Post by Bingo on Dec 9, 2019 11:01:18 GMT -8
Linda Ronstadt and Earth, Wind and Fire (among others) were the honorees. Linda looked radiant, and it was good to see her able to stand and smile for this occasion. Carrie Underwood and Trisha Yearwood were among the singers paying tribute. Carrie performed Roy Orbison's "Blue Bayou", and Phil Everly's "When Will I Be Loved" - which were both revived by Linda, in versions that gained wide acclaim, and wider notice by fresh audiences. Very different in style (as was demonstrated throughout Linda's varied musical career), the former is a dream ballad which contrasts a hard working city life with the desire to return to a more languid life with a loved one by the river; the latter is in Rockabilly style, coming from the period when the original blend of Blues and Mountain Music had completed its transition to the Mainstream, and was being overtaken by newer trends.
The full event will, I believe, be shown on US television later, but I have seen a video (thanks to LouisaJessie for the link), which gives snippets of the event. It begins with some rather peripheral material, but the segment involving Linda Ronstadt starts at about 5.54
Edit: On returning to the thread, I saw that the above video has since been made private by its owner (presumably because it was being flagged on message boards and watched more widely than expected). Apologies to all concerned. I had seen it earlier - it lasted about 50 minutes, and included extracts from all the tributes, but without showing the performances in full. As I said, the entire show is expected to be televised later in the month.
(On the general background to the event, the honorees do not normally speak or perform - the tributes are left to others, and the honorees watch from the balcony, and acknowledge applause. I remember the traditional events from an earlier year, when Miranda Lambert and her manager attended a dinner with Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department, and her stage performance was later applauded by President Obama at the Center itself. This routine is still followed, but the tense political climate of today has, perhaps inevitably, cast its shadow over the event. President Trump apparently does not attend the events at all, having reportedly regarded the Kennedy Center as dominated by "Liberals". and (although I'm not able to confirm this), I have heard that Secretary Pompeo referred at the dinner to "When Will I Be Loved", and Linda replied "when you stop enabling Trump". It was also reported that, in the absence of the President, Speaker Pelosi was given a standing ovation by the other guests when she entered the Center. My own country is currently bitterly divided, and none of this surprises me - but the hope must remain that the honouring of these diverse artists, and the cultural heritage they enrich prevails as the main memory of the night)
The full event will, I believe, be shown on US television later, but I have seen a video (thanks to LouisaJessie for the link), which gives snippets of the event. It begins with some rather peripheral material, but the segment involving Linda Ronstadt starts at about 5.54
Edit: On returning to the thread, I saw that the above video has since been made private by its owner (presumably because it was being flagged on message boards and watched more widely than expected). Apologies to all concerned. I had seen it earlier - it lasted about 50 minutes, and included extracts from all the tributes, but without showing the performances in full. As I said, the entire show is expected to be televised later in the month.
(On the general background to the event, the honorees do not normally speak or perform - the tributes are left to others, and the honorees watch from the balcony, and acknowledge applause. I remember the traditional events from an earlier year, when Miranda Lambert and her manager attended a dinner with Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department, and her stage performance was later applauded by President Obama at the Center itself. This routine is still followed, but the tense political climate of today has, perhaps inevitably, cast its shadow over the event. President Trump apparently does not attend the events at all, having reportedly regarded the Kennedy Center as dominated by "Liberals". and (although I'm not able to confirm this), I have heard that Secretary Pompeo referred at the dinner to "When Will I Be Loved", and Linda replied "when you stop enabling Trump". It was also reported that, in the absence of the President, Speaker Pelosi was given a standing ovation by the other guests when she entered the Center. My own country is currently bitterly divided, and none of this surprises me - but the hope must remain that the honouring of these diverse artists, and the cultural heritage they enrich prevails as the main memory of the night)