http://rufuswainwright.com/carnegiehall
What do we think of this. the first album is heartbreaking, gorgeous and difficult, a classic that has been burried because of myth

and there is something interesting, when gay culture has become more mainstream, more straight, less intresting, less spiky, less QUEER...there are writers and performers who are working as historians, for the old (coded, hidden, darkened street corner) ways, wayne kaustenbaum as a writer, john cameron mitchell as a director, etc--and rufus of course is among those.

he can be a really great performer, as well. a brillant song writer, a talented singer, a louche/outre performer...and we kind of need all of those. (But my question is--w. all this desire for the carefree 70s gay sex, found all over queer discourses in the last few years, is this uncritical nostalgia, is he playing fey cause it makes money--and the other narratives, being loved by Neil Tennant and Elton John, the meth addiction/casual sex revealtions, etc--how much of Wainwrights obsession with those hallowed days features critical distance, and does it need to?
)

but, does anyone think this is trying to hard? does anyone think this will end up as a gong show, a supenova break down of "Elizabeth Taylor" tendecies, or worse, too reverential, too banal, too obvious.

if you were in charge of Judy's catalog, is this where you would start-and if not where would you begin?

(posted from ilm, hoping to link ysi files, but that doesnt seem to be working, so if you want a copy of a live version of the judy signtature Somewhere Over the Rainbow or his song Gay Messiah, AIM, Email or leave a comment, and i can arrange.)