President Obama Praises Recipients of Kennedy Center Honors

At a ceremony held in the East Room of the White House prior to the official presentation of this year's Kennedy Center honors last night, President Obama welcomed the guests and praised the recipients of this year's distinguished award.

The honorees include the surviving members of Led Zeppelin John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant; ballerina Martina Makarova, Dave Letterman, Dustin Hoffman and Buddy Guy. Below is a condensed version of the President's remarks which was shared on Deadline.com:

“None of this would be possible without the co-chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities,” the President said, singling out “George Stevens and his son Michael who have produced the Kennedy Center Honors for 35 years now.”

“Tonight, we continue a tradition here at the White House by honoring some extraordinary people who have no business being on the same stage together. We’ve got Buddy Guy sitting next to Dustin Hoffman. We’ve got Dave Letterman alongside one of the greatest ballerinas of all time. I don’t think Dave dances. All three living members of Led Zeppelin in one place — so this is a remarkable evening.”

“Tonight’s honorees didn’t just take up their crafts to make a living. They did it because they couldn’t imagine living any other way. That passion took each of them from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of their profession. Tonight, in the People’s House, we have a chance to say thank you.”

Growing up as the son of a sharecropper in Louisiana, Buddy Guy made his first guitar out of wires from a window screen — that worked until his parents started wondering how all the mosquitos were getting in. But Buddy was hooked, and a few years later, he bought a one-way ticket to Chicago to find his heroes — Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Pretty soon he was broke, hungry and ready to head home. And then, one night outside a blues club, a man pulled up and handed Buddy a salami sandwich and said, “I’m Mud,” and “you ain’t goin’ nowhere.” And that was the start of something special.

Buddy tells a story about his son Greg wanting to learn to play the guitar like Prince. Buddy told him he’d better learn some Jimi Hendrix first. It was only after watching a TV special on Hendrix that Greg found out Jimi had borrowed some licks from his dad. So Greg said, “I didn’t know you could play like that.” And Buddy said, “You never asked.”

When “The Graduate” was originally written, the main character was supposed to be Robert Redford — a tall, blond track star. And when Dustin Hoffman auditioned for the part, a crew member handed him a subway token on his way out, saying, “here, kid, you’re gonna need this. Dustin ended up getting the role and it launched one of the greatest movie careers of his generation, of any generation. Most actors dream of being in maybe one film that becomes part of our cultural vocabulary. Dustin churned out “Midnight Cowboy,” “Tootsie,” “Rain Man,” “Hook” — not bad for a guy who signed up for his first acting class after a friend told him, “nobody flunks acting, it’s like gym.”

Well, Dustin, you’ll be glad to know that this award was not supposed to go to Robert Redford. He’s already got one. So tonight we honor Dustin Hoffman.

If you ask David Letterman what’s it like to tape his show, he’ll say, “if it’s going well, it just lifts you. If it’s not going well, it sinks you. It’s exhilarating. It’s my favorite hour of the day.” It’s unclear how Dave feels about this hour. It’s different when you’re not the one with the mic, isn’t it, Dave? You’re looking a little stressed, aren’t you? I’d also point out it’s a lot warmer here than it is on Dave’s set.

But I’ve enjoyed my time in the Ed Sullivan Theater. And earlier this year, Dave celebrated his 30th anniversary in late night television — the only person to reach that milestone besides Johnny Carson. Now, Dave will be the first to tell you that he’s no Carson, that all his years on television have only made him appreciate even more how unique Johnny was. But that’s a good thing, because if he were more like Johnny, he’d be less like Dave.

After all, it was Dave who got his start as an Indianapolis weatherman, once reporting that the city was being pelted by hail “the size of canned hams.” It’s one of the highlights of his career. It was Dave who strapped a camera to a monkey, worked a Taco Bell drive-through, told Lady Gaga that when he was her age, he had a paper route. It was Dave who came back on the air less than a week after 9/11 to show the world that New York was still standing.

So tonight we honor David Letterman, who has always offered us an authentic piece of himself — sometimes cranky, often self-deprecating, always funny.

When Natalia Makarova defected from the Soviet Union in 1970, she made headlines around the globe. Back home, her name was excised from textbooks, her photos expunged from the walls of her school. And for the next 18 years, her countrymen were forced to rely on underground channels to follow the rise of one of the most accomplished ballerinas in the world.

But no one can erase what takes hold of the heart. And in 1989, when the Iron Curtain opened, the Russian people welcomed her back with open arms. Over 2,000 people packed the Kirov Theater where she had trained as a young girl — another 20 people crammed in with the orchestra — all to watch a dancer who never thought she’d be back.

“After hanging up her shoes, Natalia moved to Broadway, where she won a Tony Award. And she remains as humble as ever — once saying, “I’m never proud of what I’ve done. Sometimes, I’m not ashamed.” So thank you, Natalia, for the understatement of the century. And thank you for sharing your talents with all of us.

“There’s no smooth transition from ballet to Led Zeppelin. The speechwriters were trying to work the “Stairway To Heaven” metaphor and it didn’t work. When Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham burst onto the musical scene in the late 1960s, the world never saw it coming. There was this singer with a mane like a lion and a voice like a banshee, a guitar prodigy who left people’s jaws on the floor, a versatile bassist who was equally at home on the keyboards, a drummer who played like his life depended on it.

When the Brits initially kept their distance, Led Zeppelin grabbed America from the opening chord. We were ready for what Jimmy called songs with “a lot of light and shade.” It’s been said that a generation of young people survived teenage angst with a pair of headphones and a Zeppelin album and a generation of parents wondered what all that noise was about.

But even now, 32 years after John Bonham’s passing, the Zeppelin legacy lives on. The last time the band performed together in 2007 — perhaps the last time ever, but we don’t know — more than 20 million fans from around the world applied for tickets. And what they saw was vintage Zeppelin. No frills, no theatrics, just a few guys who can still make the ladies weak at the knees, huddled together, following the music.

Of course, these guys also redefined the rock and roll lifestyle. We do not have video of this. But there was some hotel rooms trashed and mayhem all around. So it’s fitting that we’re doing this in a room with windows that are about three inches thick — and Secret Service all around. So, guys, just settle down. These paintings are valuable.

Tonight we honor Led Zeppelin for making us all feel young, and for showing us that some guys who are not completely youthful can still rock.

So we’ve got Buddy Guy. We’ve got Dustin Hoffman. We’ve got David Letterman, Natalia Makarova, Led Zeppelin — each of us can remember a moment when the people on this stage touched our lives. They inspired us to see things in a new way, to hear things differently, to discover something within us or to appreciate how much beauty there is in the world.

It’s that unique power that makes the arts so important. We may not always think about the importance of music or dance or laughter to the life of this nation, but who would want to imagine America without it? That’s why we celebrate artists like the ones here tonight. And that’s why, in this season of joy and thanksgiving, they have earned our deepest appreciation.

Photo: John Paul Filo/CBS

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