Opinions Unsolicited: Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!

Well, I can't be said to known much about Judy Garland, or her catalogue as it extends beyond The Wizard of Oz and that one song they used in Down With Love. I do know that my Aunt Lesley loves her, and that I had a picture taken of me with my hands in Judy's handprints at Grauman's Theatre when I was there. I should probably get on with forwarding that picture to Lesley. She's not likely to know that I took it for her if I never, you know, show it to her.

I can be said to be mildly obsessed with Rufus Wainwright. He belongs to my coterie of famous boyfriends that I'm never going to meet. I have most of his cds [still missing the first one, alas], I have his other DVD All I Want courtesy of an online purchase in which I was amongst the first however-many-people-it-was-limited to preorder and thusly have a signed copy of the DVD jacket. I once bought an issue of Rolling Stone magasine just so I could rip off the cover and tack it to my wall.

I got the new DVD Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! does Judy! Judy! Judy! as a gift this holiday season. I remember reading Jim's entry about the L.A. performance with massive envy. I use the ticket stub that Lyle gave me as a souvenir as a bookmark. There is no word for the shade of green I turned when I realised that people I knew got to go.

This show is awesome. They went with the performance from the London Palladium for the DVD. And unlike the All I Want DVD, they have the performance from beginning to end; there's no cutting out of the bits between songs in which Rufus tells stories, cracks jokes, talks to the others on stage.

The first thing I noticed about the show is Rufus' outfit. Wow. The second thing I noticed was how the stage lights made his hair seem an appealing shade of cherry black. Like hair candy. Tasty.

I'm a strange girl, I've been made aware.

I love it. I love his comments about Judy, I adore his mannerisms throughout the show, his sense of homour... I do not have enough good things to say about Rufus. Towards the end of the show, Rufus gives way for others to take part. His glittery sister Martha takes over for Stormy Weather [and I do mean she is glittery], his mother Kate McGarrigle and a lovely dame by the name of Lorna Luft co some songs with him, as well as sing some outright during the encore. Whether this is in order to save Rufus' voice from the strain of singing through thirty numbers straight or simply because he enjoys splitting his limelight with his family some [and that Lorna lady, whom I've never heard of*] I just don't know.

I can't really comment on how he compares to Judy, since, like I said, I don't have a wide knowledge of her musics. But as a Rufus fan, this is a fabulous addition to the collection. I enjoyed listening to him sing from a catalogue not his own. I never tire of his voice, or his charisma. Watch it through once, and save subsequent viewings for background music for dinner parties, or a fun evening of pretending you know how to dance to jazz with your sweetie. As much as I adore concert videos, I find them difficult to watch with attention undivided more than once. But as something to listen to during knitting projects, they are perfect, since there is rarely much plot – if any – involved.

I am, however, disappointed that I didn't get to see Rufus in the tuxedo jacket and stockings and fedora. That apparently was a just a treat for people who got to see the performance in L.A. or
something. That green stuff is coming on again.

All in all, I'm ecstatic to add it to my collection. It just finished playing it through and now I am going back to my favourite tracks [Puttin' on the Ritz, San Francisco, Zing! Went the Strings of my Heart, Swanee, Get Happy]. I enjoy the bits where Rufus forgets the words, I enjoy his obnoxiously loud yellow glittery suit from the first portion of the show, I enjoy the banter between family members. I just enjoy Rufus.

*So, anyone who has seen this DVD will know from those comments that I was typing this before the DVD was actually over. Had I been patient and waited to see the entire DVD before writing about it, I would have known that Lorna is one of Judy Garland's daughters. I am shamed. But not so shamed that I will go delete that bit. This is why they don't pay me any bucks at all, let alone any good ones.

I thieved the picture of Rufus in the sexy stockings and jacket from here. I cannot attest to whether or not that person stole from someplace else or took it themselves.

I thieved the picture of Rufus in the yellow suit from this article.