Red business

Rufus Wainwright is coming to town and I'm going to see him tomorrow night at the State Theatre. What a pity, then, that I missed this competition, which was posted on his website:
"Going to a Town to see Rufus? Want to perform the spoken word part of 'Between My Legs' live on stage with Rufus? Rufus will select a special guest for all of his shows in Australia..."

The blurb goes on to read that you have to do a YouTube audition but it has to be submitted five days before the show - d'oh! missed it!

But there's a river going underground under the town... Oh bugger, I'm terrible at remembering lyrics. How does it go?
"Because there's a river
Running underground
Underneath the town towards the sea
That only I know all about
On which from this city we can flee
On which from this city we can flee"

Did I mention I'm also going to see The Phantom of the Opera in May? My flatmate bought tickets for my birthday (also in May) to thank me for spending heaps of money on The Whitlams at the Opera House gig we went to for her birthday last year.

The interesting thing is that his shows haven't sold out in Australia. The two Sydney shows are still fair game with only one (of two) Melbourne shows sold out and Perth also devoid of tickets. I wonder whether it is because he's not well-known yet here or if it has to do with festival fatigue? We've just had the Sydney Festival and the Big Day Out and a whole bunch of minor festivals (e.g. the Spirit of Soul Festival) chug through this city and his show comes at the end of the season where people have just bled money from Christmas and dozens of parties. Hmm.

Now I'm listening to 'Complainte De La Butte' that he did for the 'Moulin Rouge' soundtrack - he seems to do a lot of soundtracks. I also had 'Across the Universe' (from the film 'I am Sam') playing earlier. But I must confess I like Fiona Apple's version (for 'Pleasantville') better, but can't seem to buy it as an individual track off iTunes. Rufus will do.