Bob Wiseman
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| Bob Wiseman | |
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 Bob Wiseman performing at The Western Front in East Vancouver, March 2009
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Associated acts | Blue Rodeo |
| Website | www.bobwiseman.ca |
Bob Wiseman is a Canadian singer-songwriter and filmmaker. Raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, his outsider music blends folk, rock jazz and very often contains explicitly political themes.
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[edit] Career
He was a member of Blue Rodeo from that band's inception (1984) but left the band after their 1992 album Lost Together. His first solo album was Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle: In Her Dream in 1989. The first pressing (2000 copies) was destroyed by Warner Music Canada because the song "Rock and Tree" (about the murder of Salvador Allende) was deemed libelous. "Wrench Tuttle", the credited songwriter, was in fact simply a pseudonym for Wiseman himself. This record yielded the video "We Got Time", a minor hit on Much Music.
His best-known songs include "Have a Nice Day" (from 1993's City of Wood), a harsh attack on controversial Canadian lawyer and Western Canada Concept founder Doug Christie, who often defends racist and neo-Nazi clients, and "What the Astronaut Noticed and Then Suggested" (from 1991's Presented By Lake Michigan Soda), an existential zydeco ditty which was later used as the theme song to the CBC Television series Material World.
Since 2000 he has made super 8 films and videos which he accompanies live on accordion, guitar or piano. His he travelled extensively with this unique performing style, recently travelling as far as New Zealand, which he toured in early 2009. [1]
[edit] Touring and collaborations
He has toured with Feist, Final Fantasy, Scott Thompson and has been a guest performer with Wilco, The Wallflowers, Edie Brickell. He was also a member of The Hidden Cameras and Slutarded.
He has collaborated theatrically with Scott Thompson of Kids In The Hall on Scottastrophe and Anand Rajaram on Cowboys and Indians and Sean Dixon for the Barbara Gowdy story "The White Bone".
In the early 90s he offered to take up Prince's name when the purple one decided he no longer wished to called Prince. The cease and desist letter remains laminated in Bob's lavatory to this day.
[edit] Producer
Wiseman has also produced recordings for Ron Sexsmith, Bruce McCulloch, The Lollipop People, Katie Crown, Kyp Harness, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Eugene Chadbourne, Bob Snider, Edie Brickell, Andrew Cash, Sam Larkin, and The Lowest of the Low.
He is presently on the board of directors for TAIS and the Blocks Recording Club label in Toronto.
Bob Wiseman is a brother to Ron Wiseman, a Jewish Jazz/Reggae singer/songwriter and to playwright Gabriel Emmanuel and to director Howie Wiseman.
[edit] Solo Discography
- Wet Water (1984)
- In Her Dream: Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle (1989)
- Hits of the Sixties and Seventies (1990)
- Presented by Lake Michigan Soda (1991)
- City of Wood (1993)
- Beware of Bob (1994)
- Accidentally Acquired Beliefs (1995)
- More Work Songs from the Planet of the Apes (1997)
- It's True (2004)
- Theme and Variations (2006)
- The Legend (2008)
- In Her Dream (2009) - 20th anniversary edition made available on vinyl and through the free music archive (http://freemusicarchive.org/) along with previously removed tracks from 1989
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Bob Wiseman Homepage
- Canuckistan Music review of In Her Dreams LP
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