former roommate of Wainwright's. Part of the video was filmed in Stefani's house. Wainwright performed "Beauty Mark" on Today, the American morning news and talk show. He also taped an episode of MTV's television program 120 Minutes to promote the album, which aired on March 28, 1999. An advertisement in Billboard promoting the album also referred to appearances on CBS News Sunday Morning, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Late Show with David Letterman, and Sessions at West 54th. In the year prior to the album's release, Wainwright opened for artists such as Barenaked Ladies and Sean Lennon. On March 1, 1999, Wainwright began his first tour as a headlining act in Hoboken, New Jersey. During that month, Wainwright toured throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic states, Ontario (Ottawa and Toronto), Quebec (Montreal), the southern United States (Nashville, and Atlanta), and the midwestern United States (Cincinnati, Chicago, and Pontiac). Wainwright continued to tour throughout the month of April before heading to Europe. Stops were mostly along the West Coast, including four in California, Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. Three concerts were also held in western Canada, including Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. Critical reception Overall, reception of the album was positive. Speaking of second-generation artists emerging around the same time, AllMusic's Jason Ankeny wrote that Wainwright "deserves to be heard regardless of his family tree". Furthermore, Ankeny complimented the musician for his songwriting abilities and his "knack for elegantly rolling piano melodies and poignantly romantic lyrics". Music journalist Robert Christgau characterized Wainwright as a "mind-boggling original" whose talent is "too big to let pass". Los Angeles Times critic Marc Weingarten found that the "abiding, uncynical" view of love expressed in Wainwright's lyrics does not come off as "mawkish" due to his considerable skills as a songwriter and arranger. NME reviewer John Mulvey called the album "floridly impersonal" and "grandiosely arranged", but also criticized Wainwright for being "too overwrought and naff". Greenwald complimented Martha's backing vocals on the song "In My Arms", as well as Parks' "positively sterling" string arrangement on "Millbrook". Furthermore, he praised the vocal duet between Rufus and Martha on "Sally Ann", claiming that a similar sibling performance had not been heard since The Everly Brothers. The album's cabaret elements and 1970s singer-songwriter style drew comparisons to Cole Porter and Joni Mitchell. Josh Kun of Salon.com wrote that Wainwright poetically incorporated "foolish love and fantasy love, healing love and destructive love