Saving the SaltyJam
Published Thursday July 2nd, 2009
Musical event has risen from near extinction to a huge part of Saint John's scene.
What a difference a year makes.
Last year when corporate sponsors pulled out of Saint John's SaltyJam music festival its future was not only in doubt, the festival was for a time, cancelled outright. Apparently, you can't keep a good music festival down. Faced with the loss of their summer music festival locals refused to see the event die and found new artists, new sponsors and a new life for SaltyJam.
This year SaltyJam is not only back, it's bigger than ever. There are more artists, more stages and more performances.
SaltyJam is the evolution of the Saint John Jazz and Blues Festival. When the event organizing committee decided to include a broader array of music and open the festival to a wider audience SaltyJam brought in rock and jam based acts that filled venues in Uptown Saint John. Colin James, Joel Plaskett and the Jerry Garcia Band are among the acts to have graced the SaltyJam stage over the past five years.
Renea Sleep is SaltyJam's festival chair. She was one of the driving forces that rescued last year's event from the brink. She also helped steer this year's event and the festival's future onto a solid path. She tells [here] that SaltyJam lives on because the people of Saint John see the value in what it brings to the city.
"I think this says a lot about what this event means to the people of Saint John. We've had corporate sponsors step up to the plate and people come to the committee because they simply didn't want to see this event go away. What has happened this year, and I don't know if it's because of everything that happened last year but we are truly back bigger and better than ever. We have over 30 artists bringing music to Uptown Saint John over the course of the festival weekend."
Here's a quick rundown of what music fans can expect next weekend as SaltyJam rocks Saint John:
SaltyJam kicks off Friday night with a free show at the Market Square Boardwalk Stage by Weak Size Fish from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
The mainstage tent is back in the centre of town this year on the Coast Guard parking lot. Friday night's mainstage performance kicks off at 7 p.m. with Gisto followed by Bomba. Then Montreal's indie darlings Plants and Animals take the stage. Roots reggae closes the night out on the mainstage with the House of David Gang. Night owls can head over to Akhord for local heros Hospital Grade from midnight to 2 a.m.
Salty Saturday kicks off early (for musicians) at 10:30 a.m. in the Saint John City Market with the Children's Culture Club. Brent Mason will be on hand to tell stories of the Saint John River. There will also be face painting and crafts for the kids.
If you want to take a musical lunch you can check out guitar virtuoso Ryan Leblanc at Opera Bistro from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Back at the City Market Stage SaltyJam has assembled a great roster of talent for the Songwriters Circle, with a strong local presence. Saint John artists Brent Mason, Ken Tobias and Jessica Rhaye will be joined by Halifax's wonderful Rebekah Higgs from noon until 2 p.m. Following the Songwriters Circle O'Leary's "Shot for A Spot" winners Columbia Spacelab, Kendra Gale and Sean Roche take to the stage.
One of this year's more exciting venues sees SaltyJam taking advantage of Saint John's new skatepark and growing skate community. From 2 to until 6:30 p.m. the worlds of music and skate come together. Renea Sleep says this may be one of the surprise venues to hit this year. "We're setting a stage up at the skatepark and we've got a lot of young and exciting bands playing there. There is going to be a skate competition with live music, it's going to be something very unique and very fun."
The Market Square stage rocks all Saturday afternoon with performances by Shanklin Road, Andres Godoy and Ryan Leblanc, French Kiss and the wildly popular Tom Fun Orchestra.
SaltyJam goes out with a bang Saturday night at the mainstage tent with The Envy, 16th Avenue and French Kiss getting the party started. Then things swing into high gear when east coast dance rock favourites Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees bring their dance party to the stage. Headlining the festival is one of Canada's most talked about bands and Canadian indie heavyweights, Tokyo Police Club.
This year's roster marks a musical departure for SaltyJam. Pulling from Canada's rich indie rock heritage SaltyJam has attracted acts that should bring in a slightly younger and arguably hipper crowd. Festival Chair Renea Sleep says that this is something set forth when SaltyJam was formed four years ago. "When SaltyJam was being formed part of its mandate was to be a launching pad for young Canadian artists. I think that this makes the transition from the Saint John Jazz and Blues Festival complete. We are now meeting that mandate and bringing up and comers to the city. The line up is all rising artists and other than one act, 100 per cent Canadian."
Sleep says that the new committee is also a younger crowd that has brought new energy to the project. She also points out that along with tremendous response from the corporate community, for the first time ever SaltyJam has received assistance from all three levels of government, something she credits with helping SaltyJam move to the next level.
From nearly losing its summer music festival a year ago to rebounding with a fresh outlook 12 months later, SaltyJam remains a testament to the fact that Saint Johners care enough about music and their city not to let a good thing slip away. Sleep says she can't predict the future but is confident about what lies ahead for SaltyJam. "I mean nobody can predict what the future holds but I am confident that SaltyJam is not going anywhere."
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