Bob Wiseman

Bob Wiseman
Bob Wiseman, photo by Joe Fuda
Background information
Born	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Rock, country, jazz, folk, improvisational
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, actor
Instruments	Piano, keyboard, guitar, accordion, vocals
Years active	1984–present
Associated acts	Ron Sexsmith, Hidden Cameras, Blue Rodeo, Dick Duck & The Dorks, Slutarded
Website	bobwiseman.ca

Robert Neil "Bob" Wiseman is a film score composer, filmmaker, political themed singer-songwriter, and actor.^[1] Wiseman discovered or produced many artists including Canadian member of parliament Andrew Cash, Ron Sexsmith, The Lowest of the Low, and Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall. He is a founding member of Blue Rodeo with whom he won 5 Juno Awards.^[2][3]

Career

From 1982 to 1989, he regularly played at open stages in Toronto, developing his songwriting and then started producing his friends Bob Snider, Kyp Harness, Ron Sexsmith, Sahara Spracklin and Sam Larkin. He joined his first band Blue Rodeo in 1984 and quit in 1992 following their fourth record. His 13 solo albums include guest contributions by Daniel Lanois, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Eugene Chadbourne, Edie Brickell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, Basia Bulat and Serena Ryder. Wiseman's songs often incorporate avant garde musical elements and explicit political lyrical themes. In 2009 a 20th anniversary edition of In Her Dream was released by the Blocks Recording Club and the songs were performed live by various friends including Ron Sexsmith, Geoff Berner, Owen Pallett, Kyp Harness, The Phonemes, Picastro, Michael Holt, Maggie MacDonald, UIC, Henri Faberge, and Don Christensen. In 2006 Wiseman and his wife, Magali Meagher accompanied Daniel Johnston on his songs "Speeding Motorcycle" and "Beatles". The videos of it are streamable on youtube. Wiseman was also a member or regular guest of Toronto bands Slutarded, Black Eyes, The Hidden Cameras and Dick Duck & the Dorks. Some of his better known songs include "White Dress" - a song about sexual assault, recorded by Serena Ryder, "What the Astronaut Noticed and Then Suggested" which was the theme song for the CBC Television series Material World, and "Maureen" - a song added by David Byrne to his 2010 March playlist.

• (1988) Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle: In Her Dream, released on Atlantic Records.^[4] The album created some notoriety when the first thousand copies were destroyed by Warner Music due to the song "Rock and Tree" which was feared libelous.^[5] It was about the murder of Salvador Allende and mentioned Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and Donald M. Kendall, the president of Pepsi Cola. "Wrench Tuttle", the credited lyricist, was a pseudonym for Wiseman himself. (Wiseman claimed that he set music to words by Tuttle, a poet who would send him lyrics in the mail.) Bob Wiseman Sings Wrench Tuttle: In Her Dream was included in the Canadian music critics top 100 albums of all time ^[6] The album yielded the video "We Got Time", with cameos by iconoclast Mendelson Joe and friends, Tracy Wright (for whom Wiseman wrote the 2013 song mothface@yahoo.ca, Don McKellar, Leslie Spit Treeo and Mary Margaret O'Hara. The album also featured "Airplane On The Highway" which had an accompanying video by Caroline Azar and animator Lisa Bujoin.

• (1990)Hits of the 60s and the 70s, a self released recording of piano improvisations which contained no hits from the 60s or70s.

• (1991) Presented by Lake Michigan Soda, released on Warner Music Canada - was considered by some incredibly musical and by others unlistenable.^[7] Guests included Edie Brickell, Jane Siberry and Eugene Chadbourne with whom he recorded Chopin's etude Opus 10 #6 retitling it opus 10 #666 with Chadbourne on distorted electric rake introducing himself as "Oighan Chadbornitsky of the Budapest Philharmonic". The song "What the Astronaught Noticed and Then Suggested" became the theme song for the CBC Television sitcom Material World (TV series) produced by The Kids In The Hall's Susan Cavan. 3 videos were filmed for PBLMS. "The Man From Glad" directed by Yvonne Ng (The artistic director of Princess Productions) shot by Nick de Pencier among the costars was Keith Cole (artist). "Frost In Florida" about global warming directed by Andrea Nann also shot by Nick de Pencier. "Taylor Field" about adolescent suicide directed by Howard Wiseman.

• (1993) City of Wood, released on Warner Music Canada and Glitterhouse Records in Europe, "genuinely devastating - encompassing rape, mass murder, third world torture, the rewriting of history, and a helpless world in which one can only struggle to stay afloat"^[8]

• (1994) Beware of Bob, an instrumental album released on Sabre Touque Records in Canada and FU Stephano in Italy - "supereme improvisational talent" ^[9]

• (1995) Accidentally Acquired Beliefs, released on Warner Music Canada album. "A true Genius" ^[10]

• (1997) More Work Songs From The Planet of the Apes, released on God Finds Cats. Jean Smith had heaps of praise for the song Libelous http://abv8.me/3zJ about activists David Morris and Helen Steel, see McLibel case.

• (2004) It's True, released on Blocks Recording Club Majestic melodies, soaring harpsichord accompaniment ^[11]

• (2006) Theme and Variations, released on Blocks Recording Club. Top 10 of 2006 Toronto's Now Magazine.^[12] "A long-ago ex-keyboard wizard of Blue Rodeo who has since turned into one of Canada’s most eclectic polymaths, Wiseman is an outsider among outsiders, a kind of playful genius so mired in his own beautiful idiosyncrasies they’ve become as much a blessing to those who pick up his wavelength as armour against being considered, much less understood, by a broader audience." ^[13]

• (2008) The Legend, released on Blocks Recording Club, a live recording from Halifax. "heartened to see the venue’s sandwich board emblazoned with "Tonight! Bob Wiseman! The Legend!” Though he’s self-effacing about it, Bob Wiseman holds his audience’s attention like only a great artist can." writes Exclaim! magazine ^[14]

• (2013) Giulietta Masina at the Oscars Crying, released on vinyl with Blocks Recording Club and on cd with God Finds Cats, suggests "his best work is far from behind him".^[15] It features songs about police murders Robert Dziekanski taser incident, songs about political leaders he admires Jean-Bertrand Aristide and others who he reviles for limiting freedom of speech ^[16] guests on the recording include Mary Margaret O'Hara, Maylee Todd, Serena Ryder, Mark Hundevad, Michael Keith and Michael Holt.

Touring and Theatre

In 2009 Wiseman, created a play about his experiences with lawyers and the music industry entitled Actionable,^[17] a power-point presentation utilizing super 8, video and live accompaniment on accordion and guitar which he mounted in 2010 at the Uno Festival in Victoria as well as the Fringe Festival circuits. Wiseman has collaborated theatrically with Scott Thompson of The Kids in the Hall creating and touring Scottastrophe also with Anand Rajaram on award winning Cowboys and Indians also with Sean Dixon for Barbara Gowdy's story The White Bone adaptation, also with The Madawaska String Quartet and with Maggie MacDonald and Stephanie Markowitz writing the music for their play "The Rat King". Wiseman has toured with Feist, Final Fantasy, Ron Sexsmith, and Scott Thompson and has been a guest performer with Wilco, The Wallflowers, Eugene Chadbourne, Jimmy Carl Black (of Frank Zappa), Edie Brickell, Michelle Wright, Ashley MacIsaac & Garland Jeffries. Videos on Youtube of Wiseman songs performed with Feist (You Don't Love Me), Serena Ryder (White Dress) & Ron Sexsmith (All The Trees). Other artists who have covered Bob songs include The Madawaska String Quartet, UIC, Leah Abramson, The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Michael Holt, Change of Heart, Tom St. Louis and The Blind Venetians. Wiseman makes super 8 films and videos which he accompanies live on accordion, guitar or piano. He tours/ performs with these films in Europe, United States, New Zealand and Canada subtitling them when necessary. Wiseman is the only live musician on John Oswald's 1988 release Plunderphonics. He was on the board of directors for LIFT, TAIS, The Tranzac & the Blocks Recording Club label in Toronto.

Production

Wiseman started producing records in 1985 and his debut "Wet Water" charted No. 4 on CKLN-FM at Ryerson University. Soon he was arranging and recording many friends like Ron Sexsmith, Sam Larkin, Kyp Harness and UIC (band). The record he produced for Ron Sexsmith entitled Grand Opera Lane was rejected by Canadian A&R representatives. Through persistence he managed to get it to Todd Sullivan at Geffen Records in Los Angeles, who eventually gave it to Ronnie Vance in the publishing department who became a fan which led to a deal for Sexsmith with Interscope. Other notable clients were Kid In The Hall Bruce McCulloch, with whom Wiseman produced and co-wrote much of his Atlantic Records release Shame Based Man (listed as # 24 on Spin Magazine's top comedy albums of all time).^[18] Other artists Wiseman has produced include Edie Brickell, Canadian Member of Parliament Andrew Cash, Knitting Factory Recording Artist Carmaig de Forest, Anhai, Friendly Rich, Katie Crown, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Eugene Chadbourne, Bob Snider, Maria Kasstan, Levi MacDougall, The Phonemes, Mimi Osvath, Basic English, The Lowest of the Low, Sophie Traub, Kwesi Immanual, Stacey McLeod, Laska Sawade, Sean Dixon, Random Order, Jeanette Froncz, Christine Cleary and Kira Sheppard.

Composing Film, TV & Theatre

Films

• COLESLAW WAREHOUSE (1994) by Bruce McCulloch
• AMERICAN WHISKEY BAR (1996) by Bruce McDonald (director)
• THIRST (2000) by Jessica Joy Wise
• TORAANISQATSI (2001) by Leif Harmsen
• THE RACIST BRICK (2003) by Dave Derewlany and Adam Brodie
• SCARLETT'S ROOM (2004) by Yvonne Ng
• HEART MISSION (2005) by Katie Crown
• ABSTRACT (2007) by Steve Whitehouse
• DRAWING FROM LIFE (2008) by Katerina Cizek winner of Webby Award for best documentary series
• SOUS L’OEIL DU TEMPS (2009) by Madi Pillar
• THE PICKLES SHANE ( 2009) by Levi MacDougall
• THAT THING THAT HAPPENED (2010) by Josh Saltzman and Lindsay Ames Canadian Comedy Awards winner
• THE OLD WAYS (2011) by Mike Vass which screened at Toronto International Film Festival
• SAD WET HAPPY DRY (2011) by Levi MacDougall
• EVEN IF MY HANDS WERE FULL OF TRUTHS (2012) by Franci Duran
• THE THUNDER BIRD & THE KILLER WHALE (2012) by Caroline Trudell
• WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT? (2013) by Isabel Fryzsberg
• THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE (2013) by Liz Marshall
• CANDY (2013) by Cassandra Cronenberg
• DAVID NOBLE: A WRENCH IN THE GEARS (2013) by Jon Bullick
• CHINATOWN (2013) by Sandra Battaglini
• SAFIR (2013) by Mariam Zaidi
• AMERICAN MUGSHOT (2013) by Dennis Mohr
• CICADA (2014) by David Ridgen
• AMBER (2014) by Noam Gonick

Television

• MATERIAL WORLD (1992) for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• WILDSIDE (1993–1996) for Nickelodeon
• PET PROJECT (1995–1998) for Animal Planet
• SPIRITUAL LITERACY (1998) for VisionTV
• Twitch City (1996–1999) directed by Bruce McDonald (director) and Don McKellar
• LOVING SPOONFUL (1998–2006) for WTN network & Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
• THE DISTRACTIONS (2003) for The Comedy Network
• CAROLINA DAI (2011) for RAI
• GUIDANCE (2013) for BiteTV

Theatre

• PETER COTTONTAIL (1969) directed by Mrs. Smith
• THE 3 PENNY EPIC CABARET (1994) directed by Adam Nashman
• HYS UNAUTHORIZED LYFE AND TYMES (2002) for directed by Anand Rajaram
• THE RAT KING (2006) directed by Maggie MacDonald and Steph Markowitz
• THE WHITE BONE (2007) directed by Sean Dixon
• COWBOYS AND INDIANS (2008) for directed by Anand Rajaram
• ACTIONABLE (2011) directed by Sean Dixon
• SMOTHER (2012) directed by Omar Joseph Hady
• CHARMING MONSTERS (2013) by Aaron Rothermund

Production Discography

• Wiseman Sessions (1988) UIC
• Outside The Law (1989) BASIC ENGLISH
• Sam Larkin (1989) SAM LARKIN
• Grand Opera Lane (1990) 'RON SEXSMITH
• Put Your Head On Your Shoulders (1990) THE BOURBON TABERNACLE CHOIR
• Nowhere Fast (1991) KYP HARNESS
• You (1991) BOB SNIDER'
• Love Song To The Alien (1992) THE LIZ BAND
• Shaylee (1992) EDIE BRICKELL
• Hi (1992) ANDREW CASH
• Just Buy It (1992) FURNACEFACE
• Gamble/ Motel 6 (1993) LOWEST OF THE LOW
• Ruins Of Our Own (1993) EUGENE CHADBOURNE
• Shame-Based Man (1995) BRUCE MCCULLOCH
• California (1996) JEANETTE FRONCZ
• Spacewoman (1998) SELINA MARTIN
• We Need A New F Word (2005) FRIENDLY RICH
• Gamma Knife (2011) MARIA KASSTAN
• Apology (2011) EIHPOS GRAPES
• Countdown (2011) STACEY MCLEOD
• Arachnia (2011) SEAN DIXON
• New Boots (2011) LASKA SAWADE
• Catholic School (2011) CHRISTINE CLEARY
• Love You More (2011) KWESI IMMANUEL
• Three of Swords (2013) MIMI OSVATH
• I Want To Believe (2013) JESS REIMER
• The One That Falls In Love (secret songs of Sam Larkin) (2014) SAM LARKIN

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 on vinyl with previously unreleased tracks
• Giulietta Masina At The Oscars Crying (2013)

Film and Videography

A retrospective of his films and videos were shown in 2010 both in Kuopio, Finland and in Genoa, Italy at the Associazione Culturale Disorderdrama.

• Alexander and the Hydro Pole (1999)
• All Dressed Up (2001)
• Bhopal (driftnet plan) (2003)
• My Cousin Dave (2003)
• Uranium (2004)
• Drum Sounds (2005)
• Bob And Choice (2006)with Scott Thompson (comedian), Levi MacDougall and Nathan Fielder
• Found Poetry (2006)
• 100 Instruments (2007)
• Dead Inside (2007)
• Who Am I (2008)
• Ten Cent Job (2009)
• Response of a Lakota Woman to FBI Intimidation (2009)
• Disappearing Trick (2009)
• Hand Language (2010)
• You Don't Love Me (2010)
• Three Men (2011)
• Two (2011)
• Neil Young at the Junos (2013)

Personal

Wiseman attended Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Wiseman's brothers are Ron Wiseman, Tel-Aviv based singer-songwriter and purveyor of Judaic-reggae, film professor Howard Wiseman and playwright Gabriel Emmanuel (Gordon Wiseman). His mother, painter Elaine Wiseman takes questions from fans via his website and his late father, Mannie, was an optometrist and director of Lesage Holdings which included the substantial Dainty White portfolio. Wiseman is the grand nephew of Isaac Colish, Justice of the Peace and Mayor of West Kildonan (Winnipeg) in 1915 and a cousin to writer Morley Torgov and artist Sarah Torgov. Wiseman's Grandmother Rochel Colish was from Vilnius, Jascha Heifetz was their cousin.

Awards

• 5 Juno Awards won with Blue Rodeo ^[19]
• Juno nomination Most Promising Male Vocalist ^[20]
• Gemini Award Nomination 2000 for Twitch City music
• Lifetime achievement award winner from CBC Radio 3 ^[21]
• Presented with the Key to Bruno, Saskatchewan by the Mayor in 2008

Footnotes

Citations

References

• "Bob Wiseman". exclaim.ca. 2010-05-19. Retrieved 2011-03-03.

External links

• bobwiseman.ca
• Bob Wiseman at AllMusic