Author Topic: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63  (Read 7423 times)

Offline BayCityJohn

  • Brokeback Got Me Good
  • *****
  • Posts: 772
    • BBM Foundation
Re: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63
« Reply #10 on: January 20, 2010, 06:53:15 pm »
In them earlier days (2007) I had the pleasure to see Kate performing with Rufus and Martha at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival in Michigan.

She told us that Rufus was conceived in Ann Arbor, and the 3 of them performed "Talk To Me Of Mendocino" which I believe she said was written in Ann Arbor.


[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hiUuRpUqs4&feature=related[/youtube]

This is an excerpt from my review of the concert:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The headliner of the evening, and the only reason I drove 100 miles, was Rufus Wainwright. I saw him once before at the Elton John Philadelphia Freedom concert. I wasn't very impressed with his performance there. He seemed a little nervous, maybe because the crowd of over 800,000 was overwhelming. He was much more relaxed tonight.

I can't remember what his first song was, but then he introduced the second song. He said "This is the song I wrote for Brokeback Mountain."

He started playing and someone in the audience must have said something because he started laughing. It was okay though. He played a few more intro bars and started singing. Of course I had goose bumps already on the first few notes. He gets to the second verse and he sang the wrong words!! I wasn't the only one who noticed. Rufus looked a little shocked, and then someone in the audience shouted out the first line of that verse. Rufus just looked straight ahead, added an extra measure, and continued the song with the right words. The rest of the song was perfect, and had quite a bit more power and soul than what we hear in the movie. But I felt alone in the auditorium until near the end of the song when I could hear other people in the audience humming. That felt good.

After he finished the song, I noticed 2 gay couples leaving. One of the guys had a cowboy hat. I'm sure they only went to the concert to hear that one song.

He sang a couple of songs with Martha, which I expected. What I didn’t expect was his mother, Kate McGarrigle. He introduced her and she came out and told a story about how she discovered she was pregnant with Rufus when she was in Ann Arbor 34 years ago. She played the piano while Rufus sang a song that she wrote. It was nice but again I can't remember the name.

Rufus, Martha, and Kate sang one song together. The song was Talk To me Of Mendocino, written by Kate in 1975. This was the highlight of the evening for most of the audience, and would have been for me too if he hadn't sung Maker Makes.

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Re: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63
« Reply #11 on: January 21, 2010, 02:31:13 am »
John, I hadn't realized he actually wrote it for BBM.  I really appreciate you sharing your review.

Offline Sheriff Roland

  • BetterMost Supporter
  • Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 8,492
Re: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2010, 11:36:44 am »
Rufus Wainwright has a new album out.

In an interview, he reminisces ...

"Yesterday, I had this pang. I used to always arrive in Montreal and say, 'I want to go and have a smoked meat sandwich or a souvlaki' - sort of dive into the Montreal scene. And my mom was like, 'Well, you know, I made a big vat of borscht.' It was delicious . . . but I was always wanting to go out and see where the cute boys were on the Main street. Now I can go to the Main street, but I want the borscht."

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Rufus+Wainwright+pays+tribute+late+mother/2711016/story.html
2015 - Toronto: Pan Am Games
2015 - Edmonton, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Winnipeg: Woman's World Cup of Soccer

Offline Wayne

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 3,207
Re: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2010, 02:59:51 pm »
 :'( oh, I'm so sorry to see this ... i didn't know. condolences to Rufus, Sheriff, and fans ...
When you put people in charge of the government who are committed to proving that it doesn't work, you can be sure that they will cause it to not work.

Don

Offline Wayne

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 3,207
Re: Folk singer Kate McGarrigle (mother of Rufus Wainwright) dead at 63
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2010, 03:04:06 pm »
Y'a longtemps qu'on fait la politique
Vingt ans de guerre contre les Moustiques


J'ai entendu les soeurs McGarrigle chanter ça sur les plaines d'Abraham pendant la fete St Jean 1980 avec une amie qui les aimait beaucoup...  :'(
When you put people in charge of the government who are committed to proving that it doesn't work, you can be sure that they will cause it to not work.

Don