Ninety Gay Minutes in the Life of Rufus Wainwright

While he may not feel that one's sexuality is necessarily interesting from a creative perspective, in and of itself, he acknowledges the importance of gay visibility in the big picture: “I do feel that gay issues and homosexual liberation is one of the most pertinent and current situations … it's important to talk about it, but as I said before, what anybody wants to do, it's their personal choice.”

This pragmatism works both ways. Wainwright is similarly relatively unruffled by the “outing” of celebrities – as long as it's done in good faith. When asked about the recent high-profile “outing” of celebrities like Anderson Cooper and Jodie Foster in Out magazine, Wainwright replies, “Well, I think that's fine, too. I don't disagree with [it] as long as it's not done nastily. I think it's fine if it's brought up in a conversation.”

But Wainwright believes that often sexuality is used as ammunition by both the straight and the gay press: “I know recently Clay Aiken was discovered on Manhunt having, you know, talking about sex with someone and then they went public with that – and even the gay media was extremely catty and bitchy towards him, like “look, he likes fisting!” or something. That to me is just so base.”

Our readers – some of Wainwright's biggest fans, by their account – naturally wanted to know more about the artist and his work. For example, with whom would Wainwright like to work in the future? “I'm a big fan of Bright Eyes. I think he's really great. I haven't heard his new album yet, but I'm dying to hear it. I like him. I also like – who else do I like? A lot of people say that on this album I sound like the lead singer from Radiohead; a Thom Yorke/Rufus thing, a similarity in the way we sing. I can see it occasionally and I've always been a fan of their music. I don't know if I'd necessarily want to work with them, but I wouldn't mind having a drink. (laughs) A soda. I think Bright Eyes and I would make an interesting track together. We're kind of doing similar things but on different planets.”

A reader who had seen Wainwright perform live at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens wrote that the performance “transported” her, and asked which live performances had effected Wainwright in the same way. The answer brought Wainwright back to one of his favorite topics: opera.

“It's hard for me to say, because I go to the opera all the time. I'll go at least three or four times a month. Only because I'm getting free tickets now because I'm writing this opera for the Met, so I take full advantage of that. And that is what is expected of the night's performance. It is mandatory that you are transported, at every single show … so I've had countless experiences like that in that world.”

“But in the other world, that pop world, I'd have to say … who's really transported me recently. Oh, you know who was amazing? Morrissey was amazing. Seeing Morrissey in England. We did a few festivals together in England and I'd never seen him live and he was outrageously amazing. Totally transported me, because of his weird ambiguous Elvis character. You know, he's someone who's certainly straddled the closet.”

Our time was running out, but we had time for one more question from a reader who wanted to know what Wainwright would have done for a living had he not become a singer/songwriter. “I definitely would have been a painter, only because there's no noise. [As a musician] you're constantly barraged by sound, and it gets a little infuriating. I still draw and paint. I did a lot of the artwork for my albums over the years.”

Rufus will be performing in-store and signing CD's Wednesday, May 16 @ 7:00 pm Barnes & Noble 33 East 17th Street New York City