Friday, January 22, 2010

HOPE FOR HAITI NOW: It goes without saying -- but the need isn't going away anytime soon -- that your money is needed for Haitian relief right now. But this post isn't to preach or hector about that; you know what your obligations are.

This post exists because we are a pop culture blog, and there's a telethon going on (live online here, among other places), and this sort of celebrity-filled thing is our proverbial bread and butter. Alicia Keys just blew me away with "Prelude to a Kiss," and we're just getting started.

for your added consideration: We've come to the point with events like this such that we expect to see superstars like Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and Bono pitch in and perform. And yet, still, to see Madonna up there performing "Like A Prayer" with a choir and minimal instrumentation ... somehow, that seemed to elevate the specialness of the evening that much more. There's just something about the centrality of her music to my formative years, and her relative absence from the public eye these days, that when she does show up it's really an event.