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ENTERTAINMENT / MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
MUSIC
Rufus Wainright goes on U.S. tour
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
"Every song is fully realized in what I'm trying to say," pop singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright says about his new album."Release the Stars".
"Having a voice like mine is like having a rabid dog you have to muzzle — or release against your enemies."
Rufus Wainwright is reflecting on his operatic, unmistakable voice, and on how he manages, or does not manage, to keep it in check.
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNI
That voice is speaking by phone from a limo speeding between New York and Asbury Park, N.J. It's Sunday, the first U.S. date of his current tour, in which the singer-songwriter performs his new album, "All Days Are Nights: Songs for Luila" in its entirety.
"The reaction in Europe was astounding," says Wainwright. "One of the greatest experiences of my life was the performance in the Grand Theatre de Liceu in Barcelona. I ended the tour at a Greek temple. Now it's Asbury Park's turn, which is a temple of sorts."
"Lulu" is both a departure and a further journey. Wainwright has been busy, with an opera ("Prima Donna"), written with Bernadette Colomine; a Shakespeare sonnet cycle for the stage, created with
director Robert Wilson; and albums, such as "Rufus Does Judy" at Carnegie Hall, that often feature flamboyant, lush arrangements.
But "Lulu"
strips it down to
piano and voice
fitting for
'n' roll, you wouldn't call "Lulu" stark.
"When I started out, my ego was so on fire, so eager to devour the planet," Wainwright says, "that I just ran with my voice. One could argue it wasn't up to those standards ... yet there was a blissful brazenness to it ... still, I have really worked hard to refine my instrument."
That work began with "Rufus Does Judy" (2008), in which he sang Garland's signature tunes backed by a 36-piece orchestra. "Those classic songs, with those incredible lyrics — I had to think about what I was doing in terms of diction," he says. "And the voice is still a work in progress. I've been singing a lot with my dad recently. He's 63 and singing better than ever."
"My dad" would be Loudon Wainwright III, the singer-songwriter associated with "Dead Skunk," "Daughter," and much else (including the song "Rufus Is a Tit Man"), Rufus' mother, Kate McGarrigle, of the revered Canadian folk duo the McGarrigle Sisters, died of clear-cell carcinoma in January. His aunt Anna
"Having a voice like mine is like having a rabid dog you have to muzzle."
RUFUS WAINRIGHT Singer
an album that faces the death of Wainright's mother, that sings of grief, loss, and identity. Yet, thanks to that voice, a voice that owes as much to classical music, opera, and torch-song cabaret as to rock
McGarrigle still performs, as does his aunt Sloan Wainwright, and his sister Martha. Rufus' father also has a daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche, with Suzy Roche
of the Roche sisters.
One of the most affecting tracks on "Lulu," "Martha," depicts Rufus, aware of his mother's illness and time ticking away, calling his sister, getting her phone machine:
Martha it's your brother calling time to go up north and see mother.
things are harder for her now and neither of us is really that much older than each other anymore. . . .
there's not much time for
for us to really be that angry at each other anymore.
"Martha' stems from one of the darkest periods of my mother's passing," he says. "My mother was
in the hospital, and I was working on the Shakespeare show in Europe, and I was trying to get her there to see it, and it wasn't looking good, and I was totally, totally helpless.
"Overtheyears," says Wainwright, 37. "I've learned to appreciate and be grateful for this huge, musical family dynamic, and give myself permission to use it. Everyone has been generous and kind as we all work through this."
Conceptis SudoKu
By Dave Green
3 7 3 5
6 8 9
1 2 6 3 6
7 1 2 9 4
5 1 1 1 2
5 8 1
8 6 1
©2010 Concept Puzzles Dist. by King Features Syndicate Inc.
8/12
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Conceptis Sudoku
By Dave Green
©2010 Conceptis Puzzles, Dist. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
Difficulty Level ★★★★
8/06
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MUSIC
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Studio owner Jim Tullio adjusts a microphone for Glen Hansard, of the group Swell Season on July 27 for a recording session at Butcher Boy studios in Evanston, Ill.
'Falling Slowly' duo returns to studio for new material
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
EVANSTON, III. Glen Hansard wasn't happy, but at least he was polite about it.
"It sounds cool," the 35-year-old singer said in his Irish brogue after listening to the studio playback of what he and fellow members of the Swell Season had just recorded on an afternoon last week. "It just
doesn't sound great. I don't want to be a bummer. I just think maybe we haven't got it yet."
"I agree," said Jim Tullio from behind the console of his Evanston recording studio, the smell of cigarette smoke now winning the battle with some long-lit incense.
The Swell Season — led by singer-guitarist Hansard and spotlighting his interplay with 22-year-old
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singer-pianist Marketa Irglova, with whom he shared a best song Oscar for "Falling Slowly" from their 2007 film "Once" — had played Chicago just two weeks earlier before proceeding to tour stops at the Hollywood Bowl and in Oregon, Calgary, Alberta, and, the previous night, Minneapolis. They arrived in south Evanson in the early afternoon, and after the recording session, hopped the tour bus overnight to Buffalo, N.Y.
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What brought them so many miles was Tullio's invitation to record a song by British singer-songwriter-guitarist John Martyn, who died in January 2009 following a 40-year-plus career. Tullio, who has produced Steve Goodman, John Prine, members of the Band, Mavis Staples and many others, recorded Martyn multiple times and has been compiling a tribute album to him.
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