Review: Rufus Wainwright’s “Prima Donna” at New York City Opera

Review: Rufus Wainwright’s “Prima Donna” at New York City Opera
A death watch is the simplest way to describe the months leading up to New York City Opera’s curtailed and displaced 2012 winter season.  The company’s financial crisis caused it to abandon the David H. Koch Theater (formerly the New York State Theater), it’s long-time home at Lincoln Center, and to be at such loggerheads with the musicians union that the season itself was in jeopardy. But a new production of “La...
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“Unhinged” = a new night of queer singer/songwriters

“Unhinged” = a new night of queer singer/songwriters
Saturday, February 25 at the Triad Theatre in Manhattan will see the launch of “Unhinged: A night of queer singer/songwriters.”  According to Derek Bishop, one of the featured performers, it’s planned as an on-going monthly event.  The opening line up features the band Frightened Cellar and Jessica Kimple, along with Yasuhiko Fukuoka, and Sammy Bravo as well as Bishop, who by the way has a new CD, “Resistance...
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“Out in the Woods” brings together musicians and audiences at Easton Mountain

“Out in the Woods” brings together musicians and audiences at Easton Mountain
More than two dozen GLTB singer/songwriters and bands will be performing during “Out In The Woods,” a marathon of music on two stages this weekend at Easton Mountain, the gay retreat center north of Albany. The event was conceived and organized by Steve Sims, who’s become well known in the Out Music worlds as co-host of The Quest of Life, a radio show from WRPI-FM in Troy.  Launched in 2004, the broadcast...
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Rufus Wainwright, Still feeling blue

Rufus Wainwright, Still feeling blue
For singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s return to The Egg in Albany tonight, every audience member gets a close up view.  That’s thanks to the visual component of the concert’s first half, a video creation by Douglas Gordon. But don’t expect a live action shot of Wainwright on a big screen, like at an arena rock show. Gordon is an acclaimed artist who works in large scale video formats and he’s created a very long...
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“Homophony” A festival of GLTB musicians on WNYC

“Homophony” A festival of GLTB musicians on WNYC
In late June 2009, during the week of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, WNYC radio celebrated the legacy of gay and lesbian composers in classical and popular music with four evenings of programming.   The broadcasts were thoughtful and wide ranging: • Nico Muhly and host Nadi Sirota play and discuss music of John Corigliano, Benjamin Britten and Lou Harrison • Alex Ross (The New Yorker) and Ann Powers (Los...
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Pop music crush: Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij

Pop music crush: Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij
Rostam Batmanglij is keyboard player, writer and producer for the band Vampire Weekend. He came out earlier this year and appears in the current issue of OUT (“Interview with a Vampire”) and has also just given an interview to Towleroad. share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Tip on Hyves Share via MySpace Share on Orkut share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Tweet...
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Queeries for composer Corey Dargel

Queeries for composer Corey Dargel
A Brooklyn resident and Texas native, Corey Dargel is a 32 year-old composer and singer.  His music has appeared on NPR and even merited a Tweet from Rachel Maddow. After catching a performance of Dargel at Here in Manhattan, Alex Ross wrote: “Gaunt in appearance and impish in spirit, he sings in a plaintive, innocent-sounding voice, his texts zigzagging between raw confession and cerebral absurdity.” What are you working...
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Comedy Review: Margaret Cho at The Egg 9/26/09

Is Margaret Cho not getting it enough? Because she sure talks about it an awful lot. Sex that is. When she walked on stage of the Swyer Theatre in The Egg on Saturday night in Albany, she got down on her knees to discuss — and demonstrate — the difficulty of maintaining proper ergonomics when pleasing a man.  Intimate acts and private body parts continued to be the overarching theme of the night.  For an anatomy...
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Concert review: Rufus Wainwright at The Egg

There’s more than just music in the Wainwright gene pool. Also, self-deprecating humor and the general ability to entertain. All this came through Saturday night at The Egg, in the concert by Rufus Wainwright with an opening performance by his half sister Lucy Wainwright Roche. (Their father is the folk singer Loudon Wainwright.) Lucy offered a handful of fine original folk ballads but she could consider working in stand...
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