MAN ABOUT TOWN

In the pantheon of openly gay and lesbian pop and rock musicians, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright is one of the brightest stars. More importantly, he is also one of the most talented. The son of folk music royalty (his father is the acclaimed American folk singer Loudon Wainwright III, his mother the Canadian singer-songwriter Kate McGarigle), Wainwright came out as gay when he was a teenager. Consequently, unlike some of peers, he has explored same-sex romance and desire from the earliest days of his career; such as his former habit of falling in love with straight men, or as Wainwright once put it, “ guys I would occasionally have sex with, maybe only make out with, but never be allowed to say they were my boyfriend.” It’s a situation many a gay man pining over a heterosexual friend can identify with; and many a lesbian too. “For me, after a brief therapeutic period, it was apparently revealed that it was a fear of abandonment,” Wainwright explains. “At the end of the day y...

Yes, I saw Rufus Wainwright performing at Hamer Hall - twice - and yes, he was definitely swoonsome. I just wish I'd been slightly more sober when I ran into him at Miss Libertine the second night. I also interviewed him again, which you might have heard on RRR last week. If not, never fear; you can read a transcript of the interview in The Trip magazine if you're a subscriber next month. Yes, I went to northern Victoria to visit my mum, and no, this time, unlike my visit a year ago , I didn't try and pick up anyone. I did, however, go for a long walk by the river and see a goanna. A very large goanna. Half an hour later I dropped into the top pub (Numurkah has three pubs, unlike the small country town Trafalgar where I went to high school, which has only one) and encountered a large reptile of a different kind - a bilious, bloated man sitting at the bar, whose first words, declared to his equally repugnant friends as I walked in, were "fucken abos fuken lying around ...

What a slack blogger I've been. Instead of updating every day with a brief discussion of the films I'd seen, I ended up falling well behind. And because of other committments, the planned 60 films I'd scheduled ended up falling by the wayside as well. In the end, I only caught about 20 sessions at the festival this year, due to things such as art fair openings, theatrical committments, and recovering from hangovers taking precedent over film screenings. That said, let me quickly recap on the remaining films I saw at the festival: Follow My Voice: With the Music of Hedwig (Dir. Katherine Linton, USA, 2006) MIFF said: "One record producer... The creators of the cult film and stage classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch... and some of the most influential indie rockers... They all come together to record a benefit album for a controversial high school in New York City supporting lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning students. Through a dramatic and vibrant combi...

Woman King – Iron and Wine [Sub Pop] This six-track EP from Iron and Wine (a.k.a. Sam Beam , one of the masters of modern blues-folk) sees the singer-songwriter taking cautious steps away from his earlier lo-fi approach to composition and production. Its six warmly and cleanly recorded tracks display a rich texture not previously audible in Iron and Wine albums, a beautiful setting in which to display Beam’s narrative lyrics and his simultaneously plaintive yet robust tunes. Evoking misty mornings that turn into brilliant days, these rhythmic, emotive, coolly passionate songs take the heartfelt passion of folk and filter it though tastes more akin to contemporary urban sensibilities. If the taste of Iron and Wine on the Garden State soundtrack wasn’t enough to whet your appetite, thus EP certainly should be. I Am A Bird Now – Antony and the Johnsons [Spunk] The second album from this exquisite New York artist is a heart-breaking collection of songs that captivate, move and engage...