Woof, two movies in two days.

Yesterday I saw Concert for George. Terrible title, probably referencing George's "Concert for Bangladesh", but it was a tribute concert staged by Eric Clapton for George Harrison exactly one year after his death. All of the musical people close to George brought together to play George's songs, with notable exceptions.

Ravi Shankar featured an original piece that was a play on George's name, suggesting a closeness with Krishna, performed with an ensemble of Indian instruments. Ringo Starr did "Photograph" which George co-wrote (I didn't know that) and "Honey Don't", George being a big fan of Carl Perkins. That's OK, it's Ringo, and maybe it was George who suggested Ringo sing it with The Beatles, but I think I would have like to have heard Ringo sing one of George's songs. But maybe he tried and realized, with his limited vocal range, he couldn't pull it off. Paul McCartney's rendition of "Something" was moving, and Billy Preston's "My Sweet Lord" was a show stopper.

George Harrison was my favorite Beatle because he was so easy-going and had a calm, concentrated energy about him. Eric Clapton did a great job capturing a perfect spirit for the concert, both solemn and humorous, emotional but not smarmy, holding it at the Royal Albert Hall, with muted lighting, starting it with a Hindu prayer and incense, and the flowers at the end could bring a tear to the eye.

And on Monday I saw Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, which is a great documentary about Tibet. It sums up what's been going on to date. It's heartbreaking and can be depressing, but that wasn't the point of the documentary. As said in the film, they don't want to defeat the Chinese using force or kill them, but they want to liberate Tibet from China through knowledge and awareness. So it helps if as many people see this film to know what's happening. If you have a cursory knowledge of the Tibet situation and would likely sympathize, then this is a must-see. It really helps to see the context, the land, and the people.

My only complaint is that they show a political map to locate the Tibetan Plateau, and they use a map showing Burma, but it's labeled "Myanmar (Burma)".