Interview

Last night, Lou Reed, Susan Sarandon, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, and a host of others packed the Rose Bar to hear selections from Rufus Wainwright's upcoming studio album.  BLOG POSTED: 03/16/10

Rufus Wainwright's debut opera, which just concluded its run at Manchester, was a smash. But when it came to getting the production together, he prepared for the worst.  BLOG POSTED: 07/21/09

Hans Ulrich Obrist is part curator, part critic, and part irrepressible mad scientist. He's also artistic advisor, with design legend Peter Saville, of the Manchester International Festival, which runs through July 19.  BLOG POSTED: 07/10/09

After releasing six albums, appearing in a handful of films, and single-handedly resurrecting the songbook of Judy Garland, Rufus Wainwright took the next logical step: He spent three years writing a two-hour opera. But Prima Donna, which will premiere this July at the Manchester International Festival in England, isn’t the only bizarre career move Wainwright has taken lately.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 06/03/09

Cyndi Lauper skyrocketed to fame in 1984 on the strength of her four-octave vocal range, zany persona, ragtag wardrobe, and multicolored hair. In the intervening decades her seemingly do-it-yourself image and iconoclastic career have attracted a legion of fans in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities, which have always embraced her as a sort of kindred spirit. Lauper has always reciprocated their affection, but this month she's got a special surprise in store: the launch of a three-week, 15-city True Colors tour to benefit the Human Rights Campaign, during which she'll share the stage with a roster of topflight talents. The tour kicks off in Las Vegas on June 8.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 06/01/09

This week I took inventory of my life and figured out last-minute tax deductions. Inspired, I revisited albums by a few of my all-time favorite tax evadors.  BLOG POSTED: 04/16/09

The Manchester International Festival, which takes place July 2–19 is like Paris Fashion Week, where a week isn't a week unless it's ten days. Interview attended the preview.  BLOG POSTED: 04/01/09

Marianne Faithfull has spent more than four decades channeling her checkered life of addictions, dark troughs, and Rolling Stones into some of the most elegantly damaged music this side of the Great Abyss. And no, it hasn’t been easy.  ARTICLE PUBLISHED: 03/24/09