Review - Live - Qstage

July 25th 2011 23:17

Tom of Finland
by Dian Hanson

Dian Hanson's introduction gets directly into the core of matters as far as describing how a young Finnish lad named Touko Laaksonen became the notorious Tom of Finland via the even more notorious Physique Magazine.

She rightly references the 1991 documentary 'Daddy and the Muscle Academy' as she traces his growing desire for shiny, high leather boots, just like the German soldiers wore while his homeland was enduring the second world war. Although criticized for glorifying Nazis Laaksonen was apolitical when it came down to the bare bones of the matter, and only interested in that black leather look. Luckily in the 1950's a post-war Marlon Brando exploded onto the screen, and who knows what other eruptions occurred due to that? Well, certainly a few creative spurts from Laaksonen, who shifted his drawing skills from one astonishing look to another; from the storm trooper to the bikie leather man. If he had been born later I imagine we may have seen some pretty interesting Chewbaccas and Siths given that George Lucas created parts of Star Wars in the far icy North.

Illustrator George Quaintance passed away in 1960. Up until then he had been the number one illustrator at Physique Magazine. Fortune shone on Laaksonen as Quaintance passed, because Physique needed to replace their most popular artist and Laaksonen took that position. Looking at the work of Laaksonen and understanding that he mostly drew to stimulate himself sexually it is fascinating to imagine the process happening. What fine lines are touching the delicate buttons and getting the juices flowing? Essentially his work, the work of Tom of Finland, is erotica and pornography. It depicts sex between men in a variety of ways. Penetration is involved so it is considered X Rated, but you can get the book easy enough on line.

The men are all very masculine and sport well shaped bodies. The proportions are somewhat gargantuan as far as genitalia are concerned and the sexuality is very aggressive. It is not for everyone, but those who like it tend to like it very much indeed.

Understandably Tom of Finland is very popular among men who aspire and achieve this look, and the aesthetic of the work has clearly been reflected within the broader community over the years to the extent where Laaksonen's work appears on everything from t-shirts to tailored dress coats. His influence carries all the way to the bathroom where men all over the world probably use his illustrations to groom their own look to perfection.

This book from Taschen is aimed at those generally same-sex-attracted men, as well as the ones who haven't quite come all the way out into the light as it were, and have issues with a book like this sitting in their study. This type of dilemma, the I don't want my book to out me, or offend anyone dilemma, is dealt with by employing the Reversible Painic! Jacket. Yes the glossy paper cover is reversible, so you can switch, just like a super hero, from the rather raunchy Tom of Finland gold inlay title over the grey tone muscle-toned-couple enjoying clamping together like a clam illustrated cover, to a pea-green copy of Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (volume 1) to keep your graphic novel reading on the down low.

Quite a nice touch really as it provides richer context of the era this material arose. Laaksonen, after all, would have been imprisoned had they discovered his same-sex-attraction back in the day, and he knew it. The work in the book is basically a series of short graphic novels that show different situations where guys get it on with eachother.

The range of stereotypes is not broad really, we have cops, bikers, truckies, business men and lots of sailors. Very beautiful, very sexy and pretty absurd; probably atypical male sexual fantasy where everyone has a great time at the drp of a hat and nobody goes home unhappy (because they're still enjoying themselves).

Even though there are scenes depicting aggressive male rape, it all looks ridiculously silly because of the over all style and simplicity of the action in each story, so I could be convinced it's no more toxic than a sexy 'Carry On...' movie. It is all about the sex, and the sex is drawn clean and concise.

Media: Hardcover Book, 272 pages
Language: English
Publisher: Taschen (Mar. 1st, 2011)

ISBN-10: 3836524864
ISBN-13: 9783836524865

Dimensions: 6.19 x 8.83 x 1.15 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.95 lbs

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Australia National , Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

Book Review | Rufus Wainwright page stage and beyond.

October 10th 2010 22:37

The Prelude opens in 2007 at The Hollywood Bowl where Rufus Wainwright is performing his Judy Garland show to 13,000 people, then the focus turns to 1968 and The Village Gaslight a legendary folk bar in Greenwich Village where Bob Dylan sang in his early days.

The brush strokes in this portrait are immediately broad and significant. As with most biographies this one devotes some time to the parents of the subject; where they were at and what was going on in their lives. The father had been having tea parties with Liza Minnelli as a seven year old and eventually in 1968 he was an aspiring Dylan wannabe, he once described the woman he’d marry as a wild and crazy swingin rock chick’.

As a singer songwriter he shares quirky ironic songs about his life; that’s his act. When their first child, a son, is born he writes a song called Be Careful There’s A Baby in the House.

When I was a kid I consciously noticed Judy Garland in a mid-day movie I’d seen during the school holidays. It was the film A Star is Born (George Cukor, 1954) and her rending of the song The Man That Got Away that snapped me up into the throngs of people world wide who are fans of hers. As long as I can remember I loved the blending of those words and her voice in that song.

Imagine for a moment your favorite song. How does it reach you? If you are anything like me, you will have more than one song that’s a favorite, for a range of different reasons. One song is a favorite because of the time and way you learnt it; another one you really related to after a bad experience. Songs, once inside you can stay there for ever laying dormant for years and then suddenly resounding. The lyric or tune or both flood in from memory and for a moment you are washed with the spirit of whatever song it is, and probably residue of the emotional baggage or memories you’ve attached to it.

What are the impacts of someone writing a song for you; about you, over a childhood say? The teenage years and then young adulthood and beyond; how would the existence of a song meddle with who you are discovering yourself to be in your life? Songs are very strong magic. They can get inside you just the same as they can get inside the next person. Anyone can sing a song or hum a few lines. If a song was a weapon surely it would have to be considered a potential weapon of mass influence if not distribution. Songs can spread like wildfire and could be just as destructive.

Interesting then that Rufus Wainwright was born into a world that quickly included a song that reflected upon his very existence, written by his singer songwriter father. A father who would split from his mother after the second child Martha was born. It does sound a little like the makings of a modern Greek tragedy doesn’t it?

Thankfully Kirk Lake’s biography of Rufus Wainwright, There will be Rainbows, isn’t a scandalous expose of a Meth-sucking ribald queer desperately returning from Crack City soaked in shiny slick Queer as Folk afterbirth. Although part of the type of journey Rufus Wainwright took received quite a good shakedown in the US Queer as Folk series: The character Theodore (Ted/Teddy) Schmidt slipped down the slide to lose himself in debauched sexual acts under the influence of drugs. Eventually druggie Teddy ended up in a twelve step program. Squinting, I could easily imagine Rufus in the role of druggie Teddy but only in a most generalized sense. In the way any television series’ weave issues into their ongoing dramatic trajectory. Doesn’t this character journey get used as a storyline because the drugged out character journey to hell and back is a common morals story we can all relate to? You either die or you survive.

What’s so great about the variation on the theme with the trajectory of singer songwriter Rufus Wainwright is the evolution of his persona as he returns from his particular hell. He’s a self aware kind of guy, and he sings gorgeously.

I was impressed when I saw Rufus in the concert Came so far for Beauty at the Sydney Opera House during the Sydney Festival. I wasn’t really there to see Rufus; I was looking forward to catching Nick Cave back in Sydney, singing something different. I had previously reviewed Poses by Rufus Wainwright; released in Australia by Universal Music. I liked the album. I remember being taken by Rufus’ voice and the lyrics.

Rufus’ Poses struck me as more your Andy Warhol Pop Art than soundtrack to Queer as Folk club music. It had a refined constraint about it and a resonance connected to living the Queer as Folk lifestyle in a grittier downtown Drella kind of way, more real than the newly ingested stereotypes provided by the US series. Curious it was to me, that here was an out gay artist in the days of out gay television soap, and there wasn’t an inordinate deal of hype around about either of them in the mainstream press here in Australia.

It made sense to me when I read newspaper articles saying Rufus was an out gay artist and the son of performing parents but I had no great detail of exactly who these parents were exactly, or what tradition he’d come from. Lake’s biography traces the career shifts and turns of both folks, keeping a reasonably detailed account of their post-divorce couplings.

When Rufus was in Sydney in 2004 a young law student who was producing a regular segment on one of my community radio programs at the time, he was gay, but usually quite straight-laced. Quite mild mannered in fact relatively conservative; and most interestingly this young fellow was smitten with Rufus. He relished telling me the bittersweet story he’d heard of a young intern at ABC Radio who had been taken out to supper and invited back to Rufus’ hotel room; I thought it was cute to see this very serious student of law so irrepressibly whipped up about Rufus’ exploits in Sydney.

It was so great to see he was really into Rufus. Great because he could express himself that way, I couldn’t have gotten away with it so unselfconsciously when I was his age, in my early twenties. It was empowering; two gay guys talking about a gay artist. It’s also curious to see what punters find attractive about him. I know what I think. Rufus is quite handsome and sings really well.

For me, it was definitely Rufus’ track that stood out of the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann, 2001). Rufus sang Complainte De La Butte the lyric by Jean Renoir, it is very simple and beautiful. I had no notion of who he was at the time, but I loved the song.

I had never really heard of the McGarrigle Sisters but I knew of Loudon Wainwright way back when I was a kid myself. Along with classics like Rolf Harris’ Jake the Peg, John Williams’ The Ball-bearing Bird and Red-back on the toilet seat, Loudon Wainwright penned and sang Dead skunk in the middle of the road. It had quite a lot of air play at some point in my 1970’s youth. Loudon Wainwright is of course the father of Rufus and he sang the dead skunk song.

Many years before my face to face interview with Rufus I had met Liza Minnelli in 1978 when I was seventeen. I purchased tickets to the Liza Minnelli concert at the Adelaide Festival Centre as a gift for my mum, but mum had a migraine on the date of the concert so I ended up attending with a manic depressive friend of mine who could drive us to the concert and back afterward. I was enthralled by splashy show business at this particular time. During the concert Liza was fabulous at her prime doing numbers from Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972), New York New York (Martin Scorsese, 1977) and her television special Liza with a Z (Bob Fosse, 1971),all of which I’d seen.

In the days leading up to me going to the concert one particular song had been going around and around in my head for no evident reason, not a Liza Minnelli song as far as I was aware. It was from the musical Gypsy (Mervyn LeRoy, 1962) with lyrics by Jule Styne and music by Stephen Sondheim. For some reason I thought to myself, if Liza were to sing this song it would be a sign that I was going to somehow meet her.

Meeting Liza was a simple task. After all it was Adelaide, the Festival Theatre. She had to leave by the stage door and I knew where that was. My friend and I would just go and stand there, so we did. We waited by her big white limo until she came out.

We waited so long for my friend had bid me leave my gift for Liza with the limo driver. She was ready to call it a night. She was my driver so I left my gift, a hand knitted two foot long multicoloured stripy Wee Willy Winky hat, with Liza’s driver. Just as we were about to leave, Liza emerged. I was flabbergasted.

Coming face to face with such a great talent, noticing how tiny a person she was. Realizing how enormous she had just been on stage. I was thrilled. I shook her hand and said something like You were in Judy’s womb, Liza said Yes I was. The whole sixty seconds was really terrific.

Days later I received a very poorly typed letter on Liza Minnelli letterhead thanking me for the terrific hat (my address was on a note I left inside the hat). Liza was such a forceful star and such a great sport.

My reaction to Rufus singing in the Came so far for Beauty concert was similar to my reaction to hearing Liza in concert and Judy on records. Rufus has a truly beautiful voice and his relationship with the audience is very clean, I would call it transparent, glowing, and shining.

I had been excited to see Nick Cave in this concert, I knew more of Martha than Rufus Wainwright because she had the saucy Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole around on radio - I’d played it several times as well as other songs from her self titled debut album. Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole was about her father; but once you start to digest the life long song writing habits of Loudon and Kate, it’s their family tradition; Martha’s song has great appeal.

The parents divorced after the birth of Martha, the kids went to live with mum while dad pretty much went on the long tour to peddle his work. Along the way Loudon wrote songs about his relationship, his kids and his philandering.

It was only a matter of time before the daughter grew up and wrote a few songs of her own and Martha’s letter to daddy was a ripper.
Combine my press release readings related to Martha and my gay law students girly demeanor when gossiping about the dreamy Rufus, I was picking up the vibe that I was missing out on something.

Sat listening to Rufus singing at the Sydney Opera House I realized I had been missing out. He was excellent. So I requested an interview with him. I wanted to get a better sense of who this guy was.

Just prior this time I had seen a preview of the film The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, 2004), a big epic movie with Rufus playing a club act in the recreated Coconut Grove replica the production had built in Montreal. I thought he was great; there was a quality that reminded me of Barbra Streisand dancing in Hello Dolly (Gene Kelly, 1969), untrained. This is not to be mean or criticize. I find the physicality of the comedic untrained dancer vastly superior to watch at times than the trained dancers’ slick precision.

Rufus busts a couple of moves that are pretty hilarious in The Aviator. I felt there was a generalized essence he had; hard to not lack subtlety when performing live in such a massive scene, but he certainly works it through his number and it entertains. To me it resembles Al Jolson or a Persian Sufi, someone very skilled at pure expression.

Rufus and I met in the coffee shop area of the hotel where he was staying in Sydney. I’ve deliberately left the greater part of his um’s and ah’s in this transcript because they are very him, but I have trimmed some of them out. Virtually anywhere there is an um or an ah you can imagine another two or three. His mercurial thinking on the fly seems very honest as he answers questions; to me this was a nice interview even though I showed myself up a little by being a bit flirtatious. I actually pulled back a little too far, out of embarrassment, made the decision not to flirt any more but think I ended up sounding a little straighter than I’d hoped to sound by the end.

Rufus had a cup of tea on a saucer; he was unshaven with a white shirt unbuttoned around the chest and jeans. He cuts a dashing young figure. We made our greetings, sat down at a table and I started recording. His laugh is something bright, like a Parrot; gawkily devilishly geekish, very unselfconscious.

David: It’s been said that great art is something that arises from great suffering and you’ve been pretty open in the press about having some periods in your life where maybe you’ve described it as being a little bit lost in um-

Rufus: Hedonistic behaviour…? (Laughs)

David: Yeah, hedonistic behaviour; so do you think a lot of your work is informed by some of those hard times?

Rufus: Ah well, I mean, uh, I don’t, in any way, consider my, you know, my dark days to be um, truly dark; I mean compared to you know, what a huge- a vast majority of the world goes through you know, if you don’t live in a first world country. You know, I do think that I as an artist, you know, I was definitely drawn to you know, the romantic and to the sort of ephemeral and I kind of went there you know mostly because I was just attracted to it and loved it really; and so I think, and in the end it did become you know very painful and, kind of um, really like an illusion, you know, empty, so, so.. but I got all that I could out of it, you know so, and I still respect it tremendously like that whole you know, bohemian lifestyle and I still, you know, love those movies and stuff and who knows? But in the last while I just figured I hit a point where you know I just had… I just needed to… I just needed some basic things that all humans need you know, just like care and love and positive outlooks on life and had to you know and I had to sort of switch gears a little. So I think it was necessary just as an artist to go there but I think it was necessary as a better artist to like return and continue.

David: Is there a point then in your development as a performer when you’ve gone from being the kid of someone or some ones who sing on to an artist in his own right?

Rufus: I don’t know I mean I play both sides really. I very much take advantage of my unique relationship with my parents; we do shows together, Martha’s been in my band and I definitely am seen often with them, so, so I feel that um, I don’t know. I really do feel like both Kate (my Mother) and Anna (my Aunt) McGarrigle, Loudon Wainwright (my Dad) and Martha Wainwright (my sister) we’re all very very different musicians and really incomparable in a certain way, um, I did feel like, you know, I didn’t necessarily always feel this way you know after all this time since I made my first record. I think I needed about three records probably to really be confidant in my own sort of position and so now I’ve made my fourth um,

David: Do you mean be confidant in your own position in the family sort of thing?

Rufus: Well just my own position, not so much in the family but my own position in the music world as compared with my family members, I mean I really think that um, I mean when you see the family show, which we do sometimes; we just did it here (Sydney) I think one is initially kind of shocked by sort of the level of quality of ah, of each performer, uh like me and my sister we were talking about it the other day, like my sister comes out and it’s like this nuclear bomb goes off-

David: It sure is.

Rufus: I’m just sort of like grasping at the piano trying to survive it you know and then my mother and my aunt you know there like these two sort of elves from Lord of the Rings who like, cast these magical spells, so I gotta get up there and do my little thing, and so I think it’s kind of. I don’t know. I think that’s how I feel about it, I think we’re all at the same level in a certain way.

David: You’re very comfortable and relaxed in your own skin on stage, I mean, is that because you’ve been working with them on stage a good deal of your life?

Rufus: I’ve been on the stage since I was at least twelve.

David: And you’re like what twenty-five, twenty-six now?

Rufus: No I’m thirty-one (laughs) Thank you that’s very sweet of you-

David: You?

Rufus: Yeah.

David: You really are?

Rufus: Yeah (long laugh)

David: Okay.

Rufus: Can’t you tell I got a beard and everything?

David: Yeah I just thought you were wearing the butch look today.

Rufus: Oh well that’s sweet, that’s very sweet of you; that made my day.

David: Okay.

Rufus: It’s a good thing you said that. Yeah but no, I’ve been doing; been on the stage for years and I watched you know, both my parents perform and I also was very much as a young child um, drawn to classic um, stagecraft, you know, movies from the forties and thirties and old Judy Garland musicals; just that whole idea of being able to tap dance and sing and-

David: Do you tap dance?

Rufus: No. I took tap dancing lessons once-

David: I would have thought that in The Aviator in your featured role there you would’ve sprung into a bit of tap dancing if you did tap dance.

Rufus: Ah yeah if I did I would’ve. But I ah, I just, I don’t know I’m lazy (laughs)

David: Can we talk about The Aviator? You perform in an extraordinarily huge scene-

Rufus: Yeah.

David: It’s comparable to the opening scene of New York New York that other Scorsese film

Rufus: Yuh

David: Um, how long did it take? What did you do to prepare? And, did you have a ball because it looked like you did.

Rufus: Oh well I had a great time I mean I was, very much, it’s funny because it didn’t take that long to do, it took about three days for that scene to be done and um I arrived the most amazing thing about it; or well, one of the most amazing things about it was that it was actually filmed in Montreal which is my home town, they’d rebuilt the Coconut Grove up there. I went up there to do it and it was my thirtieth birthday on the day of filming and I was quite exhausted just from you know, touring and running around so I was asleep a lot in the trailer in fact my mother came and brought a cake and brought it out on the set and I wasn’t there because I was asleep but then we went out and started filming and um, and I was very comfortable in that environment. I guess ‘because I’d made videos in the past that I just regarded you know, Leonardo DiCaprio was just sort of like another extra -

David: Well why not!

Rufus: (Laughs excitedly) A very you know, defined looking one, and then, and then, but you know, and then, we did it and I don’t know, it was really, I mean I had a ball doing it, but it was also, I don’t know, it was, it was I don’t know, it’s funny because I had another experience not too later, not much later which was, you know, later on, which was actually where I acted in a movie with Glen Close, I have a scene in this movie called Heights a couple of scenes where I actually had to act and that was much more daunting and sort of frightening-

David: Is that the first formal acting you’ve done?

Rufus: That was the first sort of formal on screen acting that I’ve done um-

David: But you’ve acted on stage?

Rufus: Yeah I used to do a lot of plays and stuff as a kid, you know in high school and stuff obviously-

David: Do you think doing that sort of stuff has fed into your ability to be a creative genius?

Rufus: (Laughs big and embarrassed)

David: For want of a better word.

Rufus: Well I don’t know, I definitely… As I said before just, I was sold on the whole idea that you know, great performers have to be really well rounded artistically you know? You got to know how to read an audience, you got to know how to move in a certain way and you got to know how to; you know you gotta really sort of ah, compare yourself to the greats who came before you and I think that’s; that in doing that you have to learn from them some how; so, so I do, I don’t know, I just feel like that’s where I’ve, that’s how I’ve chosen to survive by trying to you know- Even if it’s not popular today even if it’s not, you know, current or anything, just to sort of emulate what’s really great and undeniably so. I’ve tried to add it in my set somehow. So I dunno (laughs)

David: Well you sang Over the Rainbow the other night at The Enmore

Rufus: Yeah.

David: And it kind of got me thinking that here you are, you’re a first generation kid of a pretty famous coupling maybe you’re kind of like the Liza Minnelli of the new century (he laughs) What do you think about that?

Rufus: Ah well, ah, don’t tell my mother that. She’d have a heart attack. I don’t think I’m remotely like her.

David: You’re much taller. (he laughs)

Rufus: I would say that I; I mean that I wouldn’t mind being sort of the male Judy Garland in a certain way. Um, I mean I’ve always been a un, um, unabashed kind of um, unforgiving kind of fan of her work. Um, I know that it’s... And that’s a pretty daunting and daring thing to say-

David: It is

Rufus: for a homosexual-

David: It is.

Rufus: of my age.

David: Well especially one who sings-

Rufus: Yeah yeah-

David: and writes-

Rufus: Yeah. Cause there’s such a, you know, one is really pegged when they become you know a fan of hers, but we’re all, you know, every time I sort of return to her singing and her kind of phrasing and her really emotional way of carrying a song, it is like Wagnerian to me and it is this kind of this amazing; I’m still always constantly fascinated by it and ah, and moved so, so I don’t know. I do base a lot of my ideas of stagecraft on the Garland ethic but without the pills I guess (laughs)

David: Yeah which is you know; and that’s a good thing. On Want Too you’re, you’re kind of- that’s you there on the cover isn’t it?

Rufus: Yeah that is-

David: -and rather beautiful in some sort of almost err, renaissance or is it-

Rufus: It’s supposed to be Pre-Raphaelite

David: Pre-Raphaelite?

Rufus: Yeah.

David: Okay so, so what inspired that sort of behaviour? Is that a kick back to the kind of Judy Garlandesque sort of thing as well?

Rufus: No I think that’s more, I mean, that is more a kind of, when I said Wagnerian before it’s maybe a little more you know nineteenth century ah, romanticism which is really, takes a lot of; the pre-Raphaelites has always interested me as an art movement mainly because their paintings are just so beautiful and also their poetry and they really tried to make this sort of rich mixture of poetry and life and painting and theatre and you know mix it in with a little Oscar Wilde and a little you know, Beardsley, it’s very you know, unabashedly beautiful art form, and it’s funny because only recently after completing these two covers Want One and Want Too where I’m dressed as a Knight and then as The Lady of Shallot I realise that in fact my music is very pre-Raphaelite like I’m sort of operating on the same tenants like bringing past music to the future

David: Yeah.

Rufus: and sort of romanticising it almost like giving it steroids

David: Well it’s interesting you say that because I mean you described one of them I think the art teacher as a song that you wrote from the perspective of a young girl at school who is having an art class and then reminiscing when she is married to a wealthy man

Rufus: Yeah

David: yada yada which was a you know, nice little joke in there that you make but at the same time the song is deadly beautiful it’s incredible you pay homage to so many extraordinary artists in that song it’s kind of like ‘now where does that come from?’ is that from, is that just from you or what?

Rufus: I was I was a very solitary young person, I mean I was your typical kind of, or atypical I don’t know, wandering teenager who didn’t.. I mean I had a, had a few friends but I pretty much felt somewhat disconnected to the world and I would go to the opera alone at thirteen or fourteen or I would go to the Metropolitan Museum and kind of really relate more to the pictures on the wall that the you know, the people in the room and um, and I was kind of, you know I did fancy myself a kind of dandy, a misunderstood dandy and uh,

David: Is there any other kind?

Rufus: (laughs) and ah, and so I was, you know, that’s sort of the character that I’m hankering back to sort of my; who I don’t think you ever lose really I mean like even now like for instance I even go, like yesterday I even went to the gym here in Sydney and then we went to like, Manly Beach you know I just felt like that twelve year old again. I don’t know, whatever I still feel like that sort of gawky person. Even though I’m ravishingly beautiful. (laughs)

David: I wont make any comment because I don’t want to offend you. I mean you’ve got this sort of internalized beauty that is extraordinary and you’ve got to be able to acknowledge that and forget about your external

Rufus: Yeah I guess so but it is hard to kind of um, it’s very difficult to eh, lets just say it’s a job to do that for every gay man I think in our society

David: That’s exactly what I was going to ask; do you think there’s more pressure placed on you, you’re out in the industry and in the media as a gay man so obviously you’re; every gay guy that I know is madly in love with you the rumours of you picking up interns are everywhere you go, (he laughs) are stronger and stronger as we get around the place sort of thing (at this point Martha made an appearance) is this your sister yaeh?

Rufus: Yeah there’s my sister; are you off? You got your bag or are you going?

Martha: Great to see you.

Rufus: Yeah you too.

Martha: I’ll talk to you very soon.

David: Great concert the other night, you rock.

Martha: Thankyou. Have a good one tonight.

Rufus: Okay bye Pounie.

David: You’ve got one tonight?

Rufus: Yeah the Cabaret Voltaire. It’s a little secret show or something.

David: Oh okay, where Anthony performed the other night?

Rufus: I think he was at The Vanguard wasn’t he?

David: Oh you’re doing the Voltaire. Have you ever been there?

Rufus: No, is it nice?

David: Ah it’s the tiniest bit flea bitten sort of, maybe we’d call it a shit hole but it depends always on the

Rufus: Yeah yeah yeah.

David: On the performance.

Rufus: I have no idea I just show up and perform.

David: Oh well that’s really cool. Gosh you’re really doing a lot because you are doing The Basement as well.

Rufus: Yeah I’m doing two nights at The Basement as well.

David: Wow you’re doing a lot while you are here which is great for us. But is that what your tours are usually like, so jam packed?

Rufus: Well I mean I’m, I’m kind of, you know, I’m in my prime at the moment.

David: Yep yep.

Rufus: If there’s any time to rest it’s not now.

David: Okay.

Rufus: and I very much, I don’t know, I think because, ah, and I don’t say this in a complaining way but I would state that ah, I kind of have to work a little harder than certain acts um, mainly because ahh, I don’t quite, I mean I get a lot of support from my record company um and I do get; I am on a major label and you know, and that compared to people who are on like indy labels and who get nothing mmm and tour in vans you know? It is.. I shouldn’t complain but when you kind of go over this other border where you know people in my own sort of position. I don’t quite get as much promotion in a certain way like, or money put behind me as Iike big acts, you know, like I don’t get to make videos anymore I don’t really get a huge amount of; you know they don’t buy ads a lot, it’s like the radio thing isn’t totally jammed down the radio you know, and I mean I know a lot of the very famous, you know like The Strokes and the Nelly Furtado’s and all those people like that you know and I would consider them you know, for better for worse my contemporaries, but I don’t get that same sort of push, so.. but I still have this sort of big

David: Following

Rufus: Following yeah, but I have to constantly

David: Feed the animal

Rufus: Feed it, feed it and which means I got to work all the time which in the end I think it means does make a sort of better performer and a better kind of (pose voce) celebrity (embarrassed, breathing in) but ah, but, cause, cause I find there’s so many of those people now that are just so sort of um injected with fame you know and sort of that they become sort of bloated idiots and they can’t really, they don’t have anything interesting to say cause they have no real experiences they’re just like all of a sudden they’re famous like Ashley Simpson or that whole thing and they’ don’t really know, there’s nothing there to really warrant it, so when I do become famous it will be completely warranted (laughs).

David: I think by the time you become famous you will have earned it well and truly and that’s what you’re saying isn’t it?

Rufus: Yeah that’s what I’m trying to say.

David: Cause you’ve worked your butt off.

Rufus: So I think it’s worth t in the end but it is a lot of work. It is a lot of work and it’s also, you know, it’s I do think that I’m at a kind of a point where I could handle more of a little more of a push just in terms of you know just getting on certain shows and stuff.

David: Get it while the beauty is intact before you-

Rufus: Yeah yeah there’s this documentary coming out, soon in England on me, on Channel Four which is an hour long thing, I think it will be really great and I watched it
last night and you know, I’m great right now I was very beautiful when I was young like when I was twenty three and starting in my first album and a lot of those tracks like April Fools and California and like Poses I mean they were great songs those albums should’ve done better than they did. You know?

David: Yeah.

Rufus: Yeah, and they could’ve really been like, it was like amazing at that point and I was watching the documentary last night but it was a little sad you know when you see it and it wasn’t um, pushed as much as it could’ve but in the end there were other reasons why that was better for me. I don’t think I could’ve handled that kind of success at that point in my life.

David: You might have gone through such a bender when you, ‘cause I mean it was after that was it not?

Rufus: Yeah it was after Poses

David: Yeah, so I mean; and there’s a lot of the self awareness in ‘Poses’ that kind of says okay look out world here I come

Rufus: Yeah yeah yeah yeah

David: And obviously you had a bit of a party there for a while

Rufus: No it was great (laughs)

David: which You know, look, I think all gay guys have go through at some time otherwise we end up kind of getting to a point where we’re regretting that we never you know?

Rufus: And it’s also I think, it’s important to kind of dispel the myth that that’s where you know being gay is

David: Centred?

Rufus: Is centred so, you go there and yo see it and you’re like well maybe this isn’t all there is in the world

David: No, but I mean you’ve got to go there to discover that

Rufus: Yeah, you gotta go there

David: So do you think it’s been more difficult for you because you’ve been out about your sexuality

Rufus: Well I don’t think it’s more difficult for me

David: You say that because you’re good looking.

Rufus: I think it’s easier for me. Well, no I mean a-

David: And now he’s buttoning up his shirt

Rufus: (laughs) I’m fairly, I’m confidant in my looks and everything I do think that it’s easier on me in an emotional sense to not lie about it

David: Yep

Rufus: And to er.. you know it’s good for my head and I do think it’s important to have at least some variety in show business and have different types of people so

David: Sure

Rufus: So I think that I do think that I’ve been penalized for it though at times.

David: Well okay so how do you suppose that may have happened?

Rufus: Ah you know..

David: Like penalized as in..?

Rufus: Ah just as in you know just very subtlety and you know as I said before like I said with videos and being placed on the radio and like for instance like you know I’ve done Letterman and Conan O’Brien

David: Yeah yeah

Rufus: And all the kind of big talk-shows; I’m never interviewed

David: Just singing? Just?

Rufus: I just sing

David: They don’t come over

Rufus: They don’t come over and talk to me at all

David: So what do you think that’s some kind of internalized homophobia from

Rufus: I don’t know, I don’t think that it’s necessarily something planned. I don’t think it’s something that’s stated necessarily it could be

David: Do you think they’re frightened a little bit maybe?

Rufus: Well I think that they’re very much um, they just don’t um, it’s just not a safe bet. You know I mean,

David: Okay.

Rufus: It’s just not a safe bet so they’re not going to make it

David: They can’t ask the same questions that they’ll ask

Rufus: Yeah, and that’s the most depressing part of the whole situation with the music business in general is that their not willing to take those chances anymore on certain artists who may be out left of centre they just go with what’s sort of bonfide at this point and it’s kind of ruining music really. What I’m trying to say is my being gay is one thing, but I think I probably relate to other artists who might be a little crazy or black or folk singers you know what I mean? You know other people who aren’t necessarily arian and stacked.

David: Thanks again so much for talking with us; thank you so much. You were great.

And so he was. Thoughtful and brave and quite cheerfully divulging a true person at me, even though I was arguably a little mean once or twice.

So back to There will be Rainbows: A biography of Rufus Wainwright by Kirk Lake. So much detail is relative in the Wainwright clan. Mum did this, dad did that etc. It’s a little like the kitchen sink drama version of The Sound of Music but it’s not because the problem of Maria is never solved. I was continually impressed with the way the book balanced what was worth knowing about Loudon and Kate and left out what was not all that interesting like detailed negative hypothesis. I like the step back it maintains when it comes to throwing stones at any of the main characters in the family. It doesn’t read like anyone’s ultimately damned or held accountable.

What I did get was a notion of the amount of work Rufus really does have to do, and has had to do in order to build and maintain his market. Interestingly if you looked at it from a particular perspective it’s like a defense mechanism of evolution and genetics for performers to have a gay son because that way he’s already kind of wired to put the greatest effort into his work or art or what have you, rather than to spend all his vigor on a wife and family.

If you don’t know all that much about Rufus; and I couldn’t claim to know a great deal about him before reading this book, apart from impressions meeting and talking with him, reflecting on what he said is all I had. Mainly I had read press releases for his albums, concerts, the bio in the program for Came so far for Beauty and a couple of newspaper articles prior to meeting him. I hope I’ve explained that awakened in me a desire to know more about him when I heard him sing; particularly Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah; There will be Rainbows provides some well researched and footnoted insights and references that bring to light all the more detail and depth of his journey along the way from gawky teenager to well honed adult performer, or dare I say creative genius.

The book is fascinating the way it reveals enormously significant details of Rufus’ life without necessarily lancing any boils. Significantly Rufus was sexually assaulted as a young teenager; so was I. Something like this is a difficult experience to grow after. It creates a very complicated situation, particularly for a same sex attracted individual; just the way that coming out to your parents does. Even dealing with divorced parents is a difficult thing as a teenager. As aspects of your own personality start to emerge as similar traits to those you have identified in your parents, you can start to understand how these traits in your own behavior may press buttons in your parents.

Loudon and Kate sent Rufus off to boarding school against his wishes, but it seems the sojourn away was the ultimate tonic for his recovery at the time. Loudon introduced his young son to Penny Arcade, a performance artist famous for interactive experimental theatre shows where she invited the audience to check out her vagina as part of the program. Great work, and under the circumstances, Arcade was probably a great person to hook Rufus up with. Lake manages to sensibly contextualize all of this within the era. This is the terrifying era of AIDS. There was justifiable fear around concerning the spread of HIV, so a hip and pro-active individual such as Penny Arcade would have brought a lot of good learning to the table.

Rufus is honestly the geek, the galloping gawky guy; drop dead gorgeous and handsome on a multitude of levels, superficially and less superficially. That Lake has been able to comprehensively put everything together for Wainwrights fans is great, it’s neither a gushing fan book that says everything’s swell about Rufus or a tabloid dressing down.

In some of my favorite sections the book descriptively references the details behind the images on the Want album covers; it channels the course of touring and the playing in clubs like musicians must. It speaks to the truth of action more so than the myth creation of a series of press releases.

In some ways it seems Lake is suggesting that it will be Martha Wainwright who will have the greater music career proving ultimately that it’s the youngest member of the clan who will grab the biggest brass ring; yet there are others, half siblings. Loudon’s other singer songwriter offspring Lucy. Lucy is yet to emerge on the international scene, and I don’t see any books about her waiting to be released at this point in time.

Not that it’s a competition as such. As Rufus so rightly points out they each have their own merits and are quite a musically diverse bunch.

By now I have also seen Martha perform a few times, and she is great, there is that family trait of seeming a little unrehearsed, seems disinterested in maintaining the crowds interest for long. Her performances on screen for Rufus as part of his Judy Judy Judy Concert is astonishingly good, and her moments in I’m Your Man (Lian Lunson, 2005) are fabulous; I do very much like her, but I’m more fond of Rufus.

I did speak with Martha on the phone about her self titled debut album after they’d all left Australia. This interview was for my national music program broadcast on the Community Radio Satellite - Welcome Release.

David: So what sort of stuff is going on in your life that’s exciting for you right at the moment?

Martha: Well I’m about to cook a rack of lamb which is very exciting to me (both laugh), cause I’ve been on the road for so long I’m very excited about putting something in the oven and then putting it in my mouth.

David: Excellent.

Martha: And um, and I’m very excited to go to England in a couple of weeks with my band; because it will be fun to be able to go over there with them.

David: Now it’s not that long ago that you were here in Sydney, and Australia in general, did you enjoy yourself while you were here?

Martha: I did. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to do much out door stuff which I think you know, is something that your country really has to offer.

David: How about the relationship with the audiences here did you feel really comfortable with them?

Martha: I found them to be incredibly warm and receptive you know they seem to be quite avid music lovers at least the ones who came to the family shows.

David: What kind of reaction have you had for your CD so far where it’s been released around the place?

Martha: Well I’ve only heard good things but you know maybe my friends are not telling me about the bad things. But I think that because, the nature of the record is that it’s a very emotional and revealing album and I think that sometimes you cannot deny those raw and true feelings and I think people are touched by them and I’m very happy for that.

David: Certainly they’re very touching. You introduced Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole as a song you’d like to dedicate to your father and that was a really revealing moment I guess, but then what teenage or young girl-

Martha: Exactly-

David: hasn’t felt that about her father?

Martha: Absolutely I think that song is about everyone’s father and it’s also about me more than it is probably about my dad. Anyway I’m sorry I cut you off-

David: I really love your song, the lyrics to your song TV Show. I wonder if you’ve ever been on Oprah yet?

Martha: No unfortunately, and you know it’s very funny I had to change the title of that song because the record company was afraid of going to court with Oprah understandably because that was always called the Oprah Song and I’ve always thought about having the opportunity to sing it on her show some day.

David: Surely she’d be flattered not litigious.

Martha: Absolutely I think it’s totally positive. You know we can all be victims of the trappings of daytime television. I found myself quite literally at four in the afternoon, you know, crying watching the Oprah Winfrey Show and she’s telling me to love myself; you know, I’m a sucker for humanity as much as the next person and she goes for it and it’s okay.

David: Tell me about Factory because it’s such a beautiful lyric and the characters, do you see it as a character telling a story or do you see it more autobiographically?

Martha: Well it is autobiographical as all of these songs are although I see that I have the images of someone running you know, along the beach from factory to factory and trying to get the hell out of a place and away from the types of people that she doesn’t like. That song is about a place in southern California which is a place that you know, no one should ever have to live. It’s right on the beach and the beach is covered with factories and loads of Mexican migrant workers that have been shipped in from some other town. You know it’s just an American nightmare. Maybe I shouldn’t be so strong about it because I’m sure there are people who live there that are very happy to live there. I just didn’t have a good feeling from it and I was also surrounded by music company people music label people who are you know sometimes can be… ahhh, you know.

David: One of the songs particularly that I find really quite huge; a big emotional engagement is This Life. Can you tell me a little bit about where you were at when you were writing This Life?

Martha: I’ll try to remember. You know I think that this song it sounds like someone who has a lot of time on their hands isn’t it? I think that where I was at is that I was very depressed and didn’t know really what to do with myself and that song is sort of saying instead of killing yourself you know, there is music and that’s just about really realizing the power of music and when I say there’s a little country song in my head I think that’s about me going and listening to music and just being so moved by it which sometimes happens where you can be so sad and have tears running down your face and it’s such a relief when you hear someone else singing the sad song that you’re not alone at all and that that’s a very powerful thing that music can do and very helpful I think to a lot of people you know.

David: You were born into a musical and very creative family weren’t you.

Martha: (laughs) I don’t know I wasn’t there. No. (Both laugh) Yes I was born into a very creative and musical family and that’s probably why I’m able to recognize the power of art and music and get a lot from it. I’m very happy for my um.. for where I come from.

David: Do you see it as something you want to do now with the, for the rest of your life or do you see it as something maybe you’ll want to do for a little while but there are other things that you really want to get on to and achieve as well?

Martha: No I think that it’s taken me this long to really come out with the debut album and come out as a singer songwriter and an artist and I think that I want to keep doing that I think I know for sure now that this is what I want to do and I think that you know, music will always, I’ll always do music, I don’t know if it’ll be in attempts to sell as many units as I can it might not be, you know,

David: Well that’s fair enough

Martha: But I think I’ll always sing.

David: Well it seems there’s a deeper passion in you that goes beyond just wanting to sell units as such. There seems to be a real person in there that wants to express themself through song.

Martha: Yeah. I think I have enough to say. Some of these songs are eight years old. It’s really the story of a woman through her twenties, namely me, and ah, I didn’t sign a record deal with people and I always stay one foot in and one foot out of a career in music and I think that I did that because I felt the need to have a relationship with music myself rather than have anything be handed to me which I could’ve taken more advantage of being from the family that I am.

David: I imagine coming from a family with creative parents who are performing and living their life in that sort of magical realm of entertainment it (Martha laughs)

Martha: Although it’s all; I mean the funny thing with entertainment, it’s so great that you use that word because entertainment is just the fact that it’s two dimensional plastic you know sort of thing. It’s kind of great, I love it, I love that, it’s behind… you know, people’s faces are painted and they’re all on a stage in a scene made out of cardboard you know, I mean I think - anyway sorry…

David: That’s kind of where I was going, it’s sort of a magical world from the outside but being inside of it as a young person, you can be kind of engulfed by it but at the same time you see that there’s a dichotomy there that isn’t real-

Martha: Yeah absolutely-

David: And I guess that that would by some degree mean you could respond to that by saying ‘Oh I don’t want to get sucked in to what is here I want to find my own way through it kind of thing and deal with it myself.

Martha: Absolutely I mean I think I really needed to make sure that this is what I want to do because I know that, you know, it’s a crappy business and it’s filled with a lot of bull shit artists, I don’t know, I’m sorry but you know there’s a lot of falsity in it and I think that most young people would be very very content to sign a record deal and I think it was something that I wasn’t particularly impressed with because I’m jaded as all hell because of my upbringing-

David: And fair enough too, but at least you’re not Liza Minnelli hey.

Martha: Yeah at least I’m not Liza Minnelli, good.

David: There’s way more tragedy that surrounds her sort of life coming from a showbiz background.

Martha: Absolutely.

David: That’s what I’m getting at there.

After thanking Martha and wrapping up the interview, and now listening to reinscribe it after a few years I think of how her work fit in among other songs we were playing on the radio at the time. Martha does have a more commercial sound than Rufus, but there are potential problems with her overall sound becoming a little too repetitive; things start to sound the same at the live gigs I’ve attended in most recent times 2008 at the Governor Hindmarsh in Adelaide she was only okay compared to being brilliant at the Enmore in Sydney four years ago.

The bottom line is after reading this biography I’ve become much more interested in the whole family, particularly the beautiful, brash singing son who wouldn’t mind being thought of as the male Judy Garland; and whom I’d thought sounds similar to her any way, so, I guess he is perfecting his abilities around her work. The complete evolution of Rufus has yet to transpire, I’m sure there will be more to come, and I fully agree with Lake, there will be rainbows. I’d even go so far as to say I think the young Mister Wainwright will some day make a perfectly dazzling effort with something quite spectacular, and it will be he playing the pot of gold at the end of this colorful family rainbow. Jingling and sparkling like bountiful exuberance, golden Rufus triumphant; great read!

David Jobling

Note: this item is due in-store late June 2009 Paperback, 352 Pages, Published 2009

all rights reserved
Copyright 2009

170

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Australia National , Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

DICK on DVD

May 12th 2010 04:48

Columbia TriStar Home Video
PHOENIX PICTURES presents
A PACIFIC WESTERN production

A FILM BY ANDREW FLEMING

DICK

Kirsten Dunst
Michelle Williams
Dave Foley
Harry Shearer
Dan Hedaya as Dick

Why is Dick so funny? The buck rests with openly gay writer director Andrew Fleming it's much more fun than Threesome (1994) another of his films on video. I think it's his camp sensibility that lifts Dick up and holds it firmly in cheek. It is not the glorious comedy of stupidity like The Brady Bunch Movie, it isn't a satire, Dick remains truthful and as close to reality as possible, so the circumstances and characters are easy to accept. Seriously funny stuff. I'll call it queer rather than camp because it has the sort of edge The Brady Bunch Movie much as I love it, never even attempted.

The cast work very well as an ensemble and there are brilliantly colorful moments as well as brief encounters with deeply felt and expressed feelings. It would be a fabulous video to watch with Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and so cool to sit home and see with a group at a slumber party. It could even be useful to watch if you want to flunk a Modern American History class. I take my cap off to the whole team who have brought it to life.

I imagine if Marcia and Jan Brady were available they would have been cast in this queerly delightful film, I'm sure they had a part to play in the conception of it.

It's an excellent family film, full of extremely enjoyable moments that made films like Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and Cluless, so much fun. Using the same sort of conceit as Forrest Gump does, Dick gets deeper than Romy & Michele or Cluless, by placing the two blonde girls slap bang into the whole Watergate scandal, but only as a plot point to drive the story.

Rather than originating every major development in American culture (Run Forrest, run!) these two blondes simply assist in exposing one big fat silly Dick, Richard Nixon that is.

Kirsten Dunst as Betsy and Michelle Williams as Arlene are no less than brilliant as they scream, giggle, scream, secret-whistle, scream, stupefy and scream their way down the corridors of the Whitehouse in 1970's Washington D.C. Not since her steely characterisation as the child vampire in Interview with the Vampire have I seen Dunst hit the nail so heavily on the head acting wise. Michelle Williams (a regular cast member of Dawson's Creek at the time, pre-Heath and Matilda) is every part equal as the ever so slightly older, but none the wiser fatherless friend.

Together they seem like Marcia and Jan one moment, or fashionwise, a young Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone the next. All derivatives aside, these actors create likeable characters you will remember.

Dan Hedaya is Nixonesque enough to make Anthony Hopkins seem pale in the Oliver Stone feature not that you could otherwise compare the two. His hatred for the presidential pooch Checkers is a great running gag to watch and his mood swings seem truthful to a tee.

Costume Designer Deborah Everton dresses the two girls in fine 1970's fashion. I'm almost sure I've seen Jan and Marcia in those pyjamas.

I'm proud to say I even wore clothes like the studly young dude Betsy tries to seduce as the girls steal one of the tapes Nixon lost when I was his age. I couldn't say anything bad about this film, if you saw it on the screen, take it home on video and see it again because it's as sophisticated as classic queer comedy comes. If you wondered what I mean by queerly funny, substitute the word camp, but remember we have two teenage girls involved with the President, his dog, journalists from the Washington Post; I think it's fair to say this is better than camp.

Ten out of ten for biggest best value Dick!

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Australia National , News, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

Adelaide Festival wraps up 2010

March 14th 2010 23:27

Paul Grabowsky delivered a fine Adelaide Festival, and now the mops, brooms and buckets are out cleaning up after. It was a fantastic festival, despite some of the more dodgey OHS issues I spied along the way.

Artistic Director Grabowsky was on the local television news saying he didn't care what critics said, calling them background noise. Well, fair enough Mr G. One thing to keep in mind is that while he may not care, it is one of the only ways people wanting to have some sense of trying before buying like to read a review or two before slapping their money on the table.

There are some things I will not fork out for until I've had some feedback on, be it a word of mouth mention or a review by a critic I trust, or feel I'm usually in opposition to, and so if they didn't like it I most likely would.

It's a little dangerous to hear a festival director say such a thing, but I guess he is still riding high on the greatness of the whole thing.

I'll be back to expand and improve on the overall wrap up a little later. I've seen several shows and will list the ones I thought were great.

The thing is, there were quite a few things where a little improvement could go a long way. I've been a part of the Sydney Festival and the Adelaide Festival in the past - and I think there are a few things that could lift the game of this local festival; lift it from really good to fantastic. So stay tuned.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Australia National , News, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

John Cale's Keynote Online

February 18th 2010 09:14

Watch and Listen to John Cale's Keynote Online

On February 15 underground rock royalty and founding member of the Velvet Underground, John Cale, cut the red ribbon for Modular and Sydney Festival's Circa 1979: Signal to Noise with a Keynote speech at the Seymour Centre.

Hipsters rubbed shoulders with electronic pioneers in a packed out York Theatre as Cale showed off a few snaps and described working with the likes of Lou Reed, Patti Smith, Happy Mondays, The Stooges and LCD Soundsystem before capping things off with a mind blowing rendition of "Heart Break Hotel."

If you missed the speech or want to listen/watch it again, ABC's Big Ideas are streaming it online.

January 28, 2010 at 10:23am in circa 1979: signal to noise

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Live, Sydney Scene, Adelaide Scene, Melbourne Scene, Brisbane Scene, Perth Scene, Australia National , CD/DVD, News, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

Chamber Music Festival 2010

February 5th 2010 22:56

Chinese Gardens
Chamber Music Festival 2010

Musica Viva is pleased to support the Chinese Garden Chamber Music Festival

Following on from the success of the first ever Chinese music festival in Australia in February 2009, the 2010 Chinese Garden Chamber Music Festival will be held:

February 4th to 6th in Sydney’s Chinese Garden of Friendship (Download Brochure)

We are proud to announce that 2010 will feature three of China’s masters of the erhu, pipa and guqin, Xing Lu, Tong Ying and Jin Wei. These extraordinary, virtuosic musicians will join prominent Australian artists in performing Chinese and Australian works, both ancient and modern. You will hear some of the world’s best chamber musicians from both countries in the intimate and magical environment of the Chinese Garden including the Orava String Quartet, Chinese Australian Music Ensemble, cellist Patrick Murphy, percussionists Claire Edwards, Kevin Man and Timothy Constable and The Sydney Chinese Music Ensemble.

There will be six concerts over the three days – three ‘yum cha’ concerts, all beginning at 11.30am, and three evening concerts at 7pm each night. Tickets will also include stimulating pre-talks before evening concerts and an excellent Chinese meal. Wine will be available.

Only 147 tickets are available for each concert and bookings can be made through the Musica Viva box office on 1800 688 482

More information about the festival HERE

John Huie
Artistic Director

"John Huie is an Australian musician and arranger that has spent some considerable time in Hong Kong and China researching various world music styles, including film soundtracks for Golden Harvest and also a commemorative piece for the 1997 handover. Now based in Shanghai, he has put together a crack band of local musicians to recreate many of the 1930’s jazz songs that were the soundtrack to the city in its pre-war heyday. “Shanghai Jazz – Musical Seductions From China’s Age of Decadence” is the sublime result."

"After moving to Shanghai in 2002, he spent three years researching and reproducing the authentic songs and musical style of Shanghai in the 1930s. The albums Shanghai Jazz 1 and Shanghai Jazz 2, were released by EMI. Huie then continued to write for small ensembles using a combination of traditional European and Chinese instruments, which resulted in the release of New Shanghai, also with EMI.During this time he wrote a number of film scores including The White Countess by legendary New York based film duo Merchant Ivory." SOUNDPET

Read the review for last years festival by Peter McGill below

Venue: Chinese Gardens, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Dates: 5, 6, 7, & 8th February, 2009

Producers: Chinese Chamber Music Company | Musica Viva | Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority

February in Sydney is the perfect time to be sitting in the magical setting of the Chinese Gardens, Darling Harbour, and listening to chamber music. This was the inaugural festival which means that we will be treated to this event, hopefully, for many years to come. The music began just before dusk and on a gorgeous summer evening the Chinese Gardens couldn’t have looked more beautiful.

The proceedings began with a ‘Greeting to Country’ and the Festival was opened by the Governor of NSW Professor Marie Bashir AC. The Artistic Director of the Festival was John Z. Huie who is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium High School and has studied under Carl Vine. He lived for 15 years in Hong Kong, from 1991, studying the art of Chinese Chamber music. He was commissioned by the Hong Kong government to compose a piece, which he called “The Honourable Retreat”, for the handover from British rule back to China on 30th June, 1997. In 2002 he moved to Shanghai to research the complexities of that city's authentic songs of the 1930’s, later composing an album Shanghai Jazz, produced by EMI, and for which a tribute concert was held recently to honour his contributions. He has also written film scores, choral works, and produced, composed, and performed in various music ensembles.

Chinese instrumentalists performing with traditional instruments were a delightful highlight to the festival and the opening piece was Fang Yu on the ‘guqin’ which is one of the worlds oldest instruments.

The Shanghai Chinese Music Ensemble played a traditional Chinese folk song “Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye”, (English translation “Night Along The River”) with other traditional instruments and Lulu Liu played a ‘pipa’ solo called “Ospreys Sporting with Water”. In the second half of evening The Chinese Australian Chamber Ensemble with guest artists Professor Wang Zheng Ting (sheng)and Tony Wheeler (zhong ruan) played a traditional Chinese New Year piece. To round out the evening Australian pianist Michael Kierin Harvey performed “Goldfish” by Debussy and “Mephisto Waltz No.1” by Liszt.

Not all the music on offer was instrumental. We were treated to the pentatonic sounds of ‘pingtan’, a traditional Suzhou (Chinese) Opera, which has harmonies in pentatonic scales that align with the ancient instruments of China. Sung in Chinese and a little foreign to the western ear it was accessible because of its use of the pentatonic scale, quite an experience.

The music in this festival is out of the ordinary and the opportunity to experience the worlds’ pre-eminent practitioners playing instruments thousands of years old in their design is exciting and new to Australia. If you missed the Inaugural Chinese Chamber Music Festival put it in your diary for next year. I doubt you will be disappointed.

Peter McGill.

112

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Live, Sydney Scene, News, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

REVIEW | NEIL YOUNG | BIG DAY OUT

February 3rd 2009 03:26

NEIL YOUNG AT THE BIG DAY OUT

It's difficult to find words for the emotional impact this concert took on me. What a fantastic musician, singer and personality Neil Young is. Why was I emotionally staggered seeing/hearing him? The simple answer is - he has been a constant all my life. In fact we used (my older sister) to have a green vinyl bootleg of a concert he gave in 1978 or thereabouts. It had his classics of the day on it, a good deal of rambling philosophy leaning towards preserving the natural world of the time... Mother Nature featured big then, and although she still does, it was his intense rocking soul that cracked through the generations.

Surrounded by younger folk who had spent hours and hours hearing all sorts of great music, Big Day Out crowds in Adelaide certainly took a little while to place Young's sound and appreciate it. A stinking hot day didn't really stop anyone from enjoying the day, it was awesome over all; not the least because so many of Young's songs have been part of the fabric of life for at least thirty years. When he sang Hurricane there was a swell of recognition - it was all on for the massive 30,000 strong crowd. Maybe 6000 of them were my age (mid 40's) and they mostly seemed to be sitting in the shade up the back quietly enjoying the view and the music.

Sure, down the front in the mosh pit some yelled disrespectfully "Play some rock and roll" but they didn't do that for long. Needle and the damage done caused a bit of a quiet riot. One 20-something lad who had been bagging the "old dude" on stage suddenly shut up and sat down on the cool grass. There's always been power and emotion in Young's work. Part of my excitement and enthusiasm was a direct result of watching many younger people hearing some of his classics in the flesh. The songs still mean as much, if not more, today as they did 30 years ago.

The set was dressed with a range of novel fans, hanging letters and golden light. All in all it was an excellent concert and I was just as excited at the end of it as my 15 year old was; and he was very skeptical about the whole idea of an elder statesman of folk rock (nearly as old as his grandfather) until the messages and emotional journeys.

Top quality, no holes barred - beautiful concert.

NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT? You better believe it. From the festival that brought you the likes of Iggy Pop, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and Nick Cave. In 2009, BIG DAY OUT presents legendary guitarist and songwriter NEIL YOUNG –Anti-war protestor. Hall of Famer. Environmental crusader. Instantly recognisable vocalist. Father. Social activist. Filmmaker. Godfather of Grunge. Oscar-nominated songwriter. Crazy Horse. Buffalo Springfield. Crosby, Stills, Nash and…

YOUNG’s 90-minute BIG DAY OUT sets around the nation will crackle into life at 8.30pm on the main stage and are guaranteed to be full of classics. His electric band features long-time cohort and pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith, bassist Rick Rosas, drummer Chad Cromwell, guitarist Anthony Crawford and singer/guitarist (and wife) Pegi Young.

For a taste of what you’re in for, check out this hit-heavy setlist YOUNG played at Denmark’s Roskilde festival earlier this year: Love and Only Love; Hey Hey, My My; Powderfinger; Spirit Road; Cinnamon Girl; All Along the Watchtower; Oh, Lonesome Me; Mother Earth; The Needle and the Damage Done; Unknown Legend; Heart of Gold; Old Man; Get Back to the Country; Words; No Hidden Path; A Day in the Life.

Reviews from YOUNG’s string of festival appearances this past European summer have singled the shows out as some of his best in years – pointing to the feelgood singalong moments, the band’s awe-inspiring rock playing and “full-on electric assault”, the moving and “simply harmonious” nature of the “quieter section” of the set, the frontman’s good mood, and the great atmosphere in the crowd.

“NEIL YOUNG is… NEIL YOUNG. How else can it be put? No one else can do this. Live, he’s the greatest, hands down. A cathartic and primal musical experience.” (Epoch Times, July 2008)

Back in the States in October, Spin witnessed this elder statesman of rock kick off his US tour by breathing “new vitality into songs more than three decades old… his set became a veritable greatest hits collection”.

It’s been five years since YOUNG last toured Down Under – and even longer since he delivered such a dream setlist for fans. Who knows when he will be back again? So whether you’ve followed him for years, or you’re in need of a rock’n’roll history lesson, NEIL YOUNG at BIG DAY OUT 2009 is a rarefied experience you can’t afford to miss.

Tickets to his Sydney and Melbourne solo shows and to the Sydney and Gold Coast BIG DAY OUTs were snapped up within hours of going on sale but if you’re quick you may still be able to experience one of the greatest rock and roll experiences of your lifetime at one of the following shows.

NEIL YOUNG SOLO SHOWS

supported by My Morning Jacket

BRISBANE l Wednesday 21 January l BRISBANE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

Tickets: Ticketek www.ticketek.com.au Outlets and Phonecharge 132 849

SYDNEY l Sat 24 January l SYDNEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

Tickets: Ticketmaster www.tickemaster.com.au Outlets and Phone charge 136 100

MELBOURNE l Wednesday 28 January l MYER MUSIC BOWL l SOLD OUT!!!

Please go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.

NEIL YOUNG AT THE BIG DAY OUT 2009

GOLD COAST l Sunday 18 January l Parklands

SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place

SYDNEY l Friday 23 January l Sydney Showground

SOLD OUT ticket ballot in place

MELBOURNE l Monday 26 January l Flemington Racecourse

BDO website SOLD OUT

Available from Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au

ADELAIDE lFriday 30 January l Adelaide Showground

Available from Krypton Discs (Glenelg), Mr V Music (Semaphore), Elevator Music (Seaford), Globalize (Rundle Mall, Elizabeth, Noarlunga), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, www.ticketmaster.com.au and from our website www.bigdayout.com

PERTH l Sunday 1 February l Claremont Showground

Available from 78 Records (Perth), Mills Records (Fremantle), Planet Video (Mt Lawley), Live Clothing, Malibu Dive (Perth), Bassendean Newsagency (Bassendean), Cellarbrations (Bayswater), Trax (Mandurah), Collins Music (Bunbury), Blue 62 (Busselton), Geraldton CD Centre (Geraldton), Kalgoorlie Sound (Kalgoorlie), Vibes (Albany), Chinatown Music (Broome), Ticketmaster outlets/Phonecharge 136 100, ticketmaster.com.au or go to bigdayout.com for all ticketing details.

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Adelaide Scene, Australia National , Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

REVIEW | Bon Iver | Sydney Festival

January 25th 2009 14:00

Venue: City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney

Date: 22nd January, 2009

Sydney Festival 2009

Bon Iver

Bon Iver are a four piece band, Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce, Sean Carey, Matthew McCaughan, who come from North-western Wisconsin, USA. The force behind the group is singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Justin Vernon who has been making heads turn by producing an album, Emma, forever Ago, with very little technology, a few instruments, and realizing an amazingly unique pastiche of sound. The moniker Bon Iver is an Anglicization and purposeful misspelling of the French greeting bon hiver which means good winter - a greeting he came across while watching Northern Exposure*.

These current songs developed out of the turmoil of the break-up of both Vernon’s long-term relationship and his band DeYarmond Edison(1). He stayed in his fathers' cabin, it was winter, and he was recuperating from liver disease. The songs were only meant to be demos to send to record companies to see if they would produce them but they received such an overwhelmingly agreeable response that Vernon decided to put together a band and start performing them. This was no easy task as the main song For Emma, Forever Ago, according to Vernon, needs a chorus of 80 - 500 people; he gets around this by having the audience sing and therefore the song takes on its' own life unique to the vibe of that room.(2)

The sound created by Bon Iver is unique. Vernon’s’ falsetto, which he uses on most songs and is a recent development in his repertoire, brings an angelic quality to the sound and is balanced out by the deeper harmonies of the three other musicians. Together their vocals are reminiscent of the complexities of country rock greats like the Amazing Rhythm Aces, Charlie Daniels Band and the like. Musically there is a mixture of instruments, guitars, organs, two drum kits, and bass guitar but they are not always used in a traditional manner. Quite often the instruments are used to give a percussive dissonant texture and at times the drum kits are played in opposing rhythms building to a powerful, driving, crescendo. As a sound the devises they use are refreshing and their performance is uncomplicated worth seeking out.

Peter McGill

(*) Northern Exposure at Wikipedia
(1) DeYarmond Edison
(2) Pitchfork Interview

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Sydney Scene, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

Review | All Tomorrows Parties

January 24th 2009 23:56

All Tomorrows Parties

Cockatoo Island, Sydney Harbour
18th & 19th January, 2009.
Sydney Festival 2009

The Sydney Festival 2009 brought an awesome event to east coast Australia by way of ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES (ATP) which is a development in the staging of music festivals. The name itself comes from the Velvet Underground album and song of the same name which was written by Lou Reed. The song was written in response to Reed’s observations of the hangers on in Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable multimedia event tour in 1966 of which The Velvet Underground were taking part. (1)

The first of these events was held at Camber Sands, England in 1999 as an alternative to the larger more conventional events on offer. The main ideas were that it would be held in an intimate venue (usually outdoor) and the headline artists, be they musician or occasionally visual, would curate the festival by inviting their favorite performers to perform. In essence it was to be like an insight into the headlining acts own music collection, per se. Another aspect of the event was that originally, being in an intimate outdoor environment, there was an attempt to blur the personal distinctions between artists, producers, and punters. They would all stay in the same accommodation, (2) and they were to be a sponsorship free event.

The headline act and curators for ATP Australia 2009 were Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Australia’s seminal eclectic punk rock outfit and there choice of cohorts was inspiring.

Though it wasn’t possible to see everything on the bill there was plenty to choose from. A diverse mix including electronica - Spiritualized, visual art – Louis Wain, bluesman – James Blood Ulmer, and heavy soul – Afrirampo to name a few.

For the whole line up you can go to the Sydney Festival 2009 homepage. What I can tell you about are the acts I did get to see.

First up was Hoss, a Melbourne hard-rock outfit that pumped up the volume from the start and delivered an abundantly driven rock set, they were powerful and gusty. The Geyer Zone was an instillation in a tunnel which consisted of minimal lighting and a soundtrack that could barely be heard over the bands outside, so for me that was a bit of a lost experience. Michael Gira comes from New York City and was a founding member of the industrial-rock band Swans. In this incarnation he was without a band and performed solo with guitar and vocals. Don’t be fooled by that description though, he’s solo performance consisted of loud and gritty vocals accompanied by distorted gutsy six string brutality. His emotive delivery was well received. Harmonia are a mesh of ex-members of German bands such as Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Cluster. As you can guess their set was resplendent with electronica. They were a welcomed separation to the hard rock on offer. Robert Foster of the Go-Betweens provided an entertaining set with some fine memories of the eighties.

The Saints had not been seen together by Australian audiences since 1977. They rejoined to do a gig celebrating Brisbane’s music in 2008. With the original line-up of Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper, and Ivor Hay, joined on bass by Archie Larizza. They played exactly what the crowd had come to hear, playing ‘(I’m) Stranded’ and other well known favourites.

The band we all came to see, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, gave a blistering performance delivering all the songs they are celebrated for including “All Tomorrows Parties” and “The Weeping Song”. They were all in fine form and brought the festival to a satisfying crescendo.

That wasn’t the end of the night though. Some stayed on to catch the latter performances that went on until 1:00 a.m. including The Reels.

It must be said that this was an event that will go down in the memories of the lucky few who got to experience it. The Sydney Festival 2009 not only pulled off this coup d'état in festival composition but the support arrangements were also first class. The venue, who could beat Cockatoo Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour on one of Sydney’s glorious summer days, the food was way out of the ordinary, the beverages were affordable and of high quality, and there wasn’t a line-up of more than 10 people for any of these necessities as well as the amenities and most of the time there was no line-up. I congratulate Sydney Festival 2009 for achieving such a high standard in celebration – it was an excellent event and a huge success!

Peter McGill.

(1) Wiki:

(2) Wiki:

Sydney Festival 2009

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Welcome Release, Review, Sydney Scene, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend

REVIEW | MARTHA WAINWRIGHT AUSTRALIA IN NOVEMBER

November 23rd 2008 05:08

REVIEW
Fri 21 Nov, 10pm
The Gov, Adelaide

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT

Martha Wainwright is a wonderful singer and her down to earth personality is always somewhat droll. She bemoaned that she'd spent the day in Adelaide in bed, and joked about the whole serial-killer thing here... until a local shouted out that we were all "glad to see her", when she got the idea it would be best to move on. That she certainly did, without leaving any strange question hanging of why that sort of a joke she simply requested more beers for the band and got on with the show. It was a windy balmy night in serial killer central, and we were out in force to appreciate the great and spirited Martha.

Her new material mixed in with her old, and her voice as ever captures great depth and emotion. Perhaps some of the melodies she naturally resounds creep over from one song to another, but I think it's that lilt and stream of sounds that ground her, and us in the listening.

I couldn't say I've seen her all by herself before, so I did hanker for moments in the past when I've seen her in concert with brother Rufus and mother Kate, or on stage for Came so far for beauty at the Opera House in 2005. However having said that - she held her own without the need of any support as such, and the support she received from the band was excellent.

I think everyone at The Gov had themselves a great and adorable time in spite of a cold and windy night, Martha shared the great resonance of her warmth and noone went homew without a special glow.

David Jobling

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT IN AUSTRALIA NOVEMBER

I interviewed her brother Rufus when he was over and the two of them were doing the Leonard Cohen Tribute, Came so far.... Make no mistake both siblings are great on stage and I'd say it's because they have both been involved in the music and entertainment industry on account of their show biz folks, since they were kids. This will be a concert not to be missed.

David Jobling

“Martha Wainwright excels at both singing and songwriting, and earns herself a spot among this decade’s foremost performers.” Popmatters.com

“…a grand, glowering gravitas – part Patti Smith, part Leonard Cohen” Uncut Magazine

“…taking music and wringing from it a startling wealth of shiver-inducing moments.” Pitchfork Media

“Wainwright moves amid prettily finger-picked folk-rock and more eccentric arrangements” NY Times

“…her stage presence suggests several things at one time - defiant and strong, yet with an edge of sadness and vulnerability as well.” Spin Magazine

As part of the famous Wainwright/McGarrigle musical dynasty, Martha Wainwright was engulfed in a sea of music from childbirth. But the Brooklyn-based chanteuse has cemented her claim as a bona-fide artist in her own right.

Following the release of her sophomore album, I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too, Martha Wainwright and her full band are returning to Australia in November 2008.

Disbanding her initial career choice as an actor when she realized her priorities lay with songwriting, the Montreal native moved to New York City where her burgeoning singer-songwriter career began. Performing in bars and coffee-houses across the city, her signature raw stage presence blossomed and bloomed into the rousing live performer we see today.

With a constantly changing timbre of depth, Wainwright displays a remarkable polarity between songs of harrowing despair that also show a sense of spontaneity and playfulness. It is this striking mixture of light and shade and her ability to conceptualize, tackle and achieve dynamic arrangements that marry so beautifully with her heartfelt lyrics of remarkable candour and acrimonious humour.

She can, within a single verse, play both angel and demon.

On Wainwrights’s second album, I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too, she is joined by legendary figures including Pete Townsend, The Band’s Garth Hudson, Donald Fagen from Steely Dan, as well as Rufus, mum and aunt Kate and Anna McGarrigle respectively, and cousin Lily Lakin - another rising star of the lineage. Though an impressive lineup, they serve as a backdrop to what is a compelling one-woman show.

Embarking on a European tour with her band in October before heading to Australia, this show is one not to be missed.

AUSTRALIA TOUR DATES – OCTOBER 2008
Wed 12 Nov Enmore Theatre, Sydney
ticketek.com.au 132 849
Thu 13 Nov The Forum, Melbourne
ticketek.com.au 132 849
Sat 15 Nov Meeniyan Hall, Meeniyan
lyrebirdartscouncil.com 03 5664 9239
Tue 18 Nov The Tivoli, Brisbane
ticketek.com.au 132 849
Wed 19 Nov Wrest Point, Hobart
wrestpoint.com.au 1300 795 257
Fri 21 Nov The Gov, Adelaide
thegov.com.au 08 8340 0744
Sat 22 Nov Fly By Night, Fremantle
moshtix.com.au 1300 438 849

Vote

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: David Jobling - Category: Review, Live, Adelaide Scene, Australia National , News, Qstage

Email this Post to a Friend