De Niro, Springsteen among Kennedy Center honorees
Photo credit: AP Photo | Kennedy Center honorees Bruce Springsteen, right, and Robert De Niro share a smile in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009.
Raw Video:Kennedy Center Honors Springsteen
Photos: Robert De Niro
Bruce Springsteen
WASHINGTON - Luminaries from the worlds of music and film were feted by President Barack Obama and a black-tie audience of artists and political heavyweights yesterday at the 2009 Kennedy Center Honors.
Actor Robert De Niro, rock songsmith Bruce Springsteen, comic writer-producer Mel Brooks, jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and opera star Grace Bumbry were this year's honorees at the annual awards for lifetime achievement in the performing arts.
At a White House reception attended by the political elite that included Vice President Joe Biden and President John F. Kennedy's daughter, Caroline Kennedy, Obama said the five were a living reminder that "the arts are not somehow apart from our national life.
"The arts are at the heart of our national life," Obama said in remarks aired later at the gala. "These five remarkable performers have helped us sustain and strengthen our nation."
He drew his biggest laughs when he praised funnyman Brooks. "I was telling him that I went to see 'Blazing Saddles' - when I was 10. And he pointed out that I think, according to the ratings, I should not have been allowed in the theater. I think that's true. I got a fake ID," Obama said.
Obama noted yesterday was Brubeck's 89th birthday and said his own first jazz concert was a performance by Brubeck's band in Honolulu, in a rare visit from his often absent father in 1971. "And I've been a jazz fan ever since."
Obama said Brubeck told him his service in World War II had forced him "to work the war out of his system by playing some pretty vicious piano."
Bumbry, Obama said, was "the definition of a diva in the classical sense, a divine voice worthy of the heavens."
Of Springsteen, Obama said "it's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts but communions. There's a place for everybody - the sense that no matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream."
Obama added: "On a day like today I remember: I'm the president but he's The Boss."
He praised DeNiro for his "versatility" and "his legendary method not only of portraying characters, but becoming them emotionally and physically."
The awards are Obama's first big public outing since a Virginia couple crashed his first state dinner at the White House on Nov. 24, raising security concerns. The awards, which also drew Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carol Burnett and Jon Stewart, will air as a CBS special on Dec. 29.
