Rufus Wainwright and Rusty have more in common than I suspected

So, packing tape baby photos, meme and Rufus birthday e-mails are all still in the works but I just wanted to get this posted while it's still fresh in my mind. In fact I think it's kind of burned into my brain, but you know.

Tuesday was the day I had been waiting on for about 2 years, a Rufus Wainwright concert I could attend. Mind you, he has been touring but overseas, there were the concerts in Seattle I couldn't get tickets to and his sold out recreation of Judy Garland's 1961 historic Carnegy Hall concert in NYC last fall but I couldn't make any of those, so I made sure I bought my tickets for his Portland show the second they went on pre-sale.

The Roommate (also a big fan) and Tammy (not familiar with his music but intrigued enough by my stalker-like devotion to cough up the $40 for a ticket just to watch me scream like a teenager) were having our pre-concert dinner around the corner from the venue when the subject of when Rufus took the stage came up. The ticket said “show starts at 9” but was that the main event or when the opening act started? I was chosen to walk the 2 blocks and ask at the venue’s box office.

On my way I thought about asking if John Lennon’s son went on at nine or was it Loudon Wainwright III’s son that went on at 9 but at the ticket window I just asked if Rufus or Sean went on at 9. Turns out neither, some band from LA went on at 9, Sean at 9:30 and Rufus not until 10:30. Now call me old but isn’t that a little late for the headliner to start? Once I repeated the time table to my friends it was decided we order more wine and wait at the outdoor café for the star to shine.

When we got into the venue Sean was still performing (and he had a singer that was a ringer for his mom when younger---someone page Freud) we ran into an acquaintance of the Roommate’s. I did not use the term “friend” because a FRIEND calls you and gives you the head’s up when he is going out to karaoke with Thomas Lauderdale from Pink Martini and RUFUS FUCKING WAINWRIGHT. Bastard. We then headed to the balcony to wait for the main act. (By the way, Sean inherited more of his musical talent from his mom as opposed to from his dad. Just saying.)

Rufus did his usual grand performance (with an intermission so he could change into lederhosen for the second half of the show) and surprised me when he came out for his finale (without the band) in a terrycloth bathrobe and sat down at the piano to play Halleluiah. When the song ended to thunderous applause he got up and stood at center stage, pulled a tube of lipstick out and applied it to his lips. Then his band, now all dressed in matching black suits, stood in front of Rufus and he momentarily disappeared from the audience’s veiw only to emerge in a black fedora and a black suit. And the suit didn’t have pants, it had a short black skirt and he was wearing huge glittery earrings that caught the light. And then he proceeded to sing a Judy Garland song. My music hero was doing drag, only without the lip-sync part, he was really belting it out in true Garland style. To say this sight was disturbing is an understatement because let’s face it, I don’t want Rufus to be a drag queen. It’s not how I picture him---and I have NOTHING against cross dressers, just as long as it’s not Rufus.

It’s like finding out Jesus wore ladies panties----it’s not wrong but it’s just not quite…..right? It doesn’t fit in with my image of Rufus but I guess I need to get over it and get used to it at the same time. He did dress as a woman for the cover of Want One (or was it Two?) after all so yeah, I guess I gotta deal. Rusty did drag and it didn’t kill me. I guess I can work through this.

Keep your eyes peeled for a YouTube video, one’s bound to come out. Looking over the last few posts it dawns on me that perhaps I should rename this blog "dude looks like a lady".