Rufus Wainwright in Poughkeepsie - Feb. 12th (more by Eric Townsend)

Blackoutsabbath is a concept created by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, as promoted by the organization Blackout Sabbath. In an attempt to become more environmentally conscious, participants are asked to live "off the grid" as much as possible on a designated date by unplugging appliances, walking or cycling for transportation, turning out lights and decreasing energy usage in any other ways possible.

Rufus will performing with sister Martha Wainwright at the third annual Blackoutsabbath concert (an afternoon show) on Sunday, March 14th at Park Avenue Armory. Tickets are on sale now.

The program, much like the fantastic Stanford White architecture of the space, will be decidedly European. Martha will sing Piaf and I (drum roll please).............will sing the entire Berlioz song cycle, "Les Nuits d'Ete." Now, this later announcement comes with a warning - let me explain.

I don't consider this first run through of Hector's massive work as the official premiere of yet another daunting move I'm making in the world of classical music. If anything, it's a bench mark set to aid the rise of this gnarled bud that one day will see the light of day and blossom into a full blown lugubrious flower......in other words, I'm going to make a lot of mistakes. [Rufus Wainwright]

He'll be in the UK and Europe for shows this April and May (his new opera, Prima Donna, premieres in London April 12th). Rufus's new record, All Days Are Nights: Songs For Lulu, comes out April 20th in the US.

All tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Rufus Wainwright playing Park Avenue Armory w/ Martha (Blackoutsabbath 2010 - tix on sale) & other 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"

photo inside City Winery (Michael Dorf on stage) (from Eater)

In addition to a functioning winery and 21,000 square foot restaurant/event space, City Winery is also equipped with a full stage, state-of-the-art sound system and in-house A/V-making it one of the most interesting venues to ever hit Manhattan. Whether you are planning a private party, a public concert or an intimate evening of music and/or the spoken word, City Winery's stage and staff can accommodate a variety of live performances and cultural activities that will appeal to sophisticated New Yorkers, and wine connoisseurs, alike.

Unfortunately, "to purchase tickets to any of the upcoming shows or classes, you must first become a Vinofile member." I don't think you need to be a member to always go there - for instance you could just be a VIP at the upcoming REM Carnegie Hall event, but I don't know. I also doubt you'll need to be a member to go to the Blackoutsabbath Rufus Wainwright show happening there on March 4th (no tickets for that yet) (for now Rufus is focused on the upcoming McGarrigle Christmas Hour show).

All known upcoming City Winery events are listed below...

Continue reading "shows @ City Winery (Philip Glass, Rufus Wainwright, etc)"