Canadian musical artist
Bob Wiseman |
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 Bob Wiseman |
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| Born | 1962 (age 61–62)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
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| Origin | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Genres | Rock, country, jazz, folk, improvisational |
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| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, producer, filmmaker, actor |
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| Instrument(s) | Piano, keyboard, guitar, accordion, vocals |
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| Years active | 1984–present |
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| Website | bobwiseman.ca |
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Musical artist
Robert Neil Wiseman (born 1962) is a film composer, songwriter, author and music teacher.[1] Wiseman discovered or produced many artists including Ron Sexsmith, The Lowest of the Low, Bruce McCulloch of Kids in the Hall, Anhai, and former Canadian member of parliament Andrew Cash. He is a founding member of Blue Rodeo with whom he won 5 Juno Awards.[2][3]
Career
In the 1980s Wiseman played at open stages in Toronto where he started producing friends Bob Snider, Kyp Harness, Ron Sexsmith, Sahara Spracklin and Sam Larkin. He joined Blue Rodeo in 1984 and quit in 1992 to follow a solo career.[4]
Wiseman's songs often incorporate new musical elements and explicit political themes. Guest contributors on his 13 albums include Daniel Lanois, Mary Margaret O'Hara, Eugene Chadbourne, Edie Brickell, Ron Sexsmith, Jane Siberry, Basia Bulat and Serena Ryder.
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 partner, Magali Meagher, were accompaniment for Daniel Johnston. Wiseman was also a member of 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".
Touring and theatre
In 2009 Wiseman created Actionable,[5][6] a PowerPoint presentation utilizing Super 8, video and live accompaniment on accordion and guitar which he presented in 2010 at the Uno Festival in Victoria as well as Fringe Festival circuits.
Wiseman 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 and with Sean Dixon for Barbara Gowdy's story The White Bone adaptation, with The Madawaska String Quartet and with Maggie MacDonald and Stephanie Markowitz writing the music for their play The Rat King.
Wiseman toured with Feist, Final Fantasy, Ron Sexsmith, and Scott Thompson and was 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") Sexsmith ("All The Trees)".
Artists who covered Wiseman's songs include The Madawaska String Quartet, UIC, Leah Abramson, The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Michael Holt, Change of Heart, Magali Meagher, Tom St. Louis, Ben Bootsma and The Blind Venetians.
Wiseman makes super 8 films and videos that 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. In 2019 he obtained his master's degree in Environmental Studies from York University and currently is in the PhD program at the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation.
Production
Wiseman started producing records in the 1980s, his debut "Wet Water" charted No. 4 on CKLN-FM at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. Soon he was arranging and recording many friends like Ron Sexsmith, Sam Larkin, Kyp Harness, Sahara Spracklin and UIC. The record he produced for Ron Sexsmith "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 which led to a deal for Ron 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 No. 24 on Spin Magazine's top comedy albums of all time).[7] Other artists Wiseman has produced include Edie Brickell, Canadian Member of Parliament Andrew Cash, Knitting Factory Recording Artist Carmaig de Forest, Robert Priest, Anhai, Friendly Rich, Jess Reimer, Katie Crown, Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Eugene Chadbourne, and Bob Snider.
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, 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)
- Misery (2016)
- Mothface@Yahoo.ca (2017)
- The Reform Part at Burning Man (2019)
Personal life
Wiseman attended Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, École River Heights, Grant Park, Argyle Alternative High School in Winnipeg, Manitoba and holds a Masters of Environmental Studies from York University. Currently a 2024 PhD candidate at the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation.
