On Sunday, at the Kennedy Center Honors, Joe Biden honored artists Bette Midler, Joni Mitchell, and Lorne Michaels, bringing back the presidential participation to an event previously skipped by Donald Trump.
This year, Justino Diaz and Berry Gordy were the artists selected by the Kennedy Center for top honors, whose show got thrown off by politics and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a black-tie reception at the White House, Vice President Biden thanked the Kennedy Center honorees from the past and the present for sharing their gifts with the nation and with the world.
While in office, Trump did not hold such a reception, nor did he attend the Kennedy Center show.
Most of the arts community did not object to that absence. As an honoree in 2018 and an outspoken Trump critic, Cher says. She will have to accept the award in a restroom if Trump was present.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chief Justice John Roberts and Vice President Biden, his wife, Jill, and Vice President Kamala Harris attended the ceremony.
As comedian David Letterman noted at the show’s beginning, it’s nice to see the presidential box occupied once again. The audience rose in applause.
In recognition of lifetime achievements in the performing arts, they present these awards presented. Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the ceremony didn’t happen in 2020. Instead, last year’s honorees were recognized at a smaller ceremony earlier this year.
Nominees for this Year
On Sunday, audience members had to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
Singer and actress Melanie Midler have won Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe awards throughout her career. More than 30 million albums of her work have been sold worldwide. Among the honorees were Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, and Barbara Hershey. Hawn says, “Nothing can stop Bette.”
Midler spoke with reporters about the reception on her way into the Kennedy Center. “The White House reception was divine,” she said. It was very clean, lovely, with very friendly staff. The food was excellent, but the wine was a little sweet.
“It feels like a dream to me” Mitchell, a Canadian singer, and songwriter known for such songs as “Both Sides, Now” and “Big Yellow Taxi,” is a Grammy winner and a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Performances of “The Circle Game” and “A Case of You” by Norah Jones and a soaring rendition of “River” by Brandi Carlile opened the show.
Michaels is a Canadian-born creator and executive producer of NBC’s sketch comedy series “Saturday Night Live.”
Over the years, Biden mentioned seven comics that portray him on SNL.
According to Biden’s remarks at the White House, “If you can’t laugh at yourself, we’re in trouble, and you make me laugh a lot at myself.” Michaels is quoted as saying that Biden makes him laugh a lot. Cast members of Saturday Night Live praised and roasted the producer during the show, and Paul Simon sang “America.”
Diaz, a baritone opera singer from Puerto Rico, performed “Carmen” and “Faust.”
“It’s like coming home again,” Diaz said as he entered the Kennedy Center. The only difference will be that I will sit in an easy chair and I won’t have to sing.”
Powerful Performances
Founder of Motown Records, Gordy is behind the creation of a jazz-and-blues-influenced musical sound. Which became popularized by Black artists such as Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Lionel Richie, whose careers he has helped shape.
Wonder sang and play “You are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition on the Kennedy Center stage.” Smokey Robinson also performs and pays tribute to his friend.
During a press conference, Gordy told reporters, “I think I am in a dream … and it is a lovely dream.”