I was unprepared for how bad this would be.......
by LJEAF on 3/5/12B.B. King Blues Club and Grill - New YorkFirst of all, I will start with the pros. The quality of the musicianship was excellent! The drummer, guitarists and keyboard player were highly skilled. I particularly enjoyed the double slide guitar performances. Now the cons. The narrator completely ruined what could have been a deeply moving tribute. He seemed to have the idea that this was all about him. Considering that he wrote a book about George Harrison and may have met George, we expected a quality, solid, and factually accurate narration.. What we got were silly, amateurish one-liners, slapstick, bad puns throughout the entire program, including at inappropriate times. He excused himself by saying that George had a sense of humor. There are many great stories illustrating George's humor that could have been told. Video clips of George with Monty Python, or The Rutles, many funny interviews could have been chosen. Another con: some song choices: Why use "Norwegian Wood"(John Lennon) to illustrate the influence of Ravi Shankar, instead of 'Within You Without You' which was according to George Martin, an enormous breakthrough in music? Clapton's "Layla", instead of "Isn't It a Pity" when George and Patti Boyd split? Why on earth cut 'My Sweet Lord' short before the "Hari Krishnas" when the Whole Point of the song (per George) was to introduce the chanting into familiar gospel music? And another con: INACCURACIES. Example: the meaning of McCartney's song 'Blackbird', which recognized the plight of young black women in the US during the 60's. Several statements regarding the spiritual aspects of George' s life were incorrect or incomplete. One more con: The only video clip, the most important one, where George in an interview discusses spirituality, was blurry and the audio and video were Not Synched! This is BB King's, not some high school assembly!! Last con: Why no mention, even in passing, of George's years as a movie producer, his love of racecars, his work with UNICEF? Please, please turn this program into something worthy of the memory of George Harrison, before anyone else is ripped off as we were! I could actually have done a better tribute myself........