Rolling Stone posted a very funny and interesting Q&A with Rufus Wainwright today in which he talks about his family’s upcoming Christmas variety show at Carnegie Hall in NYC, called the “McGarrigle Christmas Hour.” Guests include Rufus, his sister Martha, his mother Kate, Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Fallon, Laurie Anderson, and Lou Reed as The Grinch. Here’s a few choice bits.
On Liza Minneli: “Liza and I are sort of in different camps — which is sort of a funny term to use. I mean, I think she’s an incredible talent. But I don’t know how much Liza digs my Judy work. I think anything concerning her mother is usually loaded. That’s another funny word to use.”
On Amy Winehouse: “I met her. She once sort of chased me at Coachella. She kept trying to break into my dressing room…We talked a little bit and in all truth, I think she was probably, you know, raiding my beer fridge ’cause I wasn’t drinking it or something.”
On Britney Spears: “I really love Britney and I love what she did on TV recently. I thought that was a great move on her part just being really honest and open and not exploitative either about her situation, but at the same time being realistic.”
Wainwright also talks about an opera he’s written that will appear in England and a musical based on Shakespeare sonnets to show in Berlin. He says, “I’m totally going for the jugular in terms of the MTV generation here — Shakespeare and opera.”
More at Rollingstone.com here.