here are our most popular stories from 2018.
7 Things You Can’t Miss At Area 506
Area 506 has been making the best of Saint John’s Long Wharf since 2016, and if you’re in the minority of people who haven’t clawed their way to the biggest musical festival in Southern New Brunswick, you’ve been missing out. For your own special enjoyment (or perhaps the perverse pleasure we derive from inflicting a sense of FOMO) we created a list of the top 7 Things You Can’t Miss at Area 506… (read more here)
Film Review: Pogey Beach Headed for Status as a Cult Classic
From the creators of Wharf Rats, Just Passing Through, and The PEI Encyclopedia came the cultural sensation of a film that might just be remembered as the East Coast’s equivalent of Strange Brew… (read more here)
11th Mile: Fredericton’s New Cocktail Bar And Restaurant Goes The Extra Distance
It’s not everyday that Fredericton gets a new restaurant and apparently it was worth getting excited about. Jeremy Gilmer gives his review of 11th Mile, a bar-forward establishment with a selection of trendy craft cocktails and equally delicious meals… (read more here)
Séan McCann Tours Latest Album, Hints At Great Big Possibilities
Great Big Sea alumnus Séan McCann was in the midst of touring his fifth solo album There’s a Place when he dropped a particular hint that the old band might have just been better off if they’d never ended. We maybe not exactly worded that way, and for the sake of Séan’s liver it was probably for the best. But getting back together? That’s another story… (read more here)
Q&A: Why Comedian James Mullinger Still Works Here
Comedian James Mullinger may, in fact, be the most Maritimey Martimer ever. Just ask him. He’s done more East Coast living than most of us ever bothered to do and then made an East Coast living from telling jokes about it. The question is: how does he keep doing it again and again after all this years? So we asked him… (read more here)
Chris Donovan – Saint John Photographer Becomes Youngest to Win Canada’s Top Photojournalism Awards
Saint John has a special kind of magic to it. Perhaps it’s the lighting, or the constant fog, or the fact that our nicest features were constructed some 140 years ago. In any case, it seems to produce photographers like nobody’s business. Among them is Chris Donovan who cut his teeth shooting the city and went on to win the top Photojournalism in the country… (read more here)
The Artistic Legacy of Brian Burke
Brian Burke, one of Canada’s foremost figurative painters, passed away on December 19, 2017. He left behind a legacy of artwork that was simultaneously barefaced and tinged with black humour. Here he is eulogized by the Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s former director and curator, Terry Graff… (read more here)
2018: The Year Evolve Got Its Groove Back
Evolve has been many things to many people, but there’s no denying it’s place as one of Atlantic Canada’s biggest and most colourful music festival. In recent years it has faced challenges finding a solid footing since moving from it’s location in Antigonish, Nova Scotia to Beersville in New Brunswick, but this year we finally felt it was back on safe ground… (read more here)
Handworks Gallery: Saint John’s Longest Running Commercial Gallery Gets New Owner
Saint John’s Handworks Gallery has been the longest running commercial gallery in the city. Sitting prominently at the foot of King Street it has played an importantly curatorial role in the city’s landscape since 1990, but has changed hands more than once. Elizabeth Cook purchased the gallery from the Oland family back in August, bringing her skills from Calgary’s Gainsborough Galleries and putting a fresh face on Saint John’s art world… (read more here)
Lost & Found: ‘The Song of Saint John’ Comes From The Golden Era Of Big Bands
If Saint John does anything well it is being quaintly olde timey (also forgetting and rediscovering much of our quaint old timeyness). A lucky discovery in a previously-loved vinyl bin yielded this particular treasure: a jingle from the 1950s about the city’s many marvels… (read more here)