Kennedy Center Honors 2012: Barack Obama honors seven of the most influential artists in US

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were in fine form during Sunday night’s Kennedy Center Honors, laughing and holding hands at the event, which recognize the nation’s most culturally influential artists, performers, actors, and musicians.

Wearing a stunning Michael Kors gold lamé dress embellished at the neckline, Michelle Obama dazzled as she entered the East Room of the White House with her husband, who was wearing a smartly-tailored tuxedo and an American flag on his lapel.

Barack Obama honored seven of the country’s most influential artists, including Dustin Hoffman, Chicago bluesman Buddy Guy, late night host David Letterman, ballerina Natalia Markarova, and surviving members of rock band Led Zeppelin.

The festivities later transitioned to the Kennedy Center, where fellow performers put on a show which will be broadcast later this month.

Stars from New York, Hollywood and the music world gathered Sunday in Washington to salute the honorees who were tonight receiving the nation’s highest award for artistically influential Americans.

“Tonight, we continue a tradition here at the White House by honoring some extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together,” Barack Obama began, joking to the recipients.

The president hailed the drive and vision of the honorees, noting that many, like blues musician Buddy Guy, grew up in conditions that didn’t foster creativity. Buddy Guy, for instance, was born into a family of Louisiana sharecroppers with no electricity or running water.

He went on to pioneer the use of distortion and feedback with his electric guitar.

“[Their] passion took each of them from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of their profession,” Barack Obama said, according to The Hill.

“Tonight in the People’s House, we have a chance to say thank you.”

Former president Bill Clinton also offered lavish praise to Buddy Guy.

“Buddy Guy’s life is a miracle,” Bill Clinton said.

“Just imagine you want to be a guitar player and you get your first strings by tearing off the screen door. … He came from that to this.”

Late-night host David Letterman was one of the seven honored in the annual awards ceremony.
Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel joined in celebrating David Letterman’s influence on many other comedians.

“I knew Johnny, and I loved Johnny. Johnny was beyond reproach,” Stephen Colbert said in a toast to David Letterman.

“Dave was stupid. Dave was ours. Dave was like us.

“We wanted to throw things off of buildings. … We would love to stick our heads out the window of 30 Rock and yell at passers-by, <<I’m not wearing any pants!>>.”

Stephen Colbert marveled at David Letterman receiving such an award after he “corrupted the minds of a generation”.

Paul Shaffer, David Letterman’s longtime band leader, said he knew his boss was uncomfortable hearing such accolades, but that he knew Letterman was enjoying every second of it.

Meryl Streep introduced the honorees Saturday during a formal dinner at the U.S. State Department and noted that David Letterman had surpassed his mentor, Johnny Carson, in sustaining the longest late-night television career for more than 30 years.

To salute Led Zeppelin, big names from the rock world dressed in black tie for their music heroes as a string ensemble played the band’s hit song “Kashmir” and other tunes at the State Department.

Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl said he never took any music lessons when he was starting out because “my teachers were Led Zeppelin. … They were the most powerful thing in my life”.

Lenny Kravitz said their influential music, at its zenith in the 1970s, became a lasting part of the culture of rock and roll.

“It’s very difficult,” he said.

“You get four guys that come together and make something so much more powerful than they all are.”

Zeppelin front man Robert Plant said he was flattered and overwhelmed in receiving the American culture prize. He said he was glad to see his former band mates, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, using good table manners.

The trio is scheduled to appear Monday on CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman. They are often asked if they’ll reunite. Robert Plant told The Associated Press he plans to continue traveling the world and wants to make new music along the way.

“If anybody wants to write some new songs, I’m game to write songs,” he said.

Dustin Hoffman was honored for charting his own path after taking a junior college class in acting that “nobody ever flunks”.

Meryl Streep, a 2011 honoree, said Dustin Hoffman’s quest to become an actor required waiting tables and typing for the yellow pages by day.

“He’d do anything if it meant at night he could find himself on the stage,” she said.

Glenn Close toasted Dustin Hoffman for defining the character actor as leading man in such movies as The Graduate, Rain Man and Tootsie – and as an artist who insisted on setting the highest standards for himself.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the ballerina Natalia Makarova “risked everything to have the freedom to dance the way she wanted to dance” when she defected from the Soviet Union in 1970.

Natalia Makarova quickly made her debut with the American Ballet Theatre and later was the first exiled artist to return to the Soviet Union before its fall to dance with the Kirov Ballet.

Hillary Clinton also took special note of David Letterman, saying he must be wondering what he’s doing in a crowd of talented artists and musicians.

“Dave and I have a history,” she said.

“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.”

The crowd of artists and entertainers gave Hillary Clinton a standing ovation as she hosted her final salute to the nation’s artists as secretary of State.

Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein gave her a subtle nudge to run for president in 2016, saying there’s another room at the State Department to name after a secretary who later becomes president.

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