To The Coast,
Last week's (March 30) fawning, drooling, gushing, "Oh my God, the Junos are in Halifax issue!" has entirely undressed you. You claim, and have from your first issue, some kind of moral high ground because you know what's REALLY hip. You pretend to stand shoulder to shoulder with the struggling indie genius against the rapacious bastards of the "music industry." You have leaned upon the righteousness of being hip, while never understanding what the artist must do to bring something original and true to the plate. You are too busy listening to Broken Social Scene. Understandable. They're from Toronto.
But you're not from Toronto. You're from Halifax. I once believed that Halifax would be the last place in the world to accept the definition of music as an "industry." I once believed that Halifax saw music as art. I believe that is still true of some citizens of the town. Otherwise, how would sweet and beautiful artists like Lennie Gallant and Joel Plaskett and Sloan and Matt Mays—you know the list—still live here?
Given your recent issue, I wonder how soon all of them will be moving.
By Tom Gallant
