Rufus Wainwright: Our New American Idol?

Two weeks ago I had the chance to go see Rufus Wainwright at my local Barnes & Noble where he performed and did a CD signing. I felt like a teenage girl as I waited with everyone else for him to come out. I suppose it didn't help that I was sitting next to a few teen girls chatting about whether or not Blake or Jordin would take home the American Idol title between playing video games on their iPods and texting their friends. I wondered how they found out about Rufus. How did they come to have the same sort of artistic appreciation as I did that would make them line up at 4 p.m. for a performance that wouldn't take place until three hours later? As 7 p.m. approached more and more teen boys and girls crowded in along with a large group of thirty- and forty-somethings. A stir came from the back of the audience and Rufus appeared. "Oh my god," one of the American Idol fans screamed, "he's so hot!" That just didn't seem to make sense to me at the time. Then there was a young goth girl in front of me that had eyeliner designed like the shooting stars form the CD package. All of this seemed out of sorts, but then he sang.

Rufus's voice and musical style is not for everyone. His voice bemoans and resonates and his music is full of orchestration and over-the-top instrumentation. He could never appeal to all, but he does speak to some. Some of us are teen girls and some of us are 40-year-old men, but I think we all are there for something different. He even joked about a bad review of his album in The New York Post that called is music not mainstream to ever be accessible to all, but "isn't that the point" he said.

He sang songs about a famous castle in Germany that once belonged to Frederick The Great and sang about his true love down at the stable polishing his Cabriolet. Then closed his set with "Going To A Town" and talked about his inspiration while writing the song and the album. He recorded Release The Stars in Berlin and he spoke about how Germany had lived and survived through their own acts of terrorism and how they have learned from their past to move on. "Going To A Town" is song about being disillusioned with the current state of affairs in the Bush-era post 9/11 world and how the biggest problem we have today is with our leaders unable to admit to their mistakes. All of this seemed as if it might be too heavy for the crowd, but it wasn't. It was rather elitist of me to think so. They hung on every word and took it all in. I'm not so sure Jordin Sparks could have had the same impact when speaking of her lyrical content, but who knows.

When the set was over we all lined up and were whisked quickly over to the table for his signature. As I got right in front of Rufus all I could say was "You're great." Again, the teenager came out and I scurried away in the presence of a great pop star.