On May 12 and 13, Rufus and Martha, along with their aunt Anna McGarrigle will host A Celebration of the Music of Kate McGarrigle, a pair of tribute shows to be held for their late mother at New York City's Town Hall. These shows will feature performances by Rufus and Martha, as well Anna McGarrigle, Jimmy Fallon, Emmylou Harris, Antony (of Antony and the Johnsons), Krystle Warren, Teddy Thompson, Justin Bond, Jenni Muldaur, Sloan Wainwright and more. Tickets for both shows are onsale now at Ticketmaster.com.

All profits from these events will go to the Sarcoma Foundation of America. Rufus and Martha were recently named as the 2011 spokespersons for the Sarcoma Foundation of America. Kate McGarrigle passed away from Sarcoma in January 2010.

Rufus will also be on hand at two upcoming book signings in LA and NYC: "Photographer Tim Hailand has just released One Day in the Life of Rufus Wainwright, a new collection of images offering an intimate glimpse into Rufus' personal life. To celebrate the release of the new book, Rufus and Tim will appear at the New York and Los Angeles locations of BookMarc, on March 3 and March 10 respectively, for a pair of book signing sessions."

Teddy Thompson has many other shows and a tour coming up.

Justin Bond played Doveman's last Salon, and Martha Wainwright plays the next one.

"Madison Square is probably best known around the world for lending its name to Madison Square Garden, which was a sports arena located just northeast of the park until 1925. The current Madison Square Garden, the fourth such building, is not in the area. Notable buildings around Madison Square include the Flatiron Building, the Met Life Tower, and the New York Life Building. A new exclusive luxury high-rise condominium tower, "One Madison Park", will rival the Met Life Tower in height." [Wikipedia]

The lineup for Madison Square Park's annual Oval Lawn series of free Wednesday shows has been announced. Held in the same NYC location that Lucero and others are playing in June for the Big Apple BBQ, the series will offer eight free concerts this summer, ending with the previously reported John Scofield Trio show on August 5th.

Its opening show on June 17th will be "A Wainwright Family Concert" with Loudon Wainwright III, Sloan Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche all sharing the bill.

Kicking off the 2009 season with a real "family affair," this triple bill features three uniquely talented voices of the highly acclaimed Wainwright family. Loudon Wainwright III headlines with his trademark self-effacing wit and broad humor. Sloan Wainwright, Loudon's sister, is known for a musical style blending pop, folk, jazz and blues. Lucy Wainwright Roche, Loudon's daughter, opens the show with her own bittersweet songwriting style, reminiscent of Joni Mitchell and Patty Griffith.

The Wainwrights all have individual upcoming dates across the country, listed below. Lucy Wainwright Roche's schedule includes a NYC solo show at Joe's Pub on June 20th, a few days after the family show. Tickets are on sale. If you're wondering how these Wainwrights are related to each other and the rest, Sloan's website features a helpful family tree.

We also just posted a whole bunch of other free shows taking place in NYC parks this summer, and you can browse our Free Shows tag for even more than that.

Full Madison Square Park Oval schedule + directions, and all Wainwright dates, below...

Continue reading "Madison Square Park - 2009 free show schedule ++ other Wainwright (Loudon, Lucy & Sloan) tour dates"

words & photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

At the City Winery last week (3/4), Rufus Wainwright put together an acoustic, unamplified show lit only by candle light to promote BlackoutSabbath, a kind of grass roots conservation thing inspired by the improvisational adaptation of New Yorkers during the Great Blackout of years past.

Ironically, the only low point of the evening was when two hoped-up Obama campaigners went on a bit too long about 'change'. Otherwise the music was excellent - intimate, warm and playful.

The gang included Rufus, Aunt Sloan, Lucy Wainwright-Roche, David Byrne (who brought along current tour-mates Mark De Gli Antoni and Mauro Refosco), Jenni Muldaur (also on tour with Byrne), Janeane Garofalo (comedy bit/rant) and Teddy Thompson. As Rufus put it in the beginning, it was "like a campfire sing-a-long".

Some of the highlights included a group effort on the Roger Miller classic "King of the Road", Teddy Thompson covering ABBA's "Super Trooper" (which as he pointed out is an ode to an electric spotlight), David Byrne singing Webb Pierce's "There Stands the Glass", Rufus doing a solo guitar performance of "Beautiful Child" (with the audience filling in the chromatic rise and fall) plus an encore of "Hallelujah" with Rufus on piano.

Rufus played a benefit at Highline Ballroom one day earlier. David Byrne headlined two nights at Radio City Music Hall less than a week earlier, and has another show coming up at the NJ venue Rufus and Lucy played in mid-February. More BlackoutSabbath pictures below...

Continue reading "Rufus Wainwright's BlackoutSabbath w/ special guest David Byrne & Janeane Garofalo @ City Winery, NYC - pics"

photos by Tim Griffin

"One of the most important voices of the last decade, Rufus Wainwright is spearheading a grassroots energy conservation initiative to help save the planet and its environment. Wainwright is suggesting that people turn off all electricity and refrain from all energy expending activities that could harm the environment for twelve hours on June 21, 2009 (noon to midnight). He's dubbed the no energy day Blackoutsabbath.

To raise awareness for Blackoutsabbath, a concert billed as Rufus Wainwright, Family and Friends will take place on March 4th at City Winery on Varick St. in New York City. The show will be staged and performed completely without electricity. Scheduled to appeared to appear with Wainwright for this second annual event will be Teddy Thompson, Jenni Muldaur, Lucy Wainwright Roche and Sloan Wainwright with others to be announced.

Blackoutsabbath was partially inspired by Rufus' love of New York's blackout of 2003 which Wainwright says he found, "incredibly invigorating, spiritual and practical at the same time: we all had to pay attention to each other!" He also feels action must be taken. "Basically, all the money in the world can't really solve this problem. In fact, I think it only makes things worse. It has to be a grassroots movement!"

Tickets for the March 4th concert will be available starting Tuesday February 10th at 10 am EST at www.citywinery.com/events"

Last year's Blackoutsabbath concert took place at Angel Orensanz on the Lower East Side. You can see what this year's venue looks like from the set of pictures we took when Steve Earle played there. Speaking of Steve Earle, his latest NYC show was at Carnegie Hall this week.

Speaking of Carnegie Hall, Rufus, Teddy Thompson and Sloan Wainwright last played together in NYC on December 10th at that very venue. It was the annual McGarrigle Christmas Hour, and Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Jimmy Fallon, Linda Thompson, Kami Thompson, Justin Bond, and Sloan Wainwright were there too.

Yet another long lost photo set continues, and all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Rufus Wainwright's 2009 Blackoutsabbath concert details, pics from the 2008 McGarrigle Christmas Hour, other dates"

The McGarrigle Christmas Hour featuring Rufus and his sister, Martha Wainwright, will be held at Carnegie Hall on December 10, 2008 and there will be some very special guests. Kate and Anna McGarrigle are thrilled to welcome Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Jimmy Fallon, Teddy, Linda, and Kami Thompson, Justin Bond, Sloan Wainwright and more! It will be a fun and festive evening with a few surprise guests stopping by.

Tickets go on sale to the public on Wednesday, November 5th at 11am EST, but Rufus fans can start purchasing tickets Monday, November 3rd at 11am EST! Get your pre-sale tickets online at The Carnegie Hall Website or by calling the Carnegie Hall box office at (212) 247-7800.

A limited number of VIP packages are available by making a donation to the Kate McGarrigle Fund. These packages include premium seats, a very special opportunity to meet the performers after the show, a chance to attend an intimate taping, and wonderful gift bags. The Kate McGarrigle Fund is a not-for-profit partner of the McGill University Health Centre Foundation and the Cedars Cancer Institute, supporting cancer care and research in Montreal, Canada. For more information and VIP packages, go HERE or call toll-free, 1-877-601-4536

Rufus also has a show coming up in Montclair. The big Christmas flyer (for the show that is an annual tradition) is below...

Continue reading "2008 McGarrigle Christmas Hour w/ Rufus, Martha, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Emmylou Harris & many more"

DOWNLOAD: Sloan Wainwright - Silent Night (MP3)

This was maybe going to be a post about how the-band-recently-signed-to-Secretly-Canadian Bodies of Water posted some free Christmas songs for download on their MySpace page, but then this message they posted on the homepage of their regular website seemed even more interesting...

12.21.07 - I can't understand why anyone likes these musical groups and singers:

Wilco
Jeff Buckley
Elvis Costello
The Police
Slint
Rush
Joni Mitchell
Steely Dan
Afghan Whigs

Perhaps you are offended by this. If so, I feel glad. You need to be shaken up. You need to have whatever skewed values you've cultivated over the years CHALLENGED. Listen again to this stuff - you will see that it is junk. (I say all this with the utmost sincerity, but I'm sure that in a year or two 'synchronicity' will be on heavy rotation in my house. This goes for all of these except for Steely Dan. I will never, ever like Steely Dan as long as I live.)

And to that Steely Dan might say...

Check out the Bodies of Water take away show @ La Blogoteque (and while you're at it, check out the new Jens Lekman one too).