News Archive
2005 News
Newsnight Review January 13th 2006
Rufus will appear on Newsnight Review on January 13, 2006 (UK)
Newsnight Review airs at 11 PM on Friday, January 13, 2006 on BBC 2.
Rufus will be interviewed and perform a song.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/review/default.stm
» news.bbc.co.uk
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A McGarrigle Christmas in Montreal
A matinee show has been added to the McGarrigle Christmas at the Outremont Theatre on Saturday, December 17, 2005. The shows will be at 4PM and 8PM. Click the link to purchase tickets
» www.spectrumdemontreal.ca
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Norwich show announcement
The Norwich show on December 12, 2005 will be Rufus solo.Due to the band's conflicts in scheduling, they will not be able to accompany Rufus. This will be Rufus' only solo show in the UK this year.
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Tickets released for Birmingham Symphony Hall
Tickets have been released for tonight's show at Birmingham's Symphony Hall tonight 6 December 2005. Please check with the box office.
» www.necgroup.co.uk
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Rufus' Norwich show has been rescheduled to Dec 12, 2005
Due to scheduling conflicts, the Rufus show in Norwich has been rescheduled to
December 12, 2005. It will still take place at UEA. The old tickets are still valid. Imogen Heap will open.
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Rufus will perform live on the Marc Riley Show (UK)
Rufus will perform a few tracks live on the Marc Riley BBC 6 Music show on 3 December 2005 from 1PM-4PM GMT
» www.bbc.co.uk
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Rufus on the Paul O'Grady Show (UK)
Rufus will perform and be interviewed on ITV's The Paul O'Grady Show on 1 December 2005 at 5PM. The other guest on the show will be Dame Julie Andrews.
» www.itv.com
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'Want' packaged to be released on November 28, 2005 in the U
'Want' (a package of Want One and Want Two) will be released in the UK on Monday, November 28,2005.
Two bonus tracks included are "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" and "In With the Ladies". Pre-order your copy on amazon.co.uk
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A McGarrigle Christmas
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
A McGarrigle Christmas
with Special Guests Emmylou Harris, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson and more
Carnegie Hall
» www.carnegiehall.org
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Rufus on Later with Jools Holland with Burt Bacharach
Rufus will appear on Later with Jools Holland singing with Burt Bacharach. The show will air on Friday, October 21, 2005 on BBC2 11:35 PM.
» www.bbc.co.uk
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Nov 2 NYC show just added: Presale begins Wed Sept 21 at 10
Ticket presale for the 2nd Beacon Theatre NYC show (Nov 2nd) will be Wed, Sept. 21st at 10:00 AM EST. Click the link below to buy tickets!!!
» ticketing.concertmaps.com
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Presales for Northampton and Poughkeepsie
Click below to get pre-sale tickets for Northampton (11/4/05) and Poughkeepsie (11/5/05) on 9/14
at 10:00 AM EST
» ticketing.concertmaps.com
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Rufus Wainwright plays Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater Oct. 9
Tickets go on sale Saturday, 9/10/05
» www.ticketmaster.com
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Rufus at the New Yorker Festival
Rufus Wainwright talks with Andy Young: A Conversation with Music
Saturday, September 24th, 10 P.M.
Satalla 37 West 26th Street
$35.
This is a "Late Shift" event at The New Yorker Festival. "The New Yorker Festival returns for its sixth year, from September 23rd through September 25th, in acelebratory weekend of public discourse on arts and ideas. The three-day schedule of events encompasses readings, musical performances, interviews,
debates, and excursions around New York City."
All information is at http://festival.newyorker.com/
» festival.newyorker.com
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MONTREAL Show ON SALE this Friday September 9, 2005 at Noon
Rufus' show on November 6, 2005
in Montreal, Canadaat the St. Denis Theatre will go On sale: 9/9/05 at Noon
Click the link below to purchase tickets:
http://ev7.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=MUS&li
nkID=tsdse
» ev7.evenue.net
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Rufus on Craig Ferguson August 22, 2005
Rufus will be appearing on CBS' Late late Show with Craig Ferguson on Monday, August 22,2005. Weeknights 12:35AM ET/PT
» www.cbs.com
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8/14/05 TULSA SHOW TONIGHT: MOVED TO THE BRADY THEATRE
Due to weather, tonight's show has been moved to the Brady Theater
(918) 582-7239 105 W Brady St
Tulsa, OK 74103
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Rufus performs at New York City Opera Concert Celebration
Thursday, September 8, 2005: Rufus performs a few songs from Want Two and other albums with the New York City Opera Orchestra in the "City Opera Concert Celebration," part of the company's season kick-off festival, Opera-For-All. Music Director George Manahan and City Opera artists will present musical highlights showcasing the 2005-2006 season from operas such as Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience, Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Bizet’s Carmen, and Adamo’s Lysistrata.
All seats will be $25 and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, without intermission. After the concert, City Opera will host the entire audience in a festive celebration with a live performance by the East Village Opera Company on the New York State Theater’s Promenade.
Beginning August 22, tickets can be purchased online at http://www.nycopera.com/festival, through CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or at the New York State Theater Box Office at 63rd and Broadway. Please note that all phone orders incur a $6.50 handling fee. Visit http://www.nycopera.com/festival for more information.
» www.nycopera.com
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Rufus To Play Fall Shows in the Northeast US
Just announced: Rufus will be performing with his full band on October 31, 2005 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC and on November 1, 2005 at The Beacon Theatre in NYC. Pre-sale for Washington, D.C. at the 9:30 Club begins 8/11 at 10:00 AM EST.
Pre-sale tickets for the Beacon Theater show in NYC on November 1
will be available from the Rufus website tomorrow, Thursday August 11 at 10:00 AM.
» ticketing.concertmaps.com
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All I Want DVD Available Now
MapleMusic.com has All I Want available for sale now.
» www.maplemusic.com
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New UK Tour
Rufus Wainwright has announced a new UK fall tour. Tickets go on sale at 9 AM GMT on Wednesday, July 13, 2005.
The Dates Are:
November
29th– LONDON, Hammersmith
30th– BRIGHTON, Dome
December
2nd– MANCHESTER, Apollo
3rd– SHEFFIELD, City Hall
5th- BRISTOL, Colston Hall
6th- BIRMINGHAM, Symphony Hall
7th- NEWCASTLE, Sage
8th- NORWICH, UEA
10th- GLASGOW, Clyde Auditorium
11th- PRESTON, Guild Hall
» www.gigsandtours.com
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Rufus Set Times for Upcoming UK Shows
6.26.05 Glastonbury, GB UK/Glastonbury Festival 7:40pm
6.27.05 Cardiff, GB UK/St. David's Hall 8:30pm
6.29.05 London, GB UK/Hyde Park Wireless Festival 6:30pm
6.30.05 Cork, IR Ireland/Cork Festival 8pm
7.2.05 Dublin, IR Ireland/RDS - Main Hall 7:15pm
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Rufus in Heights
See Rufus in the newest Merchant Ivory film, Heights, along with
Glen Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden and many more. Click on the link below to see the trailer.
The opening dates are as follows in the US.
June 17 - New York and L.A.
June 24 - Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Seattle, and others
July 1 - Denver, Minneapolis, Dallas, Houston, and others
July 8 - Miami, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Sacramento, Milwaukee, and
others
July 15 - New Orleans, Las Vegas, Austin, San Antonio
July 22 - Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Eugene, Reno, Birmingham, Anchorage, and others
» www.sonyclassics.com
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Rufus at Philadelphia Freedom Concert - July 4, 2005
The Sunoco Philadelphia Freedom Concert will kick off at 8:30pm, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art with an expected audience of over 1.5 million. The free concert event and fireworks display celebrating America's Independence Day will be preceded from 5pm to 8pm by a fundraising Ball. Together, the Ball and Concert will engender support from leaders in the arenas of business, entertainment, philanthropy and public service for the fight against HIV/AIDS. In addition to the Ball, monies will be raised by reaching out to good corporate neighbors through sponsorship, as well as through concessions at the concert.
The Sunoco Philadelphia Freedom Concert is FREE to the public. Tickets to the Philadelphia Freedom Ball range from $500 - $2500 per person, and are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis as quantity is limited. Tickets may be purchased and donations made by calling 800. 917. 4389 or by visiting www.phillyfreedom.net/ball.htm.
» www.phillyfreedom.net
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Portland and San Francisco - Odd Men Out Tour Presales
The presale will begin on June 9 at 10 AM PST for the following shows: August 21, 2005 San Diego at Copley Symphony Hall, August 23, 2005 San Francisco at Davies Symphony Hall, and August 27, 2005 Portland at Roseland Ballroom. Click on the link below to buy tickets.
» www.rufuswainwright.tickets.musictoday.com
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Just Added: Odd Men Out Tour dates in San Diego and Portland
The final two dates of the Odd Men Out Tour have just been confirmed. They are August 21 at Symphony Hall in San Diego and August 27 at Roseland Ballroom in Portland.
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Rufus on TV (UK)
"All I Want" A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright will reair on Channel 4 on the night of May 28, morning of May 29 at approximately 12:30 AM
Rufus will be interviewed on the Culture Show on BBC2 which will air
June 2
Rufus will perform two songs on Later with Jools Holland on Friday June
3 on BBC2
» www.bbc.co.uk
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More Odd Men Out Presales Tomorrow May 20
At 9AM EST, May 20, these 4 dates will be available for ticket purchases at Music Today. Please click the link below.
8/3 - Wolf Trap - Vienna (not a pre sale but these will be best available seats
8/5 - Bank of America Pavilion - Boston
8/7 - Borgata Casino - Atlantic City
8/9 - Kool Haus - Toronto, ONT
» www.rufuswainwright.tickets.musictoday.com
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Odd Men Out - More presales tomorrow 5/17/05
Please click the link below to access the follwing presales:
10 AM Eastern - 8/4 Brooklyn
11 AM Eastern - 8/13 Kansas City
1 PM Eastern - 8/24 Mt Winery Saratoga CA
» www.rufuswainwright.tickets.musictoday.com
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Odd Men Out US Tour Presale
A limited number of tickets for the Odd Men Out US Tour with Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds will be available through an online presale beginning Friday, May 13, 2005 at 10am EST.
» www.rufuswainwright.tickets.musictoday.com
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Rufus documentary to air in Holland
Broadcast of the documentary about Rufus: "All I Want" will be on May 23rd from 9-10pm on NPS public channel 3 on the program "Uur van de Wolf" (Hour of the Wolf).
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Rufus was nominated for the Mojo Honours List 2005 (UK)
THE MOJO BEST NEW ACT AWARD
Voted for by MOJO readers and presented to an act whose impact has been unparalleled in the last 18 months.
1. Antony And The Johnsons
2. Ray LaMontagne
3. Rufus Wainwright
4. Arcade Fire
5. Willy Mason
6. The Magic Numbers
To vote for Rufus to win this award and win tickets to the MOJO Honours List awards ceremony, pick up a voting form from any branch of HMV. You can also vote online, so don't forget!
» www.bbc.co.uk
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Odd Men Out - Rufus Wainwright & Ben Folds To Co-Headline
dd Men Out - Rufus Wainwright & Ben Folds To Co-Headline Summer Tour
Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds will be touring North America together
this August. Joining them will be special guest Ben Lee to form the tour being called, "Odd Men Out."
Co-headliners Wainwright and Folds will each be performing with their own
bands and will alternate closing each night. Opening act Ben Lee joins them for the entire tour which begins August 3 at Wolf Trap and runs through the end of the month.
Currently, Wainwright is headlining a European tour and will be releasing a DVD titled "All I Want." Folds will spend May in the US and June in the UK.
His new single is "Landed" and the new CD, "Songs For Silverman," is out this week.
Please check the tour dates page for confirmed dates to be added very soon.
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Rufus to do a co headline tour with Ben Folds in late Summer
Rufus and his band and Ben Folds will be doing a co-headline North American tour again this summer with an opening act to be announced. The will be playing Wolf Trap on August 3, 2005 and the Ravinia Festival on Tuesday, August 10, 2005. Please check back for updates on the tour.
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RUFUS TO PLAY GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL JUNE 26,2005!!!
Rufus and his band will be playing on the Other Stage at Glastonbury on Sunday, June 26,2005.
» www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk
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Venue changes in Europe
See tour dates page for full information:
April 26 Madrid has moved from El Sol to Aqualung.
May 2 - Bologna has been cancelled and May 1 -Rome - La Palma has been added.
May 8 - Copenhagen has moved from Small to Main Vega
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Rufus to Headline Appel Farms Arts and Music Festival
Rufus will be headlining the Appel Farms Arts and Music Festival on June 4, 2005 in Elmer, NJ. Rufus will be playing solo. The full line-up for June 4th is: Rufus Wainwright, Aimee Mann, Mavis Staples, Madeleine Peyroux, Loudon Wainwright III, John Gorka, Stephen Kellogg & The
Sixers, Lucy Kaplansky, Lori McKenna, Phil Roy, Bet Williams, and John Francis.
Their web site is www.appelfarm.org and the Box Office phone number is
1-800-394-1211.
» www.appelfarm.org
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iTunes Exclusive Release
Rufus Wainwright to release "Alright, Already - Live in Montreal" EP. Available only as an iTunes Exclusive in the US and Canada March 15th and in Germany March 29th.
Purchase this EP now at iTunes
» rufuswainwright.com
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Rufus' performance in Madrid with Keane cancelled
Rufus has been forced to return to the U.S. for a funeral and, unfortunately, must cancel his performance in support of Keane in Madrid this Saturday, March 12. He will return in time for the Sunday, March 13 show in Barcelona.
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Rufus on the Radio (France)
Rufus will perform 3 songs on "Boogie Night" on Oui FM 10:30 PM March 9, 2005.
» www.ouirock.com
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More Rufus on the Radio (UK)
Rufus is taking over the airwaves as March rolls on. He performed on Jonathan Ross' Radio 2 show on March 5th http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/ross/ and Gideon Coe's 6 M usic show http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/ross/ on March 6th. Rufus was heard on the R2 Album Chart Show http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/albumchart/ on March 7, 2005. Make sure to check out the archives if you missed these shows!
In addition, Rufus will appear on Virgin's Razor Cuts on Sunday, March 13, 2005 from 8-10pm. http://www.virginradio.co.uk/djsshows/shows/razorcuts/
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Rufus on TV (UK) Monday, March 7, 2005
Rufus will perform "The One You Love" on Today with Des and Mel on ITV1 from 5-6 PM on 7 March.
» www.carlton.com
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Rufus online listening parties
Listen exclusively to the new album 'Want Two' out in the UK on 7th March
online. Listening parties are available at these websites from Thursday 3rd
- Sunday 6th March. Click on any of the links below to listen:
www.nme.com
www.musicomh.com
www.indielondon.co.uk
www.playlouder.com
www.musosguide.com
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Rufus documentary on Channel 4 (UK)
All I Want: A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright will air on Channel 4 (UK) on March 12, 2005 at 11:30 PM.
Press release:
This 50 minute visual portrait of an artist and an exploration of his
art form explores the mindset and outlook of one the modern music scene's most mercurial talent's, while telling the story of how he got to where he is now. This is a story many a Hollywood screen writer would dream to write.
Including footage of a live performance on his recent UK tour and
studio recordings specially filmed in Montréal at the end of last year, the film showcases Rufus’ extraordinary talents. With contributions from his high profile fans including Sir Elton John, Sting, Neil Tennant, The Scissor Sisters & Keane together with his
mother and sister and producers Marius de Vries & Pierre Marchand.
All I Want gives a unique insight into an artist in full flow and at the height of his powers, a celebration of four albums, and a snapshot of a future classic in the making.
The film airs in the UK on March 12th at 11.30pm on Channel 4. Details of other international transmission dates to follow.
An extended version of the film with additional interviews and performances will be available on DVD soon. This DVD will be jam packed with extras including a brand new previously unheard song.
All I Want - A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright is directed by George Scott for London based Isis Productions, the company behind the acclaimed Classic Albums series.
» www.channel4.com
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Rufus on the radio (UK)
BBC's Radio 4 is reviewing Want Two on Front Row Tuesday, March 1, 2005. Radio 4's Saturday Review will be doing the same on Saturday, March 5, 2005.
» www.bbc.co.uk
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Rufus Instore at London Virgin Megastore
Rufus Wainwright is performing songs from Want Two with his band on Monday, March 7, 2005 at 6pm. Rufus will be signing autographs after the performance as well. The Virgin Megastore is located at 14-16 Oxford Street, London W1.
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Rufus Headline Dates in Europe!!!
Please see the tour dates page for on sale dates and ticket information. More dates will be announced soon.
18-Apr-05 HOLLAND AMSTERDAM PARADISO
19-Apr-05 GERMANY STUTTGART MANUFACTUR
20-Apr-05 GERMANY COLOGNE STOLLWERK
26-Apr-05 SPAIN MADRID EL SOL
27-Apr-05 SPAIN BARCELONA APOLLO
3-May-05 SWITZERLAND ZURICH KAUFLEUTEN
4-May-05 GERMANY MUNICH SMALL ELSERHALLE
5-May-05 GERMANY HAMBURG GRUENSPAN
8-May-05 DENMARK COPENHAGEN SMALL VEGA/VEGA
9-May-05 GERMANY BERLIN PASSIONKIRSCHE
11-May-05 FRANCE PARIS CIGALLE
17-May-05 IRELAND DUBLIN VICAR STREET
18-May-05 UK BELFAST WATERFRONT
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Win a Meet and Greet with Rufus and tickets to London show
Please click on the link below to enter to win tickets and a Meet and Greet with Rufus for the March 1 London Islington Academy gig.
» www.nme.com
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Rufus on Conan O'Brien
Rufus will be appearing on Conan O'Brien on February 22 and will be singing "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" from The Aviator.
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The Advertiser
Folk in the Family
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World Cafe re-broadcast February 12 and 14
The World Cafe will be re- broadcasting the Rufus Wainwright session on Saturday, February 12 & Monday, February 14th.
The World Cafe with David Dye can be heard on more than 180 stations nationwide. Fans can find their local station by going to www.worldcafe.org or they can listen online Monday through Friday at 2pm EST or 1am EST by going towww.xpn.org
» worldcafe.org
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The Age
Sacred songs and skeletons
Fans can expect some meaningful lyrics when Rufus Wainwright comes to Melbourne. Michael Dwyer reports.
Nick Cave flapped and prowled in his customary black suit and shiny leather shoes. Jarvis Cocker cut a rakish figure in jeans and sneakers, a nonchalant left hand in his jacket pocket. Beth Orton towered over them both, all fringe and thighs in tiny denim shorts and knee-high boots.
Yes, the songs of Leonard Cohen were even sexier than usual at last weekend's all-star tribute show at the Sydney Opera House, Came So Far for Beauty. But even when the cast of dozens lined up for the ensemble numbers, an unfair share of charisma radiated from a relative unknown, an immaculately tailored New York dandy with a voice like dark honey.
"I had to change out of that suit," Rufus Wainwright confided to the packed house shortly after stealing the first half of the show with his version of Hallelujah, performed with his sister Martha. "Not because I'm a superstar," he added archly. "I was just really hot. Besides, I wanted to play with this scarf."
Rufus Wainwright is a born scene-stealer. The instrument he calls "this MGM Hollywood starlet voice of mine" was inherited from his parents Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, two singer-songwriters with about 35 years worth of acclaim at different ends of the North American folk spectrum.
The McGarrigle Hour, a family album from 1998, finds the extended Wainwright-McGarrigle clan jostling for position like a veritable stampede of show ponies, taking their turns in a sentimental parlour singalong that could make the Carter Family weep.
Young Rufus is deep in the fray, his pure, precocious baritone wringing tears from songs by his father, his mother and his aunt, Anna McGarrigle, and others including himself. Martha and family friends Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt expand the cosy circle.
The album was one of many formative professional experiences for young Rufus. Looking back, he admits that it represents a genuine snapshot of domestic bliss, but it also causes him to recall the dark side of growing up in a world where extraordinary musical talent is kind of ordinary.
"I have a distinct memory of being in the studio recording The McGarrigle Hour when my first album, Rufus Wainwright, arrived at the studio," he says. "Here it was, finally mastered, my big moment, and I say, 'Hey look, it's my record!' And not one person looked up or came over.
"Sure enough, after that record came out, there did have to be some readjustments, particularly in relation to my dad."
The main problem for Loudon, it seems, was his son's inexperience with the press. "I thought talking to a journalist was akin to psychotherapy," Rufus says. "I haven't got rid of that idea totally, 'cause it's free, right?"
If dad was unhappy when family skeletons started turning up in the pop media, he was, perhaps, partly to blame. Loudon Wainwright's catalogue is strewn with perfectly literal songs about his loved ones. Rufus Is a Tit Man, for example, was on vinyl before its subject was old enough to understand, let alone object.
It turned out to be an ironic title. Rufus realised he was gay when he was a young teenager, and the question of his sexuality is a thread that continues through his fourth solo album, Want Two. To say the least, American showbiz is not replete with openly gay males. Count 'em on one hand - you'll have a finger or three left. Has Wainwright ever had cause to regret revealing this taboo truth in the Land of the Free?
"I don't regret it at all, if only because I'm not a great liar," he says. "I sometimes wish I was, that I had a poker face, but I don't. I'm very gullible and easily seduced. I don't have thick skin.
"What's interesting about being open about it is that it has somehow affected the perception of me with gay people. Straight peoople love it and certain gay people hhhate it, and I don't know why that is. I think it's a form of self-loathing.
"I mean, I don't expect everyone to dig it or even care, and if one doesn't approve, that's their right. But I'm always surprised that the people who appreciate it are straight people, I guess 'cause it's refreshing, it's a new thing. So I'm happy I did it, but I do believe I paid a price for it."
Regardless of sexual orientation, songs such as Gay Messiah and Old Whore's Diet are raunchy enough to make any parent blush. How does Wainwright feel when he's on stage with his mother, aunt and sister, as he was in Sydney last week and Melbourne last night, luxuriating in the more decadent corridors of his soul?
"Oh, I love it," he says. "I've always loved scandalising my parents, if only because they scandalised me as a child. My mother would force me to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow and The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow for her friends at three in the morning. So however freaked out they get, they definitely deserve it."
One song from Want One, his previous album, did worry Wainwright enough to seek permission from his father. The stinging Dinner at 8 confronted bitter memories of Loudon leaving when Rufus and Martha were children. His mother still cries every time she hears it, he says.
"When I recorded it, I rang my dad and said, 'I wanna put this song on my album but if you think it's too much, I won't.' Without even hearing it, the first thing he said was, 'Rufus, I've written so many songs about so many people that whatever it is, I probably deserve it'. So that song was to atone for many sins."
Atonement seems to be a central concern of Want One and Want Two. The lavishly orchestrated double feature resulted from a period of profound reflection for Wainwright. He grew up in Montreal but he'd moved to New York when the tragedy of September 2001 shook him to a deeper level of expression.
"I felt my life, in so many ways, really change after that day," he says. "I'm not trying to sound self-righteous but after that day, artistically, you had to start playing for keeps. It's just a much darker world, and you need more paint and colours to express it.
"It coincided with a period where I had to deal with a lot of personal issues before I made another record. I sort of had to walk away from art altogether and forget about being the trained seal I had become."
Trained seal?
"Well, I've just been at it for so many years," he sighs. "I mean, this isn't the Judy Garland story or anything, but I always had my little toddler hands reaching towards the prize, and I think during that whole period I'd always negated my whole human development in a certain way. I equated record sales and magazine covers with personal wellbeing. Which is understandable. But sometimes you have to realign yourself."
The lavish cover art of Want One and Want Two holds clues to this personal re-balancing act. On the first album, Wainwright is a medieval knight in armour, contemplating a sword in his hand. On the second he's a pale-skinned damsel in a billowing white gown.
"The majority of the songs deal with my own personal struggles." he says. "Want One is a very typically masculine, valiant view of life where you have to slay your dragons and be brave - for instance, deal with your father.
» www.theage.com.au
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Rufus in "The Age" (Melbourne, Australia)
Rueful Rufus
Rufus Wainwright has replaced his theatrical flourish with a defiant, despairing tone. Michelle Griffin reports.
When Rufus Wainwright first started singing Gay Messiah, it was a novelty tune. "A kind of joke song for parties," he says. He will be reborn/from 1970s porn opens the song. With its single entendres about the second coming, this was the tune that separated the Rufus aficionados from those who wandered into a Wainwright show because they really liked his cover of Hallelujah on the Shrek soundtrack.
But in the lead-up to the last US presidential election, when Bush used the spectre of same-sex marriage to lure midwest conservatives to the polls, the openly gay Wainwright realised the joke wasn't that funny any more. He recorded it, stripped of ironic flourishes, for his latest album Want Two. "It morphed into a protest song a round the time of the election," he says, "and now, after the election, it's actually become a kind of prayer. We need divine intervention, essentially."
On the eve of his first Australian tour, Wainwright's usual brand of theatrical drollery has been replaced by a big, defiant, despairing sound. Want Two is the darker, moodier sequel to 2003's Want One, a pop opera that opened with tubas, segued into Ravel's Bolero, and promised, over a hook borrowed from Carmen, that My phone's on vibrate for you.
Want Two, on the other hand, starts with a Latin prayer, adds some art history, and then Wainwright proclaims himself Rufus the Baptist and sings Someone will demand my head/and then I will kneel down/and give it to them.
Perhaps there was a time, 10 years ago, back when the Dreamworks record label was promising their pedigree protege a future full of pop hits, when Wainwright thought he was the gay Messiah. He definitely believed he would be more famous than his almost-famous parents, singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, who divorced when he was a young child.
Although Wainwright's parents both attract devoted fans (Wainwright pere with his sardonic folk confessionals; McGarrigle with the melancholic duets she records with her sister, Anne), neither has been troubled by paparazzi on the way to the supermarket. Their son Rufus was supposed to be the first act to bring explicitly gay songs into the top 10 since Frankie Goes to Hollywood. For all the many openly (or perhaps only obviously) gay performers who have walked the charts, few have been as plainspoken about gay desire as Wainwright: I can't say that I'm cruising he sings on the recent ballad This Love Affair. Not that I don't like cruising.
But Wainwright's own exquisitely camp confections, with their washes of classical violin and layers of cabaret cleverness, have never broken through to the top of the pops. Wainwright's biggest hits turned out to be the romantic covers he turns out on his piano for Dreamworks soundtracks - the aforementioned Shrek track, and Across the Universe from I Am Sam. At a time when homosexual artists are racing back to the closet, it might not be the right era for full-frontal gay cabaret pop. "No way, says," Wainwright. "It's more important than ever. I don't think there's been another time in history when it's been so vital to be honest about your sexuality right now, or your rights as a sexual being. The people who have elected George Bush want to return to the Middle Ages. Now it's more important than ever to be honest about your sexuality because so much is at stake."
This was the point in our weary 10-minute telephone interview where Wainwright really woke up, a moment of heated sincerity between the brief grabs of sleepy irony and secretive asides in an intercontinental call at the end of a year of recording and touring.
"My dreams of having a number one single are rapidly disintegrating," he says with a sour laugh. "I'm in the process of being couurted by several renowned theatrical establishments to do a musical, none of which I can really talk about it. Considering the state of radio and pop music today, I'd be a fool not to take advantage of the theatre; they're just dying to work with me."
Wainwright won't say who wants to play with him, but several fashionable fans have been singing his praises, notably his friend Baz Luhrmann, who commissioned Wainwright to write several original songs for Moulin Rouge before deciding to go with covers. It would be no surprise if they collaborate again. In an interview with gay paper The Sydney Star Observer, Wainwright joked that he should be cast as Kidman's gay brother in a Moulin Rouge sequel: "I could be a courtesan!"
He already has parts in two forthcoming films. He sings a Gershwin number in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, and plays a Manhattan dandy - himself, really - in a part written just for him in the indie film Heights. "I have great entrances in both films," he says, "and that's all you need."
But he has other big plans: "I need to write an opera at some point in my life or I will die miserable," he proclaims. "[Want One and Two] are my pop records, things to rock out on. I spend most of my time listening to Wagner and Strauss and Verdi, so I have a different kind of ear to most people."
Wainwright was raised in Montreal by his mother, and first came out at 14 - both as a gay man and as an opera buff. The way he tells it, after he was assaulted by an older man in his first year of sexual experimentation, he spent the next two years locked himself in his room listening to Maria Callas. When he was 16, his father came by, decided it was all too unhealthy, and booked his fey son into Millbrook, the New York State boarding school that was the inspiration for Dead Poets Society.
That Wainwright would become a musician was inevitable. Just about everyone is his family has recorded albums - not just his father and mother, but aunts on both sides of the family tree, and his younger sister Martha, who often sings back-up vocals for Rufus. When Rufus first started writing songs in his late teens, his mother would critique them mercilessly, and demand he try again.
The family may harmonise beautifully in concert - and on the CD The McGarrigle Family Album - but they're certainly not the Von Trapps. Everybody writes songs about everyone else, and nobody holds back. Dad Loudon got in first, writing Rufus is a tit man when his son was a suckling, but mother Kate McGarrigle followed swiftly with the more fond First Born. After a photo shoot for Rolling Stone turned sour, son Rufus wrote Dinner at Eight for his father, an old sourpuss who hasn't bothered overmuch hiding his jealousy over his son's success. Daddy, don't be surprised Rufus sings if I want to see the tears in your eyes. Loudon apparently gave that song his blessing, saying he probably deserved it.
And now younger sister Martha has written her own song about dad, a blistering tune called Bloody Mother F---ing A--hole
I will not pretend, I will not put on a smile/ I will not say I'm alright for you. I wonder if mother and aunt and brother will harmonise with Martha on that number when they play the National Theatre next week?
cntd on The Age website. Please click "more"
» theage.com.au
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UK TOUR ON SALE HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL 1 FEB 05 AT 9AM
The Gigsandtours.com website went down this morning so tickets will go on sale Tuesday 1 Feb at 9AM GMT. Sorry for any inconvenience ths might have caused.
» www.gigsandtours.com
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Rufus UK Dates in April
Rufus will doing another headline tour in support of Want Two in the UK. The tickets go on sale Monday, 31 January at www.gigsandtours.com
TUE 5-Apr-05 TRURO -HALL FOR CORNWALL
WED 6-Apr-05 BRISTOL -COLSTON HALL
THU 7-Apr-05 READING -HEXAGON
SAT 9-Apr-05 NEWCASTLE -TYNE THEATRE
SUN 10-Apr-05 GLASGOW - ROYAL CONCERT HALL
TUE 12-Apr-05 UK BIRMINGHAM -SYMPHONY HALL
WED 13-Apr-05 NOTTINGHAM -ROYAL CONCERT HALL
THU 14-Apr-05 MANCHESTER -LOWRY
FRI 15-Apr-05 UK LONDON -S B EMPIRE
» www.gigsandtours.com
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Rufus to appear on Starbucks Hear Music Sweetheart Vol 2
The second volume of Sweetheart, a collection of Starbucks Hear Music favorite artists singing their favorite love songs. All songs are exclusive, never-before-released tracks from Rufus Wainwright, Neko Case, M Ward, Joseph Arthur and more. Liner notes include comments from each artist about their selected song. The CD will be available online, at Starbucks coffee houses (US and Canada) and Hear Music record stores beginning January 19, 2005.
Track listing:
1. Rufus Wainwright - My Funny Valentine (Rodgers & Hart- Ella’s)
2. M. Ward -Let My Love Open The Door (Pete Townshend)
3. Neko Case -Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan)
4. Calexico- Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
5. Old 97s-She’s Got Everything (The Kinks)
6. Gary Jules- How Can I Tell You (Cat Stevens )
7. Madeleine Peyroux - Give Your Mama One Smile (Big Bill Broonzy)
8. Sondre Lerche-The More I See You (Cole Porter-Chet Baker)
9. Martina Topley-Bird -I Only Have Eyes For You (The Flamingos)
10. Jim White -Use Me (Bill Withers)
11. Joseph Arthur -There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (The Smiths)
12.Dean & Britta - Forever (Beach Boys)
13. Milton Mapes -Your Sweet Voice (Matthew Sweet)
14. Vinicius Cantuaria -Inutil Pasagem (Jobim)
15. Mindy Smith -Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square
» www.starbucks.com
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Rufus in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia)
The Daily Telegraph
Edition 1THU 13 JAN 2005, Page T01
Raising the Rufus - Canadian dry - SYDNEY FESTIVAL
By KATHY McCABE
Singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright brings his unique sound and family to Sydney Festival
The family that plays together, stays together ... or so says Canadian troubadour Rufus Wainwright
After dazzling discerning music fans with his ambitious, theatrical pop music for the past few years, Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is finally making his way to Australia.
As with everything the avant-garde artist does, this will not be your run-of-the-mill tour. His three-week spell in Oz was initiated by the Sydney Festival and will now also incorporate solo shows and a much-anticipated run of concerts with his mother and aunt, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and sister Martha. "I do have to make a living," he laughs when asked about the disparate collection of concerts.
His family members are also involved in one of the hottest Sydney Festival shows, Hal Willner's Came So Far For Beauty - An Evening Of Leonard Cohen Songs.
They have performed the acclaimed event - which also features Nick Cave, Beth Orton and Jarvis Cocker in its impressive cast in Brooklyn, US and Brighton, UK.
"We all know each other quite well at this point and respect each other tremendously and enjoy watching each other perform," Wainwright says. "In terms of being a songwriter, you can't help admire Leonard Cohen's work for its utter purity.
"In a lot of ways, this concert is like summer school for us professionals."
Wainwright, who has "hung out with Leonard a few times", credits the songwriters' songwriter for delivering advice which changed his approach to recording. "I remember when my first albums came out he complained that he couldn't hear my voice; there was too much production. You listen to his albums and his voice is 20 times louder than anything else," he says.
"I make different records to Leonard but I do take that into account, it was a good lesson to learn.
"There was definitely some hiding going on and on this new record album (Want Two) you can really hear the words and the voice - it is more central - and that is substantially due to Leonard's suggestion."
Want Two is the aural equivalent of a Baz Luhrmann film - bold, ambitious, lush, theatrical, operatic, richly textured and pretty much like nothing you've heard in at least the past couple of years.
The comparison is warranted if only for the fact that Marius de Vries produced the Moulin Rouge soundtracks and Want Two. It follows Want One, released in 2003, which was a more accessible collection of songs. Depending, of course, on your definition of accessibility.
"When I first came up with the concept of Want One, I knew there was another album there - and I knew I wanted to dress in drag," Wainwright laughs, referring to Want Two's album cover image of the singer in a Gothic bohemian frock.
"And I knew The Lord Of The Rings had come out in 40 parts so I thought a two-part album project ... so I lied to the record company and the press and told them there was already another album. So I ended up doing three months of work in three weeks."
You realise instantly you are in for an anti-pop listening experience as Want Two opens with the soaring symphonic Latin piece, Agnus Dei.
Iconoclastic religious imag-ery also flavours the album as does his more traditional singer-songwriter leanings.
One of the album's more personal tracks, Memphis Skyline, mourns the death of another groundbreaking tunesmith, Jeff Buckley.
"I had a real opera-style relationship to him," Wain-wright explains. "Firstly, I only met him once and I had hated him for years before then because I was jealous of his success. And his hair.
"Meeting him was a pivotal moment in my life in terms of releasing that jealousy and envy and harbouring bad feelings toward another artist - which is all pretty futile.<<
"And then he died a month later. A lot of people compared us when my first album came out and certain hardcore Buckley fans hated my guts, thinking I was trying to usurp his throne."
Wainwright jokes that one of his Australian touring companions - younger sister Martha - could indeed usurp his own throne in the alternative music world. The mischievous troubadour doles out lavish praise for his sister while accusing himself of suffering a modicum of sibling rivalry.
"Now I have to say with Martha's first album coming out, there's to be some adjustments made. I used to be the youngest one with a record deal," he laughs.
"I am very, very proud of her. I believe Martha has more of a chance in this climate of being a huge pop star. I really do think she's amazing. And you have to feel that way or else you are in hell."
The pair shared the stage at various times during their childhood with both their mother Kate and father, Loudon Wainwright.
"The touring together was tumultuous for a while but we have developed our proper shields to manoeuvre around ... we know how to mind each other. It can be very intense," he says. "And we have a little act going now."
* Sydney Festival's Came So Far For Beauty, Sydney Opera House, Jan 28 - 30; An Evening with Rufus Wain-wright, Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Martha Wainwright, Enmore Theatre, Feb 6; and Rufus Wainwright solo shows at The Basement, Feb 14 and 15
» dailytelegraph.news.com.au
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Rufus on the Radio (World Cafe)
Rufus' session will air on Thursday January 27, 2005. You can find the local station that broadcasts the program at www.worldcafe.org or or you can listen online Monday to Friday at 2pm EST or 1am EST by going
to http://www.xpn.org/listen.php
» www.worldcafe.org
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Rufus Wainwright: Live at the Fillmore to air on Trio Jan 15
"Rufus Wainwright: Live at the Fillmore" will air on Trio on Jan. 15th (2AM ET / 11PM PT) after the simulcast of the NBC Tsunami Aid concert.
» www.triotv.com
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Rolling Stone Review of Want Two
Rufus Wainwright's Want Two is by far the composer's least commercial album. Filled with operatic vocals, symphonic arrangements, iconoclastic religiosity and Latin (the dead language, not Ricky Martin's bloodline), Want Two is unlikely to steal away any Jessica Simpson fans. Instead, Wainwright's fanciful songs about love and faith place him in the rarefied company of Bjork and Brian Wilson, whose audacious Med?lla and SMiLE his album most resembles.
Recorded mostly during the same sessions that produced last year's Want One, Want Two features greater musical and lyrical challenges than its predecessor. After calling for a lamb of God to take away the world's sins on the soaring, theme-establishing opening cut "Agnus Dei," Wainwright reverts to his singer-songwriter side on "The One You Love." He answers fundamentalists with "Gay Messiah," which sweetly heralds the coming of a tube-sock-wearing savior "reborn from Seventies porn," and sings an ode to "The Art Teacher" from the perspective of a woman who marries well but never gets over her first crush. A bonus DVD disc of a concert filmed this year at San Francisco's famed Fillmore presents Wainwright's more direct side; but Want Two proves that droll commentary and ornate piano orchestrations don't exclude you from being a rock star.
» www.rollingstone.com
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Rufus to perform at Gala Excellence La Presse on January 16
January 16th at 8pm, on Radio-Canada french television :
Rufus will perform a song with the McGarrigle Sisters at this event honoring the personalities of the year by La Presse.
20 h
GALA EXCELLENCE LA PRESSE - RADIO-CANADA
Ce gala souligne les réalisations des 52 Personnalités de la semaine désignées par le quotidien La Presse et nous dévoile laquelle d'entre elles a été choisie au titre de Personnalité de l'année. Le tout dans le cadre d'un gala divertissant mettant en vedette plusieurs grands noms de la chanson et de l'humour, dont Janine Sutto, Réal Bossé, Jean-René Dufort, Véronique LeFlaguais, Patrice Coquereau, Ben Charest et Béatrice Bonifassi, Coral Egan, Luce Dufault, France D'Amour, Rufus Wainwright, les soeurs McGarrigle et plusieurs autres.
Animateur : Christian Bégin
Conceptrice : Ève Déziel
Réalisateur : Pierre Gagnon
Coproduction : La Presse et Radio-Canada
» www.radio-canada.ca
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Rufus to play Lisbon, Portugal with Kean
Rufus and band will be playing on March 10, 2005 with Keane at the Coliseum.
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2005 test post
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