--Six Shooter Bullets --

February 2002

there's a monkey in my underwear

Mon, Feb 4, 2002, 9:28 PM

Hello everyone! Life at Six Shooter is busy busy busy so this one is a doozie. In this issue:

  1. Christine Fellows is the last one standing

  2. Mia Sheard rocks Toronto

  3. Luke Doucet/Veal breaks in their new bass player in Alberta

  4. The Buzz on Martin Tielli

  5. Bullets * Six Shooter goes to Austin * Captain Tractor readies for St. Pat's* Six Shooter's on-line targets * Feb. 25 is Martin Tielli Day

CHRISTINE FELLOWS

Blame it on a $200 piano and a seemingly endless supply of scotch and winter. "The last one standing" takes its name from a home 4-track recording that was written and recorded almost simultaneously. It's mostly about prevailing. Veda's Waltz proclaims "it's not too late for the battle-scarred". And it's true. Christine's jubilant reacquaintance with the piano (there was a falling-out as a result of jazz school in the 80's) carries an underlying theme in these songs. Described by some as avant-folk, by others as chamber-pop, Christine's music is distinct. Check it out for yourself...it hits the stores on March 5, followed up by relentless touring:

WINNIPEG: CD release show on February 28 at the West End Cultural Centre, with Eyeball Hurt and the Medicine, Aliisa York, Caelum Vatnestal, Clive Holden
TORONTO: Canadian Music Week showcase on March 1 at 11 pm, and CD release show on March 11, with THE FEMBOTS, both shows at Rancho Relaxo.
HAMILTON: Mar 3 at The Raven, with Snailhouse
OTTAWA: Mar 6 at Zaphod's, with Aaron Booth/Snailhouse
MONTREAL: Mar 7 at Club Zone, with Snailhouse
PETERBOROUGH: Mar 8 at the Gordon Best Theatre, with Martin Tielli
GUELPH: Mar 9 at Sherlock Holmes
WATERLOO: Mar 10 at the Jane Bond, with Martin Tielli
SASKATOON: Mar 20 (location tba), and again on Mar 23 at Louis Pub, with Martin Tielli
CALGARY: Mar 21 at the Double Mo Cafe
EDMONTON: Mar 22 at the Likwid Lounge
AUSTIN, TX: Watch for Christine at SXSW, Mar 14-17.

MIA SHEARD

We all love Mia Sheard, so it's great that her two Toronto appearances this month happen around Valentine's Day:

On Feb. 13, she is participating in "Closer to the Heart", a benefit for the Regent Park School of Music, with Mary Margaret O'Hara, Kurt Swinghammer, Maury Lafoy (Supers), Kathryn Rose, Tom Wilson, John Southworth, Dave Matheson, and more.

Then a full-on band show on Feb. 16 at the Rivoli, with "Of January May", 10pm. $7 door.

Later this month it's off to Chemical Sound to make a beautiful new record. Chemical is a cozy spot complete with fireplace and analogue fixings, and the studio of choice of a number of luminaries such as The Rheostatics, Daniel Lanois, Ani DiFranco, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sloan, Cowboy Junkies, the list goes on. Howard Redekopp is going to produce the album, and Mia's bandmates (Chris Gartner, Dan Goldman and Ryan Granville Martin) plus guests, will provide the musical meat. But they're all vegetarians, so i guess (according to Mia) they'll provide the musical shamburgers and notdogs.

LUKE DOUCET/VEAL

Veal is also heading into the studio in Vancouver to make the best damned rock record you've ever heard. Woo hoo. Luke and Chang are in Alberta right now, working in the imminently cool Edmonton It-boy, Nik Kozub, on bass. Check this:

EDMONTON: Feb 7 at The Rev, with the Cleats
CALGARY: Feb 8 at The Night Gallery

Luke just returned from a quick weekend trip to England...many thanks to all of you who made those shows such a huge success. Wow. Yay. He'll definitely be back in the late spring. Meanwhile on the other side of the world, you can catch Luke playing a solo show in:

VANCOUVER: Mar 30 at Richard's on Richards, with Martin Tielli

MARTIN TIELLI

An excerpt from Martin Tielli's lengthy diary entry after his first concert reads: "Bruce's violinist had a metallic blue electric violin and although you couldn't see him, he played some of the most beautiful lines I've ever heard". A dozen years later, Martin found himself in the studio with these same heavy cats he saw on stage with Bruce Cockburn, namely Jonathan Goldsmith (piano), Rob Piltch (guitar), and Hugh Marsh (violin), for the purpose of recording "The River" for a Joni Mitchell tribute album.. Unrehearsed, what ensued was magic. This experience inspired the four peerless players to record an album under the auspices of Nick Buzz, and a year later they emerged with "Circo". So memorable and vivid is each piece, "Circo" imbues a theatricality which would be more at home in an unnamed Fellini film than on modern pop radio. Amidst brilliant conjunctions of screaming monkeys, crying babies,traffic jams, Italian folk music, and heavy metal guitar licks, comes a collection of utterly beautiful songs. While getting the Nick Buzz guys to perform (maybe in December) is a minor miracle, Martin's own band, sometimes dubbed "Operation Infinite Joy", plays a couple of fabulous tunes off this record in his live set. With Barry Mirochnick on the sticks, Greg Smith on bass, and Paul McLeod on guitar, Martin will be hitting a hometown near you:

in Ontario/Quebec:

WOODSTOCK, ON: Feb 16, with Wayne Omaha
PETERBOROUGH: Mar 8 at the Gordon Best Theatre, with Christine Fellows
WATERLOO: Mar 9 & 10 at the Jane Bond, with Christine Fellows on March 10.
KINGSTON: Mar 14 at the Scherzo Pub.
OTTAWA: well, Wakefield actually, March 15 at the Black Sheep Inn
MONTREAL: Mar 16 at le Petit Campus
GUELPH: Apr 4 (not confirmed)
TORONTO: Apr 5 at Lee's Palace
HAMILTON: Apr 6 at the Casbah

in western Canada:

WINNIPEG: Mar 22 at the West End Cultural Centre
SASKATOON: Mar 23 at Louis Pub, with Christine Fellows
EDMONTON: Mar 28 at the Tin Pan Alley, with Ford Pier
CALGARY: Mar 29 at the Night Gallery, with Ford Pier
VANCOUVER: Mar 30 at Richard's on Richards, with Luke Doucet
VICTORIA: Mar 31 at Lucky's, with Ford Pier

The Rheostatics are playing a couple of dates as well:

Feb 21 , Gordon Best Theatre, Peterborough
Feb 22, The Casbah, Hamilton
Feb 23 , Princess Theatre, Waterloo

You can also catch Martin playing with Kevin Hearn at Canadian Music Week on February 28.

SIX SHOOTER BULLETS

  • Six Shooter artists are making a splash at SXSW in Austin this year, with Christine Fellows, Luke Doucet/Veal, and Richard Buckner all showcasing. Add these names to a very fine list of Canadian talent at SXSW this year, including the Dears, the Constantines, Royal City, the Weakerthans, and Spookey Ruben...definitely a trip worth making if you can swing it: Mar 14-17.

  • The Captain Tractor boys are doing nuthin' in February, but they sure are ready to rock in March. Most notable is the third annual St. Patrick's Day gig at Red's on September 16, and lo and behold, a Calgary date on (the real St. Paddy's Day) September 17 at a new club called The Whiskey. Other dates lined up include Mar 1-3 at the Hammerhead Bar & Grill in Grande Prairie, and some currently tentative dates in Canmore, Regina, and Saskatoon.

  • www.sixshooterrecords.com will be up and running a month from now, I promise. But meanwhile, do check out the new mp3.com sites for Martin (http://www.mp3.com/MartinTielli) and Luke (http://www.mp3.com/LukeDoucet). And of course, www.lodestarmusic.com is always a handy place to go to get great records.

  • Lastly, I officially declare February 25th to be Martin Tielli Day. So don your white socks, smoke a pack of Galoise blue, rant about american politics and mainstream culture, raise a Polish beer to all your friends. And stay up all night. I mean ALL night.



Beauty on,
Shauna
shauna@sixshooterrecords.com