Queen’s University
THE JOURNAL —
Vol. 154, Issue 3
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Monday, July 27, 2026
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Situated on the
traditional lands of
the Anishinaabe and
Haudenosaunee peoples.
Since 1873
The Journal needs student reporters and photographers! No experience necessary. E-mail eic@queensjournal.ca.
A local musician’s
Your Don was scared too
The students assigned to welcome firstyears often arrived lonely themselves
introduction to Kingston’s lively music scene The tried-andtrue best live music venues
Alexandra Gromova Features Editor
Sam Shaffer Assistant Arts & Culture Editor
As a new academic year approaches, Queen’s will be treated to a fresh group of students, eager to experience the city of Kingston, and what better way to explore what the city has to offer than its bustling music scene. It’s no secret that Kingston produces musical talent, from The Tragically Hip, The Glorious Sons, and Kasador, to name a few. Continuing this legacy of musical talent, young bands and artists are booking and performing shows with the intent of being heard. However, some may wonder the best places to experience the live music scene in Kingston, and to understand how they differ. At the end of the day, opinions are subjective, but my own experiences playing at some of these venues in a local student band, Dutchbaby, has added to my appreciation and understanding of live music in Kingston. This article serves as a guide to Kingston’s best live music venues, based on factors such as the genre most often played there, its location, and the overall atmosphere. To begin, there are a few live music events that don’t occur regularly but are well worth the effort to see. Namely, Alepalooza, occurring in March, brings the top active student bands to the club scene and provides a larger stage than any other venue in Kingston. Student bands participate in a “battle of the bands” to get a spot. Similarly, the club, MUSE, hosts many “tiny desk” concerts throughout the year. These events offer bands a more intimate environment to play in. See Kingston Music Venue on page 14
Queen’s district councillor Conny Glenn announces mayoral campaign Glenn said collaborative leadership would shape her approach Emmet Paradis Senior News Editor
Housing affordability, community consultation, and strengthening relationships with Queen’s students are at the centre of Conny Glenn’s campaign to become Kingston’s next mayor. Glenn, who has represented Sydenham District on Kingston City Council for three and a half years, announced her candidacy ahead of the 2026 municipal election. “I really mean it when I say that I want to open City Hall,” Glenn said in an interview with The Journal. “I want people to feel that they can walk through that door and be heard.” If elected, Glenn said preparing Kingston’s 2027 budget would become her first responsibility after taking office. Before entering municipal politics, Glenn owned Work Wellness, an ergonomics and disability management consulting company for three decades. She also served on several public boards and committees, including chairing Turning Point Youth Services,
and serving on a Legal Aid Area Review Committee. During her term on council, Glenn said one of her priorities has been improving the City’s relationship with Queen’s students. She said she established the City’s Post-Secondary Working Group, which brings together representatives from Queen’s, student governments, Kingston Police, bylaw services, landlords, and other city councillors to discuss issues affecting students and surrounding neighbourhoods. According to Glenn, those discussions shifted away from enforcement alone after students identified housing and food insecurity as their primary concerns. Glenn credited the collaboration with helping reduce policing costs associated with student events, saying annual costs declined from approximately $1.2 million to $191,000. Food insecurity has also been a major focus of Glenn’s term. She pointed to the City’s Fines for Food initiative, which directs revenue from one month of parking fines toward food security programs. The program initially directed all funding to food banks before the City renewed it and allocated approximately $80,000 toward a vertical farming initiative while continuing to support food banks. According to Glenn, the City now invests approximately
$80,000 annually in the project while producing roughly $200,000 worth of food for community organizations
each year. Housing would remain her top priority if elected mayor, she said. “We are not going to get out of the housing crisis until we recognize we have to invest in nonmarket housing,” she said. She also pointed to transitional housing projects currently under development, saying stable housing combined with mental health and addiction supports gives greater opportunity to successfully return to the community. Beyond housing, Glenn said rebuilding trust between residents and City Hall would shape her approach as mayor. “We need people who are coming in, who aren’t seeing [municipal issues] the same way,” she said. She argued the City often consults residents too late in decision-making and said involving communities earlier would lead to stronger policies and greater public confidence. “I’m an extreme community consensus builder,” Glenn said. “I really believe in the philosophy of going slow to go fast.” She said leadership also requires a willingness to pursue ideas, even when success is not guaranteed. “The failure to make an attempt at something incredible — that’s failure in and of itself,” she said. — With files from Jonathan Reilly
On the fifth floor of Victoria Hall, Abhay Katoch, Sci ’25, had not yet put sheets on his bed. His parents had driven him roughly three hours to Kingston, helped unload two boxes and a suitcase, then left to move his sister into another residence. Katoch carried his belongings upstairs alone, dropped onto the bare mattress and fell asleep. When he woke, he unpacked for about an hour. Then he sat beside the books he had brought from home, wondering what to do. He put on his shoes and started walking through the building. On his floor, he passed an L-shaped room with its door open and looked inside without meaning to. He started to apologize. The students invited him in. Katoch sat down with Will and Remy. Five years later, he said, they are still good friends. Four storeys below, on the first floor of the same building that week, AJ*, ArtSci ’25, also went looking. AJ had never spent more than two weeks away from home. University had seemed enormous in his imagination. The room he entered felt ordinary. “It felt kind of anticlimactic, because in my head it was cut out to be this whole big thing,” AJ said in an interview with The Journal. “And then you get there and it’s like, okay, now what?” He propped open his door. He knocked on every door on the floor. He tried, he said, “to be as social as possible.” Five years later, he is not in touch with anyone from that floor. Same building, same September, same advice: leave the room, approach someone, say hello. One accidental glance through an open door became a five-year friendship. One deliberate round of door-knocking produced no connection that lasted beyond the year. See Your Don on page 6
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