🗞️ Artist talk at massive Alan Syliboy retrospective

You guys!

Like two weeks ago I found myself in the Dutch Village area—NOT picking up a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for absolutely no occasion—and I saw this sign for a missing five-month-old puppy that literally crept its way into my psyche and has been living there rent free.

This lost morkie’s name is Poppy and—prepare yourself—her owner wrote heartfelt letters to her on Facebook every single day that she was missing like it’s The gd Notebook and I can’t even deal with it. 

These daily posts struck a nerve with community members—including a lost animal recovery technician (real job title)—who worked together to find Poppy (who had been stolen) and bring her home safely after 29 days.

Also—just as a general rule—if you find a puppy, you can’t just steal it. That’s not how getting a puppy works. 

Have a safe and restful weekend! 🐶

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌧️ 26°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 28°

Next Day:  ☁️ 28°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

MUSIC

June Body sings of melancholic heartbreak on ‘Last Everythings’ LP

Connor James described his seven-year relationship as existing within a snow globe. 

He could see each individual scene play out within the glass. The morning when it finally happened. All of the complex feelings leading up to it. The freeing hopelessness that came afterward.

“I never wanted to wake up from the dream you had for us,” James sings on the title track of his band’s latest album, Last Everythings. “But you must have known that I’d never catch up.”

James fronts June Body, an alternative rock trio from Halifax originating in 2017 featuring guitarist Alex Callaghan and drummer Matt Schofield. After three successful albums, sold-out shows, cross-country tours, and several Music Nova Scotia nominations, the band’s Death Cab for Cutie-inspired tone has only become punchier and more innovative.

Yet, the theme of Last Everythings, a long-term relationship coming to a mutually agreed upon end, is far from June Body’s first time tackling James’ complicated romance. Their third album, Never Here For Long, spoke to the premonitions James would later detail on Last Everythings, with him quoted as saying, “I was writing songs about leaving the relationship I was in, and I didn’t even know it.”

Last Everythings is James allowing the world to see into his snow globe. Each scene is painted with soaring vocals, raw guitar riffs mixed with American Football-style passages, and a steady yet progressive beat that moves each track from slow reflections to high-velocity emotional bursts, paired with heart-wrenching lyrics of dysfunctional love.

“I wanted to capture that on the record,” said James in an interview with The Coast. “I wanted the lyricism to be domestic and simple.”

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer talks with James about June Body’s fourth record and their upcoming show where they’ll open for PUP.

🤔 Need To Know

⛺ Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston says he “nearly fell out of my chair” when he heard about some of the new designated encampment sites—adding that sites at the Commons and Point Pleasant Park are “completely nuts.”

🌡️ Halifax’s heat wave broke a July 10 record—held for over four decades. The temperature reached 30.4C, beating the 1979 record of 29.7C.

🖼️ The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia has four exciting new exhibitions for you to experience. Open daily 10am-5pm and free admission 10am-9pm on Thursdays.*

🎶 Head to the TD Halifax Jazz Festival on July 14 for Rankin MacInnis' Jazz Fest Jamboree featuring special surprise guests and Moneka Arabic Jazz! This FREE show is presented by Build Nova Scotia.*

🌊 Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend is on display at the Museum of Natural History from July 6 to September 2, 2024.*

🥳 The Gottingen Street Festival partners with Halifax Mural Festival and Unity Fest for an exciting event this Saturday, July 13th! It features new murals, local vendors, live music, and celebrates art and community in North End Halifax!*

*Sponsored Post

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ARTS + CULTURE

Alan Syliboy massive retrospective at Dal Art Gallery hosts artist talk next Saturday

Alan Syliboy’s largest retrospective ever is up at the Dalhousie Art Gallery (DAG), until Aug. 11. 

The Journey So Far exhibition spans 50 years of work from the prolific self-taught Mi’kmaw artist from Millbrook First Nation. It offers a wide and diverse display of Syliboy’s multimedia work that continually draws material and figurative inspiration from Mi’kmaw culture, language, art and storytelling, including the repeating presence of red ochre, figures from Mi’kmaw petroglyphs and mythical characters from two Mi’kmaw textual stories found in their original language. 

Thinking about the feeling his show gives, Syliboy says, "it's the scale of it all—50 years. I went through a lot of different periods in that time and you can see the progression and the process happening and evolving. You get a much bigger sense than just one show—this is many shows all together.”

While there’s still one more month to check out this sprawling show, multiple visits come highly recommended. What’s more, Syliboy will be giving an artist talk within his show this Saturday, July 20 from 2pm to 3:30pm, joined by curator Pamela Edmonds and opened by Mi’kmaw curator and educator, Diane Langevin. It’s free and open to the public and there’s plenty of room in the gallery.

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips spoke with Syliboy about his life, career, and this 50-year retrospective.

🗞️ In Other News

🚑 Two people were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after emergency crews responded to complaints of people having difficulty breathing at a building under construction in Halifax’s north end.

🏅 The Summer Olympics begin on July 26 and four Nova Scotian paddlers are in the running to win a medal in Paris.

⛺ HRM’s decision to designate nine new homeless encampment sites in several prominent parks throughout the region—including Point Pleasant Park—is sparking concern in the community.

🐟 Fisheries and Oceans Canada is seeking feedback on the draft of a national strategy designed to restore and maintain Atlantic Canadian salmon populations and habitats.

🐻 The community around Porters Lake is seeing an increase in bear sightings—particularly black bears.

🥀 A bereaved Nova Scotia family say they were targeted by a scam during a service to say goodbye to their loved one. Following her death last month at age 77, a Facebook page was created in memory of Amelia Theresa Skalaa—a few people donated to the scam page that provided a link for donations. 

🚌 Tourism operators say Halifax tourism season looks promising and may surpass pre-Covid numbers.

🗓️ Things To Do This Weekend

Looking for something to do this weekend? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓 Halifax Mural Festival: Get ready for live music, artist talks, community market and more to explore at the Halifax mural festival. | July 6-14

🗓 2024 Spryfield Days Festival: Don’t miss this two-day event full of music, games, magic and food. Plus, check out the community expo and  business trade show. It’s fun for the whole family! | July 13-14

🗓 Live Music featuring Markus Riekst : Drop by Bulwark Cider House for an evening of great food, drinks and live music. The young talented Markus Riekst will be entertaining attendees with a fun mix of pop, country and contemporary music. | July 12 | 6pm

🗓 Vibrancy Festival 2024: Halifax’s premier electronic festival returns for two days and two nights this July. Brace yourself for over 20 hours of world classic house, techno and beyond squeezed into four unique shows, in four incredible venues, all culminating with our main event Saturday night inside the fort at Halifax Citadel National Historic Site. | July 12-13 | 3pm | From $46.05

🗓 An Evening with Luba Magnus & Friends: With her eclectic approach to comedy and content creation, as well as her passion for helping people laugh and learn, Luba Magnus is sure to delight. Joining the show will be Andrew Neville, Scott Burke, Drusilla Connor, hosted by the incredible Ryan William! | July 13 | 7:30pm | $10

🗓 Third Elbow by Mitchell Wiebe: Already extended twice, this is the last weekend to see the art show at Saint Mary’s gallery that blends painting, portals and planes of perception. | Closes July 14

🗓 Peggy's Cove Area Festival of the Arts - Studio Tour: The tour includes over 70 studio artists, galleries and art groups. This is a unique opportunity to meet and interact with painters, potters, sculptors, wood and glass workers and jewelry artists at work in their studios. | July 12-14 | 9am

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Atlantic Sky container ship leaves Halifax for Liverpool at 5:30am.

🛳️➡️ The Linus P oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Houston at 11:10am and leaves for Come By Chance at 4pm.

🛳️➡️ The Zim Eagle container ship arrives in Halifax from Valencia at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 4:30pm.

➡️ The Nolhan Ava container ship leaves Halifax for Argentia at 6pm.

🛳️➡️ The CMA CGM J. Adams container ship arrives in Halifax from Singapore at 5:15am and leaves for New York at 11pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🇨🇦🍕 Patriotic pizza feature alert! The Canadian at Morris East: tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, red onion, cremini mushrooms, soppressata, bacon, maple drizzle and parsley.

🥒 Sip on something a little outside the ordinary with the “Dill With It” cocktail at Brooklyn Warehouse: Gin, Pimm’s No.1, fresh lime, celery dill syrup. 

👀 In Case You Missed It

🏛️ There were a few pretty big debates during Tuesday’s council meeting. The city is designating more parks to become encampments and there were two debates about transit, and one not quite debate on Halifax’s new road safety strategy. Engineering standards! Information items! Solid Waste! Boat Races! It was a very dense meeting of Halifax’s city council that ran late into the night. The Coast city hall reporter Matt Stickland was there for all of it or at least most of it and breaks it all down in a longer than normal report which has everything you need to know about council’s July 9 meeting. 

💧 As of the city council meeting on July 9, Halifax’s Regional Watersheds Advisory Board (RWAB) has been canned. The volunteer board had been mandated to support the environment subcommittee with advice, though according to some members of the board, communication with this subcommittee didn’t exist. The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer goes over what happened to the RWAB, and how the new expert group titled A Thousand Lakes hopes to help Halifax’s watersheds.

⚖️ Matthew Percy—who was convicted of sexually assaulting three women in the Halifax area—has been granted full parole upon completion of day parole.

🚔 The justice department launched an anonymous survey to seek opinions and perspectives from Nova Scotians on the current state of policing in the province.

That’s it!

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