{"id":45444,"date":"2024-11-29T01:57:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T09:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=45444"},"modified":"2024-11-28T16:17:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T00:17:39","slug":"blue-rodeo-is-thriving-at-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2024\/11\/29\/blue-rodeo-is-thriving-at-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Rodeo is thriving at 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 1989 PR photo for Blue Rodeo\u2019s Diamond Mine album. Left to right are Bazil Donovan, Bob Wiseman, Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Mark French. The documentary Blue Rodeo: Lost Together (left) has its world premiere at the Whistler Film Festival. <\/i>(photo by Andrew MacNaughtan \/ bluerodeo.com<\/a>)<\/i><\/p>\n

The world premiere of Blue Rodeo: Lost Together<\/i>, which gives viewers a glimpse into the rise of this iconic Canadian band, was so anticipated that the first screening of the documentary at the Whistler Film Festival sold out \u2013 a second screening has been added. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Whistler Film Festival runs Dec. 4-8, offering several programs, including feature-length films, shorts and its \u201cMountain Culture\u201d series of films, apr\u00e8s events and Q&As. The WFF24 Content Summit, which runs Dec. 4-7 in person and Dec. 10-12 online, presents speakers, panel discussions, workshops and other opportunities to learn and connect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking through the festival lineup, I came across Blue Rodeo: Lost Together<\/i> and requested the screener for a few reasons. First, I grew up with Blue Rodeo\u2019s music and knew many of their songs. Second, given the challenges of being recording and touring musicians \u2013 and Canadian to boot \u2013 I find it remarkable that the band is as popular as ever 40 years after high school friends Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor started it. Lastly, founding members included Bazil Donovan (bass), Cleave Anderson (drums) and, most interestingly from my perspective, Bob Wiseman (keyboards). Wiseman is my second cousin and, though I\u2019ve never met him, I have always been proud to let people know that I had a relative in Blue Rodeo. Wiseman was part of the group from 1984 to 1992.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>Blue Rodeo: Lost Together<\/i> delicately covers the comings and goings of musicians, and the sometimes-difficult friendship and professional collaboration of Cuddy and Keelor. It is frank about the band\u2019s challenges in becoming a commercial success, starting as it did in the era of hard rock, but also dealing with some producers who had a different vision than Cuddy and\/or Keelor of what would lead to that success. It is always fascinating to see how creative people balance their very personal drive with taking other people\u2019s feelings and opinions into consideration (or not) and the need to feed and clothe themselves.<\/p>\n

Overall, Blue Rodeo seems to have avoided any huge drama, though marriages and partnerships were tested by the rigorous tour schedule once the group broke into the international music scene. Some member partings were clearly amicable, such as when Anderson returned to his postman job after taking a five-year hiatus to play with the band \u2013 he had a family to support and wanted to be present for them. Other separations were more fraught: Wiseman wanted to leave a good year at least before he did, his unhappiness seeming to have started \u2013 from what I understand from the documentary \u2013 with the making of the album Casino<\/i>, which was released in 1990. To make Blue Rodeo fit a more market-friendly mould, so it could become popular in the United States, Wiseman\u2019s innate energy and expressive performance style was tamped down. \u201cThat was really traumatic for me,\u201d he says in the film.<\/p>\n

Despite creative differences and some tough times, all the interviewees in the documentary speak of one another and their experiences with great respect and gratitude. It is uplifting to see people treating one another kindly, even as they disagree. Hopefully, it isn\u2019t just for show. Their affection seems genuine. The bonds these musicians have created between themselves and with their listeners seem strong. With all the bad that happens in the world, this is reason enough to watch this documentary \u2013 and, if you haven\u2019t already, check out the music of Blue Rodeo.<\/p>\n

At press time, there were tickets left for the Dec. 8 screening of Blue Rodeo: Lost Together<\/i>. Of course, the festival features many other movies during its Dec. 4-8 run, including September 5<\/i> on Dec. 5 and 8. The thriller is based on the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The description reads: \u201cAt the heart of the story is Geoff, a young producer eager to prove himself to his legendary boss, Roone Arledge. Teaming with Marianne, a German interpreter, Geoff unexpectedly takes the reins of the broadcast. As tensions rise, conflicting reports swirl and the lives of the hostages hang in the balance, Geoff faces difficult decisions that test his skills and moral compass.\u201d<\/p>\n

For tickets to the Whistler Film Festival and the full lineup of movies, visit whistlerfilmfestival.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 1989 PR photo for Blue Rodeo\u2019s Diamond Mine album. Left to right are Bazil Donovan, Bob Wiseman, Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor and Mark French. The documentary Blue Rodeo: Lost Together (left) has its world premiere at the Whistler Film Festival. (photo by Andrew MacNaughtan \/ bluerodeo.com) The world premiere of Blue Rodeo: Lost Together, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[23632,23634,3157,7355,4242,7963,23633,3036,23631],"class_list":["post-45444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-blue-rodeo","tag-bob-wiseman","tag-canada","tag-films","tag-history","tag-movies","tag-munich-1972","tag-music","tag-whistler-film-festival"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}