A Picnic with Rufus, Judy and Britney.

Just two nights ago I was fortunate enough to attend one of the greatest things I have seen since being in New York. I got to witness Rufus Wainwright do something extraordinary by recreating Judy Garland’s 1961 Carnegie Hall Concert.

Now to clarify for everyone, this original concert is something that people refer to as “the greatest night in show business” and basically it cemented Garland in her legend status of today. It had a 40-piece orchestra and was 26 songs worth of standards. For anyone to attempt recreating something like that is daring to say the least. I had my doubts about Wainwright even though he is one of my favorite singers. I had only seen him do his own stuff before with which he has a tendency to slur things but for his moody operatic pop it seems to work. I was concerned that he would either butcher it completely or it would be electric.

Well the minute I got to the theater I knew that it would be the latter. Outside of Carnegie Hall it was as if everyone in New York was flocking to Gay Mecca. I don’t think I have ever seen so many gay men in one place. David and I were some of the younger ones and came in mainly as Rufus Fans, not everyone though. The man a few rows in front of us had a massive knowledge of the original recording and managed to reach his hands to the heavens in a sort of jubilant/ hallelujah move every time the drums did some flourish. It proved to be an interesting distraction and he represented the most die-hard of Judy devotees who would be scrutinizing this concert under a microscope. From the insane audience response after almost every song at the sold out Carnegie Hall I would say that Rufus succeeded . His voice kind of just cuts through everything almost horn like in its beauty and for these old standards it was an interesting modern interpretation. It’s interesting sitting here listening to the original now and just realizing the difference in pop music of today and pop music of the past. These standards have this complex innocence in their lyrics but are so poignant and timeless at the same time.

Poignant is not a word however that can be used to describe Britney Spears. A complete juxtaposition to the downfall of Judy Garland, the downfall of Britney Spears cannot be viewed as the falling of artistic greatness. Nowhere was that more evident than on Britney Spears’ “Dateline” Exclusive that greeted me when I arrived home from the concert.

Seemingly brainless and without any fashion sense, Spears came across as stupider than she was when she emerged on the music scene. Now she not only has a slew of number one hits, she has a child and another on the way at the age of 24. She sat with her boobs falling out (bra partially showing), chomping gum and spouting such wisdom as “Funny people are great, I love funny people. They’re, like, hilarious.” Um….excuse me? What? On top of that she didn't even know how many months pregnant she is. When asked she paused, looked up and said "Ummmm....6...7 months? I dunno." Oh. My. God.

Of course Garland lived in a different time without the intensity of the paparazzi. Maybe it’s the visual documentation of Spear’s insanity bombarding us, but somehow Garlands insanity seemed poetic while Spears’ seems pathetic. If, as Britney claims, she is going crazy from the paparazzi then how unfortunate! It’s much more fun to be an insane artist than an insane hick walking into the public bathroom barefoot just for no reason! I feel like I am on some parental rant ala “they just don’t make them like they used to” but I feel like this was just such a clear example of that. Idols of today have NOTHING compared to idols like Judy Garland.

I think that is why I admired Rufus’ idea so much; taking a risk to pay homage to a past idol. You would never see this being done by any Beyonce or Christina type. Wainwright may not ever be on Judy Garland’s level but it seems these days the huge stars (Britney) are not going to be of any artistic value like Garland. Even the idea of a pop song written these days that would require artistic interpretation seems unheard of. It was nice to see someone taking risk on merging the art of the past with the art of today.


Okay enough mindless ranting for now….