Playing Hugh’s Room\u00a0next week
A\u00a0strange gratitude about\u00a0Toronto
It\u00a0has been less a backdrop to this\u00a0life
than a
sprawling rehearsal hall
every decade
leaves one more\u00a0ghost
leaning
against the wall smoking\u00a0
A\u00a0unique\u00a0listening room
still\u00a0 standing
where songs still have a chance
to arrive intact
instead of being strangled by
fire trucks\u00a0and blender noise
Hugh’s Room
There are still people
willing to gather quietly
in the dark
and pay attention
which in 2026 feels
revolutionary<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve played everywhere in Toronto
Busking on Bloor with Bob Snider or Jeff Burke
larger rooms
the Masonic Temple
Massey Hall
places where walls contain compressed applause
from other centuries
I’ve also played the vanished kingdoms
ghosts of the Holiday Tavern
shadows of Fat Alberts
places soaked in cigarette smoke
bad decisions, brilliant music
the perfume of
Canadian nightlife before condos arrived
to sterilize everything
beige<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Toronto contains every version I know
of life simultaneously
The broke hauling gear
through snowbanks
the sideman
the teacher
the sleeping on couches
the lucky enough to headline
the older looking in disbelief that years accumulated
while the inner soundtrack still hears
the scrawny guy at Yonge and College yelling
“Star Paper”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway\u00a0
Hugh\u2019s Room Thursday May 14
with Lily Frost
Another night in the city of ghosts and chords
Looking forward
My set starts at 8<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Playing Hugh’s Room\u00a0next weekA\u00a0strange gratitude about\u00a0TorontoIt\u00a0has been less a backdrop to this\u00a0lifethan asprawling rehearsal hallevery decadeleaves one more\u00a0ghostleaningagainst the wall smoking\u00a0A\u00a0unique\u00a0listening roomstill\u00a0 standingwhere songs still have a chanceto arrive intactinstead […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[240],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-9515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-performing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}