Gordon in the morning: He shoots, he scores

There's a strange, stumpy review of the Rufus Wainwright gig at the Lyceum today:

RUFUS Wainwright’s new album is called Out Of The Game.

Is this going to be a tortuous football reference?

Appropriate then that while the rest of Britain was glued to the Manchester derby, fans at London’s Lyceum were watching an artist who’s nearly as flamboyant as Mario Balotelli himself.

Psst, Gordon: Rufus isn't in the closet. You don't have to use "flamboyant" as code.

Rufus belted out the Mark Ronson-produced album’s best tracks, including Montauk – a song for his daughter.

Hold on - did he only do the best tracks that Mark Ronson had produced on the album, or had Ronson produced the album from which Rufus performed the best tracks? And is Montauk a song for Wainwright's daughter, or Ronson's?

Perhaps the review was written with one eye on the football.

New Year treat in Utah

What could persuade you to spend New Years Eve in Utah? How about Wainwrights Rufus, Loudon and Lucy playing together?

Park City Eccles Center gets the event. New Years Eve is when you'd expect it.

Rufus Wainwright: I was taken out of context

It's funny, isn't it: it's always "I've been taken out of context".

Latest victim of an apparent misunderstanding caused by people taking his words literally is Rufus Wainwright, who has attempted to clarify his comments about how "I’m actually not a huge gay marriage supporter”:

“Recently, a quote from an interview was taken out of context and as these things go, it has appeared on many internet sites. So, to set the record straight (or shall we say gay?), I am not nor have I ever been opposed to anyone's right to marry - straight or gay.”

The singer goes onto say that he is “appalled” that lesbian and gay couples in the US don’t have the same rights that straight couples do.

“I myself just don't want to at the moment and feel a strong tie to the traditional bohemian concept of being a homosexual, ie: the last thing we want is to be like everybody else. But who knows, a girl likes options. Maybe someday I will want to marry! Plus, in terms of practical issues such as citizenship, taxes, inheritance, etc...it is appauling (sic) that LGBT couples don't have the same rights and options that other people have and compared with Europe and Canada, the US should be ashamed of how they treat love.”

Did you spot the joke where he said "to set the record straight - or gay"? But once the hilarity has ensued - it's a little hard to see exactly how Wainwright has been taken out of context: he was reported as saying he's not a great supporter of gay marriage; his clarification pretty much says the same thing. He does go on to say that he "strongly opposed" Proposition 8 and "will continue to do so", which does seem a little contradictory. And it's interesting that Wainwright didn't even bother to mention his other comments where he drew parallels between gay marriage and marrying dogs, but perhaps that's been taken out of context so badly that he wouldn't know where to begin.

We're not even going to try and pick the bones out of "being gay means you shouldn't want to be like everybody else, but you should have the same rights as everyone else, but apparently not including marriage, which I don't support, but do".

In the comments section on our earlier story, Danbut argues that Rufus' comments have been misportrayed and shouldn't be seen as being inconsistent - and actually does better at explaining Rufus' position than Wainwright manages.

Rufus Wainwright lines up on Elton's side

Et tu, Rufus? Wainwright has attempted an explanation of why he isn't interested in helping the pro-Gay marriage campaign:

"Oddly enough, I'm actually not a huge gay marriage supporter. I personally don't want to get married but I think that any law or amendment to the constitution that deals with sex and love should just be banned in general."

So you personally don't want to get married, Rufus, so there's no need to support the rights of those who do. You don't think that, perhaps, many of the freedoms we enjoy have been fought for by people who are not personally going to benefit from the victory, but do it because it's right?

It gets worse, though:

"I don't think any government should encroach on what goes on in the bedroom at all. Frankly, if you want to marry a dog, why don't you go ahead and marry a dog, I don't care. I'm a complete libertarian and so I really disagree with it".

This is a gay man, lazily comparing gay marriage - which is about the state valuing a relationship, and one of the few times the government has to encroach on affairs of the heart - with marrying a dog. Although, confusingly, Rufus seems to think that marrying a dog is fine, but marrying someone of the same sex is a right you shouldn't even need to have. And if he is a "complete libertatian", then shouldn't he be campaigning for those beliefs, rather than just doing nothing and trying to claim that his apathy is somehow noble?

Rufus Wainwright makes a grand drama

It was, we guess, only a matter of time: Rufus Wainwright is writing an opera:

"The construct of the diva, from Maria Callas to Norma Desmond, and the movie Diva from the '80s. And God darn it, there's a bit of me in that too."

A bit of you, Rufus? In an opera about Callas, Desmond and divas? Do you think?

Collaborations on the frontline

Interesting pairings: Robyn Hitchcock is working with Andy Partridge:

Hitchcock explained the reasons behind their collaboration, saying: “I think it’s good for me to be brought up against somebody else, another songwriter. I really think about how everything fits together.

“[It’s] a self-generating project. I write the words on the train going up to Swindon and then, bang, we record it in his shed.”

Meanwhile, and perhaps slightly less surprisingly, Rufus Wainwright is hooking up with Joan As Policewoman. None of the results of either of this unions is expected to appear on next year's Brits.

Rufus tired of her being sexy

Rufus Wainwright has had enough of Beyonce and her music:

"I'm really sick of Beyonce. All of her songs are formulaic and produced in the basest way. There's no enlightenment. Like most mainstream pop these days, it's more of a scientific experiment than an artist experience.

"But hey, it's your life, you know,"

That's a little unfair, surely? There's a lot of mainstream pop that is a life-sapping experience to listen to: Pussycat Dolls, Fergie, Clarkson. Beyonce, surely, is a finely-coiffured head and well-buffed shoulder ahead of them, don't you think?