Hallelujah: Hope For Haiti
I watched “Hope for Haiti” - the two hour concert for Haiti relief, that aired on Friday night, January 22. The telethon was amazing in many ways - the speed with which it was put together (thanks to George Clooney and friends), the partnerships involved, the money raised so far (over $56M) - and the heartfelt performances.
In my opinion, the best of a superb night of music was the duet between Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris, covering Jeff Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. I had two thoughts:
(1) Justin Timberlake has come of age. The performance was brilliant.
(2) What a perfect song for this night. The song has been interpreted in a number of ways, but on this night it was an anthem - a story of pain and praise - and a call to action.
The concert can be had on iTunes for $7.99. (The download demand has swamped Apple’s servers. They’re working it; keep trying.) The money will go to Haiti earthquake relief.
It is the most valuable $7.99 you will ever spend.
MTV (which carried the concert) has the Timberlake/Morris video here.
Jeff Buckley’s version is here.
