They are the members of the Philharmonic Orchestra, and their work is to play. Beautifully.
from The Philharmonic Gets Dressed
written byKarla Kuskin
illustrated byMarc Simont
HarperCollins, 1982
Popular Culture is not my forté. Really. I’m not a Swifty. I don’t recognize most modern film stars, even though I enjoy live theater and movies, too. Popular music is mostly background noise for one or another of the books I’m reading for an upcoming book club meeting.
So when I heard the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2025 honorees, I decided to pay attention.
Country musician George Strait, the rock band KISS, stage and screen star Michael Crawford, disco pioneer Gloria Gaynor, and Hollywood icon Sylvester Stallone are the recipients who will be honored for their lifetime artistic achievements at this year's Kennedy Center Honors Gala.
For 48 years, the annual event has been one of the most anticipated in our nation’s capital. Superstars come to perform and pay tribute for the new Honorees at the Sunday night gala. And, as in the past, this year’s event will be televised on CBS (on December 23 at 8 pm ET) as a broadcast special.
But a few differences are in store due to months of upheaval caused by Trump’s February ousting of the Kennedy Center president, Deborah Rutter, and board chair David Rubenstein. Several staff have also recently resigned.
Trump is now the chair of the Kennedy Center, elected by the people he appointed to replace those who have left. He said the vote was unanimous.
Trump boasted that he and his appointees have “ended the woke programming.”
NPR announced on its Weekend Edition this past Sunday, that several changes have been made at the Kennedy Center. First, the months-long, bipartisan selection process undertaken by executive board members and senior staff members, with input from the general public and in “consultation [with] past recipients such as Julie Andrews, Lionel Richie, and John Williams” has not occurred. Instead, Trump said he was “about 98%” involved with the selection process.
So has he chosen his favorites, for whatever reason, from among our brightest stars?
Instead of announcing the recipients at the Sunday night gala, he used a press conference at the Kennedy Center last August to make the announcement.
And rather than the likes of past hosts such as Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, or Gloria Estefan, Trump said he was asked to host, (but did not say by whom). And even though he and Melania did not attend any of the events in his first term, in his acceptance he said, “I used to host The Apprentice finales…” as if that gives him credibility to host this awesome event.
Also, the medal has been redesigned by Tiffany & Co. It now sports a dark blue ribbon instead of the rainbow striped one. The rainbow stripes are embedded into the medal itself. The recipient’s name is still engraved on the back. (If you click on the link to see the medal, remember the glowing explanatory copy was written by the Kennedy Center’s current administration.)
Most great European capitals boast a Cultural Arts Center. One hundred and eighty-five years after the Revolutionary War, President Eisenhower decided it was finally time to honor our own culture. In 1961 he signed the National Cultural Center Act confirming “the inherent value of the arts to all Americans.”
Then, a year after President Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson signed a bill renaming the National Cultural Center. It has become “a living memorial to the slain President.”
Gracing the shores of the Potomac river, the Kennedy Center was inaugurated on September 8, 1971 with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers.” It was a huge and energetic performance.
Although the New York Philharmonic Orchestra has not received a Kennedy Honor, Leonard Bernstein has. And he’s in good company.
Kennedy Honors are compared to knighthood in the UK. The first Honors were awarded in 1978 and recognized Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers and Arthur Rubinstein. Closing out the 20th century, legends including Ella Fitzgerald, Arthur Miller, Yehudi Menuhin, Ray Charles, Pete Seeger, Edward Albee, Stephen Sondheim, and Johnny Cash were honored.
Since then, honorees have shown off our country’s most prestigious talents representing all facets of the performing arts: dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures, and television.
The Kennedy Center has been a beacon for the brightest stars for almost half a century. Its website states that today the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is “a true artistic mecca, and one of the world’s most respected organizations.”
The broadcast on December 23 at 8pm Eastern on CBS promises to be a wonderful extravaganza, if you can stomach the host.
I’m not sure if I’ll tune in, but it’s on my calendar.
I’m about to begin The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, 2023). The blurb suggests the importance of a reader’s ability to identify with book characters. More about this one next time.
Be curious! (and turn up
the music, dance in the rain, and sing till you’re hoarse)
from The Philharmonic Gets Dressed
written byKarla Kuskin
illustrated byMarc Simont
HarperCollins, 1982
Popular Culture is not my forté. Really. I’m not a Swifty. I don’t recognize most modern film stars, even though I enjoy live theater and movies, too. Popular music is mostly background noise for one or another of the books I’m reading for an upcoming book club meeting.
So when I heard the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced its 2025 honorees, I decided to pay attention.
Country musician George Strait, the rock band KISS, stage and screen star Michael Crawford, disco pioneer Gloria Gaynor, and Hollywood icon Sylvester Stallone are the recipients who will be honored for their lifetime artistic achievements at this year's Kennedy Center Honors Gala.
For 48 years, the annual event has been one of the most anticipated in our nation’s capital. Superstars come to perform and pay tribute for the new Honorees at the Sunday night gala. And, as in the past, this year’s event will be televised on CBS (on December 23 at 8 pm ET) as a broadcast special.
But a few differences are in store due to months of upheaval caused by Trump’s February ousting of the Kennedy Center president, Deborah Rutter, and board chair David Rubenstein. Several staff have also recently resigned.
Trump is now the chair of the Kennedy Center, elected by the people he appointed to replace those who have left. He said the vote was unanimous.
Trump boasted that he and his appointees have “ended the woke programming.”
NPR announced on its Weekend Edition this past Sunday, that several changes have been made at the Kennedy Center. First, the months-long, bipartisan selection process undertaken by executive board members and senior staff members, with input from the general public and in “consultation [with] past recipients such as Julie Andrews, Lionel Richie, and John Williams” has not occurred. Instead, Trump said he was “about 98%” involved with the selection process.
So has he chosen his favorites, for whatever reason, from among our brightest stars?
Instead of announcing the recipients at the Sunday night gala, he used a press conference at the Kennedy Center last August to make the announcement.
And rather than the likes of past hosts such as Walter Cronkite, Caroline Kennedy, or Gloria Estefan, Trump said he was asked to host, (but did not say by whom). And even though he and Melania did not attend any of the events in his first term, in his acceptance he said, “I used to host The Apprentice finales…” as if that gives him credibility to host this awesome event.
Also, the medal has been redesigned by Tiffany & Co. It now sports a dark blue ribbon instead of the rainbow striped one. The rainbow stripes are embedded into the medal itself. The recipient’s name is still engraved on the back. (If you click on the link to see the medal, remember the glowing explanatory copy was written by the Kennedy Center’s current administration.)
Most great European capitals boast a Cultural Arts Center. One hundred and eighty-five years after the Revolutionary War, President Eisenhower decided it was finally time to honor our own culture. In 1961 he signed the National Cultural Center Act confirming “the inherent value of the arts to all Americans.”
Then, a year after President Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson signed a bill renaming the National Cultural Center. It has become “a living memorial to the slain President.”
Gracing the shores of the Potomac river, the Kennedy Center was inaugurated on September 8, 1971 with the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers.” It was a huge and energetic performance.
Although the New York Philharmonic Orchestra has not received a Kennedy Honor, Leonard Bernstein has. And he’s in good company.
Kennedy Honors are compared to knighthood in the UK. The first Honors were awarded in 1978 and recognized Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers and Arthur Rubinstein. Closing out the 20th century, legends including Ella Fitzgerald, Arthur Miller, Yehudi Menuhin, Ray Charles, Pete Seeger, Edward Albee, Stephen Sondheim, and Johnny Cash were honored.
Since then, honorees have shown off our country’s most prestigious talents representing all facets of the performing arts: dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures, and television.
The Kennedy Center has been a beacon for the brightest stars for almost half a century. Its website states that today the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is “a true artistic mecca, and one of the world’s most respected organizations.”
The broadcast on December 23 at 8pm Eastern on CBS promises to be a wonderful extravaganza, if you can stomach the host.
I’m not sure if I’ll tune in, but it’s on my calendar.
I’m about to begin The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman (Atria Books/Simon & Schuster, 2023). The blurb suggests the importance of a reader’s ability to identify with book characters. More about this one next time.
Be curious! (and turn up
the music, dance in the rain, and sing till you’re hoarse)
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