Perhaps you, like many people, have complicated feelings about Celine Dion. If you do, put them aside for a few minutes. At Sunday's American Music Awards, Dion and Jared Leto were tapped to honor the victims of the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. Leto, taking the stage first, recalled an "unforgettable show" he and his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, had played at the Bataclan concert hall, the site of the deadliest of the Nov. 13 attacks, then he expanded the tribute. "Tonight we honor the victims of the unimaginable violence that has taken place this year in Paris and around the world," Leto said. "France matters. Russia matters. Syria matters. Mali matters. The Middle East matters. The United States matters. The entire world matters, and peace is possible."
Then Dion stepped up and it was all about France. Accompanied by a string orchestra, she sang Edith Piaf's "Hymne à L'amour," with images of Paris in the background and moist or wet eyes in the audience in front of her. If you find yourself tearing up, and it reminds you of crying to her voice in Titanic despite your best intentions, remember that unlike Jack and Rose, the 130 victims in Paris were real people who deserved better. And laissez les larmes coulent. Peter Weber
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