Jim Bryson

The Exclaim! Questionnaire

BY None NonePublished Nov 1, 2001

Singer of songs Jim Bryson hails from Ottawa, Ontario. His new album is out now on Square Dog Records.

Current fixations:

Coriander, Wurlitzer electric piano parts, playing piano.

Mind-altering work of art:

Currently: Jumpa Lahari – "The Interpreter of Maladies." Short stories that are all great.

Most memorable or inspirational gig and why?

Dinosaur Jr. March 1988 in Montreal. I lied to a fellow so that he would drive us to the show by telling him Dinosaur sounded like the Cult. He loved the Cult, did not love the show. I remember the drive as much as the show ‘cause three of us drove two hours in a two-seater Fiero. One in the passenger seat, one on the floor. Another friend of mine made the trip in the trunk of his friends' parents BMW.

What has been your career high and low?

The most fun I may have ever had with music was filling in for the house piano player for a few numbers in a tourist bar in San Antonio, Texas. My low was opening an East Coast tour recently and having to drive with the tour manager, who treated me like a child while being the master of all things relevant.

What should everyone shut up about?

In my town, people should shut up about the effects of the smoking ban in Ottawa bars.

I would drop everything to play a benefit for:

To let my parents' street keep its name in the mega-city merger.

What trait do you like and dislike most about yourself?

I like that I like people. I do not like that I worry about things far too often.

What would make you kick someone out of your band and/or bed, and have you?

I am luck to be in someone's bed, so I have no complaints right now. As for a band, I would tell someone to go home if the word "jamming" was a big part of their vocabulary.

When I think of Canada I think:

Safety and long drives.

What is your vital daily ritual?

Get up, clean up, try to get to where I need to be.

How do you spoil yourself?

When invited, I go over to see my friends Jeff and Geoff and drink wine.

What was your most memorable day job?

The Amberwood Golf Club. I got hit by a golf ball on my first day and the next week, the shovel I was holding was hit with a tee shot. I spent half my time digging up the irrigation system with that same shovel.

If I wasn't playing music I would be:

Doing something else.

What is your greatest fear?

Heights.

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

Despite being afraid of heights, I would like to have the power of flight.

What makes you want to take it off and get it on?

The ballads on the first Friends of Dean Martinez record.

Music and sex: Is there a difference? Why?

I am better at music.

Strangest brush with celebrity:

Michael Stipe once asked me at a phone booth how long I would be on the phone for. My girlfriend on the other end screamed for me to give him the phone, but I told him I would be about five minutes.

Who would be your ideal dinner guest, living or dead, and what would you serve them?

I would invite the aforementioned Jeff and Geoff if they were bringing the wine. However, I should probably just keep going over there – that has worked well so far.

What does your mom wish you were doing instead?

I asked her on Sunday when I was over, and she said that she did not know. My parents seem to like what I do.

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