Heroes
by Sean Carolan

I'm nothing if not cynical, so I tuned in to Friday's "A Tribute To Heroes" broadcast (notable for the fact that it's easier to list the channels it wasn't on) expecting that some dodgy impresario had latched on to the 9/11 disaster and was ready to pump it for all the manipulative sentimentality they could muster.

Then the broadcast opened with an aerial shot of Ground Zero, and segued straight into Bruce Springsteen's "My City In Ruins". Period. There was no self-congratulatory "Live! From Ground Zero!"...and not even so much as a "and now heeeere's Bruce!". The laws of physics regarding show-business cheese had been temporarily suspended.

And so it went forward, through two hours of no-nonsense tribute and unvarnished performances. Musicians and stars appeared with no introduction, spoke their piece or performed, and were gone without farewell or applause.

In the first fifteen minutes, we saw Springsteen premiere a song for a worldwide audience that had first been performed back in December, at a show in Asbury Park, which was the city it originally referred to; followed immediately by Stevie Wonder performing without benefit of slick production, and U2 supported by Dave Stewart and Natalie Imbruglia.

Somehow, showbiz got it right. As the night progressed, without compromising the message or the meaning of the broadcast, many of the artists performed without the gloss of full orchestras or production tricks, showing us why they're in the business in the first place. Faith Hill, for instance, has an extremely versatile voice, which I almost didn't recognize in the gospel arrangement she was performing. Alicia Keys was, as expected, fantastic. Mariah Carey kept her fragile self together. Neil Young and Tom Petty were their curmudgeonly selves, and Paul Simon looked surprisingly like he belonged in front of a band.

There were low points, to be sure. Billy Joel was almost too relaxed, and while this was fairly perfect for "New York State Of Mind", I still couldn't shake the feeling that the piano bar-like intimacy of the studio made him sound like he was performing at a piano bar.

Similarly: Memo to Fred Durst and Johnny Rzeznik: if you want to perform a song, try using the original lyrics; if they don't work, choose another song. Roger Waters and David Gilmour must have winced at the feel-good rewrite of "Wish You Were Here", whose original lyrics are, frankly, more chillingly appropriate to the situation.

Clint Eastwood was just scary. Thankfully, he didn't sing (and if you've ever seen "Paint Your Wagon", you know that's a good thing.)

Celine Dion actually came out better than Fred and Johnny in this regard; at least we know she's got to have an over-the-top arrangement, especially if she's going to do "God Bless America". I'm not so jingoistic that I didn't appreciate the French-Canadian Dion singing that - if you're going to do that Kate Smith classic, you've got to be able to channel Kate Smith to do it, and Whitney Houston was apparently busy proving that the rumors of her death were exaggerated. Celine even, thankfully, refrained from beating her chest.

Finally, Willie Nelson performed "America The Beautiful" with a chorus consisting of the stars who appeared on the show, either with testimonials or simply answering the phones, as well as the other musicians based in Los Angeles. Only the minority of that crowd were known for their angelic singing voices, but as they stumbled through the most baroque verses of the song and the quality of the broadcast fell apart completely, I couldn't help but feel that it was appropriate. They might not have been the most appropriate people for the job, but they were giving all they had to give, and somehow, that was enough.

©2001 Sean Carolan