This is the second song I've recorded from an album by Bob Wiseman called Presented By Lake Michigan Soda. (The other song is called What the Astronaut Noticed And Then Suggested on our American Dream album.)

Like me, Bob is an expat from Winnipeg. Winnipeg gets a bad rap because it's brutally cold in winter and mosquitoes can occasionally make summer feel like those COVID masks make sense or we will just inhale those little fuckers. That said...

Winnipeg is loaded with great people and almost every expat Winnipegger has only the friendliest of Manitoban voices.

 

Bob is famous for being an original member of Blue Rodeo, pretending to change his name to Prince when Prince decided to change his name to a symbol, and loads of great solo records.

 

Because my aunt in Winnipeg had expressed her admiration for this off-the-wall keyboard player from Winnipeg, I was curious to check him out when I found out he was playing at the Albion in Guelph when I was in university there. It still ranks among one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. The songs were interesting both lyrically and musically, sophisticated yet oddly simple too. We were blown away and I've been a fan ever since.

 

One time he gave me a piano lesson and the exercise he showed me some really great exercises that I still work on.

 

Getting back to Response of a Lakota Woman, I started work on this version about ten years ago. We were discussing maybe having Bob produce one of my records and we applied for a grant but we didn't get it, but at the time, I thought I'd do up a demo of this just to be cheeky, and so it made a lot of sense to me to revisit it now that I am releasing some of my favourite cover versions. I've done some pretty extensive edits and new vocals and so on, and I'm really proud of how it sounds. Also, my version sounds almost nothing like the original. As Steve Martin says in the track, “I've jazzed it up a little bit and given it that pop feel so you might get into the rhythm of it."

 

Now….

Lest you say, "Recording cover versions? Does this mean you do not make your own material anymore??"

The answer is that I have a brand new album almost completed and it's all sounding killer. My friend Bob might even play on the title track. It is, by far, my most collaborative including artists from Hollywood, Nashville, New York City, Utah, Philly, Washington DC, Toronto, and beyond. Basically I'm trying to complete what's left between movie shoots. This week I had intended to see one of my main recent collaborators Julie Neff live in Toronto but I could not get away from set here in Hamilton (the pitfalls of show business!). Honestly, mostly this year, I've been working on these Hallmark Christmas movies (which is pretty fun) but next week I'm in a horror movie set in America during Thanksgiving. And this is Easter weekend! “Live life like it's a holiday!” 

Note on artwork: I attended a Lollapalooza in Minnesota back in the day and this awesome girl I met from Wisconsin (?) sent me all this FBI stuff a long time ago. Finally it's getting some use!!

 

Until next time, have a great time and feel free to peruse our online Merch table. We have some fresh new items including My Shit's Fucked Up Wine Tumblers and Drink Coasters in addition to T-shirts, etc. Something for everyone! Fun for the whole family!!

 

Your continued support means everything to me!

 

And anything you want to know or tell me about, Operators Are Standing By!

 

-Mac