[Music]
well good evening everybody welcome to
the White House Michelle and I love this
event everybody looks so nice this is
one of our favorites and as Lily used to
say that's the truth
now I as a president I cannot stick out
my tongue that might cause an
international incident but I want to
start the evening by thanking David
Rubenstein and the Kennedy Center
trustees and the Kennedy Center's new
president Deborah Rutter where's Debra
okay I want to thank George and Michael
Stevens who produced this event every
year
lately they've won an Emmy for it just
about every year as well so we are very
proud to have them here in fact Michelle
and I call this the Stephens season you
know President Kennedy once wrote the
life of the Arts far from being an
interruption a distraction in the life
of the nation it's very close to the
center of a nation's purpose and is the
test of the quality of a nation's
civilization I think Tom Hanks will
agree that President Kennedy was
probably envisioning Joe versus the
volcano when he wrote that
although I have to say big was on last
night and and that you know so so things
balance out but it's clear that the
group on stage with me tonight
understands what President Kennedy
understood that our art is a reflection
of us not just as a people but as a
nation it binds us together songs and
dance and film express our triumphs and
our faults our strengths our tenderness
in ways that sometimes words simply
cannot do and so we honor those who've
dedicated their lives to this endeavor
those who've tapped into something
previously unspoken or unsung or
unexpressed those who have shown us not
simply who they are but who we all are
those who are able to tap in to those
things we have in common and not just
those things that push us apart now I'm
going to start with somebody who I know
all of you think about whenever I sing
in this webinar
i-i've been I've been keeping his his
traditions alive look no I'm not gonna
do it again no that that was like a
one-time thing my voice didn't crack it
was a fluke I can sing a little but I
cannot sing like Al Green nobody can
sing like Al Green Valley that soul that
white falsetto his music can bring
people together in fact he says he can
hardly go anywhere without a fan coming
up to him pulling out a picture of one
of their kids and telling him which one
of his songs help that child enter the
world
I embarrass the Reverend look out he's
all like no no L was born in Forrest
City Arkansas 1 of 10 kids packed into a
two-bedroom house in his early 20s he
signed with high records and helped
bring Memphis soul into the spotlight
with songs like tired of being alone
mm-hmm
let's stay together take me to the river
they're thinking about all those songs
and how it brought people together in
the 1970s he became a pastor at his
church in Memphis and later he started
churning out a string of gospel hits
that earned him eight Grammys and as the
years passed
he's woven together his gospel and soul
careers recently collaborating with the
roots John Legend and his Memphis
neighbor Justin Timberlake and of course
he's still seeing from the pulpit on
Sunday as he says the greatest thing
that ever happened to me
the lowboy from Arkansas was that amidst
all the doubts I found peace for the
peace he found and the soul he has
shared with all of us tonight we honor
the Reverend Al Green
[Applause]
on the night of Patricia McBride's
farewell performance at the New York
City Ballet the crowd showered her with
13,000 roses thankfully they cut the
thorns off first and that is fitting
because when you hear about Patricia you
hear about somebody who's all rose and
no thorn legendary for her good cheer
her sweetness her unabashedly MMus and
that personality translated to the stage
where her humor and grace was matched
only by her power and stamina and
incredible athleticism she's one of the
most versatile dancers we've ever seen
Patricia became the principal dancer at
the New York City Ballet when she was
just 18 years old the youngest to ever
hold that role and she kept at it for 28
years longer than anybody else in
history by the time she was finished
some of our greatest choreographers had
written dozens of pieces just for her it
is not bad for a shy young girl who grew
up in the shadow of World War two
putting glue on the toes of her dance
shoes to make them last longer she's the
daughter of a single mom who worked as a
bank secretary in a day when most
mothers didn't work outside the home who
pinched pennies from that job and paid
the 75 cents for each dance lesson today
Patricia hasn't forgotten where she came
from
she and her husband jean-pierre are in
charge of the critically acclaimed
Charlotte ballet which offers a program
that gives dance scholarships to young
people in need
so for sharing her spirit and her smile
in so many ways tonight we honor
Patricia
[Applause]
in nine to five Lily Tomlin plays an
undervalued employee whose chauvinist
boss steals her ideas and screams at her
to get coffee finally she and two
co-workers get so fed up they kidnap
them they get to work changing the
office working moms get treated better
productivity Rises the top brass are
thrilled it's basically a live-action
version of the working family policies
I've been promoting for years we've sent
DVDs to all the members of Congress to
try to get them on the program that role
has literally written all over it it's
edgy a little dark but fundamentally
optimistic she's created countless
characters from Ernestine the telephone
operator to Lucille the rubber freak to
eat a van the five and a half year old
philosopher all of them kind of oddballs
like Lily all portrayed with incredible
warmth and affection like Lily she
pushed boundaries as well on her 1973
variety show Lily she and Richard Pryor
performed a skit called Jew can dope
about two black folks hanging out in a
diner
one reviewer called it the most profound
meditation on race and class that I have
ever seen on a major network which says
something both about lily and the major
networks that was ad-lib by the way
in her one-woman show the search of
signs of intelligent life in the
universe written by her brilliant
partner Jane Wagner hey Jane
[Applause]
Lily played a dozen characters
transforming instantly into men and
women young old crazy and sane and this
versatility has led to a flood of awards
Emmys Tony's Grammy Oscar nomination
she's just inches away from an he got
and now she's a Kennedy Center honoree
when asked what she hoped her tribute
tonight would look like she said what
I'd like to see is a big stream of gay
drag artists come out as Ernestine I
[Applause]
haven't talked to George Stevens I don't
know whether this has been arranged
although I'd like to see it too but I
can promise that your contributions to
American stage and screen will live on
for her genius her compassion for just
being funny we honored tonight Lily
Tomlin
[Applause]
about 40 years ago a young singer
songwriter named Gordon Sumner was known
to wear a yellow and black striped
sweater ever since he's been known by
one name sting not everybody can pull
off a name like sting but this guy can
his wife Trudy calls him sting
apparently his kids call him sting
POTUS is a pretty good nickname but
let's face it it's not as cool to stink
I kind of wish I was called sting I'm
stuck with POTUS
but everybody knows that sting is more
than just a name he is an all-around
creative force there's a singular voice
on classics from the police
Roxanne every breath you take every
little thing she does is magic there's
this incredible solo career the
songwriting the shape ships between rock
and jazz and reggae and rhythms drawn
from all around the world he's acted in
films he's topped the classical charts
he just opened a musical on Broadway the
guy once turned down a chance to be a
Bond villain who does that sting affair
oh yeah he's too cool right because just
being a celebrity was never stings goal
does a man who comes from humble roots
he's the son of a milkman in a
hairdresser when he was a child he was
so tall that his classmates called him
lurch they have regret that now
that's payback right there he's here you
whoever you are
yeah before he had any success as a
singer and he had worked as a teacher a
construction worker and in a tax office
and if a few things had gone differently
we could be living in a world with a
really hip cool tax clerk named lurch
instead we've got stink artists truth
teller a champion of human rights a
champion of our environment and for all
those reasons and the fact that his
music his music is spectacular and
beautiful for all those reasons tonight
we honor sting
[Applause]
one of four kids in his family in
Concord California Tom Hanks once said
his idea of a good time growing up was
to take a bus to Sacramento
in the years since tom has flown a
rocket to outer space he's fallen in
love with a mermaid he's faced down
Somali pirates mooned the President of
the United States I'm glad you got that
last one out of his system before this
evening Tom's career began just like so
many Hollywood legends dressing in drag
for a show called bosom buddies kungfu
fighting the Fonz on happy days but he
first won our hearts in comedy with big
hits like big and splash I did watch big
last night it's that's a great movie I
love that movie got kind of choked up at
the end one and as the years passed
he told us there's no crying in baseball
life is like a box of chocolates
he told Houston we have a problem and as
a cartoon cowboy he showed us we can
always keep our faith in a little boy
but Tom isn't known simply for his
characters he's known for his character
for his tremendous support of our
veterans he's in the Army Ranger Hall of
Fame for support of the space program he
has an asteroid named after through Tom
we've seen our World War two heroes not
simply in sepia tones somewhere in the
distance but as they truly work gritty
emotional flawed human through Tom we
saw the courageous faces behind an AIDS
epidemic often overshadowed by stigma
and bigotry through Tom again and again
we've seen our passion and our resolve
and our love for each other as his
friend Steven Spielberg once said if
Norman Rockwell were alive today he
would paint a portrait of tongue
and people have said that tom is
Hollywood's everyman that he's this
generations Jimmy Stewart or Gary Cooper
but he's just Tom Hanks and that's
enough that's more than enough for that
we honor him tonight mr. Tom Hanks
[Applause]
so Reverend Al Green Patricia McBride
Lily Tomlin sting Tom Hanks charm soul
spirit spunk they've helped us better
understand ourselves and each other and
as President Kennedy expressed they've
helped us Center our purpose as a nation
and together reflect the quality of our
society for that we cannot thank them
enough we are so glad to be able to
celebrate these extraordinary people
thank you for everything that you've
given us over the years and for what
you're gonna give us in the future
congratulations god bless you all please
join me in saluting one last time our
extraordinary Kennedy Center honorees
for decision
you