I watched Genius: A Night for Ray Charles. Mary J. Blige is a goddess. Stevie Wonder and Al Green were fabulous. B.B. King and Billy Preston were great and definitely didn't need the irksome Bruce Willis onstage with them. I liked Norah Jones' simple rendition of "Drown In My Own Tears." Usher did a passable job with "Georgia On My Mind" but he doesn't have much power to his voice. And Kenny Chesney was a mistake as the choice to sing "You Don't Know Me" because he has no depth or range. I love this song and he did not do justice to it.
The show ended with a recording of Ray Charles singing "America, the Beautiful" and I cried. I am so glad that I saw Ray live a few years ago and he sang this during the performance. I cried then, too.
The show ended with a recording of Ray Charles singing "America, the Beautiful" and I cried. I am so glad that I saw Ray live a few years ago and he sang this during the performance. I cried then, too.
- Current Mood:
okay - Current Music:Real Time
Comments
I didn't see young Mr. Chesney, but I can say just the sound of his name in conjuction with a tribute for Ray sends a wave of nausea over me. That's a bit like sending Toby Keith to sing a Wagner aria.
On a completely unrelated note, I do hope Mr. Keith dies a horrible, painful and protracted death, if for no other reason than those damn Ford commercials that air every five minutes up here. Sorry. Just wanted to get it out of my system.