Rankin MacInnis' new EP + last call to win HUFF tickets

Hey Halifax!

This week, Rankin MacInnis & The Broken Reeds have new music out, and there are only four days left to win HUFF tickets. Plus new albums from Clever Hopes and Colrain, AIFF's big winners, two docs worth the drive to Lunenburg, and the best shows of the week.

Let's dig in!

Rankin MacInnis has new music out

Rankin MacInnis & The Broken Reeds put out Still Got a Friend on Tuesday, a four-song EP with Luke Levy on the title track and Tori Cameron on "Weightless". It's the first taste of The Wake, their 12-track debut album, which comes out January 15.

Rankin has built two of Atlantic Canada's top music events: Blueberry Jam at Big Belle Farm in Mabou, and Rankin's Winter Warmers, the Saturday afternoon ceilidh that started as a trio in a corner of The Local and grew into a Marquee tradition, selling out 700 tickets for 12 Saturdays in a row last year. If you've never been to a Winter Warmer, make it your sole purpose to experience it this winter.

He told CTV in April that the album turned out "way more influenced by Mabou and folk" than he expected. In his own words when the first single came out: "It doesn't sound like the Rankin Family and it doesn't sound like Great Big Sea, though it does feel like we would be playing on the same stage. It's our East Coast sound...and the tides of the East Coast are rising!"

Next up: Blueberry Jam's Harvest Series over Thanksgiving weekend, and year ten of Winter Warmers this winter.

Listen to Still Got a Friend

Last call: win free HUFF tickets

Steve Lund sat down with Mike Campbell, "the brains behind HUFF", in the Tiki bar where The Tragically Hip were the first band ever to walk in. Watch what Gord said.

Our HUFF giveaway closes this Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pick one of these shows:

Thu, Oct 1 · The Basement: Jon Hines Band, Jah'Mila, Joce Reyome and JP LeBlanc
Fri, Oct 2 · Seahorse: Coyote, Marian, Sisters and Sorrey
Sat, Oct 3 · Seahorse: Elyse Aeryn, Connor Fox, Casual Cries for Help and Bethany
Sat, Oct 3 · Marquee: The Million Experience

Explore and listen to every lineup on our contest page, then choose the show you want free tickets to. One winner also gets a $100 Burnside Brewing gift card. GO ENTER!

Explore the lineups and enter to win

A big week for East Coast film

111 Echoes from Halifax won Best Atlantic Feature at AIFF. Mauro Mueller's drama follows the lives changed by the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 crash off Peggy's Cove. It opened the festival and took home the Gordon Parsons Award. Susan Kent won Best Actress and Best Screenwriter for The Snake, which also won Jenna MacMillan Best Director, and Nance Ackerman's The Delivery Line won Best Documentary. All the winners.

Accismus won Best Atlantic Short. Brandy Marien's short took the prize, which includes a pass to Lunenburg Doc Fest.

Missed Al Tuck My Blues Away at AIFF? Brian Harrington's doc on the PEI songwriter sold out and added an encore. Brian spent nine years on it, after his Halifax friend Ronok Sarkar of Bend the River introduced him to Al's music. His pick for where to start: "'Every Little Thing'. It showcases Al at his simplest and most accessible." It plays City Cinema in Charlottetown September 30 to October 6. Showtimes.

The Bookstore That Never Sleeps. Elizabeth's Books on Montague Street in Lunenburg opens around 8 p.m. and, in its own words, "closes when the night feels complete," sometimes at 1 or 2 a.m. Filmmaker Justin Zoras found it while working on a shoot in town, when it was the only place still open at night. His 27-minute doc follows owner Chris Webb, an 83-year-old former seaman who runs the shop as a tribute to the friend who ran it before him. It sold out AIFF's East Coast shorts gala, and screens tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Lunenburg Doc Fest's Ice House Theatre, rush line only. Film details.

Lunenburg Doc Fest runs through Sunday. There are 73 documentaries in Lunenburg, and a Halifax screening of Barbara Kopple's Union Town tonight at 7 p.m. at Carbon Arc. Full schedule.

Our own Laura Roy mini-doc. We joined Laura at The Sanctuary to celebrate Late Bloomer Season, with her family, friends and collaborators. It hasn't won any awards yet, but we think it's pretty awesome. Watch it on Instagram.

Quick Hits

Halifax's Alex MacLaren, who has over a million followers for her budget-friendly weeknight dinners, is signing her first cookbook, We Use What We Have Recipes, this Saturday, September 26, 1–3 p.m. at Indigo Dartmouth. Signing details.

A Dal student solved 211 Rubik's Cubes on a pogo stick. Saul Hafting's world record is in the 2027 Guinness World Records book. CTV has the story.

Linwood Barclay and Shari Lapena at The Sanctuary. AfterWords brings the two thriller writers to Dartmouth this Monday, September 28, at 7 p.m. for $15, ahead of the full festival November 1–8. Tickets.

This week's best shows and events

Thursday, September 24

Bruce Marchand at the Carleton:

Album release party, 8 p.m. $25.

La Cura Jam Sessions at Listen:

R&B, soul and Latin jam with a house band at 1237 Barrington. Bring your instrument. 7–9 p.m., pay what you can.

City of Laughs Comedy Festival:

Four days of stand-up at the Sanctuary Arts Centre and around Downtown Dartmouth, through Sunday.

Friday, September 25

John Wing at the Sanctuary:

Go North Old Man, part of City of Laughs. 9 p.m. $29.95.

Jazz Lewis at Gus' Pub:

Debut show, with Pro Wrestling The Band, Feral Carol and Mojo in the Middle. 8 p.m. $15.

Dark Room at the Seahorse:

Post-punk, darkwave and goth dance party. 10 p.m. $15 advance.

Saturday, September 26

Wanderers vs Atlético Ottawa:

5 p.m. at the Wanderers Grounds.

Discotheque at the Seahorse:

Vinyl disco, funk and soul. 10 p.m. $20, 19+.

Lighthouse with Kippo at the Marquee:

With Soundseeker, Troy Power and KDZ. 10 p.m. $25.

Sunday, September 27

Tides vs Roses de Montréal:

1 p.m. at the Wanderers Grounds.

HUFF Youth Songwriters' Circle at the Carleton:

1:30 p.m. $20.

City of Laughs Finale with Mary Walsh:

7 p.m. at the Sanctuary. $49.95.

Gord Bamford at the Marquee:

As Long As There's A Bar tour. Doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m. $50.

Tuesday, September 29

Begonia at the Seahorse:

The Fantasy Life Tour, with Moira & Claire. Doors 7:30 p.m., show 8 p.m. $25 advance.

Metamorphoses at the Bus Stop Theatre:

World premiere with Walter Borden, a Prismatic and 2b theatre production. 7:30 p.m. nightly through Saturday, plus Sunday at 2 p.m.

Skye Wallace, Mick Davis and Freya Millikin at the Carleton:

A HUFF show with tickets still available. 7 p.m. $35.

John Campbell at Bearly's:

8:30 p.m. Their words: "Better come early for this one!"

Wednesday, September 30

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors at Neptune:

Previews started Tuesday. 7:30 p.m.

Seven Drunken Nights at the Rebecca Cohn:

The story of The Dubliners. 7 p.m.

Market Pulse

Fall Fest at Dempsey Corner Orchards

Saturday, September 26 · 10 a.m.–3 p.m. · $5

An outdoor vendor market, live music and U-pick apples, pears and plums in Aylesford. Make a day of it and start at the Wolfville Farmers' Market, which has a free Deep Roots concert that morning.

Musquodoboit Harbour Farmers' Market

Sunday, September 27 · 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

The last outdoor market of the season on the Railway Museum grounds. It moves inside the Eastern Shore Community Centre from October 4.

Know an East Coast artist, event or story we should have on our radar? Hit reply.

Thanks for reading,

Greg