Nirvana at the Belly Up on Saturday

Aha!
That got your attention.
No I didn't see a dead rock star sing! I never did see Kurt, sadly.

Still walking on air after seeing Rufus Wainwright on Saturday.

My fellow Rufian Laura took the train down from LA Saturday afternoon.
We had a long, leisurely late lunch - I made Indian vegetarian food (dal, aloo gobi and mattar panir and rice, followed by burfee which is like Indian fudge only not so sweet).

Laura, my husband Sujoy and I arrived at the club at 6:15 and met a few fellow groupies - there is a small circle of diehards here in soCal...so that was fun chattting with them.

We went in and got right up to the front of the stage and waited for Teddy Thompson. (I am gaga over his last cd, Separate Ways, so I was excited about seeing him again).
Laura and I pre-ordered Rufus' new cd, and in turn we were given a VIP badge which we annoyingly flashed at eachother a la Wayne's World! This badge allowed us to go meet Ru and have him sign our cd after the show.

Teddy played a beautiful set, mostly solo. He only performed a few songs from his last cd, concentrating on new material from a cd that will be released in July. I enjoyed his set very much - it was mellow, but good. Love his voice and, yeah shallow Sue didn't mind looking at him either!

Rufus came on shortly and gave THE best performance I have ever seen.
He wore a crazy outfit: striped shirt, striped pants, a white ribbon around his neck in lieu of a real tie, and brooches on his shirt AND pants! (His fans know he loves brooches so they always bestow him with brooches!). If that wasn't enough, his entire 6 piece band was also dressed in stripes, and they all wore brooches!!! The man is too funny.

This is the best shot I got, taken with my cell phone, because I was afraid to bring my camera.


Rufus performed 23 songs - I think it was about a 2 1/2 hour show. I have never seen him more relaxed or happy. He kept smiling - he looked like a handsome Lepruchan, minus the red hair, beard and green suit! LOL He has the cutest appley red cheeks.
Ok stop Sue!

Highlights: there were SO many, but a stand outs were "Beautiful Child" w/the fab horn section...I Don't Know What It Is, 2 songs from the Judy Garland tribute (he sounded better than at Carnegie Hall), a new one and I am not sure of the title, but it was very apocolyptic/Radioheadish... INTENSE, MAGNIFICENT...AWE INDUCING. Another new one, "Leaving for Paris" made Laura cry, it was that gorgeous (she studied there last year).

Rufus is a natural comedian/ham...near the end of the show, he said, "my band tells me the women are HOT here in San Diego. I wouldn't know...but they assure me that they are...so I'll start auctioning them off for brooches!" Cute cute cute.


After the show, we waited in line to get our cd signed. I knew they were hurrying everyone along...so this is what I said:

"HI RUFUS!!!!" grinning profusely. I touched his hand and asked how his mother was doing. (I am not sure, but I believe she has a serious illness...I know she was ill from his board). He said she is fine, then I leaned into him and said, "give Martha a hug for me...I introduced her to Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller...Lala helped me" (Lala was his techie).
Most people know the story, I won't bore anyone now w/the details! I did it via email and MySpace after having met Martha in October 2005. I have met her many times, she remembers me!
So Rufus smiled and nodded and said, "I will tell Martha you said hi."
Then the security guard gave me a hard time so I walked away, as Rufus said "BYYYYYE," and he didn't sign Laura's cd until he saw that I looked back and he smiled and said BYE again!

Ta da.
That was my night in a nutshell.

::sigh::