Once again, President Obama teams up with the entertainment industry to pat themselves on the back. This time it was the Kennedy Center Honors and this year the Honorees were Yo-Yo Ma (American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer), Barbara Cook (American stage singer and actress), Neil Diamond (American singer-songwriter), Theodore Walter “Sonny” Rollins (American jazz tenor saxophonist) and Meryl Streep (American film actress).
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In attendance were the usual Left Wing suspects: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Rahm Emanuel, Caroline Kennedy, George Stevens Jr, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Taylor, Robert De Niro, John Lithgow, Nora Ephron, Lionel Richie, Tracey Ullman, Herbie Hancock, Ravi Coltrane, Patti Lupone, etc. Most of the distinguished guests supported Obama by donating money to his Presidential campaign.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ8FOGkii1k
The Mutual admiration Society did sprinkle in a little Newt in an effort to keep it “non-partisan;” however, Republican-mocking Stephen Colbert, skewered Gingrich giving it that old time anti-Republican feel when he introduced honoree Yo-Yo Ma, stating “Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, distinguished honorees, unregistered lobbyists….” Being the class act he is, Gingrich declined to discuss politics before the show, noting only that he hoped to return to the gala in the future. When asked in what capacity, he simply stated, “No politics tonight.”
Simply put, the Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. Presented in Washington, D.C. each year since 1978, it is a weekend-long event which culminate in a performance for the Honorees at the Kennedy Center Opera House. An audience of 2,300 people pay as much as $6,250 for a prime seat or, if you are poor and don’t mind being put on a long waiting list, you can pay a measly $200 for a second balcony seat.
How are these performing artists selected?
There is a Kennedy Center national artists committee that meets each year and presents, with past honorees, their recommendations to the Honorees to the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The Board of Trustees selects the honorees through a “secret selection process.” It is said, or at least observed, that the criteria for selection is a mix of artistic disciplines as well as the inclusion women and minorities. And, of course, it doesn’t hurt if you are a big donor to the DNC or, presently, to Obama’s campaign. So, all you old white Republican men… your chances of being selected come around about once a decade. Good luck.
Past notables to receive the award are (last fifteen years): Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Mike Nichols, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, Stevie Wonder, Bill Cosby, Jason Robards, Steve Martin, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Martin Scorsese, Mel Brooks, Morgan Freeman, Julie Andrews, Jack Lemmon, Tony Bennett, Lauren Bacall, John Williams, James Earl Jones, Paul Simon, Carol Burnett, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Paul McCartney, Loretta Lynn, Clint Eastwood, Shirley Temple Black, Charlton Heston, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Diana Ross, Chuck Berry, Elton John, Bob Dylan, Sean Connery, and many more. That’s over thirty Democrats to only five Republicans. A 6-to-1 ratio… good odds if you are a Spartan.
The announcement of the Kennedy Center Honors is usually made after the Labor Day Weekend and the ceremony is held the first weekend of December. Highlights from the gala performance are broadcast on CBS in a two hour special, loaded with thirty minutes of television commercials, between Christmas and the New Year.
Since everyone is making money off of shared flattery and ego inflation, CBS still wants the show to earn the best ratings it can. The Kennedy Honors show gets anywhere from 5 million to 11 eleven million viewers (more toward the lower end lately). Popular network sitcoms see about 15 million viewers or more. In fact, CBS shows “NCIS” gets about 19 million viewers and “NCIS: Los Angeles” sees approximately 16 million. Forget that the season premiere of “Two and Half Men” had 28 million viewers. Many network sitcoms would find themselves on the brink of cancellation with the kind of numbers the Kennedy Center Honors specials put up. And that doesn’t even consider the fact that it is a special and should garner more. In fact, last year’s Academy Awards, perhaps the worst awards show in history, was watched by approximately 22 million viewers. Even though CBS has no say in the selection process, the network pressures the Honors selection committee to choose less political and more popular honorees.
So, who are this year’s honorees?
Yo-Yo Ma
American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. Born in Paris, France, to Chinese parents, his family moved to New York at age five where the child prodigy played for Presidents by age seven, attended Julliard School by age nine and Harvard in his mid-teens. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
He performed at Obama ‘s inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2009 and on November 3, 2009, Obama appointed Ma to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.
Barbara Cook
American stage singer and actress. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Barbra Cook began singing at an early age, at the Elks Club and to her father over the phone. At age 21, Cook a trip to New York City where she decided to stay and try her hand at acting. Three years later she was performing on Broadway and a year later on television. She made her mark in the original Broadway musicals Candide (1956) and The Music Man (1957) among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter.
Cook has since donate $500 to the DNC, $250 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and $250 to Barack Obama in 2008.
Sonny Rollins
American jazz tenor saxophonist. Born in New York City, he started his saxophone career at age thirteen. He began to make a name for himself in 1949 as he recorded with J.J Johnson and Bud Powell what would later be called “Hard Bop.” In 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and given a sentence of three years. He spent 10 months in Rikers Island jail before he was released on parole. In 1952 he was arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin. Rollins was assigned to the Federal Medical Center, Lexington, at the time the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts. He’s played with Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and won a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for This Is What I Do (2000) and a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2004.
It’s been awhile since Sonny Rollins made any political donations. The last was in 1994 to Democrat Richard Moore running for Congress, who coincidentally, endorsed Obama for the Democratic nomination for President in February 2008. In 2010, Obama awarded Rollins the 2010 National Medal of Arts.
Neil Diamond
American singer-songwriter. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Neil Diamond married his high school sweet heart and went to NYU on a fencing scholarship (part of the 1960 NCAA men’s championship team) and studied biology. However, during his senior year in NYU, a music publishing company made him an offer he could not refuse: an offer to write songs for $50 a week and the rest is history. As of 2001, Diamond had sold over 115 million records worldwide including 48 million in the United States alone. He is considered to be the third most successful adult contemporary artist ever on the Billboard chart behind Barbra Streisand and Elton John. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. Additionally, he received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. Although you’ve heard Diamond’s music throughout the years, he has eight number one hit singles you’ve probably never heard of.
Over the years Neil Diamond has given $31,750 to Democrats and their committees and a paltry $1,000 to Republicans.
Meryl Streep
American film actress. Born in Summit, New Jersey, and She received her B.A., in Drama at Vassar College in 1971. She starred in various roles at the New York Shakespeare Festival and then on Broadway before auditioning for film roles in 1977. Her then husband, John Cazale, was cast in The Dear Hunter and Streep was able to secure a small role in the film. That role led to an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and that paved the path for Streep’s long and illustrious career. She has received sixteen Academy Award nominations, winning two, and twenty-five Golden Globe nominations, winning seven, more nominations than any other actor in the history of either award. Her work has also earned her two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, a Cannes Film Festival award, five New York Film Critics Circle Awards, five Grammy Award nominations, a BAFTA award, an Australian Film Institute Award and a Tony Award nomination, amongst others. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004.
Meryl Streep stated publicly that she didn’t like George W. Bush. In fact, she wasn’t above taking a swipe at him during her acceptance speeches or even backstage stating the biggest problem facing America “has three initials” referring to GWB. During her career, she’s given $29,600 to Democrats and their PACs. And she publicly endorsed Obama for President.
And, then of course, there is this one:
Perhaps after a new President is sworn in on January 20, 2013, the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts can hold their secret meeting and honor some stand outs like Pat Boone, Ernest Borgnine, Jon Voight, Robert Duvall, Shirley Jones, Pia Zadora, Tammy Wynette, Reba McEntire, and, well if they want more, they can ask me to join the committee.
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