The memorable tribute concert to 'The Quiet Beatle' by 1888 Media Various Artists n honor of George Harrison's birth date (February 25), the memorable 2002 tribute concert in his honor, Concert for George, will be released for the first time ever on Blu-ray on March 22. Originally released in High Definition, the 2-disc Blu-ray set will include the complete concert on the first disc, with a second disc containing the original theatrical version featuring concert highlights, interviews with the performers, rehearsals, and behind-the-scenes footage. The second disc will also include a previously unreleased interview segment featuring Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner and Ray Cooper entitled Drummers. Concert for George has been certified 8 times platinum by the RIAA since its initial release as a 2DVD set in November 2003 and earned a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video. On November 29, 2002, one year after the passing of George Harrison, Olivia Harrison and longtime friend Eric Clapton organized a performance tribute in his honor. Held at London's Royal Albert Hall, the momentous evening featured George's songs, and music he loved, performed by a lineup that included Clapton, Jools Holland, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Monty Python, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison and many more. Directed by David Leland (whose credits include the feature Wish You Were Here, HBO's Band Of Brothers and the Traveling Wilburys video "Handle With Care"), Concert for George captures stunning renditions of some of the most significant music of the 20th century, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (featuring Clapton on guitar, McCartney on piano and Starr on drums), "Taxman" (performed by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and "The Inner Light" (covered by Jeff Lynne and Anoushka Shankar). Lynne, Harrison's longtime friend and collaborator, produced the audio elements of the concert, while Clapton oversaw the entire proceedings as Musical Director. CONCERT FOR GEORGE 1. "Your Eyes" - Anoushka Shankar
Two classic 1970s American movies get a spiffy update on Blu-ray. by Chris Nashawaty in Entertainment Weekly n 1976, America was swept up in a tizzy of Bicentennial fever. Red, white, and blue bunting was everywhere you looked. The government reissued the two-dollar bill. Paul Anka hosted an NBC special called Happy Birthday, America. But underneath all the shiny, happy jingoism were the still-fresh scabs of our messy exit from Vietnam and the recent resignation of Richard Nixon. The country was sick. And Hollywood became our national shrink, serving up a double-dose look at what was ailing us in Network (1976, R, 2 hrs., 1 min.) and All the President's Men (1976, PG, 2 hrs. 18 mins.). Commemorating their 35th anniversaries, both films have gotten flashy new Blu-ray releases packed with extras like juicy commentaries, vintage interviews, and rich making-of featurettes that give us a peek behind the celluloid curtain. When Sidney Lumet adapted Paddy Chayefsky's scathing satire Network, we were all still at the mercy of three TV networks, whose trusted nightly news anchors were the stentorian voices of God. There was no Fox News, no Daily Show, and carny-barking reality TV freak shows were still a couple of decades off. But somehow Network saw them all coming. Craven TV execs like Faye Dunaway's may have seemed harmlessly cartoonish then, but now they feel like a dangerous prophecy come true. It's only a matter of time before some on-air Tea Party type has a Howard Beale-style meltdown, urging us to go to our windows and shout, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" The film's never been more timely. Ditto for Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men. Based on Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's best-seller about cracking the byzantine Watergate cover-up, the movie is a victory lap for American journalism -- the triumphant flip side to Network's self-loathing take on the media. It also anticipated our current WikiLeaks era, with Robert Redford (Woodward) and Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) milking anonymous sources and burning shoe leather to speak truth to power. These films are timeless and essential, raising thorny questions we're still struggling to answer 35 years later. That must have been heavy stuff to be hit with at the multiplex in 1976. Maybe that's why Rocky walked away with Best Picture. Both Films: A Reader's Comments No comments so far, be the first to comment. |
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