Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels, Joni Mitchell to Receive Kennedy Center Honors

From Rolling Stone.com
The Kennedy Center has announced a new class of inductees. Singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, entertainer Bette Midler, and bass baritone Justino Díaz will be honored at this year’s ceremony.

The 2021 Kennedy Center Honors will return to its usual time and place at the Kennedy Center Opera House on December 5th. Due to Covid-19, the 2020 ceremony was pushed to May and spread out over several days with a mix of indoor, outdoor, and pre-taped events.

“After the challenges and heartbreak of the last many months, and as we celebrate 50 years of the Kennedy Center, I dare add that we are prepared to throw ‘the party to end all parties’ in D.C. on Dec. 5th, feting these extraordinary people and welcoming audiences back to our campus,” said Kennedy Center president Deborah Rutter.

Last year’s honorees included Joan Baez, Garth Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Allen, and Midori.

Great news....so very glad Mr. Gordy is still here and has been able to enjoy all the milestones and celebrations of Motown the last few years. He's most deserving of it all!

I like this line up. All very deserving.

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Originally Posted by ralpht

I like this line up. All very deserving.

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I totally agree.

Be well ralph and happy belated birthday.

Fondly,

Roberta

That's great!

Great line up. The clips for both Berry and Bette should be epic!!!

Happy for Mr Gordy, but Bette Midler makes me want to throw up in my mouth...

I'm hoping Diana, Stevie, Smokey, Gladys and Martha are on hand for this. I'd much rather see them celebrate Mr. Gordy than some 20-something that I've never heard of. Fingers crossed.

Berry Gordy deserves every great award and accolade. if all Joni Mitchell ever did was give us "Both Sides Now" she would be well deserving. But I've never heard of the other name in the title to the thread

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Originally Posted by mysterysinger

Berry Gordy deserves every great award and accolade. if all Joni Mitchell ever did was give us "Both Sides Now" she would be well deserving. But I've never heard of the other name in the title to the thread

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Lorne Michaels is a television producer and the creator of Saturday Night Live...

Dang, Stu! Why don't you tell folks how you really feel...Mercy!.....:)....

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Originally Posted by StuBass1

Happy for Mr Gordy, but Bette Midler makes me want to throw up in my mouth...

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I would have to echo Superlou's comment....make the Gordy segment of the telecast relevant and authentic. Granted we have lost the vast majority of the original Motown stars, but we still have Diana, Martha, Stevie, Gladys, Lionel, Thelma, Duke, Smokey, and those are just the few that roll off my keyboard.

So to borrow someone else's phrase, I will "throw up in my mouth" if they insult us by having Dua Lipa do Dancing in the Street or some 18 year old boy band trying to emulate the Temptations.

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Originally Posted by daviddesper

I would have to echo Superlou's comment....make the Gordy segment of the telecast relevant and authentic. Granted we have lost the vast majority of the original Motown stars, but we still have Diana, Martha, Stevie, Gladys, Lionel, Thelma, Duke, Smokey, and those are just the few that roll off my keyboard.

So to borrow someone else's phrase, I will "throw up in my mouth" if they insult us by having Dua Lipa do Dancing in the Street or some 18 year old boy band trying to emulate the Temptations.

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Judging by previous telecasts, I'm sure there will be some contemporary artists taking part in the Berry tribute. But I can't see them doing it without having Diana, Smokey, and Stevie involved in some sort of way.

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Originally Posted by StuBass1

Happy for Mr Gordy, but Bette Midler makes me want to throw up in my mouth...

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ditto

Rhonda might be there in place of Diana. If Diana is there, she could sing Thank You to him.

You guys are too harsh on poor little Bette! Yes of course she was a tramp in her early days but that was just her schtick...probably the exact word she would use to describe it.

But as she got too old for that sort of behavior, she tried her hand at acting and legitimate singing, and she hasn't been half bad. Her Oscar nomination for The Rose was deserved and some of her adult contemporary songs [[From a Distance for example) have actually been quite good.

In fact, if anything she has gone TOO far over to the other side, as the girl groups CD and the Clooney songbook were maybe just more saccharine than anybody needed.

Just like with Martha getting her star on the walk of fame, I have to ask, what took so long for Gordy to get this honor? Who will be there? Smokey or Diana? Or both?