April’s six can’t-miss cultural releases – includes Spun Out

This article came from Toronto Life.

1. Vibrate by Rufus Wainwright

In June 2006, Rufus Wainwright donned silk stockings, a black tuxedo jacket and four-inch heels to recreate Judy Garland’s iconic 1961 Carnegie Hall concert. Liza Minnelli met the gimmick with scathing contempt (“What is he doing?” she scoffed), prompting a deliciously passive-aggressive celebrity feud—Wainwright told the press that Minnelli wasn’t talking to him and made catty barbs at her onstage. Wainwright’s latest track is a sly dig called “Me and Liza,” in which he begs for her ­forgiveness. “Come on, Liza, give me a try,” he croons. It’s the lead single on his new best-of album, Vibrate, which maps the songwriter’s development from waifish tweaker to campy bon vivant and, finally, to domesticated family man—he married Jorn Weisbrodt, Luminato’s handsome German artistic director, and fathered a child with Leonard Cohen’s daughter, Lorca. A deluxe edition features a second disc of bonus material, including a handful of rare live covers—songs by Noël Coward, George Gershwin and Wainwright’s father, Loudon Wainwright III.

2. Spun Out with Dave Foley

Former Kid in the Hall Dave Foley—who admitted three years ago that he couldn’t afford child support payments to his ex-wife, Globe writer Tabatha Southey—attempts a comeback on Spun Out, a new CTV sitcom co-produced by ­former Everybody Loves ­Raymond director Brian K. ­Roberts.

3. The Art of the Steal by Jonathan Sobol

For his new art heist comedy, The Art of the Steal, local filmmaker ­Jonathan Sobol scored big names—Matt Dillon, Kurt Russell, Jay Baruchel—and bigger backing: Bob Weinstein is one of the executive producers

4. Darlings by Kevin Drew

Broken Social Scene front man Kevin Drew has released Darlings, his first solo album in seven years. The ­single is called “Good Sex”—a shout-out to ex-girlfriend Feist?

5. Fire in the­ Unnameable ­Country by Ghalib Islam

The Bangladeshi-­Canadian writer Ghalib Islam has written one of the buzziest novels of the season: Fire in the ­Unnameable ­Country is a Rushdie-esque satire about a ­dystopian country that transforms its ­scandal-plagued capital into a reality TV setting.

6. Remedy

Global is hoping to replicate ­Flashpoint’s cross-­border success with ­Remedy, a sudsy new medical drama about a family of doctors ­working at the same hospital.