Rufus Wainwright and Renee Flemming What should I know?

[always dancing]

So I am going to the Elvis taping with Rufus Wainwright and Renee Flemming but I don't know much about either one. Can someone fill me in? What should I listen to?

[Otis Westinghouse]

Never heard of the latter (should I blush?), but the former is well worth checking out. Want One and it's follow-up Want Two are both excellent stuffed with good tunes. They're available in a multi-pack as, I think, Want! I didn't get his last one, can't remember it's name, but the song 'Going to a Town' (I think!) was excellent. And he was doing all that Judy Garland stuff. He does tend to over-indulge, check out the covers for Want, and quite a few of the songs and arrangements are similarly overblown, and I have to say I listened to them a lot when I got them, but haven't been lured back much since. One song I adore is 'The Art Teacher' about a schoolgirl's crush on her art teacher.



There I was in uniform
Looking at the art teacher
I was just a girl then;
Never have I loved since then

He was not that much older than I was
He had taken our class to the Metropolitan Museum
He asked us what our favorite work of art was,
But never could I tell him it was him
Oh, I wish I could tell him --
Oh, I wish I could have told him

I looked at the Rubens and Rembrandts
I liked the John Singer Sargents
He told me he liked Turner
Never have I turned since then
No, never have I turned to any other man

All this having been said,
I married an executive company head
All this having been done, a Turner - I own one
Here I am in this uniformish, pant-suit sort of thing,
Thinking of the art teacher
I was just a girl then;
Never have I loved since then
No, never have I loved any other man

I always think how although it's from the perspective of the now grown-up girl, Rufus's gay perspective comes through as if he too adores the teacher, or as if he too shared such a crush. Maybe it's autobiographical but he decided it would be more interesting to cast it from the perspective of a different gender, maybe it's pure fiction and I'm confusing the issue by projecting his gayness into it. Whatever, I find it very affecting, the compensation for a life of unrequited love being to use some considerable cash from her rich husband to connect with her love object via his favourite artist. And the nice little detail of the 'uniformish pant-suit sort of thing' connecting back with her own schoolgirl self.

I saw him live three and a half year back, and it was very good. On that tour his finale was to end up in angel wings, tiara and heels with a beuaty queen's sash proclaiming him 'Miss Cambridge' (one sash for every venue of the tour).

[always dancing]

Thanks very interesting young man. Renee Flemming is apparently a very good, younger and pretty opera singer. I found a clip of Rufus singing "I'm Runnin" at the age of 12 for a movie. He was a cute boy. I also listen to his song "California".

[Who Shot Sam?]

Never heard of the latter (should I blush?)

Maybe a little. But if you're not an opera fan I can understand how her name might not register.

I saw her sing Fiordiligi in Mozart's Cosi fan tutte a few years ago at the Metropolitan Opera and she was magnificent. I think she's done a fair amount of crossover stuff recently. It used to be that you would have a glut of new opera and vocal recordings coming out each month. But the classical music business has been in the doldrums for while now, so a lot of artists have turned to different sorts of projects to get by. When I was driving up to Niagara Falls a few weeks ago they played a lovely tune she did with Bill Frisell on the local radio.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Opera schmopera. Would like to hear the Frisell one, though.

'California' is a great song. I have the Poses LP, but it's not at the level of the Wants. Right now I'm more into his sister Martha who I can't wait to see live next month.