"Hope For Haiti" Garners Empathy and Applause

On Friday night, all of the major television networks broadcast a special "Hope for Haiti" telethon, featuring a myriad of actors and musicians offering their star power as a means to encourage donations to help the Caribbean nation of Haiti, following the devastation after a harrowing earthquake last week. The images are painful, and are sure to be blazed in our minds for a very long time. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this tragedy. It is a firm reminder of what is truly important in this life. You can still help by donating as much as you're able via HopeForHaitiNow.org. Now is the time to show our true worldwide brotherhood; to show the people of Haiti how much we care, and that they will not be forgotten in their time of need.

As a music fan, I was beyond pleased by the outpouring of love and heart that this telethon showed, with several performances being geniunely moving. So many performances were incredible, but three stood out to me. The night was a particularly emotional one for me, and I was nearly drawn to tears at several points during that evening. Here's an encore and bravo to the three performances that moved me most:

There is little doubt that Jennifer Hudson is an incredibly talented young woman, who has gone through truly unbelivable pain and sadness in her young life. Her soulful take on The Beatles' classic "Let It Be" was a beautiful standout.

Christina Aguilera contributed a brand new piece off her upcoming album, Bionic, the never before heard ballad "Lift Me Up". The stripped down performance combined with her signature big voice was striking, and the raw lyrics found me tearing up multiple times. This has to be one of Christina's best and most geniune performances of her entire career, and it couldn't have come at a more necessary time.

And finally, Justin Timberlake and longtime friend from his "Mickey Mouse Club" days/protege Matt Morris performed an incredible version of Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley's classic "Hallelujah", on piano and guitar respectively. The song has been covered quite a lot these past few years, and this version has definitely both pulled my heartstrings and become my favorite cover yet.