Celebrities pay tribute to 2008 Kennedy Center honorees

Stars -- from Hollywood, the music world and Capitol Hill -- descended on Washington over the weekend to pay tribute to the 2008 recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors award.

Choreographer Twyla Tharp, Roger Daltry and Pete Townshend of The Who, singer Barbra Streisand, actor Morgan Freeman and singer George Jones received the prestigious honor Sunday at the Kennedy Center Opera House. The event will be televised on CBS on Dec. 30.

On the next page is a peek at the red carpet arrivals of such attendees as Beyonce, Clint Eastwood, Jack Black, Glenn Close, Ne-Yo, Queen Latifah, Dave Grohl and more, plus a group shot of the honorees following the show.

Beyonce

Clint Eastwood

Queen Latifah

Jack Black

James Brolin and honoree Barbra Streisand

Joss Stone

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Honoree Twyla Tharp

Ne-Yo

Honoree Morgan Freeman and guests

Glenn Close

Pete Townshend with musician Rachel Fuller

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and wife Jordyn Blum

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with husband Paul Pelosi

Aretha Franklin

Honoree George Jones and wife Nancy

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and wife Linda Hall

Designer Donna Karan

Singer Chris Cornell

From left, Kennedy Center Honors producer George Stevens Jr., Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser, Roger Daltrey, Barbra Streisand, Morgan Freeman, Pete Townshend, George Jones, Twyla Tharp, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Kennedy Center Chairman Stephen A. Schwarz.

--Lisa Fung

Credit: Top photo: Getty Images. Red carpet photos by Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images. Bottom photo by Kevin Wolf / Associated Press

Comments

[148jules]

Morgan Freeman should have worn black socks/hosiery or should have been standing and Twyla Tharp's brown shoes/boots??!! What was she thinking??

[Eric O.]

Barbra Streisand, an icon of voice and music, not to mention her film and TV work, has to share such an honor with the likes of The Who and some George Jones fool? Saddens me...controversial and as political as she may be, listen to her voice, see her movies as of late (Get back to work, BABS!) and you can see that she should have recieved this years and years ago.

[Luis A. Rodriguez]

The individuals who received (earned) this great honor have not received it because they conform to the norm. Twyla Tharp is an icon. Those boots may be her lucky charm, who knows? As far as Morgan Freeman, he's the coolest dude on Earth, so if he's wearing light socks, they're considered cool by virtue of him wearing them. Barbara should've received it a long time ago, yes, but The Who and George Jones are stalwarts of music and it's an insult to not see them as equally deserving of the honor. George should've gotten it before Babs but I'm sure his personal issues contributed to the delay. Congrats everyone!

[Donald Frazell]

This event is FOR celevbritites, thsoe who the rich deem worthy of their intelligent who ahve some appeal among the masses, the true artists never win this award. I believe Ellington and Vaughn and a few other jazz musicians did, some not worthy, but the true artists like Miles, Monk and Coltrane never did. Art goes agaisnt the current flow of power the tatus quo, all these cater to it.

Most overwraught, sentimentlal, and self absorbed, rather than powerful, passionate, and outward physicality. Yech, not many will be watching, makes for a good party for the rihc and powerful however.

[Noland]

Come on people, enough. The artists being honored may not all be my favorites but they are all more than deserving of the honor being bestowed upon them. Ms. Streisand and Mr. Freeman are icons of the like we will not encounter anytime soon if ever at all. I salute all the heros honored here.

[bpdgrfan]

The Who were the first to sign up for the Concert for New York following the 9/11 attacks. During that magnificent Concert, Pete Townshend said to the audience "we are honored to be here."

Last night, New York's finest from FDNY and NYPD returned the favor and sung backup (pretty well too) for the band playing Baba O'lReily.

The Who are a class act - no question that they deserve the Honor.

I really enjoyed the Kennedy Center Honors this year. The Who had the best tribute group of the night, in my opinion. The one lady that sang 'The Who' song Reign Down on Me, (I don't know her name), but I will never forget her voice. I have to say, I was most disappointed with the tribute group for Barbara Streisand. While Queen Latifah and Beyonce were most excellent, I still don't know what Ne-Yo was doing up there. And the first female singer that had the nice, but very loud and almost annoying voice, did annoy me. Where was Celine Dion?

[phyllis kopick]

I would have loved to have been there---the woman who sang for Morgan Freeman and the first group, I am trying to find out who they are? That must be the real blues. The music touched my heart and soul. To see the look in Morgan Freeman"s eyes, I knew the man more than deserved to be there.
The same with Barbra Stresidand, the song she sang on the boat--who cares about the political crap---go out and feed world hunger----if you don't have anything to worry about but socks, boots and kisses.
I loved the side look on President Bush's face, when he was looking at the Who---I had the feeling, he might have a album or two. Rodger was so happy, he could hardly hold still. The look in Peter's face, said it all. Thank you --New York Police and FireDepartment. Twyla Brown was there. Twyla Brown is a icon, she can wear what she wants!!!!!!
I've never been much into country music---but my Father loved it all--Thank you for making my father so happy. Father sang and played your music all his life and I know he still is.

[Bonnie Sarkisian]

The woman who sang Reign Down on Me is Betty LaVette, and I agree that she was a highlight to the evening. The tribute band for Morgan was made up of individual blues legends - Honeyboy Edwards, Pinetop Perkins and the singer was the great Koko Taylor. They were playing amazing traditional delta blues.

Highlights of the evening

Reign Down on Me is Betty LaVette
NYPD singing for The Who

[Norma Peters]

I thought that was the best musical event I had watched in years. I called several people with different musical tastes to tell them to tune in. This deserves a re-run. I had never been a fan of The Who or George Jones, but I am now. The people that performed their music did themselves proud. Bravo!

[Ada Perez]

The show was Fantastic! Please, let me know who was the jazz/blues singer who sang "love reign o'er me" (tribute to The Who).

[Hannah]

The awards were well done, and I am surprised it took this long for Barbra Streisand to get this recognition. I thought it would have been nice for Twyla Tharp to crack a smile every so often...that was kind of a downer.

[Tina]

Chris Cornell performed "Won't Get Fooled Again" but it was cut from the televised version. He, along with David Grohl supposedly brought the house down with their tributes to the Who.

There never has been an explanation for why Cornell's segment was cut. Even he and his management were unaware that his performance was omitted. No formal explanation was provided to them either.

I would dearly love to see a video clip of that performance !!!!

[lala]

twyla tharp looked depressing.maybe someone should slap her and make her realize shes getting honored.