My "weird mailers" – a clandestine group who have been mailing me what I might loosely describe as artwork, deranged rambling, random pieces of used clothing, creepy stuffed animals, candy wrapper origame, crime scene tape (which has come in very handy, thank you), concert stubs, anecdotal accounts of low-level celebrity stalking, French lessons, drink recipes and an impressive array of super-modified cocktail napkins, to name but a very few items, for more than 10 years – have again resurfaced in recent weeks.

I would like to take a brief moment to thank her/them not only for, apparently, VIP status on the Ontario Pork Producers mailing list, but also for the vintage VHS copy of Gor, the story of a professor who is "hurtled across time and space into the wartorn [sic] strife of the primitive counter-earth [sic] called," you guessed it, "Gor," starring now-deceased actor, drinker and bar stool pugilist Oliver Reed.

Reed, you may know, starred in over 108 films and gets credited for the first full-frontal male nudity in a feature film, 1970′s Women in Love. Anyway, and perhaps more interestingly, Reed croaked with the help of a massive heart attack at a pub in Valetta on the Isle of Malta in 1999 after reportedly drinking three bottles of rum and defeating five Royal Navy sailors at arm wrestling. The pub, called, um, The Pub, has since become a shrine for people impressed by that sort of thing.

If it weren’t for my weird mailers reacquainting me with Reed, I might never have come to know about such a wonderful place. So thank you again, weird mailers, for never seeking gainful employment. Which brings me to…

….Jonas Tomalty The former Rubberman lead singer, though similarly skilled in the pursuit of leisure activities I can assure you, has in fact been hard at work for the better of two years on a solo project that shall henceforth be known simply as Jonas. With a little label sugar-daddy action in the form of Montreal’s DKDD, young master Jonas has completed a self-titled album that also showcases the songwriting of Desmond Child and a couple of other dudes named Steve Tyler and Joe Perry. We very much hope that at some point in the near future it will see the light of day.

You can catch this masterful frontman in the mode, though, tonight (June 3) at Bourbon Street West (1866 Sources Blvd., Pointe-Claire) where he will be playing songs in the key of blues-infused rock as part of the eighth annual Duck Race Concert, staged to help raise cash for medical equipment for Lakeshore General Hospital. He will be sharing the spotlight with Montreal’s most excellent GrimSkunk, who for this and a number of upcoming shows will feature Groovy Aardvark frontman Vincent Peak on bass, temporarily replacing regular bassman Paco who evidently has better things to do (also look for GrimSkunk to team up with the also very rockin’ Capitaine Révolte for the opening of the new mega skate park in my new favourite South Shore suburb, Brossard, June 5). Rounding out the roster for the Lakeshore benefit is pop rocker Antoine Gratton and Jenifer Aubry (who some might recognize as the female lead in the Canadian production of Rent, and who still others might know as the TV character Charlotte from the Quebec soap Chambres en ville. Why I know this, I have no idea…). Showtime is 8 p.m.

Toe tappin’ takes over tapas The Sala Rosa restaurant, not to be confused with the Sala Rossa concert hall, which is upstairs, is closed on Monday, June 7. Both are directly across the street from the Casa del Popolo on St-Laurent, which should not be confused with the newly opened El Salon (which might have been better named El Churcho Basemento), also on St-Laurent. Honestly, there are days when I feel like I’m writing this column out of Mexico City. Anyway, Joellen Housego explains…

"The restaurant is usually closed Monday nights, but they’re opening it up for us – the bar, that is, no food – so that this great all-girl bluegrass-type band from B.C. called Barleywik can play their CD release gig, with opening sets by the Lake Of Stew featuring Ricky Rigby, Annabelle Chvostek, and Mike and Brad, the fellows from Holey Moley, and some form of Special Interest Group – featuring me!" enthuses the violin-playing Housego, a well-known regular in Montreal music circles since her earliest days with The Snitches.

Barleywik (whose righteousness may be observed in 2-D at barleywik.com) are coming through pushing their new album, Dusty Lullaby. "They’ve got cowboy hats, feather boas and everything!" continues Housego. "They sing beautiful harmony – they’re really loaded with musical talent."

Start time at Sala Rosa (4848 St-Laurent, second floor) is 9:30 p.m. and tickets are in the $5 to $7 range.

It’s not the fall, it’s the sudden stop that gets you A warm "Welcome back!’ to brassy (as in they have brass players, but also the other) Montreal ska-punk band The Delegates, who have just returned home from a very impressive four-month, 80-plus show tour of North America.

"The tour was fun as hell and we have more than a few stories that are more fitting to The Weekly World News than to Hour," says singer/guitarist Menno. "True story: Our bass player fell off a 100-foot cliff on Christmas day. He lived though, and still played the rest of the tour… with a bionic bass arm."

Though taking a break from the cliff-diving for the time being, the six are anxious to get back in the van and up in each other’s nostrils again, leaving on a Quebec and Ontario tour next week and aspiring to leap even greater distances thereafter.

"Since the tour we’ve decided to step it up," says Menno. "We’re touring back out to California in September to make a new record. In the meantime, we’re trying to get some press or whatever bands do these days to get people out to shows."

Yeah, that press thing’s a bitch.

Anyway, they’ve done their bit – and then some – now you can do yours by getting out and supporting The Delegates when they play their first all-ages show in Montreal since October at L’X (182 Ste-Catherine E.) with Quebec City’s MAP, Second 12 and other guests, June 5.

Last writes Are all about the punk this week: Indica Records all-stars Psychotic 4 break it to you in an old-school style that’s fresh as daisies at El Salon (4388 St-Laurent) with compadres Tainted Youth and Alabaster Posse, June 4. The show goes at 9 p.m…. Dare To Care Records would very much have it be known that La Descente Du Coude (ex-Suck La Marde) will be launching their debut CD at Café Chaos (2035 St-Denis) with Final Bâton and O Linéa starting at 9 p.m. for five bills…. That Busboy Nelson, who we would have known up until recently as Montreal pop punks cum indie rockers The Bogarts, have just off-ramped a small Ontario/Maritimes tour and would like to share with you the rewards reaped from that experience. Claim your reapage at Jupiter Room (3874 St-Laurent) on June 6 for five bones. Doors are at 9 p.m…. Screamo is their name-o, yo. Bad Samaritan Records signees September Is Falling make a serious contribution to the oddly underrepresented emo-core scene here in Montreal (not everyone would say that’s a bad thing) on their carefully calculated, concerted and earnest self-titled CD debut, much of which you will undoubtedly hear when SIF team up with Roses Are Red at L’X, June 10.