🗞️ Reggae is going strong in Halifax

Happy Monday Halifax,

You know, when I think about jazz music, I don’t immediately think of Miles Davis. Names like Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington don’t immediately scat into my mind. Nope, I think jazz, I think…Emmylou Harris.

Said literally no one ever.

Nonetheless, the iconic singer-songwriter is headlining this year’s Halifax Jazz Fest—and I’m totally here for it! This true queen is one of the most influential women in music, having collabed with Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Linda Ronstadt—to name a few.

The 14-time Grammy Award winner will perform on July 11 on the Main Stage on the Halifax Waterfront—grab tickets for her show here and check out the whole lineup for the 2024 TD Jazz Festival here.

Have a great day out there 🎷

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌤️ 29°

Tomorrow: ☁️ 29°

Next Day: 🌧️ 26°

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

Jah’Mila proves reggae is going strong on new record, ‘Woman of the Sun’

JUNO-nominated reggae powerhouse Jah’Mila considers her newest album to be an evolution of her sound.

Striking out in 2022 with the success of Roots Girl, earning Jah’Mila her 2024 JUNO nomination, she thought her next musical endeavour should show how she’s progressed since making songs during the pandemic.

Roots will eventually rise above the earth, chasing the sun—it was this concept that led Jah’Mila to title her sophomore album Woman of the Sun.

“When the roots are growing, of course, you're setting a foundation for yourself,” said Jah’Mila in an interview with The Coast. “But there comes a time when with growth, you have to push your head above the soil and meet and greet the light.”

Woman of the Sun is another record jam-packed with reggae hits, deeply inspired by the music Jah’Mila grew up with in her home country of Jamaica, but she says she’s also drawn inspiration from her new home of Halifax.

“I believe that my artistry and my creativity and the music that I make have been heavily influenced mostly by my upbringing in Jamaica,” she said. “Moving here to Halifax was a glimpse into an entirely new world. Different cultures, different types of phones, meeting new people and doing different types of things, and how much that has influenced me, as well.”

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer chats with Jah’Mila about her new album and how it represents her growth as an artist.

🤔 Need To Know

👟 A Halifax man completed his cross-country trip in Victoria, BC on Sunday, with thousands of dollars raised for those living with heart disease. Ryan Keeping ran 75 kilometres everyday for 99 days.

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

🧘 Join Kyla from Shanti Yoga, on Thursdays in July, August, and September from 12:05 to 12:55 pm in The Halifax Public Garden at the family lawn area.*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY SUPPORT4CULTURE

Support4Culture is a proud supporter of Halifax Jazz Festival!

Celebrating the art of jazz music and artists in Nova Scotia, the Halifax Jazz Festival will take place on July 9th-14th, 2024. See the impact Support4Culture makes here.

ARTS + CULTURE

Last chance to see artist Mitchell Wiebe’s show at SMU gallery

If you plan it right, you’ll be able to catch Mitchell Wiebe gallery-sitting his own show at the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery in Halifax’s south end during its final week. His exhibition, Third Elbow, has been up since April 23, has been extended twice and will finally disappear next Sunday, July 14. 

Wiebe, the artist, is also a part-time gallery attendant at SMU. If you have a chance to visit Third Elbow on Tuesday July 9 or Friday July 12—you’ll have a chance to meet the artist himself. Don’t miss out.

Wiebe fills the gallery space with his playfully vivid, mischievous and phantasmic paintings and structural space making, collaborating with artists Kayza DeGraff-Ford, Craig Stuart Love, and more to achieve the exhibition’s overarching theme of reframing painting. 

Wiebe is an MFA graduate from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD). He has lived in and made work in the cold-war era bomb shelter, the “Diefenbunker,” outside of Debert, Nova Scotia and has shown in both group and solo exhibitions across North America, including the group show Oh, Canada at MASS MoCA in 2012-2013. His paintings are found in collections across Canada, the United States, Germany and Italy. 

Today, Wiebe is showing at two galleries in Halifax simultaneously. His Third Elbow show at SMU and his “exhibition-as-occupation” show, VampSites, which opened June 8 at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (AGNS). When Wiebe isn’t gallery-sitting his show at SMU, he’s at his studio within his show at the AGNS making work live and exploding the concept of a “finished” exhibition.

The Coast’s Lauren Phillips spoke with Wiebe about his show Third Elbow and how it bends painting, portals, and planes of perception.

🗞️ In Other News

⚽ Nova Scotia’s Jacob Shaffelburg scored the opening goal in Canada’s historic win against Venezuela in the Copa America quarterfinal match. Canada will now face world champions Argentina in the semi-final tomorrow.

🏠 The fall semester is still two months away, but post-secondary students throughout the province are already working to secure housing. Advocates say the city’s 1% vacancy rate is a concern for those pursuing university degrees.

⚖️ A man found guilty of manslaughter last year in the 2013 death of Matthew Sudds in Halifax has been declared a dangerous offender—a designation given to violent criminals and sexual predators who pose a high risk to reoffend.

⛪ The Catholic Church has been ordered to pay $104M in settlements to 292 survivors of historical abuse in Newfoundland and Labrador, including those at the now infamous Mount Cashel orphanage in St. John’s.

🩺 Some doctors say the new regulation requiring them to make referrals for medical assistance in dying could drive physicians from their practices and harm recruitment—making the problem of lack of family doctors even worse.

💰The province announced a $14.1M investment in replacement infrastructure that will cover reparations to an aging stormwater system in Dartmouth as well as the ‘daylighting’ of Sawmill River—a project that has been in the works for decades.

🐳 The death of a humpback whale found in the Stewiacke River on Thursday and other recent whale sightings are raising questions about climate change.

💙 The IWK is opening a new mental health and addictions services centre—with a staff of nearly 40 people—in Mic Mac Mall sometime in 2025. The clinic will provide individual treatment and group therapy for children, youth, parents and caregivers.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 2024 TD Halifax Jazz Festival: This year's lineup has shows from Emmylou Harris, Killer Mike, Fitz and the Tantrums, Matt Andersen & the Big Bottle of Joy, The War and Treaty, Charlotte Day Wilson, Nick Hakim and many more. | July 9-14

🗓 Unfiltered Hip-Hop - Don’t Sweat The Technique: Featuring the slick legendary rhymes of Ghettosocks, the swishing beats of DJ Uncle Fester, the raw energy of C Stone-Léon and French and a standout set by Bad Friends, this is a show you don't want to miss. Be there at Gus’ Pub for a night of pure, unfiltered hip-hop. | July 11 | 8pm | $10

🗓 Sloan - Live at the Shore Club: The band are credited as being a main instigator for the Canadian East Coast alternative scene of the early ’90s, garnering comparisons to the Seattle Grunge movement on the opposite coast. Over the course of their quarter-century career, Sloan have amassed an outstanding collection of over 250 songs and now they are hitting Hubbards. | July 11 | 9:30pm | $56.78

🗓 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

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Algoscotia oil tanker leaves Halifax for Sydney at 2am.

➡️ The CB Pacific oil tanker leaves Halifax for Albany at 3pm.

🛳️ The NYK Remus container ship arrives in Halifax from Antwerp at 3:20pm.

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Sea container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 4pm.

🛳️➡️ The Volendam cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 6pm.

➡️ The John J. Carrick barge leaves Halifax for Sarnia at 8pm.

➡️ The Leo A. McArthur tug boat leaves Halifax for Sarnia at 8pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🥡 Don’t miss the Asian Pulled Pork this week at Tart and Soul: slow roasted pulled pork, hot honey gochujang sauce, spicy pickles, sesame slaw, cilantro and citrus aioli on a chive biscuit.

🍖 BBQ season is in full swing and Anemone Dining has you covered with their take home chicken n’ ribs dinner: slow roasted ribs, juicy chicken and all the sides, plus an amazing dessert and cocktail option (hint: try the watermelon spritz). Take them home, baste for 10 minutes and grill for 20!

👀 In Case You Missed It

🎭 Lewis Carroll’s fever dream brain child turned classic tale of Alice and her mind-bending adventures in Wonderland has been captivating readers and audiences for generations and now it’s taking to Point Pleasant Park in a fantastical musical version presented by Shakespeare by the Sea. The Coast’s Julie Lawrence caught up with the stars—Amaka Umeh and Jade Douris O-Hara to find out how they’re breathing new life into an old classic.

🎧 NEW EPISODE - HFX Votes : In part 2 of the deep dive into property tax, The Coast’s Matt Stickland sat down with Darrell Dexter, the former premier of Nova Scotia to ask him about why we have a property tax cap in the first place. In the conversation, Dexter explains that the property tax cap is doing its job, protecting people from being gouged by the market. And that it’s incumbent on councillors to use the other tools at their disposal to make their budget make sense. He also talked about the philosophy behind policy-making and how to anticipate outcomes. Listen now.

🏢 Mariam Knakriah—the re-elected president of the Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) as of May—has been pushing the university divestment movement since she took office. She says that the reason she ran for a second term was because she wanted to see these changes through to the finish before leaving office. The Coast’s Lauren Phillips sat down with her to talk about the group's ongoing meetings with school administration to push the university towards divestment from Israel’s occupation and war in Gaza.

That’s it!

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