🗞️ Neon Dreams gets personal on new album

Good morning!

Well, it’s official. Halifax has entered her tall girl era. 

Although it’s not finished yet, the new residential tower near the Armdale rotary on Quinpool is the new glamazon on the scene. It’s 111 metres tall—that’s 350,000 square feet or 33 stories—and now the tallest in the city, snatching the crown right off the head of Fenwick Tower. 

And according to developers, they used the “tall and slim” design to best capture the view of the arm, protect it from wind, and not cast a shadow over pedestrian areas. Tall and skinny designs. Typical.

City councillor Shawn Cleary says that with upwards of 20,000 people moving to the city each year, we need the density and that means, the height. 

So, there you have it, tall queens reign.

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 27°

Tomorrow: 🌤️ 32°

Next Day: 🌤️ 32°

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.

ARTS + CULTURE

Neon Dreams get personal on upcoming album, ‘The Good, The True And The Beautiful’

Neon Dreams is no stranger to songs that touch on personal aspects of the Halifax duo’s lives. Some of their biggest hits have been introspective on the part of their creators.

However, vocalist Frank Kadillac says their upcoming record The Good, The True And The Beautiful touches on his experiences like never before, inspired in part by Joseph Campbell’s notion of the hero’s journey.

“It’s taking my spiritual beliefs and everything I’ve learned on my journey and putting it into a hero’s journey for people to consume and understand,” said Kadillac in an interview with The Coast. 

To Kadillac, that’s the job of a musician: taking their truth and experience and putting it into a story for others, especially youth, to help them through their lives.

And just like the average human experience, this album is all over the place with its sound, ranging from the choir chorus on “Jonah,” to the ukulele intro leading into “The Art of Letting Go.”

While the album takes influences from across the sonic spectrum, it remains distinctly Neon Dreams in its production, style, and lyricism.

“It’s always so hard to define what genre it is,” said drummer Adrian Morris. “I grew up playing in punk bands, hardcore bands, and when I started with Frank it was more on the pop-punk sort of side. We kind of moved into electronic. I’ve lived with some hip-hoppers for a while. We kind of draw from everything that’s ever influenced us into music and production. Finding something to compare it to is very difficult.”

The only comparison he could think of is pop and hip-hop musician and producer Jon Bellion, who takes a similarly musical and conceptual approach to his work.

But for Kadillac, whatever comparison you could make doesn’t matter—to him, it’s all about how people resonate with the music.

“It’s more, like, how it makes people feel," he said. "The ones who push the limits on what music is are the ones who people create genres after."

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer spoke to Kadillac and Morris about their upcoming album hitting streaming services on June 21.

🤔 Need To Know

🔥 A meteorologist says the expected heat wave this week combined with a lack of rain could increase the risk of wildfires.

🚧 The section of Barrington Street—between Upper Water Street and Duke Street—is officially closed as part of the next phase of the Cogswell District project.

🎶 Matt Andersen & the Big Bottle of Joy and The War and Treaty promise an unforgettable night on July 12 at the TD Halifax Jazz Festival!*

🚲 The municipality is inviting residents to share their feedback on active transportation infrastructure on Slayter Street in Dartmouth. Learn more here.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY ART GALLERY OF NOVA SCOTIA

Mitchell Wiebe: VampSites at the AGNS

The unexpected awaits this summer at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia!

Halifax-based artist Mitchell Wiebe’s VampSites exhibition is an attention-grabbing fun house of optical effects, hidden illusions, and pop culture references. 

Using a mythology of colours and textures, subjects and narratives, Mitchell Wiebe imports the chaos and theatre of his studio into the well-lit, rational architecture of the art museum.

Filled with an array of fantastical animalesque characters, black light surprises, and three-dimensional fun, this exhibition kicks the conventional thinking of an art gallery show.

Curated by Pan Wendt. Organized and circulated by Confederation Centre for the Arts, Charlottetown, PEI.

EDUCATION

Mi’kmaw educator shares history, language and culture on X for Indigenous History Month

It all started at the tail end of Mi’kmaw History Month in 2016. Jarvis Googoo shared a story on X, then known as Twitter, about his experience attending his cousin’s high school graduation in his home community of We'koqma'q in Unama’ki/Cape Breton, earlier that June. Significantly, June is celebrated as Indigenous History Month in Mi’kma’ki Nova Scotia and across the country, as it has been since 2009–though at the time it was called National Aboriginal History Month.  

Back in 2016, posts on Twitter were limited to 140 characters. Googoo’s first-ever thread began like this: “As you may know, the school in my home community of We'koqma'q is under Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey jurisdiction (MK) and not the province…” 

It became a 14-part thread and launched Googoo on a path as a Mi’kmaw educator. For Indigenous History Month in June and Mi’kmaw History Month in October, he posts daily digests of Mi’kmaw history, trivia, language and culture on X because he wants people to learn about where they live–which in Nova Scotia is Mi'kma'ki territory.

Googoo tells The Coast what motivates him to do this, where he gets his source material from and where people in Nova Scotia Mi’kmak’i territory can learn more.

🗞️ In Other News

🚨 Halifax police are looking for a man after recovering a weapon during a traffic stop in Bedford Monday morning. The suspect—a white man in his 40s—fled on foot after police seized the weapon.

🐟 A living shoreline is being installed at part of Lake Banook in Dartmouth in part to help filter contaminants that would otherwise end up in the water.

🏠 The province has installed less than 10% of the 200 self-contained, fibreglass shelters it promised to set up to accommodate the growing number of homeless residents—more than eight months after making the pledge.

🔋 N.S. Power is building battery systems at three sites to help bring energy stability to the grid as the province moves to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. The project is expected to cost about $354 million.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Wines on the Waterfront: In partnership with Build Nova Scotia, Wines of Nova Scotia will be taking over Halifax’s Foundation Wharf with live music and a variety of Nova Scotian wines to taste and purchase. | June 22 | 11am |  Free

🗓 Live Music with 38 Fanthoms: The famous band 38 Fanthoms will be bringing their enthusiastic style to Bulwark Cider House for an unforgettable show. | June 22 | 6:30pm

🗓 Rainbow Vision Makers Queerapolooza: Different Folks presents a two-day event to celebrate Pride month that will feature over 70 queer vendors selling art, jewelry, ceramics, plants, food and more, along with featured performances. | June 22-23 | $2

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

🛳️➡️ The One Swan container ship arrives in Halifax from Norfolk at 5:45am and leaves for Singapore at 11:00pm.

🛳️ The Acadian oil tanker arrives in Halifax from Saint John at 9:40am.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🍻🏳️‍⚧️ Show your pride this month by sipping on the Thembot Blackberry Guava Cider from Good Robot Brewing Co. The fruits used in it were chosen not just for their taste, but also their colours; the pink and blue juices from the guava and blackberry represent the transgender flag.

🥟 Crafted with love and packed with flavour, the pork and pickled cabbage dumplings from Brooklyn Warehouse are the perfect happy hour snack.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🦸🏼‍♀️ With men in powerful positions running amok, if ever we needed a superhero to swoop in and save the world, it’d be now. Luckily, there were over 800 of them crammed inside the Halifax Convention Centre on Friday. They were gathered for the 2024 installment of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s Wonder Women conference—its biggest one yet. The Coast’s Julie Lawrence was at the conference and has everything you need to know about what happened at this powerful event.

🚙 Three people escaped serious injury when the car they were driving veered off the road and into Lake Banook on Saturday morning.

🚧 In a part of Dartmouth that will soon be known as Port Wallace there’s a guy who runs a construction company that was founded by his father in the 1970s. The property in question is a construction material storage yard which is common in the area. But someone who lives nearby lodged a complaint with 311 about the “eye sore.” What ensued can only be described as a mess and the Coast’s Matt Stickland has the full story.

That’s it!

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