Kennedy Center Honors Five

It wasn’t on TV live; one will have to wait until December 26 to see it. However, over the week-end, the Kennedy Center in Washington honored 5 Americans who have made vibrant contributions to American culture. Musicians Diana Ross, Brian Wilson and Leon Fleischer joined filmmaker Martin Scorsese and comedian Steve Martin on stage to receive this year’s awards.

Ms. Ross and Mr. Wilson embody two very American sounds: Motown and surf rock. As lead singer of the Supremes, Ms. Ross defines diva, and having given the world "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough” she’s entitled. Mr. Wilson, as one of the Beach Boys, recorded "Surfin' Safari," “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls,” which still defines a certain time in America’s national life that is forever California 1966.

Mr. Fleischer comes from a more classical direction, as a pianist who suffered a neurological disease that crippled his right hand. As Theo Milonopoulos of The Los Angeles Times wrote “Undeterred, he became a conductor and revitalized the left-hand repertory until a series of grueling medical procedures enabled him to play with his right hand again.” Former concert pianist and Secretary of State, neoCondoleezza Rice said, ‘"When I hear your passionate playing, your extraordinary skill, I am reminded why people like me gave up the piano.”

Mr. Scorsese’s body of work includes "Mean Streets," "Goodfellas," "Raging Bull" and "The Departed," any one of which would suffice to make one a top director. One is still astonished that he hadn’t won an Oscar until last spring with “The Departed.” Films remain perhaps the best cultural export the US has, and no one does them better.

As for Steve Martin, what can one say? He appeared on TV in the 1970s with a banjo and an trick arrow through his head. He sang about “King Tut,” and talked about “getting small.” He was a “wild and crazy guy” on “Saturday Night Live,” a show he has hosted 14 times. He himself says he has come a long way from being a magician at Knotts Berry Farm in California. He was acclaimed a “renaissance comic whose talents wipe out the boundaries between artistic disciplines.” A country that can produce such individuals still has some life in it.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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