Rufus Wainwright Wins GLAAD Award

Rufus Wainwright was named outstanding music artist at the GLAAD Media Awards on Monday, for his 2007 album Release the Stars.

This was the nineteenth annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards, which celebrates mainstream media outlets that foster positive images of gay and lesbian people. Rufus has mentioned in interviews before that he's an unusual musical artist in that he was openly out before his career ever began and yet has enjoyed mainstream success. This is his second GLAAD Media Award, the first being one for Outstanding Music Album in 1999, for his self-named debut album.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that Release the Stars is so outstanding musically as to earn him a new award. It's a great album and has some real gems on it (my favorites being "Going to a Town" and "Do I Disappoint You") and he's clearly grown as a musician here, but I always felt like Want Two was the best album. But, his first album and his fifth are the two that charted the highest and last year he did a series of shows in Judy Garland drag, performing the entire Judy at Carnegie Hall album. This award is far more about being in the public eye than artistry.

And for being in the public eye as a gay artist, challenging people's expectations and pushing the envelope? Oh, Rufus is indeed outstanding.

So does he taste of potato chips?

Rufus Wainwright has said that he and Brandon Flowers finally got around to meeting a second time and discussing the song "Tulsa" that he had written about their first meeting. Unlike my prediction, it hadn't occurred at T in the Park, but the next day at Oxegen. I have to have earned some points for being close there, though.

Rufus had this to say about their second meeting:

I saw him in Ireland. We were doing a festival together. He was very sweet, quite bashful, and gave me a nice big kiss on the cheek. We'll take it from there.

However, that isn't the only thing Mr. Wainwright has had to say recently about the Killers frontman. This is from the introduction of "Tulsa" at a recent concert:

Just a brief gossip blip before the weekend

On July 7 of this year, Rufus Wainwright and the Killers both performed at T in the Park in Scotland before hopping over to Ireland to perform at Oxegen. Since Wainwright had said he was still waiting for a response to his song "Tulsa", I had wondered if he and Brandon Flowers might have a second meeting.

There was never any news about the two talking, but an interesting factoid was that Wainwright didn't play "Tulsa" at either show, despite the fact that it's been a part of his regular set for quite some time. Did Flowers ask him to stop performing it or did it just seem uncomfortably stalkerish to play the song when the subject was so close at hand?

Whatever was said about the song, "Tulsa" has been performed at shows since so Wainwright obviously hasn't decided to stop using it. The absence at the two big festivals might be explained by the fact that it's a very difficult song to play and Wainwright just didn't want to risk messing up at such a large venue. Maybe.

However, at a recent concert in Vancouver it was noted that Wainwright's typical introduction to the song "Tulsa" has changed. He's not saying that he's waiting for a response anymore. Instead, he said:

"Didn't succeed in seducing him. So. Failure"

Picture courtesy of Rebecca Blissett.

The Splendor Which Is Google Trends

I've recently discovered the most fun toy ever. I've always enjoyed using search engines to gauge the relative idiocy of my fellow humans, but Google Trends makes the whole process that much simpler. Instead of popping some phrase or word into a search engine and seeing how many hits come up, you can use Google Trends to compare how often people did searches for various things.

To start out, I decided to put John Lennon to the test and compared the Beatles vs Jesus Christ. Turns out, the boys from Liverpool kick the carpenter's ass. However, the Beatles really aren't all that popular. It turns out that people just don't try to find Jesus with Google all that much. The Beatles vs U2 has U2 easily dominating the playing field for the past three years. But, U2 isn't at the top of the game, I'm afraid. U2 vs Beyonce has had some reversals over the years, but currently it looks like Beyonce is reigning supreme.

Google Trends also makes it easy to follow raging cultural debates. Long has man wrestled with the choice between Beyonce and Fergie. Bootylicious or Fergalicious? Sultry sweetness or skanky sex? Beyonce still comes out on top, but it's a close race. Fergie could overtake her at any moment.

And what about famous feuds? For instance, The Killers and Green Day both desperately want to be U2 (when really, as the results above should show, anyone with sense would want to be Beyonce). Killers frontman Brandon Flowers has been rather outspoken in his disgust for the anti-Americanism of Green Day. Has his patriotism rewarded him? Alas, no. The Killers vs Green Day ends with Green Day noticeably ahead, though the Killers did outdo them briefly in September and October 2006. However, in Brandon Flowers vs Billie Joe Armstrong we find that Flowers has remained ahead of Armstrong pretty consistently since February of this year.

I'm still searching for a band or musician who tops Beyonce. High School Musical has managed to, but there's an unfair advantage there as this is a movie and not an actual band. She even beats Elvis and Iraq (though barely). Technically, she's beat by Britney Spears, but again I don't think this one counts. Chances are good searches for Britney are more for scary, scary stories than interest in music. Linkin Park briefly eclipsed her in May of this year and now they're neck and neck, much like her and Fergie.

And though his 'Net trendiness might not be on par with the big name bands (though as a solo performer, he beats the lead singers of the above bands), I'll have you know that Rufus Wainwright completely pwns Cheez Whiz.

Rufus Wainwright Responsible for Rehab

According to Rufus Wainwright, we have him to thank for the fact that these days celebrities are more likely to go into rehab than "collapse from exhaustion." The recent switch towards honesty is refreshing and, one would hope, might actually do some good. Wainwright said in a recent interview:

"I like to think I made rehab fashionable. Now you got everybody going into clinics which is a good thing, but I was there first."

In 2002, Wainwright was addicted to crystal meth. The addiction nearly cost him his eyesight. Five years later, he's cagey about whether or not he's entirely sober (the most he'll say is "it can switch on a dime"), but he's looking healthy and hasn't been spotted out with Paris Hilton sans underwear or anything.

The most beautiful part about this quote is that it's so quintessentially Rufus. Most celebrities would want to sweep that sort of thing under the rug. If it was ever brought up at all, they'd probably make some little nod to being clean and sober and then move on. The enigmatically egotistical and self-deprecating musician, on the other hand, brings up his addiction himself, takes credit for other people seeking treatment, and then points out that an addiction is never entirely conquered.

It says a lot about Wainwright that he can do things that have the potential to be unspeakably obnoxious, like claiming he made rehab trendy, and yet come off as adorably charming.

Brandon Fits the Brando Mold?

[Brandon Flowers and Rufus Wainwright, picture courtesy of Matt Miner.]

"He is so sexy yet so unhappy and also somewhat sane and crazy at the same time. I haven't met anyone who quite fits the Brando mould as much as he does immediately. There's this dark, moody, restless, annoyed but compassionate figure that's sucking up all the energy out of the room." - Rufus Wainwright, on why he wrote the song "Tulsa" about Brandon Flowers.

The story goes that Rufus was out after a concert and he got turned away from a gay bar for not having his ID on him. He found himself another bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma and who should arrive while he's there but the Killers. He didn't get to know Brandon, the frontman of the Killers, too well that night, but was apparently a bit taken with what he saw of Mr. Flowers. When the song was written, the encounter in Tulsa was the first and only time the two had ever met.

The lyrics of the song in question:

You taste of potato chips in the morning
Your face has the Marlon Brando club calling
And who would have thought that I'd owe it all to Tulsa?
And that fat guy with the green shirt that we both signed together
Once he hears the song, won't live it down forever

Your suit was the whitest thing since you-know-who
I fear that that savior I mentioned may be you
And who would have thought that I'd owe it all to Tulsa?
And that poor girl who waited in the rain for hours to meet me (not you, baby!)
Once she hears that song, won't live it down completely

And I owe it all to Tulsa, Oklahoma
This is just a reminder of the antique shop that I want to go back to and visit when it's open
In Tulsa, Oklahoma
Just in case you don't appreciate this song about you!

With Rufus being openly gay and Brandon the posterboy for metrosexuality, it's unsurprising that there are rumors the song was inspired by some sort of tryst. That potato chips line really makes you wonder. But, if Brandon is in the closet it's pretty doubtful that Rufus had anything going on with him. Mr. Wainwright has stated before that he doesn't think outing people against their will is a very ethical thing to do.

The whole Brando thing that Rufus mentions is pretty easy to see and it's rather obviously been alluded to before in photoshoots with Brandon:


Rufus has mentioned that he's waiting for a response from Brandon regarding the song. Since both of them were at T in the Park in Scotland yesterday, I'm wondering if they ever had a second meeting?