For whose Benefit?

I watched the Concert for NYC this weekend. All 5 and a half hours of it. It had its moments of schlock, sub-par performances (most notably McCartney's new song "Freedom") and boorish behavior, but overall I'd have to say I had a good time watching it. Randomly...Bowie's "Heroes" may have been an obvious choice, but so what? It's what they wanted to hear, I think. There were few technical problems besides poor Melissa Etheridge's inoperable mic and un-tuned guitar. I enjoyed the film vignettes that were interspersed throughout the performances, especially those from Ed Burns and Woody Allen. While I'm not a fan of The Who, they blew just about every other performer out of the water that night. One particular favorite moment of mine: Elton John and Billy Joel dueting on John's "Your Song" (my favorite EJ song). Elton was looking more queenly than Elizabeth and had me chuckling when he said he loved "a man in uniform." Worst moment of the evening: the booing of Hillary Clinton. Just plain bad behavior. And coming in a close second for worst moment was the performance of Paul McCartney's new song, "Freedom", written right after the the attacks. I don't think I was misguided in expecting something a bit less pedestrian and childlike from one of the most reknowned pop songwriters of the past century. A final favorite moment: the appearance onstage of Natalie Portman and a firefighter. On that night the cops, firefighters and emergency services workers were as much celebrities as the celebrities, and the adorbale Miss Portman could have been standing next to her favorite pop star for all of her excitement. I think she spoke for all of us when after kissing and hugging the fireman next to her she said to the crowd, in all sincerity, "I'd kiss you all if I could. Thank you."

Now, if you want to read about a wholly different benefit that took place this past weekend, you need to read this Salon article by Eric Lipton. I don't think I've read anything so funny or pathetic in my life. Well, I probably have. But this article is way up there. Please read it!