Jessica Simpson breaks down in tears at Kennedy Center Honors
PUSSS...@aol.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - From Hollywood to Dollywood, Motown to Broadway, a
select group of stars from the film, stage and music worlds received
recognition on Sunday for a lifetime of achievement in the performing
arts.
Movie director Steven Spielberg, singers Dolly Parton and Smokey
Robinson, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and conductor Zubin Mehta were
feted as members of the 29th annual class of Kennedy Center honorees.
At an evening gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts, fellow entertainers and artists celebrated the careers of the
five honorees.
During the ceremony, singer Aretha Franklin spoke about Robinson's
contributions to music.
"This beautiful, kind, kind man wrote and sang poetically and
unselfconsciously about love ... redefining popular music in the '60s,
using the connective power of song to break down the barriers of black
and white," Franklin said.
Mehta was described by violinist Itzhak Perlman as "what we call in
Yiddish a mensch" - someone who is worthy and full of good deeds. The
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed, accompanied by violinist
Pinchas Zuckerman.
Composer Webber heard a tribute from Sarah Brightman, a singer who was
married to Webber for several years, remains a friend and has performed
in several of Webber's productions among her many stage performances.
"At this very moment somewhere in the world, the curtain is going up on
an Andrew Lloyd Webber show," she said.
The ceremonies attracted a combination of celebrities from politics and
entertainment. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was there along with actors
Sidney Poitier, Liam Neeson, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Collins, Tom Hanks
and his wife Rita Wilson.
CBS will broadcast the show Dec. 26 at 9 p.m. EST.
"This is absolutely fantastic," said Robinson, a Motown recording
legend, as he arrived at the White House before the ceremony for a
private reception with President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. "I'm
so honored and so flattered to get this because it not only deals with
your craft; they attach what impact you have on humanity to this."
Others who strolled the East Wing colonnade for the reception included
singer-actress Jessica Simpson, singers Vince Gill and Kenny Rogers and
movie producer George Lucas. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, the Rhode Island
Democrat, walked in with actress Fran Drescher.
Simpson later had an uncomfortable moment singing "Nine to Five" as
part of the tribute to Parton, finishing the song abruptly with the
words "so nervous" and quickly exiting, to no applause. She was in
tears when she and the other singers in the tribute came back out.
Country singer Reba McEntire told the audience Parton changed
Nashville.
"Once upon a time, a woman in Nashville was told what song to sing, in
what clothes," she said. "Because of Dolly we've been writing,
producing and singing our own music for some time now."
Parton, 60, a country singer who has performed for more than four
decades, is a Grammy-winner who also has appeared in movies such as
"Nine to Five,""The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and "Steel
Magnolias." And there is her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge,
Tenn.
Spielberg, 58, has won two Academy Awards for best director, for
"Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan." Among his other film are
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,""Jaws,""Close Encounters of the Third
Kind" and the Indiana Jones series.
Robinson, 66, is best known for classics such as "The Tracks Of My
Tears,""Tears Of A Clown" and "I Second That Emotion." He is in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
London-born Webber, 58, is responsible for the music for "Cats,""The
Phantom of the Opera,""Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita." He has won
seven Tony Awards and three Grammy Awards.
Indian-born Mehta, 70, was music director of the New York Philharmonic
from 1978 to 1991 and has led the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and the
Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Kennedy Center Honors:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors
* * *
By Karen Thomas, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON - The sounds of country, Motown, Broadway and classical
music combined with Hollywood star power in the nation's capital Sunday
for the Kennedy Center Honors.
Stars from across the entertainment industry turned out. Among them:
Tom Hanks, Liam Neeson, Reese Witherspoon, Aretha Franklin, India Arie,
Jessica Simpson, Shania Twain, Reba McEntire and Josh Groban.
They gathered to pay tribute to director Steven Spielberg, country's
Dolly Parton, Motown's Smokey Robinson, Broadway composer Andrew Lloyd
Webber and conductor Zubin Mehta. The stars joined President Bush and
first lady Laura Bush for the 29th awards ceremony, in which the
Kennedy Center recognizes artists for their lifetime contribution to
the arts and to American culture. The two-hour gala in the center's
opera house was taped to air Dec. 26 on CBS (9 p.m. ET/PT).
Witherspoon and Simpson were there to honor fellow blonde Parton.
Simpson relied heavily on cue cards to perform 9 to 5 and missed a few
lines.
"Dolly, you make me so nervous I can't even sing the words right,"
Simpson said before leaving the stage.
Witherspoon fared a little better with the same Parton tune just
moments earlier. The Walk the Line Oscar winner warbled several lines
of 9 to 5 a cappella before giggling, "Someone else will sing this
better later."
The show featured plenty of musical numbers. Parton also was celebrated
by a duet from American Idol's Carrie Underwood and Kenny Rogers, who
sang Islands in the Stream.
Another duo, Hanks and Neeson, paid tribute to Spielberg. Hanks
introduced five World War II veterans and a Holocaust survivor during
the show. Renee Firestone, the Holocaust survivor, emphasized the
importance of the work of the director of Schindler's List and Saving
Private Ryan. "Thank you, Steven, for what you have done for history.
You are our hero."
Webber said the Kennedy Center award was better than a Grammy or an
Oscar because "it's not connected to any of the industry." His former
wife, Sarah Brightman, introduced the segment honoring him. When
Broadway star Betty Buckley paid tribute by singing Memory from
Webber's Cats, the audience responded with a standing ovation.
During the segment honoring Robinson, which was introduced by Franklin,
Cee-Lo Green of Gnarls Barkley and Arie sang Going to a Go-Go, and Sam
Moore and Jonny Lang performed Tracks of My Tears.
Robinson spoke earlier about receiving the honor: "It means everything
to me," because the award is "for your impact on society."
CliffB
Kennedy Center honors. I suppose they were making some point about
Dolly's playful pose as a blonde bimbo? Except Parton was a canny chick
who could really warble and a good songwriter (thus literate) too. The
fact that Simpson couldn't sing right jibes with that record industry
blind item from the other day. I'm guessing they don't permit lip
synching at the Kennedy Honors.
Going For Broke
<PUSSS...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1165243716.9...@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
CliffB
Going For Broke wrote:
> Singer/Actress that is going out on a limb....
I wonder if they'll cut it from the TV broadcast. Ending her song
attempt to no applause - ouch. Also outclassed in every way by Reese
Witherspoon - they should have let Reese do the whole song.
Agent Smith
news:1165243716.9...@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
> By NATASHA T. METZLER
> WASHINGTON (AP)
...
> Simpson later had an uncomfortable moment singing "Nine to Five" as
> part of the tribute to Parton, finishing the song abruptly with the
> words "so nervous" and quickly exiting, to no applause. She was in
> tears when she and the other singers in the tribute came back out.
It's because she knows that she'll never win such an accolade, and is so
devoid of class that she shouldn't even have been invited to such a classy
event.
katorzejames
you guys are too evil and i don't know why.
Agent Smith
news:1165392887.1...@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com:
> you guys are too evil and i don't know why.
She's a cheeze whiz.
chef_boyhowdy!
> you guys are too evil and i don't know why.
thats hardly surprising. you dont know a lot of things.
Jessica Simpson is a manufactured diva, the epitome of "musician" disguised
as relatively talentless, incapable of live performance, with nice face,
tits and ass. Musically, there is absolutely nothing to admire her for,
unless you really cant tell how auto-tuned and pro-tool'd she is, dont know
what that means, and dont care, because your album collection is dominated
by titles listed under a singers name.
now tell us again how bananaramma rocks.
Agent Smith
news:175gksbf021gj.3nzgqax06lom$.d...@40tude.net:
> On 6 Dec 2006 00:14:47 -0800, katorzejames wrote:
>
>> you guys are too evil and i don't know why.
>
> thats hardly surprising. you dont know a lot of things.
...
> now tell us again how bananaramma rocks.
Are you familiar with Pink's song, "Like a Pill"? You're so vain, you
probably thing that song is about you.
chef_boyhowdy!
> chef_boyhowdy! <attila_t...@nowaynohow.com> wrote in
> news:175gksbf021gj.3nzgqax06lom$.d...@40tude.net:
>
>> On 6 Dec 2006 00:14:47 -0800, katorzejames wrote:
>>
>>> you guys are too evil and i don't know why.
>>
>> thats hardly surprising. you dont know a lot of things.
> ...
>
>> now tell us again how bananaramma rocks.
>
> Are you familiar with Pink's song, "Like a Pill"?
I never heard it. I heard a few of her things, I liked some of it. She
writes her own stuff and arranges it as well. She's different than a lot of
her competition.
katorzejames
chef_boyhowdy! wrote:
> Jessica Simpson is a manufactured diva, the epitome of "musician" disguised
> as relatively talentless, incapable of live performance, with nice face,
> tits and ass. Musically, there is absolutely nothing to admire her for,
> unless you really cant tell how auto-tuned and pro-tool'd she is, dont know
> what that means, and dont care, because your album collection is dominated
> by titles listed under a singers name.
> > now tell us again how bananaramma rocks.
listen, i don't care for her music either.
i love singers, but maybe not the singing of jessica simpson.
that said, i doubt she needs pro tools any more than any other
contemporary performer.
you yourself have claimed they all use it, including emmylou harris,
so can you let it go?
i wish you could control your emotions and stay on the issue of any
given thread.
my participation in this thread is based on my sympathy for miss
simpson as a personality, not really as an artist.
my point is that you guys are very nasty and it's sick the way you
talk about a young girl.
as far as bananarama is concerned, i do feel they *rock*.
i'm using "rock" colloquially to mean they are "bitchen", "neato" or
"very special".
i don't compare bananarama to led zepplin or even the shocking blue.
i judge them on prefab pop terms.
news flash:
it's ok with me if you disagree!
i know bananarama is not to your taste!
whatever you are into, that's fine with me.
knock yourself out with the lita ford and whatnot.
Agent Smith
news:1165536484.3...@f1g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:
Chef Boyhardee is just an asshole. Put him into your killfile.
eggs
"katorzejames" <quator...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> as far as bananarama is concerned, i do feel they *rock*.
> i'm using "rock" colloquially to mean they are "bitchen", "neato" or
> "very special".
> i don't compare bananarama to led zepplin or even the shocking blue.
> i judge them on prefab pop terms.
> news flash:
> it's ok with me if you disagree!
> i know bananarama is not to your taste!
> whatever you are into, that's fine with me.
> knock yourself out with the lita ford and whatnot.
For the record, I too love Bananarama. I would have put them in the
pop/new wave category when they came out. I guess that's pop/dance now.
Frankly, I don't care what category they fall into. They're fun!
eggs.
avery
"eggs" <segg...@sloptusnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:seggleto-1A4736...@news-vip.optusnet.com.au...
Isn't it kind of cool that one of the Bananarama girls married the Wham guy
(the other one, obviously).
Whamabananarama!
eggs
"avery" <doom...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Dream concert! Wham, Bananrama and, of course, Duran Duran.
eggs.
chef_boyhowdy!
> i wish you could control your emotions and stay on the issue of any
> given thread.
Is that what you want for christmas quator? For me to think like you want
me to?
> my participation in this thread is based on my sympathy for miss
> simpson as a personality, not really as an artist.
> my point is that you guys are very nasty and it's sick the way you
> talk about a young girl.
and then on another thread we have you excusing the "video ho's" (your own
words) in the RAP videos.
You know Quator, for a guy who accuses others of changing direction and
staying on tune, your convictions sure are a shifting little mess of
hypocrisy.
chef_boyhowdy!
oh yeah, i could dream my way thru that one. If I snore too loud, just poke
me.
CliffB
Didn't one of them marry off the guy from the Eurhythmics, incidentally
breaking up the band? I think they divorced though. I though I recall
that Annie lennox was a bit pissed and alienated from the Dave whoever
guy for a while.