Update, McKennitt and Wainwright

My absence from LiveJournal deepens, but life is good. I've organized a new knitting group and planned a writers circle at Out On The Shelf, and arranging a Rufus Wainwright song for the Rainbow Chorus to perform next spring. Music I've added to my iTunes library recently: Dido, Goldfrapp, Hootie and the Blowfish, Indigo Girls, a couple older k.d. lang albums that were missing, and Loreena McKennitt's most recent live album.

Danny is in Europe for most of September and October, but I look forward to a New York weekend when he gets back.

Monday night I attended Baby Steve's birthday party—he turned 30. I've known him for ages, and despite only seeing him two or three times a year, have developed great fondness for him.

Last night I went with Moe and Les to see Loreena McKennitt in concert. Wow, what a performance! It was just as inspiring as Rufus Wainwright, maybe more so. Very similar in some ways. Her band included ten people altogether. It was fun seeing the hurdy-gurdy and some other eccentric instruments in action. She performed on harp, piano and accordion and sang just a few songs from her newest studio album. Mostly they came from The Mask and the Mirror, and The Book of Secrets, my favourites anyway. She has rearranged a lot of her older songs.

McKennitt thoroughly enjoyed being on stage (after such a long hiatus), and more than Wainwright she engaged with band members throughout the concert, really letting them take the spotlight at their appropriate times. Fiddler Hugh Marsh's performance received a particularly warm response from the audience.

Rufus's band is almost the same size, the music equally complex and inspired. His show was flashy and fabulous, hers more sumptuous: purple and gold light, outline of a Persian arch, flickering lanterns, just a hint of smoke. He changed outfits several times: lederhosen, a bathrobe, a black skirt and stockings with tophat. She kept the same vaguely medieval, deep red gown with dark leather boots throughout the concert.

While Rufus performs in an intense little bubble, she is incredibly open and giving. It was a revelation. Sometimes her studio performances feel a little cold and detached, but having seen her perform live I feel differently about the music. She is bright and incendiary. She says she wanted to be a vet, but music claimed her.

By contrast Wainwright is his music. Perhaps he would be at a loss without it. He sometimes seems alone with it. This should not be taken as a criticism. Many artists do what they do because they have to, and that's what makes their work so compelling.

During the past nine years McKennitt took a break and apparently found purpose outside her music, but we are grateful she has returned to record and perform, because she is an unique and gifted musician.