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 has developed a national following and features interviews by Harris Faddis with “GLTB people who are leading lives of inspiration.”  In between Faddis’ discussions with life coaches, therapists, physicians, astrologers and sacred intimates, Sims plays CDs by well known and emerging GLTB artists.

Faddis and Sims

The first annual Out in the Woods is the latest undertaking at Easton Mountain, which was founded in summer 2001 and hosts an array of gay oriented retreats, workshops and gatherings and is the east coast home of the Body Electric School.

Here’s the line-up of artists for Out in the Woods:

• Norine Braun
• Terry Christopher
• Scott Free
• Jeremy Gloff
• Tom Goss
• Ajuna Greist
• Jeremy James
• Roger Kuhn
• Stewart Lewis
• Dan Manjovi
• Lucas Miré
• Sister Funk
• John Small
• Susan Souza
• Robert Urban
• Morry Campbell

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 and slow-moving treatment of Wainwright’s eyes, which are lined in heavy black mascara. The video will play on a 30-foot screen for the entire first half of the concert as Wainwright performs the 12 songs from his recent album “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.” The album’s cover image, of Wainwright’s left eye, is also by Gordon.

“Its kind of like a dinosaur that’s come to the evening and is observing us,” joked Wainwright during a recent interview. “The camera took about 2000 frames a second, so it’s almost looks like it’s not moving.”

The video may be a particularly arty addition to Wainwright’s current world tour, now in its final leg. Yet since the focus is on Wainwright’s eyes — and tears — it’s just another way that the 37 year-old Canadian exposes himself to audiences.

“Songs for Lulu” is a decidedly personal effort. Where his past recordings featured lush arrangements by large teams of collaborators, it’s just Wainwright sitting alone at the piano and singing, as he’ll be doing at The Egg.

And then there’s the lyrics, like this line from “Sad with What I Have”:   “Never met a more un-impressed depressed lad. Blue boy doesn’t have a thing on me.”

Career-wise Wainwright has nothing to whine about, with continual triumphs in both the popular and classical fields. But last January his mother, the folk singer Kate McGarrigle, died from cancer at age 63.  Her declining health and passing affected all of Wainwright’s recent work and may have contributed to his view of the new album as not a collection of singles but a more classical creation. He calls it a song cycle, something more associated with guys like Schubert and Brahms than pop stars like Elton John.

“I never intended it to be a song cycle per se but I realized midway through there was an album of very engaging piano-voice material,” says Wainwright. “It’s the different key changes from song to song, the concentrating on the breath, and getting lost in the material. And that only happens in a song cycle.”

Audiences will be asked to withhold applause between songs, explains Wainwright, in order “to listen to the whole group.”

Wainwright has excerpted some of the material for other purposes though.  The three settings of Shakespeare sonnets were premiered in an orchestral version with the San Francisco Symphony just last month and will be reprised with the Chicago Symphony this coming summer.  For both gigs, Wainwright is the featured vocalist.

Regarding the departure from his own, highly personal lyrics, Wainwright says, “I’ve done a couple of little things here and there and always with fine writers like Shakespeare and William Blake. I’m pretty old school at the moment.”

He’s also increasingly focused on classical forms.  His first opera, “Prima Donna,” premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009 and has also been performed in London and Toronto. The New York City Opera just announced it will mount the piece’s Manhattan debut next spring.

It was originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera but Wainwright withdrew the piece in 2008 when the company insisted on an English libretto, instead of the French, and said that a debut production couldn’t be mounted until 2014.

“I’m an impatient pop star,” Wainwright said at the time.  In other reports, Wainwright, who comes from a family of songwriters, complained of the laborious process of crafting libretto, music and orchestration.  The success, though, seems to outweigh the difficulties in his memory.

“Opera’s my main squeeze.  That’s what I’m feeling most comfortable with,” he says. Asked if another one is on the way, he gave a reply both coy and definitive:  “There’s a lot of demand and a lot of negotiating.”

“It’s pretty tough, the classical world,” he says. “It’s a very rigid system.  You have to slip into line in order to make something happen and that can be a great thing but can also be very annoying.  I’ve never played it safe and diving into the classical world is one of those risks.  I enjoy the battle but it has made me appreciate the freedom and creative energy that exists in the pop world.”

Wainwright likens the creation of an opera to the closest experience a man can have to birthing a child. “You have to build every aspect of the production through your head and your hands. And giving birth is pretty painful. In my mind that’s why I love it so much,” he says.

Recalling the early rehearsals of “Prima Donna,” Wainwright realized how much of himself was in the work.

“I was shocked at how sad it was and therefore how sad I was, but not able to access it consciously,” he says. “I stood back and looked at it and thought, boy you’re a pretty depressed guy.”

As Wainwright approaches the first anniversary of his mother’s death next month, his heart is healing and life goes on. Besides a string of professional commitments to keep him distracted, late last month during a concert at Royal Albert Hall, he announced his engagement to long-time boyfriend Jorn Weisbrodt.

“I’m getting happier,” he says. “I definitely see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train.”

Originally appeared in the Times Union.

GAY EARS ADDENDUM:

Stephen Holden in the New York Times wrote an unusually insightful review of Rufus’ concert Monday night at Carnegie Hall, “The Dark Lady and Judy Garland Play the Muses.” Holden and so many other pop critics usually focus on the lyrics rather than the music, but this review offers a good analysis of the stylistic content of the songs as well as the sometimes problematic qualities of Wainwright’s voice, while also giving a pretty vivid description of the performer’s costumes.  (Curious to see a picture of Rufus in that black dress…anybody?)  But Holden didn’t do his homework about the video, wondering if it’s Rufus’ eye.  And he also refers to the song “Art Teacher” as “a first-person short story about a woman’s lifelong passion for an instructor.”  Gosh, I thought it was a boy’s crush on a male teacher.

• 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 Angeles Times) and host Terrance McKnight examine the out artists as well as the secretive/coded histories in 20th century music.

• Pauline Oliveros retraces her life from dance halls in Houston Texas to the experimental scene of California and New York.

• Gretchen Phillips and Kenny Mellman (Kiki and Herb) talk with David Garland and spin a wide range of favorites.

The entire thing is archived and available for listening. Sit back and enjoy.

Here are a few excerpts from the discussions.

I was born in 1981 which for a lot of purposes is after a lot of the really interesting stuff in the history of gay rights happened.  the battles of the 60s are sort of over…

As a young gay composer you have a lot of grandfathers and great grandfathers who you can look to. I imagine myself in a kind of constant dialogue with Benjamin Britten for instance because I find the coding of his homosexuality so interesting… I’m such a language nerd that I find myself doing the same things now, even though it’s sort of old fashioned.

– Nico Muhly

There have always been distinct links between classical music and gay culture going back to the days of Oscar Wilde. All the way through the 20th century and even the latter part of the 19th century, classical music has been an oasis, a refgue for gay men and women. Growing up you try to identify with pop music, but it has an explicit heterosexual context – boy meets girl. If you’re listing to something like Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” Symphony, It’s all abstract…

Then in the 1930s and 40s, it suddenly seems there’s this great surge of gay male composers in such numbers that they almost become the dominate party.  Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Samuel Barber, Gian Carlo Menotti, Lou Harrison, Henry Cowell, Harry Partch, Leonard Bernstein on certain days of the week. Classical music became a beachhead for a more mature gay identity.

– Alex Ross

Thanks to Gay Ears reader Limor Tomer for alerting me to this terrific program.

What are you working on these days?
I have a new album “Someone Will Take Care of Me” coming out in the spring, so a lot of time lately has been devoted to recording-studio work. I’m also just starting to work on an opera — or something like an opera — with the ensemble Newspeak, novelist Andrew Sean Greer, and stage director Emma Griffin.  I’m not yet allowed to say what it’s based on, but religious delusion and schizophrenia play significant roles.  Also, Cornelius Dufallo (aka Neil) and I are starting a project performing songs for voice and violin with digital looping.  This might also include the Bliptronic 5000 that my brother just gave me for Christmas.

Do you keep up with technology?  What tools work for you and which ones have you found to be overrated?
I do keep up with it, especially now that I have my Bliptronic 5000.  I’m on Twitter and Facebook and I design and maintain my own website.  I also blogged about my last big piece, “Thirteen Near-Death Experiences,” while I was composing it.  I wouldn’t necessarily single out any technology as “overrated,” but I would say that the internet favors informational knowledge over procedural knowledge and is therefore potentially threatening to critical thinking.  As for music, I think many creative musicians make the mistake of using technology to generate ideas when they should be using ideas to generate technology.

Are you single or coupled?
I’m in a nine-year relationship with Yvan Greenberg, who is the director of Laboratory Theater and also a graphic designer.

Do you give PDAs? (public displays of affection)
Absolutely, with anyone and everyone who will accept them.

Are most of your friends from the music world or not?
Many of my friends are creative musicians — composers, songwriters, bandmembers.  I’m not friends with too many classical performing musicians.  They somehow always seem put-upon.

How does your sexuality and general background play out in your creativity?
I think growing up gay in a conservative Texas town and a religious family has taught me a lot about empathy, a theme that I almost always incorporate in my songs.  I believe our ability to imagine ourselves in other people’s shoes is directly connected to our ability to think and act creatively in the world.

What’s the gayest musical thing you’ve ever done?
I wrote a custom-made love song for a gay couple from Cincinnati, Paul and Jack, based on interviews with them.  It’s called “The Men We Used to Be” and it’s on my album “Other People’s Love Songs.”

Was coming out tough or a pleasure?  Sudden or gradual?
Coming out was tough and gradual.  It didn’t really happen until I was 19 years old.  I had internalized a lot of the so-called “Christian” morals that had been taught to me as a child in South Texas.  I thought maybe I was ill and could be cured.  I moved away from Texas to attend Interlochen Arts Academy, where there were (as I hoped there would be) out and proud gay people.  Believe me, at that time there were no out and proud gay people in South Texas, and this was before the internet worked well enough to be a resource for me!  Unfortunately, my first gay relationship was with a Catholic boy who promptly switched sides and blamed me for trying to turn him gay and called me an agent of the Devil.

Fortunately, my parents have come a long way in the last ten years.  I have my very supportive (straight and recently married) brother, Aaron, to thank for that.  I’m not sure about the rest of my family, and I’m not inclined to bring up the subject with them.  I’ve also basically left behind most, if not all, of my friends from growing up in South Texas, although they might be more accepting now.  Only Facebook will tell.

Photo credits:
With flowers: Samatha West
Album cover: Luke Batten and Jonathan Sadler of New Catalogue.
In performance (with Kathleen Spove): Jim Baldassare.

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 lesson a loose and drooping microphone cord became a prop. It was often hysterical, especially when her malleable face punctuated the one-liners.

For the capacity crowd of devoted fans, none of it could have been shocking or unexpected. Cho built her reputation on being blatant, but her single-mindedness felt new.  She’s been married since 2003 and in a recent interview said that it was an exclusive relationship. So one wonders if all that talk of messing around with men and women alike was distant memories, pure imagination or wishful thinking.

Cho’s routine only briefly touched on some other familiar themes — such as her Korean ethnicity and her clueless but loveable mother — that have given her acts more heft and poignancy in the past.  She did speak of being mistaken for other semi-famous Asian women. Her response: “No I’m the one from Grey’s Anatomy.”

Actually, she’s the one from “Drop Dead Diva,” currently running on Lifetime.  Explaining how each episode lately has a female guest star popular with gays, she boosted, “We’re the Gay Pride Edition of the Love Boat.”

Cho’s newest material is original songs, mostly ballads with sweet tunes and raunchy lyrics.  Her singing voice is unexpectedly soft, even lovely. As for the guitar playing, it’s rudimentary strumming, but as she said, if Madonna can do it, how hard can it be?

Two opening acts were surprisingly good. Ian Harvey wasted no time in coming out as a female to male transsexual who likes girls and told of learning to deal with passes from gay men.  Aided by an array of wigs, John Roberts gave a rapid-fire series of impersonations of familiar but annoying archetypes from contemporary life — the vegan lesbian, the gay pride mom, the coked-up comedian.

Harvey and Roberts joined Cho for some final songs, including a tender dialogue between a dog and his owner.  And Cho finally gave one of her best bits, impersonating her mom and for the first time with a wig and granny glasses.

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 up comedy as well, or maybe just write a family memoir. Her mom is Suzzy Roche of The Roches, while Rufus’ mom is yet another folkie, Kate McGarrigle. According to Lucy, they all get obsessed analyzing each other’s song lyrics.

But it was Rufus’ night. His fans nearly filled the Hart Auditorium and roared with approval at such signature songs as “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” and “My Phone’s on Vibrate For You.” His set stretched for more than 90 minutes, featured at least two new songs, plus several numbers with Lucy, and ended with three encores including Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” from the “Shrek” soundtrack.

Wainwright’s many recordings, including last year’s “Release The Stars,” are mostly characterized by original songs in lavish arrangements created with a string of collaborators. But this was a solo night with no backing band or recorded tracks and the material still held up beautifully.

Whether at the piano or with an acoustic guitar, Wainwright proved to be an able instrumentalist as well as a powerful singer. While retaining an immediately recognizable vocal sound, he’s lost most of the nasal wail from a few years ago. In songs like “Beauty Mark” and “Nobody’s Off The Hook,” he went seamlessly from a clear head voice into a warm baritone.

Yet things were frustratingly uneven when trying to catch the inventive imagery of his lyrics. Though every word came through in the politically charged “Going to a Town,” some more romantic ballads were often a mush. Not that he seemed to be hiding anything. Gay cruising and the beauty of men came through regularly.

Like his sister, Wainwright likes to chat with the crowd and his humor and interests were also revealing. He got Michael Phelps’ name wrong but he cheered on Barack Obama, or Barack “Oh-Body!” having liked what he saw of the senator on the beaches of Hawaii.

Originally appeared in Times Union, 8/18/08