--Six Shooter Bullets --

Jul. 2008, Vol. 05, No. 06

Fill your glass and set yourself at ease

Howdy folks!

In this issue:

  1. Six Shooter Day at Ottawa Bluesfest

  2. More festival goodness all summer long

  3. Glowing reviews abound for new albums by NQ Arbuckle and Elliott BROOD

  4. Polaris Long List singles out Justin Rutledge and Christine Fellows

  5. Luke Doucet's latest is released in the USA

  6. NXNE Roundup (including a 100% score card for Royal Wood)

  7. Shout Out Out Out Out keeps a diary

  8. Jenn Grant and Melissa McClelland also in studio this summer

  9. Summer t-shirt colours

  10. Martin Tielli surprise

  11. Tour dates

Ok, so have I mentioned that BBQ season is in full-on major effect?! Wooooo! Is there any reason to not eat BBQ for every single meal? No really, I'm actually wondering this, it's not hypothetical. For some reason I feel guilty when I BBQ my breakfast. Is this just some stupid hang-up that I have or is it actually written somewhere that you shouldn't grill every meal until it's got pleasing black lines all over it. I'm trying to make adult power moves this year, so this kind of thing actually concerns me. Pickles are vegetables right? This issue brought to you by pomegranate and dijon.

SIX SHOOTER ROCKS OTTAWA

We couldn't be more pleased that Mark and Paul from Ottawa Bluesfest invited us to host a Six Shooter Day on the Blacksheep Stage on Saturday, July 5. Like, gimme a break, our own stage for a whole day?! It's going to be a helluva party! We are storming up the 401 (like lil' dust bunnies fleeing from my new Swiffer thingy... I'm sayin', adult power moves this year) in droves for performances by Christine Fellows, Justin Rutledge, NQ Arbuckle, Luke Doucet, and Elliott BROOD. And to top off the day, everyone will join together in a grand finale of good tunes and good times, and slammin' high fives from all of us suits in the audience. The cat is out of the bag (and it's kind of mangy): the Six Shooter Finale will also feature 5-6 songs by our favourite son, Martin Tielli, who will be giving a rare performance of his solo material.

SIX SHOOTER ROCKS CANADA

Ottawa isn't the only city to welcome Six Shooter to their fantastic city this summer. In fact, we are totally going to rage at some other festivals in Canada too, even though they didn't give us our own stage for a whole day. They are probably scared of us because we are like level kabillion elves and mages with an entire satchel full of 20 sided dice, and they are just silly level 4 barbarians that are still "learning the game" and always get lost in the ancient maze temple. Know what I'm sayin'?

Oh, you wanna know which festivals we are conquering? Well, this is how I remind youuuuu! That was a Nickelback joke, by the way. Hillside Festival in Guelph (home of lyme ticks, watch yer ankles!) welcomes Hawksley Workman, Elliott BROOD, Jenn Grant and Justin Rutledge. Edmonton Folk Music Festival has invited Hawksley Workman, Luke Doucet, and Royal Wood. We also have Justin and Royal playing in Peterborough, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland in London, ON, Luke Doucet in Lyons, CO, Jenn Grant in Vancouver, Wendy McNeill in Calgary, Justin in Dawson City, Christine Fellows at Sappy, Hawksley in Perth.

We've already destroyed a few festivals this summer since our last deeply engaging newsletter, including Elliott BROOD and the Wet Secrets at Sled Island, Hawksley in Burlington and Ottawa (July 1). Shout Out Out Out Out got all modal wit' it at a couple of jazz festivals, joined by Elliott BROOD at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival. Summer lovin', I'm tellin' ya.

By the way, is it aluminum or tin that gives you Alzheimer's? I can never keep that one straight. Is it cool to just open a can of beans and put it straight on the grill, or am I going to be forgetting that I did that, just because I did that?nale will also feature 5-6 songs by our favourite son, Martin Tielli, who will be giving a rare performance of his solo material.

NQ AND THE BROOD ROCK THE CRITICS

Journalists have been rubbing their sweaty opinionated paws in glee at the release of new albums by NQ Arbuckle and Elliott BROOD, most notably by Exclaim! Magazine, who put our BROOD boys on the cover of their paper this month. They look extremely dark and mysterious on the cover, but believe me we have actually seen them smile at least twice. Ok, well maybe once, I think the other time was just a suppressed yawn or a banshee howl or something. In any case, regardless of mysterious auras, wild enthusiasm for X O K and Mountain Meadows has been sweeping across the land, with glowstick waving rave reviews in The Globe and Mail, Eye Weekly, Uptown, FFWD, and tons more that we'll totally tell you all about next time that we hang out. We were pleased as a pineapple soaked in Vodka and ready for the grill when we saw Mountain Meadows as one of NOW Magazine's Perlich's Picks, and the Edmonton Sun describes it as "living with both total sparseness and power somewhere between the Pixies and Johnny Cash...5 out of 5." Love for our NQ is similarly high in Alberta, where the Edmonton Sun also gives X O K a 5-Star Review, and Vue Magazine offers up one of our favourite quotes: "X O K plays like a bar fight that's getting dirty because the stakes are so damn high." Edmonton is soooooo cool. We love Edmonton. We think Edmonton should get dark and mysterious photo on the cover of Exclaim!? Magazine. And a "get out of winter free" card.

SIX SHOOTER ROCKS POLARIS

Now in its third year, the coveted Polaris Prize has amped up its fanfare this time around with the announcement of its first-ever Long List... celebrating their 40 favourite albums of the year. We were very pleased that Christine Fellows' fourth disc, "Nevertheless", and Justin Rutledge's third album, "Man Descending" were both included in the Long List. Hopefully they make it as Shawties, so we can by them a drank. Wait a sec, do you people get T-Pain references, or am I wasting my time? Am I polarizing my audience? Wait a sec, do you people get puns or am I wasting my time? Why does everything have to be so complicated? Wait a sec, do you people get Avril Lavigne references or am I wasting my time? Ad nauseum. (wait a sec, do you people speak Latin or am I wasting my time?)....

BLOOD'S TOO RICH ROCKS THE USA

Luke Doucet's fantastic new record, "Blood's Too Rich," is now available in the USA through Ryko Distribution. Luke is going to celebrate by buying one of those sweet neon guitars with a built in handle cut into the body (you don't even need a CASE maaaaaan!). The party south of the border has just gotten started, with recent appearances on the Joey "not the guy from Friends" Reynolds Show (NYC's most popular late night radio show with a listenership of 4 million people!), the Mitch Album Show, SIRIUS satellite radio, and a ton of blogs plus the USA Today's podcast. Phew! The blood is indeed too rich! It's like an Alberta oilsand thing that makes it so KFC offers bigger signing bonuses to 16 year olds than most major labels offer sweet R&R bands, and they don't even commission on coleslaw tips! Great print reviews are starting to roll in for Lucky Luke as well, including the Pittsburgh Tribune, who raves: "as sly as Doucet is as a lyricist, he's even better musically, falling somewhere between John Hiatt and fellow (pseudo) Canadian Neil Young." I can't tell you how much pleasure it gives me that someone referred to Luke as "sly" in print. Can I also now say that he is foxy? Like Luke "sly fox" Doucet? Our Amurrrrrican friends in Chicago and Detroit can catch Luke live next week. Oh say can we see some more USA dates in September? Yes, yes we can.

SIX SHOOTER ROCKED NXNE

We are still recovering from a week of intense good times had by all in Toronto during our hometown festival of NXNE. The jello-shots party started with a performance by our newest addition to the Six Shooter family, the Wet Secrets. This was our first time seeing the Wet Secrets in all their glory, and we were freakin' the frick out with delight in what we saw on the stage. The show got supremely hot when they kicked in with our favourite tune, "Get your own apartment," and we had to use all of our self-restraint to not storm the stage in kitty-cat outfits and dance it up, and then the Horseshoe positively bugged out with the grand finish of "Rock Fantasy." Um, it was a rock fantasy come true. Barf.

Then we raced over to our favourite watering hole (we actually have lots of favourites, but for this scenario we are just naming one), The Dakota Tavern, for the Six Shooter Records showcase starring Melissa McClelland, NQ Arbuckle, and invited guests from South Africa via the UK, Chris Letcher and his band. We killed it, we always do, but you know that already right?

The next day had us at the Gladstone for a moving performance by Soccer Mom Records' artist and friend, Jason Plumb. We never stop, we are whatever by whatever marathon runners. Next up was a beautiful set from Royal Wood and his lovely band, who captivated the audience and captured the attention of chartattack.com, who later gave him a 100% scorecard, and you can see for yourself at Royal's upcoming Toronto show on Aug 14. The night wrapped up beautifully with a handsome performance by Justin Rutledge at the SIRIUS-sponsored night at the Reverb. Justin is a golden god.

As if this wasn't enough fun fare, we all got up early to get ready for our personal main event, the third annual Six Shooter Records Back Lot BBQ, held in the back yard of our store on Queen St. East. This thing is always straight up buck wild, but this year was even bucker and wilder than ever. Our jam was so packed that even if 'Every Rose Has It's Thorn' had come on, it would have already looked like were all slow dancing in the gym. Many thanks to the artists who made the day such a grand occasion, with fantastic music from NQ Arbuckle, Elliott BROOD, Jason Plumb, Hey Rosetta!, Hawksley Workman, Melissa McClelland, Luke Doucet, Justin Rutledge, Oh Susanna, Chris Letcher, Royal Wood, and Dog Bus (a bus for dogs).

DEAR DIARY: I LOVE SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT

Our most "free swag" loving management clients, Shout Out Out Out Out, have spent the last month in the studio recording their follow up album to the Juno Nomo 'Not Saying / Just Saying'!!! This is of course thrilling news, and we are pleased to report that the boys are silly with excitement over how well the studio process is working for them this time around. Alongside another batch of vocoder driven dance numbers about how shitty real life is, there are going to be guest vocalist appearances by the Shoutset's good pal Cadence Weapon and labelmate San Serac.

If you have ever wondered what it is like to be in the studio with Shout Out Out Out Out, or if you are a total nerd that cares about things like analog synthesizers and synching midi beat clock to tha thingamajig, then you should immediately make your way to the band's myspace page where they have been posting a completely mundane and idiotic series of "studio diary" videos! You will surely be enthralled by the level of dementia that occurs after spending hours upon hours listening to extremely loud techno in a tiny underground box. Aaaaaaand, you will be able to preview some of the new material that Edmonton's flagship electronic act have been obsessing over for the past month! Yayeeeeee!

Oh, and also, if anyone feels like delivering a wheelbarrow full of cash so that front man Nik 7 can finally afford to get around to pursuing the recording of the debut album by his "solo" act The Paronomasiac, please do so post haste!

MORE HOT SUMMER KNOB TURNING

Also in the studio this summer are the amazingtastic Melissa McClelland and Jenn Grant. Collaborating with husband/producer Luke Doucet of Hamilton (a.k.a. Sly Fox) for the third time, Melissa McClelland hits the studio in July. And we are pleased to be working with famed producer Jon Goldsmith (Bruce Cockburn, Martin Tielli) again as he readies for a production with Jenn Grant in August. 2009 is going to be a very hot year! We are bringing mesh back! And the shot glass bullet belt / two-six holster as worn by Steve of Beverly Hills 90210! And frozen bananas on a stick! And tandem bikes! Ok! Maybe not tandem bikes! That shit's tacky!

HOT NEW T-SHIRT COLOURS

If you're looking for a new way to celebrate our mantra, "Life is too short to listen to shitty music," (thank you, Bobbi Beeson), then you might want to pick up a brand new Six Shooter t-shirt, now available in all manner of fabulous summer colours, including Pomegranate, Galaxy blue, and Dijon. Is anyone else hungry for a pomegranate, blue cheese, and mustard sandwich right about now? We've got new kids shirts in tomato red, too.

MARTIN TIELLI... IS HE BACK?

Earlier in this newsletter, if you were paying attention, which we know you weren't since you are watching the first season of The Wire while you read this because you are so sick of all your friends talking like drug dealers from Baltimore and going on and on about "character development", we leaked the news that Martin will be performing a short set at the Ottawa Bluesfest during the Six Shooter Finale... but that's not all! Gingerly, we make a hesitant announcement that it looks like the subscription series is probably going to be finished and ready for mail out in September. Convincing hey? But really, we have heard the music, we have seen the paintings, we know that the end is near. And the end is only the beginning... of a beautiful relationship! Awwwwwwww! Get this, we even have some club dates booked in the fall so you can celebrate with Martin at some hella chiefin' live shows. Stay tuned!

TOUR DATES

JENN GRANT
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5-6
VANCOUVER, BC: Vancouver Folk Festival, July 19-20
GUELPH, ON: Hillside, July 25-27


ROYAL WOOD
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 4
EDMONTON, AB: Edmonton Folk Festival, Aug 8-10
TORONTO, ON: Hugh's Room, Aug 14
PETERBOROUGH, ON: Peterborough Folk Festival, Aug 22-23


LUKE DOUCET
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5
ANN ARBOR, MI: The Ark, July 10
CHICAGO, IL: Subterranean, July 11
CLARKSTON, MI: Carrick House Concert, July 12
LONDON, ON: Home County Folk Festival, July 19
MONTREAL, PQ: Osheaga Festival, Aug 3
EDMONTON, AB: Edmonton Folk Festival, Aug 8-10
LYONS, CO: Rocky Mountain Folk Festival, Aug 15-17


JUSTIN RUTLEDGE
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5
DAWSON CITY, YK: Dawson City Music Festival, Jul 17-20
GUELPH, ON: Hillside, July 25-27
PETERBOROUGH, ON: Peterborough Summer Festival of Lights, Aug 20


MELISSA McCLELLAND
BUFFALO, NY: Art Park, Jul 15 w/ Blue Rodeo
LONDON, ON: Home County Folk Festival, July 19


HAWKSLEY WORKMAN
HUNTSVILLE, ON: Algonquin Theatre, Jul 4
PERTH, ON: Stewart Park Festival, Jul 18
GUELPH, ON: Hillside, July 25
EDMONTON, AB: Edmonton Folk Festival, Aug 8-10
SWITZERLAND: Festival Rock Oz'Arenes, Aug 16


CHRISTINE FELLOWS
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5
SACKVILLE, NB: Sappyfest, Aug 3


ELLIOTT BROOD
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5
VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC: Vancouver Island Festival, July 11-13
KELOWNA, BC: Doc Willoughbys, July 15
YELLOWKNIFE, NT: Folk on the Rocks Festival, July 18-20
GUELPH, ON: Hillside, July 25-27
SUDBURY, ON: Townhouse Tavern, Sept 11
SAULT ST. MARIE, ON: Loplops, Sept 12
THUNDER BAY, ON: The Outpost, Sept 13
SASKATOON, SK: Amigo's, Sept 16
EDMONTON, AB: Pawn Shop, Sept 17
CALGARY, AB: The Warehouse, Sept 18
KELOWNA, BC: Doc Willoughby's, Sept 19
VANCOUVER, BC: Richard's on Richards, Sept 20
VICTORIA, BC: Sugar, Sept 21
CANMORE, AB: Canmore Hotel, Sept 24
LETHBRIDGE, AB: The Splice, Sept 25
REGINA, SK: The Exchange, Sept 26
WINNIPEG, MB: The Pyramid, Sept 27


NQ ARBUCKLE
OTTAWA, ON: Ottawa Blues Festival, July 5


WET SECRETS
CALGARY, AB: Flames Central, Jul 8 w/Metric


WENDY MCNEILL
CALGARY, AB: Calgary Folk Festival, Jul 25-27


JASON PLUMB
HANNOVER, GERMANY: Blues Garage, July 5 w/The Perpetrators
VERVIERS, BELGIUM: Spirit of 66, July 7 w/The Perpetrators
APELDOORN, THE NETHERLANDS: Blues Cafe, July 8&9 w/The Perpetrators
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS: Bourbon Street Cafe, July 10 w/The Perpetrators
SCHWEINFURT, GERMANY: Tapas, July 17 w/The Perpetrators
DETMOLD, GERMANY: Kaiserkeller, July 18 w/The Perpetrators


VALERY GORE
TORONTO, ON: The Rivoli, Aug 28


FORD PIER
VANCOUVER, BC: The Railway Club, Jul 10



Gigglez and lulz,
Six Shooter One-Arm Push Up Crew

Title track: "Valley Town," track 6 from Elliott Brood's new album, "Mountain Meadows."
This was Six Shooter Bullets, Vol. 5, No. 6.


Six Shooter Records
Box 98038, 970 Queen St. E.
Toronto, ON M4M 1J0
416-465-2459
http://www.sixshooterrecords.com

Life is too short to listen to shitty music.