Don't think too hard, there's no symbolism in this picture.

This week in Ottawa, two locally-based grassroots events kick off the city's festival season.

Westfest, the quickly-growing festival named after its Westboro base, celebrates its 5 year anniversary with its highest-profile lineup yet. Looks like they've done a great job of mixing it up beyond the usual (but surely not taken for granted) spoken word, tam-tamming, and focus on local music: there will be a different theme every night, beginning with a couple theatre productions on the stage at Richmond Road and Golden Avenue.

Concurrently running is the aptly named Gaga Weekend, featuring 4 shows in 4 venues over 3 days that'll give a nice platform for a whack of local punkrawk (and maybe a Queen cover or 2?).

Depending on time, we may go into a few more details about each fest as the week goes on.

There's a healthy amount of other shows this week, but dial613 isn't sure who to talk about. The Stills are back from wherever they've been, maybe doing something different and worth seeing, but who knows**?
And if you enjoy going 'woo' and making finger-in-mouth whistling noises, then you might want to head to the Black Sheep Inn and help Melwood Cutlery record a live CD. And OK, could that really be his real name? I hear when he plays in the US, he goes by the name of Melwood Silverware.

What are you looking forward to this week?

M 06.09
David Martel with Jacko* and Gini Sigler*, at Zaphod's

Tu 06.10
Christina Martin with Tara Holloway*, at Avant-Garde Bar
The Stills with Hollerado*, at Zaphod's

W 06.11
Erick Von Erick with Hellbros* and The Loose Ties*, at Zaphod's
Ship Shapes* with The Superfantastics, at Avant-Garde Bar

Th 06.12
1755 with Marie-Jo Therio and Julie Doiron, at Westfest
Gaga Weekend featuring Uranium Comeback*, The Felines*, Sedatives* and The Sick Fits*, at The Bytowne Tavern
Mary Kastle with James Lamb, Miss Emily Brown and Christa Couture, at The Black Sheep Inn
The National Parcs, at Mercury Lounge
Tom Fun Orchestra with The John Punch Band*, at Zaphod's

F 06.13
Joel Plaskett Emergency with Land Of Talk, Matthew Barber & The Union Dues and more, at Westfest
Gaga Weekend featuring The White Wires*, The Visitors*, The Holy Cobras* and The Sonic Avenues*, at 59 Argyle
Brights* (CD release) with The Love Machine* and That's The Spirit*, at Babylon
Good2Go* with The Bush Pilots*, at Irene's Pub
Melwood Cutlery (live CD recording) with Fred Guignon, at The Black Sheep Inn
Parade, at Avant-Garde Bar
Shameless Blues*, at Elmdale House Tavern
Slim Twig with Elfin Saddle and Caroline Keating, at Zaphod's

Sa 06.14
Buffy Sainte-Marie with Holly McNarland, Kinnie Starr, various aboriginal music, and more @westfest
Gaga Weekend featuring The Savage Crimes, Army of St. Joan*, Psychic Hotline*, Four'n'Giv'r* and more (1pm), at The Bayou
Gaga Weekend featuring The Botched Suicides*, The Fucking Machines*, Teenanger* and The Million Dollar Marxists* (10pm), at Babylon
Dry River Caravan*, at Irene's Pub
Mighty Popo, at The Black Sheep Inn
Ashley Newall Band* (CD release), at Zaphod's
The Rebel Wheel with Poligraf, at Avant-Garde Bar
The Undesirables*, at Elmdale House Tavern

Su 06.15
Lynn Miles & Sue Foley* with The Polymorphines*, Flecton Big Sky*, Melissa Laveaux*, Voices Of Praise Choir* and more Ottawa music @Westfest
Mighty Popo (4pm), at The Black Sheep Inn
Lina Allemano Four, at The Black Sheep Inn
The Summerlad with Parlour Steps, at Zaphod's

* denotes local act
** denotes wishy-washiest sentence to date on this site