Kennedy Center Honors outshine politics

UPDATED:

This weekend’s Kennedy Center Honors marked the last time President Bush and first lady Laura Bush sat alongside the honorees as they watched the tributes unfold on the stage of the institution’s opera house last night.

The outgoing president hosted not only one of his wife’s favorite musicians - it was the first time a first lady took the stage in the event’s 31-year history - but also one of his biggest Hollywood detractors.

George Stevens Jr., the man who created the Honors and still produces the yearly extravaganza, wasn’t worried about a dust-up over the weekend, though.

“My theory is the arts trump politics,” he told The Washington Times during the rehearsal on Saturday for Sunday night’s big event. He noted that Mr. Bush once “graciously honored” Robert Redford and that President Clinton “graciously honored” Charlton Heston. It’s the one weekend Washington is above politics, he said, when people of all parties come together to celebrate artistic achievement.

“That’s what makes the Kennedy Center Honors special.”

All that star power doesn’t hurt, either.

This year’s honorees - actor Morgan Freeman, country music legend George Jones, choreographer Twyla Tharp, actress and singer Barbra Streisand and rockers Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of the Who - were toasted by celebrities in arts and politics in a whirl of weekend events that culminated in Sunday night’s Honors Gala. The star-studded event at the Kennedy Center Opera House, hosted by presidential daughter Caroline Kennedy Schossberg, will be broadcast Dec. 30 on CBS.

The president and Mrs. Bush received the honorees at the White House Sunday. All eyes were on the president and the diva - Miss Streisand has been an outspoken critic of this administration. Rather than exchange barbs, though, the pair exchanged kisses.

Perhaps Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who hosted a State Department dinner Saturday where the honorees received their medallions, helped to smooth things over.

“You are an amazing talent, and a trailblazer, and an inspiration to many, especially women, in the arts,” the secretary told the songbird, diplomatically.

The gala, however, provided plenty of fireworks.

Actor Jack Black introduced the Who in a heartfelt and hilarious tribute, recalling that he fell in love with the band’s rock opera, “Tommy,” at 10: “No other band had the courage or sensibility to write these kinds of emotionally raw songs.”

Soul singer Bettye LaVette sang one of them, “Love Reign O’er Me,” beautifully, while Joss Stone flexed her worthy vocal cords on “My Generation,” and Rob Thomas did the same for “Baba O’Riley,” backed in the end by dozens of New York police officers and firefighters.

The Who was the first band to agree to perform at a benefit concert for the first responders after the September 11 attacks.

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