I don't remember what moved me to buy Rufus Wainwright's album Poses back in 2002, but I did, and I loved it. That was a rough time for yours truly, having left one relationship for another, one town for the next, all in a country that was not my own. I would listen to Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk while sitting on the window sill, smoking Gauloise cigarettes. I have since grown out of the Rufus phase and out of all relationships that pre-date mid-2003, and only listen to him once in a while. Beautiful as his voice is and as charming as his lyrics can be, the homosexual problematic fails to strike a chord with me. Of course, when I was 16, this was certainly not the case with the Indigo Girls, but I guess we all have to get older.
We got the chance to see him live for the first time on Tuesday at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. He played the Mozart Hall, which can hold at best 400 people. My husband was most likely the only hetero in the room, and it made me wonder if people like Wainwright's music for what it is, or because they see him as a homosexual symbol. He is damn good looking and had no less than four outfit changes during the two-and-a-half hour concert (including a delightful Lederhose outfit), but still. Anyway, he played a lot of older stuff, did a number from his Judy Garland show and ended it all dressed in drag.
And I noticed he plays the guitar like me: totally wrong, using his thumb to strum instead of a pick. Seems like a nice guy. And his boyfriend is German and, according to Wainwright, about 25 members of his family were in the audience on Tuesday night. He certainly seemed a lot nicer in person than he ever has in any interviews I've ever read.
1 comment:
Rufus is gay? I had no idea. I thought all of that unprotected, coke-induced sex he and I were having was just his country's traditional greeting.
And I've seen him a fair number of times now, in fairly gay circumstances: in concert at the Hollywood Bowl with kd lang; performing Judy at Carnegie Hall; entertaining the fashionistas for an LA art opening. I think he's a true performer and his music is great, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the gays are a bit overly proud that someone has made it without ever apologizing for being gay and dysfunctional. Guy Trebay considers him the first "post-gay" star and I'm inclined to agree.
I'm "post-gay," too, but only after sex.
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