Kate & Anna McGarrigle » rufus wainwright

‘Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais.’ Rufus sings Serge Gainsbourg.

Anna — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:08:40 +0000

Rufus Wainwright sings ‘Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais.’ My magnificent obsession.

House of Rufus

Anna — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:17:49 +0000

Rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn’t it? Somewhere between the House of Windsor and the House of Usher??
Here they all are at soundcheck today. Rufus, Martha, Lily, Calum, Liam, Brad and Thomas.

House of Rufus - Royal Opera House Covent Garden

This Summer

Anna — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:40:53 +0000

Last Tuesday I drove up to Québec City to see Martha perform at the annual sprawling Festival d’été. There are many stages throughout the City and she was playing Le pigeonnier, a stage Kate and I had played in the mid 90s. I don’t have to tell you, Martha was Magnificent. The audience was in her thrall throughout. At one point she kindly asked me to join her on stage so I could massacre Entre Lajeunesse et la sagesse on the piano while she sang it like an angel. In all the years I’ve sung and sometimes played the bass on that song I had never actually played it on piano. It’s tough! as Barbie would say. I think I’ve got it now. Then Marianne Faithfull took the stage and did a very charming and heartfelt set with her band led by Kate St John.

This week Rufus, Martha, Loudon, Lucy, Brad, Thomas, Calum, Lily, and the Arc of the Covent, are all over in London doing Rufus week at Covent Garden. It sounds like it’s going to be wonderful. Check out Rufus’s site for details of this coming week’s presentations: RUFUS WAINWRIGHT SITE

Kate McGarrigle * obit in Time by Rufus

Anna — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:47:41 +0000

A lovely tribute from Rufus to Kate in Time Magazine. It is a hard time of year. She held on through last Christmas, leaving her bed temporarily to great old friends, Michèle Forest, Jack Nissenson and Peter Weldon, all of whom we sang with in the Montreal coffee-houses of the 1960s. We sat around the fireplace in St Sauveur and sang a couple of the old songs. It think it was during Shenandoah that Kate looked at Jack and said, ‘you’re making me cry.’ She wasn’t the only one.

il lance, elle compte.

Anna — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:32:36 +0000

The Cedars people sure know how to put on a fundraising gala. First of all get Lance Armstrong and a bunch of wealthy cyclists committed to cancer research, plenty of excellent food and drink, outstanding entertainment which included Martha and Rufus who were joined on stage by Brad and Kate, and you have the makings for a wonderful event. The setting for Heroes Night at the Mt Tremblant Casino and in the massive adjacent tent was worthy of Fellini, or a ceremony atop Mt Olympus? Little cedar trees instead of laurel crowns. I can hear Kate who knows her mythology saying ‘heroes are but fallen gods’.. whatever. I was impressed. Riding the silent gondola across the dark mountain under a beautiful starlit sky and alighting at the other end in the centre of ‘the village’ was the perfect conclusion to a most memorable evening. And they raised a ‘lot’ of money for the Cedars Cancer Institute of the MUHC.

Thanks to all who made this possible.

And don’t forget this year’s Xmas concert, A not so Silent Night, to be held Dec 9 09 at the Royal Albert Hall, London, UK. The Kate McGarrigle Fund within the MUHC.

Having trouble loading pics to this site. If you want to see Kate and Lance go to gardencourt

Kate to be honoured.

Anna — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:01:49 +0000

self-portrait on the road to compostella

The Cedars Cancer Institute of the MUHC is honouring some local notables this evening at their Heroes Night Gala which is being held at the Casino Mont-Tremblant, QC. Kate along with hockey stars Jean Beliveau and Saku Koivu among others are to receive their honours from the great Lance Armstrong who is leading a pack of 50 bike riders on a 100 km course before the dinner and ceremony. Rufus and Martha Wainwright will grace the stage along with their mum during the post-dinner concert.

Congrats.

For further information please contact the Cedars office at 514-843-1606 or go to Tour de Lance

Kate also has her own charity, The Kate McGarrigle Fund within the MUHC.
Go here if you want info on ‘A Not So Silent Night’ this year’s Christmas Show to be held at the Royal Albert Hall, London UK, Dec 9 09.

Kate does the Hamptons.

Anna — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:21:21 +0000

As mentioned on an earlier gardencourt blog, the singular Kate, intrepid Rufus and passionate Martha and the fab Norah Jones performed last weekend at the Watermill Foundation fundraiser “The Last Song of Summer” and they wowed the crowd as reported here at Vanity Fair. By the looks of it Jörn wowed them too! And Brad and Thomas B.

Dink’s Song aka Fare Thee Well

Lily — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:28:52 +0000

We didn’t make the cut for the 90 min. version of the Seeger 90th show that PBS is airing this Sunday night, so here we are doing Dink’s Song, our contribution. Kate, Bruce, Martha, Rufus, Chaim and Anna. We frankly thought it was beautiful but I guess it didn’t have enough star power. We first heard Dave Van Ronk sing it in Montreal in the early 60s. P.S. This performance was included in the 2 hr special that was aired in some markets. It’s also on the Seeger 90th DVD.

Dink’s Song aka Fare Thee Well from a. lanken on Vimeo.

McGarrigle/Cockburn/Wainwright/Tannenbaum – Fare Thee Well or Dink’s Song

Anna — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:11:06 +0000

Still dwelling on the Seeger event. Couldn’t find a youtube that had both visual and sound performance of Dink’s Song♥ aka Fare Thee Well which features Kate McGarrigle vocal & guitar, Bruce Cockburn vocal & guitar, Martha Wainwright vocal, Rufus Wainwright vocal with Chaim Tannenbaum echo harp and Anna McGarrigle accordion. Somebody has posted just the sound on youtube, better than nothing at all. Thank you.
Fare Thee Well/aka Dink's Song.

♥Story has it the song was collected in 1908 by John Lomax who heard a woman (presumably Dink) sing it. Dink was living in a tent on the banks of the Brazos River in Texas and she was doing her laundry. (Kate: take note) It’s utterly heartbreaking. “If I had wings like Noah’s dove, I’d fly up the river to the one I love, Fare thee well, my honey, fare thee well… Maple Byrne, who works with Emmylou, when asked to name his favorite songwriter, replied: “Dink.” We first heard Dave Van Ronk do it in Montreal in the early 60s. Pete S. sang the song with banjo accompaniment and Barbara Dane had sort of a hit with it. Don’t know if there’s a recording of Dink singing her song (1908?) but she will live forever as long as people call it by its name, Dink’s Song.

Read down this article to where the reviewer calls our performance the musical highlight of the evening, no less..we thought it was too. It is the Irish Times and they may be just a little biased…There were many great moments. I think Amazing Grace did it for me.
IRISH TIMES REVIEW OF SEEGER 90TH

BEFORE TOMORROW – LE JOUR AVANT LE LENDEMAIN
Also putting in a link for BEFORE TOMORROW/LE JOUR AVANT LE LENDEMAIN this film Kate and I have some music in. It was released in late March and we didn’t have our new site up then. Here is a poster for it.