Thursday, September 12, 2013

THERE ARE NOT MANY WHO REMEMBER, THEY SAY A HANDFUL STILL SURVIVE TO TELL THE WORLD ABOUT THE WAY THE LIGHTS WENT OUT, AND KEEP THE MEMORY ALIVE:  The 2013 Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime achievement in the field of excellence will go to Carlos Santana, Billy Joel, Shirley MacLaine, Herbie Hancock, and operatic soprano Martina Arroyo. Said MacLaine, “The other [awards I've received] are for a part you did or for how you interpreted a character, but this is about how you’ve interpreted yourself.”

Of note, in response to justifiable outrage, the honoring of Santana and Arroyo doubles the number of Latino artists who have been recognized since the Honors began in 1978. Also, for what it's worth, it's hard to remember when last they had only one acting/tv/stage person recognized.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, four musicians - fingers crossed for some excellent musical tributes. (Though I feel like I still need to beat the "Kennedy Center Honor for Rita Moreno!" drum.)

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  2. isaac_spaceman11:44 AM

    It looks like the criteria for the award is that you must be either excellent or extremely popular, but you need not be both.

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  3. Joseph Finn12:24 PM

    Martina Arroyo sings "Second Wind," backed by Santana, Hancock and Joel.

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  4. Too bad the honorees don't actually perform.

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  5. It's always fun for me when an opera singer is included. Everyone else says "who IS that person" who sings for them and I get to smugly sit back and say things like "oh, psh, I've been her at the Met since 1998."

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  6. Genevieve3:53 PM

    So who does the Shirley Maclaine tribute? Meryl, because of Postcards From the Edge. Jack Nicholson, I guess, because of Terms of Endearment (I don't seem him as the tribute-paying type . . . ) Neither Jack Lemmon nor Billy Wilder is around to talk about The Apartment, and no one from Irma La Douce is either. I really liked her in The Trouble With Harry, but no one is around from that movie except Jerry Mathers. Maybe Sally Field because of Steel Magnolias. Maybe Cameron Diaz because of In Her Shoes. Someone from Downtown Abbey? Probably not.

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  7. Genevieve3:54 PM

    YES YES to Rita Moreno! C'mon, KenCen! Next year, I hope.

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  8. Joseph Finn5:44 PM

    One of her past lives?

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  9. lisased9:47 PM

    Debra Winger?

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  10. Genevieve9:23 AM

    I don't know about that - they've never worked together, they're reportedly not all that friendly.

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  11. Mr. Cosmo11:22 AM

    Huh -- I'm on very friendly terms with most of my past lives.

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