Thanks for subscribing and welcome to my seventeenth Newsletter.
(My newsletter will now be published every two months – This is the Oct-Nov issue)
My Help
I am a past member of the Nashville Songwriters International Association (NSAI), Branch Co-ordinator (Bay Sy. George) for the Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC), former student at SongU, participant SongStudio – hosted by Rik Emmit and Blair Packham, member of Music Newfoundland and Labrador (MusicNL), and a member of SOCAN. I can honestly say that each and every one of these organizations has helped me to continually hone the craft of songwriting and I thank them!
Songs are the main vehicle by which a songwriter communicates with listeners. I will be sharing my songs, and stories about how they were written, in my newsletter. I will also be sharing additional folk art and personal interests.
My Music
My most often played YouTube song is « Don’t’cha Go Frackin’ ‘Round Here. » http://youtu.be/v283MunuZaE
To date I have recorded 4 CD’s; A Field By The Sea, Blue Smoke, Life is Good and The Only Sin. You can sample songs from these CD’s on my CD Baby web page store. As well, some of the songs appear in the audio player on the top of each page on my website.
I have begun work on my 5th CD. « Song For Malala. » Allister Bradley will produce the project. The title song, a folk song, will be an anthem for Mala, a young Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by an Al Queda thug for speaking out about the right for girls to learn to read.
My Reading
Days of Destruction: Days of Revolt by Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco
These guys paint a picture of reality that is hard to deny and harder to face. Here is an excerpt:
« The devastation of Pine Ridge , in Camden, in southern West Virginia, and in Florida produce fields has worked its way upward. The corporate leviathan has migrated with the steady and ominous thud of destruction from the outer sacrifice zones to devour what remains. The vaunted American Dream, the idea that life will get better, that progress is inevitable if we obey the rules and work hard, that material property is assured, has been replaced by a hard and bitter truth. The American Dream, we now know, is a lie. »
To understand postmodernism and the reality of corporate decision making, political and media support and the gradual erosion of personal freedom, hand in hand with the destruction of the planet, this is a must read.
My Favorite Classic English Rock Songs
There were many songs my bands would have liked to play but were too complex for our part time efforts. I have often been involved in discussions about what songs were the greatest. The question is; which are the 3 best English classic rock songs of all time? Here is my list.
I suggest that the top 3 are:
· Stairway to Heaven
Led Zepplin, originally formed as The Yardbirds, became one of the greatest of all English rock bands and « Stairway to Heaven » was their crowning achievement. The song anchored their 4th album which was one of the greatest selling albums in rock history. Never released as a single, « Stairway to Heaven » is still one of the most heavily requested of all rock FM stations in the world. Jimmy Page eclipsed every other solo he had performed as a member of The Yardbirds or led Zeppelin with the brilliant guitar work in this song. The song is over 8 minutes long, thus no AM radio release, begins as a slow acoustic style folk ballad and climaxes as a driving, electric, uptempo, rock classic. It would be difficult to find another rock song as intricately woven and musically complex as this one. It rises above them all!
· Comfortably Numb
David Gilmour and Roger Waters agonized over the chord progression for this song. Waters wanted the (Bm) (A) (G) (Em) progression and Gilmour wanted the (D) (A) (C) (G) progression. The result is one of the greatest compromises of rock history co-writing. The verses are in the (Bm) progression and the chorus is in the (D) progression. « Comfortably Numb » is the anchor of the epic « The Wall » album, the crowning achievement for Pink Floyd. The guitar solos of David Gilmour on this song are the best ever delivered by the band and makes it the most memorable of dozens of great Pink Floyd songs.
· Imagine
John Lennon wrote or co-wrote many songs with Paul McCartney as a member of The Beatles. This song, at the height of his solo career, is without doubt, the best of his illustrious career as a songwriter and performer. It was the best selling single of his solo career. The song challenged the listener to imagine a world without organized religion, without a focus on possessions, without war, with a brotherhood of man, living for today. Lennon’s humanism and view of a utopian world was all revealed at its best in this classic song. It earned a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of « 500 Hundred Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. »
Whether or not you agree with my picks, there can be no argument that these are some of the best English rock songs of all time. If you like rock and folk songs you might also like to check out Smokin’ Joe Wiseman at http://www.smokinjoewiseman.com He has covered traditional folk and rock songs and writes his own. Click here http://www.smokinjoewiseman.com/free_song to download a copy of one of his singles for free.
My Tale of a Song
I have been a fan of folk music for as long as I have been listening to music. It was inevitable that I would eventually write folk songs. I have written a number with moral themes. The latest is « Don’t’cha Go Frackin’ ‘Round Here. » http://youtu.be/v283MunuZaE The scar that hydraulic fracturing will leave on the planet will be irreversible. It is poison. It is driven by greed. It is madness. I am proud that the province of Newfoundland and Labrador has instituted a moratorium on Hydraulic Fracturing. It is the time to gather ourselves and work for the real goal – a total ban. It is technology gone mad. It is driven by greed and our love of energy consumption with a supply driven by fossil fuels.
My Carbon Footprint
As a consumer I accept that I bear some responsibility for global warming and the destruction of the environment in the form of my own carbon footprint. I pledge to make changes in my behaviour one action at a time. Action 1: I pledge to not drink or purchase bottled water when fresh drinking water is otherwise available from a water tap or other supply. Action 2: I pledge to not place Christmas Lights on the outside of my home. Please send me your suggestions as to what I can do, personally, to reduce my carbon footprint. smokinjoewiseman@hotmail.com
My Charity
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| Support Smokin’ Joe’s music and half the proceeds go to World Vision. |
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My First Little Bay Islands Song
My first Little Bay Islands (ancestral home of my parents) song ia « Love of a Hometown Girl. » The song was written as an anthem to the emotions of the « floaters » and « schoonermen » who made a living, fishing off the coast of Labrador. A « floater » was a fisherman who lived aboard his/her schooner from the time he/she went to Labrador in early summer until he/she returned home in the fall. Check out the acoustic version (with fiddle) at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/smokinjoewiseman12
Recent developments in Little Bay Islands, an isolated Newfoundland outport foreshadow the disappearance of this beautiful island paradise as a community. Resettlement to the mainland of Newfoundland is inevitable. I hope you enjoy my tribute. There is another song with a Little Bay Islands theme « Bound For Hell » to be included on my 4th CD « The Only Sin.
If you are an artist, indie or otherwise and would like to build your collection of Indie music by exchanging CDs, please e-mail me at smokinjoewiseman@hotmail.com I would be pleased to exchange music with you.
I have made my 1st exchange with Brian Volke of Calgary, Alberta. I met Brian in the summer of 2012 at SongU in Toronto, ON.
My Family
My son Waylon is currently a veterinarian in Brisbane, Australia.
My son Jim is in his last year of med school in Dumaguette (the city of gentle people), Negros, Phillipines.
My daughter in law, Kathleen Mae Lano Wiseman, has just achieved her Master’s Degree in Public Health and is employed as a nurse in Dumaguette, Phillipines. She has received her Canadian certification.
My wife Marie has just retired (for the 3rd time) from teaching Grade One at Brochet School in Brochet, Manitoba. For her, the teaching of reading was a passion as opposed to a vocation. She loved her work, and the children, and they loved her. That’s how it should be in a Grade One classroom. Marie’s idea of a good workout is a 2.5 hour snowshoe in -25 degree weather. Not bad for someone who is finishing a 40 year career of teaching. I am truly a lucky man.
We have just purchased a winter residence in Port Charlotte, Florida. Not a condo on the beach but a condo within a short drive to the beach. We are looking forward to the pleasures of Charlotte County, Florida.
My band Keltic Jam, play some of my songs locally and a version of Too White to Sing the Blues, my first blues release, is available on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub-QVR- TIPs&feature=share&list=PLJnIFXD-E5j6NGSdQhePM16xeU1HHS-ov Hope you enjoy!
Smokin Joe radiates the soul of Johnny Cash, the sensuality of Jim Morrison and the style of Woody Guthrie wrapped up in a folk/roots package! He’s somewhere between « Ringo Starr and the Grateful Dead » His songs are “real life gritty”, not “Nashville pretty”!
Contact Info and Websites
http://www.smokinjoewiseman.com
smokinjoewiseman@hotmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smokin-Joe-Wiseman/124634987594733?v=wall&filter=1
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/SmokinJoeWiseman1
http://www.songu.com/members/smokinjoe
http://www.reverbnation.com/smokinjoewiseman
http://www.youtube.com/smokinjoewiseman
http://www.myspace.com/smokinjoewiseman
http://www.musicforte.com/member/smokinjoewiseman/
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/artist/smokin-joe-wiseman/id253012691
http://www.twitter.com/tjwiseman
http://www.flickr.com/smokinjoewiseman
