Sunday, March 30, 2008

On Easter Sunday I sat down with Bob Wiseman for breakfast and an interview. Bob has for years been one of my favorite musicians to watch perform. His over 20 years worth of experience in the Canadian music scene also makes for an interesting interview. Bob and I talked about touring with Feist, his days in Blue Rodeo, the Blocks Recording Club and being a member of the Hidden Cameras. You can download the interview in three parts here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Bob's new live record The Legend is now available at his shows, or through the Blocks mail order. As I said last week, The Legend is a great example of how enjoyable a Bob Wiseman show is. The artwork is courtesy of the Toronto Punch Clock Collective.

On the show today I also talked about a new poll being conducted by CBC Radio 3 asking "What is the best independent record store in Canada?" A round of public submissions has been compiled into a list of eligible stores across Canada. On April 19th (which is apparently International Record Store Day) the poll results and "winner" will be announced.

Now, I've been to several of the stores on the list in various cities and it leaves me wondering how could the votes not just come down to city population? In general, most of the record stores on this list are great shops with strikingly similar selections. I guess what it really comes down to is sentimental value of a shop - that and its staff. From what I can gather, it looks like it is a battle between Rotate This, Soundscapes, both in Toronto, and Zulu Records in Vancouver. These would sort of be the obvious choices for the winner of this poll. After scanning through the nearly 250 comments on the CBC Radio 3 site, I only came across two mentions of Victoria's Ditch Records, with the overwhelming majority favoring the mentioned shops in Toronto and Vancouver.

Obviously the poll is just for fun, and the "winner" really represents how many people have been to a shop rather than how good it is. Still, it is cool to look at the list of independent record shops operating across Canada and I am interested to see how the poll pans out. I'm hoping for an underdog victory. I voted for Ditch. Maybe you will too.

You can see the list and vote here.

EDIT:

The list has been narrowed down to a top 20. You can see that list and vote here.

Playlist:

Artist - Album - Song
Bob Wiseman - It's True - What's Wrong With This Picture?
Bob Wiseman - Theme and Variations - Who Am I?
Bob Wiseman - It's True - Fluke Fluke Fluke
Bob Wiseman - The Legend - Luisa
Woodhands - Heart Attack - Dancer
Vincat - I Like Their Older Stuff Better - Aberdeen