Kennedy Center Honors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Honorees this year included actor Dustin Hoffman, late night host David Letterman, Russian ballerina Natalia Makarova, Chicago blues musician Buddy Guy, and the three surviving members of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
During this holiday week with many other distractions and a lot of people traveling, the Kennedy Center broadcast helped CBS win the major broadcast networks’ ratings night, with just over 8 million viewers for the 9-11 pm est time slot, and a rating of 1.4 among adults 18-49.The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony is the annual event in which celebrities in various fields get all gussied up, travel to Washington, D.C., rub shoulders with the President, and hear exalting speeches about themselves. This year, the testimonials were laced with traces that don’t often make it into a taped TV awards-show final cut: frankness, near-brutal honesty, and almost tearful love.One great thing about the Kennedy Center Honors is that the recipients don’t do any speaking themselves, and thus they and we are spared minutes of humble, and mock-humble, acceptances speeches. The honorees just sit there, grinning, with their medals hanging from ribbons around their necks.”
However, with those still modest numbers, I would not be surprised if you missed the broadcast. Highlights included Robert De Niro speaking on behalf of Dustin Hoffman (the reference above to ‘frankness’), Tracy Chapman and Bonnie Raitt performing during the Buddy Guy tribute (which included emotional remarks by Morgan Freeman), and celebs Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Ray Romano, and Jimmy Kimmel with some fond and amusing mild roasting of David Letterman.
De Niro said, in some admiration of Hoffman, “He is a spectacular, world-class, pain in the ass.”
Kimmel might have had the funniest line of the night when he addressed Letterman, saying, “You are the hero of all of us, with the possible exception of the people who came to see the ballerina.”
President Obama and the First Lady appeared to enjoy the show immensely, even “rocking out” during the Led Zeppelin homage performances. Obama had earlier thanked Led Zeppelin for “behaving at the White House” the previous night at a dinner hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He jokingly described the award winners as “some extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together.”
And Clinton had poked some fun previously at Letterman, saying “He must be wondering what he is doing with this group of talented artists” and “Dave and I have a history. I have been a guest on his show several times, and if you include references to my pant suits, I’m on at least once a week.” (NY Daily News)
But as a rock fan, and especially a huge fan of Led Zeppelin, the closing portion of the broadcast was truly the hands-down moment of the night. EW said of Plant, Page, and Jones:
The three members of Zeppelin present — Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones — sat in the audience looking like delighted, if aging, schoolboys let into a grown-ups’ party; they were all smiles, as much during salutes to Hoffman and Letterman as when an array of musicians performed Zeppelin music.”Jack Black delivered the introduction to the Zeppelin segment, calling them “the best band ever.” This was followed by performances of Zeppelin classics by the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and Lenny Kravitz. There was some excellent musicianship displayed, but frankly it was tough for any of the lead singers to truly come close to matching Plant’s unique singing style.
But then Ann and Nancy Wilson came on stage for the finale, an inspiring “bring down the house” version of “Stairway to Heaven”, with Jason Bonham on drums. UltimateClassicRock.com said of the moment:
In a performance that had Robert Plant on the verge of tears, Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart sang ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as the finale of a star-studded musical tribute to Led Zeppelin during the Kennedy Center Honors, which were broadcast last night (Dec. 26) on CBS.Source: http://www.forbes.com
It seems like about 3,000 people were on stage during this performance, with the Wilson sisters joined by late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham’s son Jason on drums, as well as a gigantic house band featuring string and horn sections and what appeared to be two different vocal choirs.
As anyone who’s seen their frequent live performances of ‘Rock and Roll‘ or ‘The Battle of Evermore‘ can tell you, the Wilson sisters know how to play Led Zeppelin live. From the moment they began, all eyes and ears were focused on Ann Wilson, and she knocked this one out of the park, leaving John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and a clearly misty Plant with big smiles on their faces as they watched from the balcony.”
