34th Annual Kennedy Center Honors

Wow.  I almost forgot to write again tonight.  Thankfully Dave reminded me before I headed off to bed.  After work tonight we stayed up late and watched The Kennedy Center Honors.  I had recorded it a while ago and I just felt like tonight was as good of a night to watch it as any.  They honored Meryl Streep, Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins, Neil Diamond, and Barbara Cook.  What an inspiring two hours!  I was in tears by the end of it.  The stories of the honorees' lives and how their tributes were represented were incredible.

I learned that Meryl Streep's first and most difficult role was in high school when she envisioned the person she wanted to be and sought to embody her.  Ann Hathaway gave a musical tribute to her with a full song and dance number.  I'm ashamed to admit that I had never heard of Sonny Rollins.  Bill Cosby talked about how he is known across the world, yet I didn't know him at all.  He is an 80 jazz musician who brought the tenor saxophone to life over the past 60 years.  Barbara Cook, the incredible Broadway singer, was also honored.  Glenn Close, among many other talented sopranos sang a beautiful collaboration of her many songs.  Red Sox fans were featured in Neil Diamond's tribute with Sweet Caroline which I thought was the perfect touch.  But it was Yo-Yo Ma's tribute that brought tears to my eyes.  There's something about that man's charisma, his humbleness, his love of music that just takes my breath away.  In his video biography they show him traveling the world embracing and collaborating with musical styles so wildly diverse from the cello.  His tribute brought together many different styles conducted by the brilliant John Williams with "Here Comes the Sun" by James Taylor.

The two hour special was filled with such moving accolades and musical performances.   The president and his wife sat alongside the honorees, interacted with them, and seemed to thoroughly enjoy the night.  However, it was the expressions of those being honored as they watched what was crafted specially for them.  The look in their eyes as they listened to the words and the music from colleagues and friends.  Given more time, I might be able to better articulate watching this entire special but it's just after 4am and I must go to bed.  What a wonderful thing to fall asleep thinking about.