Portrait of Laura Keating in front of wall with graffiti. Photo by Gord Moss.

Laura Keating, a working musician

A horn player recently told me about how jazz colleagues are somewhat rusty from not having the gigs or the opportunity to jam during the forced isolation of the pandemic. Folk rocker, singer songwriter, guitar player and Crown Point resident Laura Keating had a different experience during the past two-years. “I turned to new ways …

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Screen capture from AGH website.

Crown Point artist at AGH

There is an unfortunate phenomenon that seems to be part of Hamilton’s DNA: buildings torn down to make way for city-approved projects, only to fail to get off the ground. It happens for all sorts of reasons including uncertain financing. So, we end up with parking lots or other kinds of underutilized and empty spaces …

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Hockey Returns to Balsam Avenue

The Bulldogs have been a part of many memories for me and my family over the years. I have been to games with my kids, my dad and I once took my grandfather to a playoff game which might have been the only time the two of us ever talked hockey.

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The Road to 108: A Fan’s Journey

For me, being at Tim Horton’s field for the 108th and my first ever Grey Cup, will be a celebration and reflection on all of the above and the part 75 Balsam and our Tabbies have played throughout the story of my First 48.

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Industrial Landscape

Shift Change: A book review

Do artists and their art contribute to the displacement of poor and working-class Hamiltonians? That’s the question explored by Stephen Dale and his book, “SHIFT CHANGE: SCENES FROM POST-INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.” He takes a look back at Hamilton’s rise and decline as an industrial city, but his main focus is Hamilton’s post-industrial re-emergence as a cultural hub for …

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Creepy Bits Website

Creeping around “Creepy Bits”

In filmmaking, there is so much work. There are locations, scenery, costumes, traffic control, electrical systems, audio systems, special effects, and all the stuff that allows everything else to happen. Even a small film is a big project with many, many moving parts. Walking through Gage Park or along Ottawa Street when a movie is …

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To The Point

“Painter …. understood that the overall goal of removals, allotments, treaties, reservations and reserves, terminations, and relocation’s, was not simply to limit and control the movement of Native peoples, but more importantly to relieve them of their land base.”

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Stilt walkers and actors perform the history of water treatment and delivery in Hamilton.
Stilt walkers and other performers the history of water delivery in Hamilton. Sean Hurley

Finale delights everyone

There was a standing-room-only crowd on hand for the closing reception to the month long DeLight Festival at the Hamilton Steam Museum on Woodward Avenue this past weekend. It was worth it. The Hamilton Aerial Group provided a unique telling of Hamilton’s water history that was spellbinding. With intricate costumes, puppets, and recorded music, a …

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Part of Donna Arkey's piece at night. Photo by Jeff Hayward.
Part of Donna Arkey's The Last icebergs at night. Photo by Jeff Hayward. Photo by Jeff Hayward.

‘Tip of the Iceberg’ vandalized at Andrew Warburton Memorial Park

Donna Akrey’s comment on the vandalism against her installation on the Pipeline Trail was candid: “…the layers of meaning in a work to ‘replenish’ icebergs being vandalized is pretty poignant.” Akrey’s work contains many layers of meaning for anyone willing to contemplate it. The installation provides moulds in which the Hamilton artist invites viewers to …

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