Loudon Wainwright The III Playing At Thrasher
20 October 2019 News
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Loudon’s long and illustrious career is highlighted by more than two dozen album releases, Movie and TV credits, and now his new autobiography, Liner Notes (2017 Penguin/Random House). Wainwright is perhaps best known for the novelty song “Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)”, and for playing Captain Calvin Spalding, the “singing surgeon”, on the American television show, M*A*S*H. This multifaceted artist will be performing at the historic Thrasher Opera House in downtown Green Lake for the first time on October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
In 2010, Wainwright won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. His 2012 recording, Older Than My Old Man Now, was named one of NPR’s Top 10 Albums of the Year. September 2018, Loudon released his 27th career album to-date, Years In The Making, a retrospective double CD with more than 45 tracks – live performances, demos, outtakes, unreleased songs spanning 50 years.
His songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison. He has collaborated with songwriter/producer Joe Henry, on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up. Loudon penned music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel, Lucky You. He composed topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline, and recorded several songs for the soundtrack of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.
As an actor, Wainwright has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow.
Loudon’s most recent project is his one-man play entitled “Surviving Twin.” A solo piece many years in the making, is what the singer-songwriter calls a “posthumous collaboration” with his writer father. Part concert, part dramatic reading, part family slide-show. It is a hybrid theatrical form consisting mainly of songs written by Loudon III, along with readings of magazine columns written by his late father, and photographs spanning four generations of the Wainwright clan. The show was developed with the help of director Joseph Haj, at UNC’s Playmakers Rep. The special premiered on Netflix in November 2018 from executive producer Judd Apatow and director Christopher Guest.
Tickets are available for $36 at the Thrasher office, Horicon Bank (Green Lake), Webster’s Marketplace, Ripon Drug (Ripon), Twister (Princeton), or by calling (920)-294-4279. Tickets are also available online at www.thrasheroperahouse.com.
Hospitality supported by the Green Lake Suites. This performance is also supported in part by grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation.
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