Mumford and Sons, Monsters of Folk, Flight of the Conchords, The Imagined Village...these are the superstars of the New Folk Movement. They sell lots of albums, they pack the halls, they even have groupies: folk music is well and truly back! But what about the next generation? What's going to happen fifteen, sixteen years down the line when Britney Spears is considered to be a classic? Don't worry my pungent, hummus eating, bearded friends (you know who you are ladies) Rufus Wainright has been working on the problem....
In a brief post on his blog Wainwright has said that he and Lorca Cohen, Leonard Cohen's daughter, have become the parents to a baby girl:
"Darling daughter Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen was born on February 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, California to proud parents Lorca Cohen, Rufus Wainwright and Deputy Dad Jorn Weisbrodt. The little angel is evidently healthy, presumably happy and certainly very, very beautiful."
Consider the musical heritage involved here. The baby's mother is Canadian writer and photographer Lorca Cohen, her grandfather on the mother's side is folk icon/genius Leonard Cohen. Her father is glamfolk god Rufus Wainwright, her auntie on her father's side is indy rock superstar Martha Wainwright. Her paternal grandfather is cult folk legend Loudon Wainwright III (currently having a revival with his recording of Carrickfergus in Boardwalk Empire) and his paternal grandmother is the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle, who passed away in January 2010. The baby was born on Groundhog Day which will always be associated in my mind with the hit You've Got Me Babe by Sonny and Cher. It's also the birthday of James Joyce...
Someone get that child a guitar.
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36 comments:
Tanya Gold wonders about DNA and musical talent in the Guardian, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/22/wainwright-cohen-superstar-spawn
Mumford & Sons is definitely my favorite new band. Their Sigh No More album is unreal.
I think they replayed an interview with Martha on Jian Ghomeshi's CBC podcast yesterday.
I always feel slightly dirty after listening to Rufus; like some bohemian has plied me with pernod and had his wicked way with me.
That's a good thing, by the way.
Apropos of nothing, have you seen this?
http://greatgatsbygame.com/
It's a genuine Nintendo game from the 80s. You play Nick Carraway and have to use your hat to kill waiters, flappers and ghosts.
I Got You, Babe - methinks. Or was that ANOTHER joke? if so, sorry.
Personally I think the young lady will probably become a tennis player, or a politician who smashes guitars to get the media's attention.
That is a frightening weight of expectation. Or perhaps she should enrich the stew some more by marrying Elton John's little bloke. I'm sure Rufus would approve.
Btw, heard back from Serpent's Tail and, all being well (this is, after all, an uncertain world at best) the extract will run May 1 or 8.
Liam
I like Sigh No More, I even bought it rather than torrenting it which tells you something. Not that they need the money, they're all rich boys slumming it I heard.
Matt
And she's on her way to Melbourne too, soon.
Rob
I once wrote a BASIC game of Catch 22 for the Sinclair Spectrum. If you asked to be grounded you had to fly more missions etc.
Rufus told a nice slightly creepy Jeff Buckley story in Q Mag a few months back.
Gen
Ooops yes thats what I meant!
David
Hey thats great!!! Thanks man I really appreciate it.
I'm sure Allen and Unwin will be getting in touch with me any day/month now.
Maybe I'll even see my books in Readings...that is if it doesnt go belly up like all the bookshops in Melbourne.
No worries.
It's a bit of a worry about the bookshops. Books have always been expensive in Australia. A colleague told me today he's bought the latest Wisden online from Cricinfo for 38 pounds. When it's eventually released in Australia it will be $150.
David
I wonder who gets the mark up from the books? I doubt its the author so who's profiting, the publisher, the distributor?
The price of children's books is truly shocking. 15-20 dollars for a really thin pbk. Same book in the UK would be 4.99 or 9 dollars in the US.
I'll bet Viva is going to be just fine.
Big wave rolling through Santa Cruz last week, at least as far as the book biz goes. Our archnemesis, Borders, is closing, along with all their other superstores. I never totally got on board with the Borders hate, but I did think it took a certain amount of gall to come into a town where for years the local businesses had been struggling to stay alive after the earthquake and then see a 'business opportunity' when the climate was right. Now that the climate is wrong, they're gone again. Or almost.
Unfortunately, we have a couple of other archnemeses out there now. I know there's only supposed to be one, but in the book world, we're spoiled for choice.
Not being a fan of folk music, I've never heard of Leonard Cohen until this blog. I've now heard of him twice in the last couple of days because his name just popped up in the Ken Bruen novel I'm reading. Small world.
Moon Unit, Dweezil and Diva Thin Muffin Zappa think Viva is such a bourgeois name.
Seana
Yeah all the Borders in Australia have just declared bankruptcy. I think that big booshop model is even more doomed than in America because the books are just so much more expensive.
Glenna
You almost certainly have heard Leonard Cohen songs somewhere. You just didnt know who he was. They play him over a lot of ads. Have you seen Shrek? Halleluja - thats one of his.
Lew
But Zowie Bowie alas changed his name to William Jones or something.
Adrian, I haven't seen Shrek, but I'm sure my kids have.
Favorite Quote: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."
Leonard Cohen
Funny, I used to listen to more music when I was single. Now I only hear new music when in the car alone and have control of the satellite.
Thanks for sharing this bit of Lab news.
At art school, I once directed a student film based on a Leonard Cohen book, Beautiful Losers.
I was called in with a days notice to direct, light and film it so didn't get to read the book but there was a time travelling native Canadian who was having an affair with a Quebecois separatist terrorist, then there was a remote controlled car covered in dildos, a naked woman covered in red paint and a man with an extremely large penis which he used as a bookmark before washing someone in soap made from human fat.
If anyone has read the book, can you let me know if that bears any resemblance to what actually happens?
I bought Sigh No More. I figured if a new band like those guys could come along and knock me on my duff the way they did, then they deserved my money. Even though, as you said, they hardly need it.
Am I the only one who thinks they sound like a Celtic Coldplay?
I really wonder what the whole future of stores as we knew them is going to be in general.
Rob, I haven't read the book, but the film sounds...familiar.
Seana: The film was never released. It was just a student project. If you've seen a film featuring those things, maybe you should keep it to yourself.
I rarely buy my books from shops any more. Books over here are so expensive so I either get them from my excellent local library or buy them online. Book Depository has free worldwide postage.
I hope noone tells me that they're an evil multi-national
I've been using Book Depository myself, so I also hope that they aren't evil.
No, I haven't seen the film, I just meant that student films bear a striking similarity.
One of the Book Depository 'moguls' is a very sweet person who kindly held out a hand when I was committing a horrible internet faux pas a while back. His name is Mark Thwaites, he runs the blog ReadySteadyBook and thoroughly deserves to be successful IMHO. However, it's clear there's a problem with Oz and pricing.
Adrian, Fifty Grand is listed as in stock at Readings Carlton. All the other books are on the catalogue, which means they will get them in if you order them. Mind you I am waiting for an order at present *twiddles thumbs* probably the David Mitchell title I ordered is on order, dammit.
I deliberately only order secondhand books within Australia online, because of the carbon footprint for delivery. Otherwise I use Readings, or a library!! which makes me pretty smug and disgusting.
However today I bought violet ink from Paris in a shop here, so I'm a sinner.
Genevieve, well, we're all sinners on someone's books, if it comes to that.
Good to learn what you know about book depository, as their service so far has been impeccable.
Mickie
Favourite line:
I asked Hank Williams how lonely does it get? Hank Williams hasnt answered yet.
Rob
Yes Beautiful Losers is exactly like that. With more dildoes of course.
Liam
There is a Coldplay vibe, except that as far as I know they havent plagarised anyone.
Gen
Thats good to know. Theres a book I've been after for some time called Red Plenty that isnt available on Amazon and the Amazon UK price is too much. I may have to get it through BD. I did email the publicist and mention that I would review it on my blog if she sent me a copy but alas that left her unmoved.
Seana
Thats very good news about Herzog (from the post below). I sincerely hope that the Melbourne cinemas buy a 2D print for the likes of me.
I wish I'd known about your tenuous Herzog connection before I'd bought Conquest of the Useless, I would have tried to wangle a signed copy from your store. But its too late now. Got the book, read it, liked it.
Well, my friend currently lives in Canada, so I doubt knowing it would even have helped me.
And just in a bout of free advertising, I have a new blog at http://www.adhocclassicism.blogspot.com/
It's Classics-themed, focusing mostly on the Romans, Grecians, and Egyptians.
Thanks for not charging me royalities, Adrian.
wait, isn't Rufus gay? OK to add to the pedigree of the new baby, Loudon Wainwright was also married to folk singer Suzzy Roche, of the most excellent Roches (sisters). I believe that they had a kid together, a step sibling to Rufus and Martha. Not that the baby carries any Roche DNA but hey, guilt by association.
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