2015 was a big year for everyone at The East. We had an Art Battle, attended every festival we could get to within the confines of linear time travel (parallel dimensions not included), and interviewed some of our favourite artists and bands. We reviewed albums, theatre productions, and beer. We got the chance to experience some of the arts and culture that the East Coast has to offer, and here, by the numbers, is what you found most noteworthy this year.
#5 First City Brewery
Maritimers got excited about beer, who would have figured? Saint Johners, having suffered long enough without a liquor store directly on King Street, leapt at the news that soon enough they’d be able to fill their tanks with delicious craft brew from First City Brewery’s uptown location. (And yes, we were kidding about the beer foam in the harbour).
#4 All The Best Album Covers
Everybody loves listicles, because 1) It’s a scientifically proven fact, and 2) You just read another list, how are you even supposed to argue with that now? Make sure your favourite band made the cut.
#3 Festivals!
Festivals! Those gloriously hazy weekends when we got to trade in our desks for sleeping on the ground, only to later reconstruct it for your reading pleasure like some out-of-body forensic experience using no more details than a few bits of neon fur, some barely intelligible voice memos, and a pervasive rash of sparkles.
#2 Amy Ash
Here’s a story about a local girl making good, and hitting the big city, but maybe it’s also a story about how she’s absconded with your family photo albums. It’s doesn’t hurt to check.
#1 Kennedy
The marvelous, curious house on Kennedy Street exists on a scale that can’t be fully comprehended unless you’ve spent time living there. It extends beyond its walls in a network of friends, musicians, and artists that have all come to see it as a home, if not necessarily a place of permanent residence.
Thanks for sticking with us, we’re looking forward to what 2016 brings. In case you missed it, here’s what the experts say was all the best music from this year.