Springsteen a Kennedy Center honoree

[finishthehat]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/kennedy-center-will-honor-springsteen-deniro-brubeck-mel-brooks-and-grace-bumbry/?hp

As is Mel Brooks.

 

[Ace]

Way to go, Boss!

You too, Mel and Bobby and others.

 

[shockey]

how fitting. i've always thought deniro was tailor-made to play bruce in a bio-pic -- if we could go back in time....

 

[DanOregon]

DeNiro, Bruce, Brooks, Brubeck and an opera singer, should be a hell of a show at least. How odd to think DeNiro starred in a movie with Liza? How sad to realize that Marty Feldman, Dom Deluise and most of the rest of the cast from Silent Movie is dead...

 

[EStreetJoe]

Wonder if DeNiro will tell the story of how his "You talkin' to me?" line in 'Taxi Driver' was inspired by attending a Springsteen concert.
http://www.examiner.com/x-12020-SF-Taxi-Examiner~y2009m6d4-DeNiro-steals-from-Springsteen

 

[Magic In The Night]

Wonder if DeNiro will tell the story of how his "You talkin' to me?" line in 'Taxi Driver' was inspired by attending a Springsteen concert.
http://www.examiner.com/x-12020-SF-Taxi-Examiner~y2009m6d4-DeNiro-steals-from-Springsteen

ESJ, that's cool. I never heard that story.

 

[Webster]

Bumping this up -- quite the speech by Jon Stewart in honor of Bruce.

 

[Ace]

Anyone else watch the show? I thought it was great, though Eddie Vedder did the only Bruce song worth a damn.

The Mel Brooks and Dave Brubeck tributes were great.

 

[Magic In The Night]

Anyone else watch the show? I thought it was great, though Eddie Vedder did the only Bruce song worth a damn.

The Mel Brooks and Dave Brubeck tributes were great.

I thought it was great, too. I didn't mind Mellencamp's and Sting's was much better than I thought as well.

 

[Ace]

Anyone else watch the show? I thought it was great, though Eddie Vedder did the only Bruce song worth a damn.

The Mel Brooks and Dave Brubeck tributes were great.

I thought it was great, too. I didn't mind Mellencamp's and Sting's was much better than I thought as well.

Mellencamp tried something different at least.

Sting did OK, but he always seems like he is going through the motions rather than putting passion into his singing these days. Maybe it's the beard.

 

[DanOregon]

I"ve watched this thing for years - as a kid it was interesting seeing all these old people get honored by younger people. Now watching it, I have a better appreciation for the enduring impact the arts have on society. With such a fractured political spectrum and media spectrum, it's hard to argue with the talent of a Brubeck, Bumbry, Springsteen, Brooks and DeNiro. Might be one of the strongest classes of honorees Kennedy Center has had.
Figure Streep will get hers, Tom Hanks someday, Harrison Ford, Herbie Hancock,
I do find it amusing that they haven't invited Paul McCartney back after he asked to be honored the following year because he had a conflict on the date.

 

[WolvEagle]

Did Bruce realize he was in New York, not Ohio?

Sorry - As a Michigan resident, I couldn't resist.

I must say that Bruce deserved the Kennedy Center honor.

I'm surprised there haven't been a string of "Blazing Saddles" quotes here, though.

 

[ringer]

The Springsteen tribute wasn't very interesting, unfortunately, although Melissa Etheridge killed it and so did Vedder! (Mellencamp was just awful, I thought; too bad the tribute started with him)

On the flip side... the Dave Brubeck tribute was OUTSTANDING! Did you see the look of pride on his face when his four sons were introduced to play the medley!? He was so into it, it made me cry every time they cut away to the old master. I'd love to see some of the good writers on this forum try to describe that expression.

 

[Webster]

With the exception of Vedder, the Bruce songs were not very good. I noticed that two of the backup singers were from the Seeger Sessions and the last ESB tours.

Was Nathan Lane in the Brooks tribute? Odd that Broderick would be there and not him.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

All of the tributes were great. I hadn't really heard of Grace Bumbry before, and hers was by far the most eye-opening. The Romanian opera singer was amazing.

Mellencamp was the worst of the Springsteen tributes by far. John Cougar Mellencamp, trying and failing to be Bruce Springsteen since the early 1980s.

 

[Ace]

All of the tributes were great. I hadn't really heard of Grace Bumbry before, and hers was by far the most eye-opening. The Romanian opera singer was amazing.

Mellencamp was the worst of the Springsteen tributes by far. John Cougar Mellencamp, trying and failing to be Bruce Springsteen since the early 1980s.

You are right on that opera singer. What a voice!

 

[DanOregon]

Some of the tributes are better than others - figure a lot of celebs are booked the six or seven months in advance of when the thing is held. Don't know who you get to "outBruce" Bruce. A few years back they had the Black Crowes and Goldie Hawn featured in the tribute to Chuck Berry. I couldn't figure that out.
The Brooks tribute was well done and I saw it was choreographed and produced in part by the woman who directed The Producers. Nathan Lane would have been nice to see, also would have liked to have seen Bernadette Peters or Gene Wilder.

 

[Double Down]

I thought Mellencamp was fine. At least he tried to sing the song in line with the way Boss feels about that song these days.

 

[Bubbler]

Good to know that Al Bumbry finally got some recognition.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Terry Crowley weeps.