Pictured The many sides of Rufus who was up for an OutMusic Award June 13. He
won for Outstanding New Recording Male for Want One. He's also at Ravinia later this month.
Rufus Wainwright performs at Ravinia June 18 in concert with Ben Folds. He will also be at Summerfest in Milwaukee June 25. And if you can get to LA, a concert not to be missed is Rufus with k.d. lang at the Hollywood Bowl in late July along with the Symphony. His latest CD was Want One. More details at ravinia.org or rufuswainwright.com .
Windy City Radio and Windy City Times recently spoke with him via phone from England.
Amy Matheny: How is jolly ole England?
Rufus Wainwright: It is actually quite jolly, surprisingly. It is not a sarcastic remark, which it can often be when you talk about England being 'jolly.'
AM: You are currently in Brighton.
RW: Now I am in London. I did a couple of shows in Brighton, a Leonard Cohen tribute, a week ago.
AM: What are you working on there?
RW: I am working on Want Two. I am in the studio exploring … and trying to basically figure out how I am going to get it released. There are a couple of new songs that I've written that I wanted to put down. And I am also doing shows with Sting at these amazing venues like the Verona Amphitheater … having lunch with Elton John. It's great!
AM: Sting is so hot. Are you opening for him?
RW: Yeah, I am, for a couple of weeks.
AM: So you are kind of Sting's musical fluffer, which is a role I wouldn't mind. Are you enjoying touring Europe? What is different about touring there than in the U.S.?
RW: I haven't done as much touring in Europe so I really have a lot of work to do here. Basically the difference is I am not mobbed as much here and I don't like that. I need to be mobbed and chased down and stalked …at all times, and that is not happening here. So I am trying to rectify that situation. Selling my soul to the tabloids.
AM: They LOVE the dish over there, so you could probably create some real fantastical scandals.
RW: I've got a plan. It involves Prince William.
AM: Don't leave Harry out in the rain. Poor Harry. And you know, he is the mischievous one.
RW: I know he is cute and I used to like him more than William, but the other day I heard William on TV and I heard him speak for the first time. I had never heard him speak and he has a very beautiful voice.
AM: He sounds like her, like Diana.
RW: He sounds a lot like her.
AM: Well, I want to say Happy Early Birthday! Your birthday is coming up July 22. When we talked to you last year at the release of Want One, you talked a lot about the enormous changes in your life. How has your past year been?
RW: It's been amazing. It's not been blissfully ignorant as my youth was, my extreme youth, but I've really learned to enjoy life a lot more in terms of just feeling more positive about the act of waking up in the morning. I've really been blessed in terms of getting some quick returns from the experiences that I had. I made two albums. I bought an apartment in New York. I'm getting a lot of attention. And it has improved my state of being, so I can't complain.
AM: Your CD Want One received outstanding reviews. The album is big and lush and grand and yet very intimate and personal. Did you feel more freedom on your third album to push yourself and your limits?
RW: Yes. I think the combination of practice, material, and, oddly enough, world events, kind of set the bar for that album. For me after Sept. 11 and the war in Iraq, it was time to get down to business in trying to heal the earth. I know I sound like a hippie or something but I really do feel that the world needs truth right now.
AM: Well we can go back to your roots in folk music with your father, Loudon Wainwright, and mother, Kate McGarrigle. But who were your other earliest musical influences, besides your parents?
RW: I was a normal kid for about two years [laughing]. I loved the Eurythmics and Cyndi Lauper and Depeche Mode. I even had a flip in my hair. Then when I was 13 or 14, I discovered opera and that has basically been my main squeeze. There is a new singer I heard last night named Karita Mattila, a soprano whom I am obsessed with right now. I also love Judy Garland and Duke Ellington. I love anything that is good, basically.
AM: What is your favorite composer and your favorite opera?
RW: It may change daily but right now it is Berlioz. And the opera would be Otello by Verdi.
AM: What ultimately moved you from opera to the pop rock genre?
RW: Well I just was terrible in school. I didn't want to do the work that is required in learning to be a classical pianist or an opera singer or a full-time composer. I still think I can foray into those areas at some point but really it's a LOT of work. And also I can sing and I am not a fool in realizing that my voice is probably my best feature … or maybe it isn't [laughing] ... .
AM: I don't know. You are pretty much a triple threat with writing, singing and playing. Early on you started writing for movies and your music appears in television shows. I hear your music everywhere! Do you enjoy that your music is combined with these visual mediums?
RW: Yeah, it works very well for me, the visual component. And I am talking to some very big people right now that I probably shouldn't talk about for music for films or animation. It's definitely a road I am lucky to be able to go down. For one thing radio is nonexistent for what I am doing … . Except for Windy City Radio of course. My stuff just isn't stupid enough for mainstream radio. Not 'pop' enough to go down that route, so it is crucial for me to do stuff for movies.
AM: You're not blond enough and you do know that 'Chicken of the Sea' is tuna.
RW: Yes! Yes! And I am the enemy of the Bible belt!
AM: You are appearing in a couple of upcoming movies. Tell us about Heights.
RW: It's a Merchant Ivory film. I believe that they have changed the name of the film. It's with Glenn Close and is set in New York in modern day and I am basically playing myself. It's not a large role but it is a pivotal one. And I am in The Aviator.
AM: Directed by Martin Scorsese. How was that?
RW: I sing in it a Gershwin song 'I'll build a Stairway to Paradise.'
AM: Your sister (Martha) is also in the film.
RW: And so is my dad.
AM: So it's a family thing. And that film is going to get a huge amount of attention since it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, Jude law.
RW: It's going to help feed the beast.
AM: All of the young pretty people. You came out in your teens. As an out artist, have you encountered professional prejudice regarding your sexuality?
RW: [long pause] ... I haven't encountered any blatant events or discrimination. But I will say that I have felt the very delicate edges of a glass ceiling at times. It comes with getting money for videos or ... I don't know …it's very subtle but I have felt it. Oddly enough I am kind of glad it exists for myself in that it has really given me time to enjoy this all in healthy doses, ya know? And not be overwhelmed by it all. So in the end I think it has been in a good thing for me.
AM: Everyone is anticipating the second installment of Want—Want Two. When will it be out?
RW: There is a possibility it (will) come out in November. That is what we are working for.
AM: How does this journey continue from Want One? What will be the differences with the new CD?
RW: I don't know. It is hard to say because it's not all done and (when it is) you can look at it and say 'that's what it is.' A lot of the subject matter is more to do with the world, the outside world as opposed to my own small triumphs and disasters. There are songs that are a little more political. There is a song that directly mentions George Bush. It's not a very positive mention. And there are some sort of apocalyptic numbers as well a nine-minute big finale that sounds like the end of some wretched orgy. So I think it's pretty big and operatic. Definitely going out with a bang.
AM: And comes out then in time for the holidays.
RW: Yeah, big orgy for the holidays!
Artists Mad at Pride Set
GAGA (Gay Artists For Gay Artists), an ad-hoc group of queer artists started by Chicago musician Scott Free, is protesting the Chicago Pridefest organizer's policies through a process they call 'poster augmentation.'
Members of GAGA have been putting stickers with 'STRAIGHT' on Pridefest posters to identify the musicians performing at this event that are not from the LGBT community.
'Our community needs to know what's going on,' said Free. 'All of the headliners for the Pridefest music stages are straight. We don't understand why the Pridefest organizers think that our own musicians are not good enough ... . [If] we are going to have a music festival built around Gay Pride, we should show we are proud of our LGBT musicians."
Pridefest was created by the Northalsted Merchant's Association and booked by Chicago Special Events, and is to be held on Saturday, June 26 on Halsted Street from noon to 9 p.m.
E-mail: mrscottfree@lycos.com .
