First Community

10/13/2026

Aretha Tillotson
Thursday, October 15, 2026
7:00 PM 9:00 PM
The Nexus at First
450 Okanagan Avenue East, Salmon Arm
PLEASE NOTE - this event takes place on the 3rd Thursday of the month, a departure from our typical 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month timing.

Join JUNO-nominated bassist, composer, and educator Aretha Tillotson for an exceptional evening of contemporary jazz. Recognized as the 2024 Western Canadian Music Award "Jazz Artist of the Year," Tillotson has quickly established herself as a prominent force in the Canadian music community. Her rigorous musical background includes training at MacEwan University, the University of Toronto, and the prestigious Berklee Global Jazz Institute. She now shapes the next generation of musicians by teaching bass and music theory at MacEwan University in Edmonton.

Aretha has toured North America alongside renowned jazz icons such as Kris Davis, Walter Smith III, and the Ingrid and Christine Jensen Quintet. Her professional diversity spans from anchoring major Canadian jazz festival stages to performing as the resident bassist for the Broadway production of SIX the Musical. As a bandleader, her recorded projects—including her debut album Introducing Aretha Tillotson and her second release Kinda Out West—have earned wide critical praise for their strong melodic ideas and grounded, steady bass lines.

Band members joining Aretha will be announced soon — please stay tuned for details. Better yet, subscribe to our newsletter and never miss hearing about upcoming jazz and jazz-adjacent events throughout the Shuswap and nearby locations.

ADMISSION: By donation.
CONCESSION: Coffee, tea and treats are also available by donation.
DOORS: Open at 6:30 pm

10/10/2026

There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need time to focus on your mental state. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you need help with your mental health. Therapy and/or medication are not weaknesses.

Today, try to give yourself time to rest and recover. Read a book, play a game, watch a movie, listen to music, whatever it is that makes you happy.

You are loved, and you deserve to be here. Your mental health is just as important as any other part of your health.

10/09/2026

Stillness is vital to the world of the soul. If as you age you become more still, you will discover that stillness can be a great companion. The fragments of your life will have time to unify, and the places where your soul-shelter is wounded or broken will have time to knit and heal. You will be able to return to yourself. In this stillness, you will engage your soul. Many people miss out on themselves completely as they journey through life. They know others, they know places, they know skills, they know their work, but tragically, they do not know themselves at all. Aging can be a lovely time of ripening when you actually meet yourself, indeed maybe for the first time. There are beautiful lines from T. S. Eliot that say:

'And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.'

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from the book, Anam Cara,
25th Anniversary Edition.
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/anam-cara

Dunquin Cottage, County Kerry, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

10/09/2026

“...whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
Mary Oliver - from, Wild Geese, 1986.

David Lloyd Evans - Three Swans in Flight,1945.

10/08/2026

10/08/2026

New Substack: "The Season of Letting Go"
https://barbarabrowntaylor.substack.com/p/the-season-of-letting-go

10/05/2026

MOZI BONES presents Cardboard Sessions Vol. 5
in a special show this Friday, October 9 - 7pm to 9pm

The Salmon Arm Jazz Club is very pleased to be co-sponsoring a very special performance of the multi-disciplinary artist and musician, Emilie Bradford, and her band, MOZI BONES, this Friday, October 9, at the Nexus at First Village Hall in Salmon Arm.

MOZI BONES is the Psychedelic Groove Jazz phenomenon created by bassist and visual artist, Emilie Bradford, with guitarist Jordan Dick, and drummer, Darrin Herting.

MOZI BONES presents Cardboard Sessions Vol. 5 blend the MOZI BONES musical experience into a genre defying interactive visual arts feast. The evening includes a 2 hour live music show with MOZI BONES, an interactive trash art installation, 2D animation projections, coffee & snacks, prizes, games, photobooths & more.

The unique MOZI BONES sound was crafted through countless hours of late-night improvisations. The distinctive bass lines and multilingualvocal stylings of Emilie Bradford, incessant guitar antics of Jordan Dick and driving drum grooves of Darrin Herting combine to make an unmistakably original experience.

The diversity among these musicians defines MOZI BONES as a group; a fusion of sounds influenced by multi-cultural stories. Add Emilie Bradford's visual arts and animation super powers and you have an event that defies definition.

Expect surprises as they continue to explore new grooves, sounds, and textures together. And come open for something new and completely different as Emilie weilds her creative imagination through art, animations, and her penchant for creating festive communal experiences.

MOZI BONES presents Cardboard Sessions Vol. 5 takes place this Friday, October 9, 7:00 - 9:00 pm (Doors at 6:30 pm) at the Nexus Village Hall at the First United Church in Salmon Arm. Admission by donation.

10/04/2026

We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are, to see through plastic sham to living, breathing reality, and to break down our defenses of self-protection in order to be free to receive and give love.
~Walking on Water