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I almost didn't know this was going to be on then found it on the guide last night.... The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony honoring Brian Wilson and others is on tonight @ 9pm on CBS and runs 2 hours.

It's 1/2 over now...  did I miss the Brian segment?

I think it's on last.  At least that's how the description of the live event went.

Pretty classy event.  Not a big Lyle Lovett fan, but he is a respected artist and did his thing.  The choir at the end was a nice touch.  Would take anything over Hootie, that blew.

Anything? Another Ricky Martin song?

Anything, that was a stupid thing to say.  It would have been nice to have someone classier, or at least more well respected, singing a tribute to Brian.  How about U2?  I have always wondered what Bono could bring to certain songs.  Maybe nothing, but at least he is well respected, fairly classy, and hip.  Hootie sucks, IMO.

Oh, no doubt Hootie sucks. Always did, presumably always will. Just thought I'd toss out another example of a terrible cover of a Brian song to test the limits.

Frankly, the Lovett song didn't do much for me, either. Hell, I wish his own band had gone up there and done something.

Besides all that, it was still pretty cool to watch the short film. About blankety-blank time folks, about blankety-blank time....

 :lol!  PongHit loves puns...

I am happy for him as I consider this particular award  prestigious. While I liked some of the unpublished photos. I felt we didn't need the bit about Murry or the "lost years". Brian has done enough good music over the years to focus on just that. He looked like he was in good shape weight wise, but seemed very lost in the eyes and far older then he looked even on the Smile tour of three years ago. No matter it was nice to see him celebrated, even if it is sad no other Beach Boys were there.

I wasn't blown away by Lyle or Hootie, but I liked the choir thing with the beach balls at the end.  I really wish they had retained better artists to do the tributes, but at the end of the day it was still great to see Brian getting the recognition he deserves.

Art Garfunkel with a guitar would have been better than Hootie or Lyle Lovett.  While Hootie was singing I Get Around, I swear the woman they had singing falsetto didn't even know the words to the song.  Horrible.

On another note, they did the same thing to Diana Ross.  Jordin Sparks doesn't deserve to be on the same stage as Diana much less paying tribute to her.  The supremes? Please! 

The boys choir with the remark about how they live a long way from California but the sun shines through to london in his music, and then the beautiful arrangement of love and mercy with the beach balls was classy and truly 'got' what Brian's music is all about, imho.

Diana Ross was really nice to Brian the entire show it seeemed too, too bad he couldn't chat her up with Melinda sitting behind him, lol. 

Overall, it was good....they showed Melinda more than Brian....Diana Ross was nice to Brian, talking to him and holding his hand....so it was depression that brought Brian down in the 60's and 70's....I'd like to know what the producer was thinking when he/she was contemplating guest artists for Brian's songs, "Gee, wouldn't Lyle Lovett and Hootie & The Blowfish be good"; of the hundreds of artists they could've chosen to perform....it took Brian's music to get the stuffy people off their asses and dancing....the beach balls were a nice touch; even Robert DeNiro was into it....President & Mrs. Bush were into Brian's music, smiling and clapping....Brian looks so uncomfortable in those settings; it's probably the last place he would like to be, sitting for three hours with celebrities...."God Only Knows" was too slow and too soft....as nice as "Love And Mercy" was, I wonder how many people there and watching at home thought, "What the hell song is this"....if they would've asked Mike, Al, Bruce, and David instead of Hootie, would've they accepted....when you look at the vast array of talents, artists, and geniuses who have received the Kennedy honor, it might be Brian's greatest honor yet....and yet, I wonder if it phases Brian; he didn't appear as moved as the others, not that you would expect it....I was hoping a tear would fall down Brian's chhek; Diana Ross was crying during "Love And Mercy"....Brian employed those same awkward hand and arm gestures that he uses on stage....that music just can't miss, it's the greatest, it makes so many people happy, over and over and over, generation after generation; you just never get tired of it....

One thing Brian's music has going for it is that not only is it so well written and so beautiful, but it's Rock and Roll at it's soul... it's intertwined with EARLY rock and roll, too... like the first 10 years since the inception of Rock the Beach Boys are already recording... when you hear "I Get Around" that *IS* rock and roll.  That's as rock and roll as Little Richard or Chuck Berry, and always will be.  So until the day comes that people totally dismiss Rock as an art form, Brian's music will never be seen as anything less than great. 

I read a study one time (and I've seen it with my own eyes, too) that something about the backbeat in Rock is attractive to the human ear, and even babies and animals have a natural inclination to enjoy rock and roll.  A friend of mine has a 3 month old baby that smiles if I play an early Beach Boys song.... it's amazing. 

On top of that, you've also got a family harmony recorded on all those tracks... which again is something naturally soothing to the ear and attractive.  3 brothers and a cousin (and a well-voiced friend) all layered on top of each other with similar voices singing chord structures and inventive harmony lines.  Just amazing music, it's great to see everybody so happy for Brian on the show tonight. 

someone screwed with my dvr and cut off the 2nd half of the recording. i miss the Brian segment

:(

i hope it gets on youtube soon

Brian looked board or mad at the world, diana keep looking at him with a smile but brian just looked  straight ahead. He smiled only once, you would think he would have been thrilled and laughed with the others. His wife was rubbing his shoulder as he sat there staring with no glow about him. At the end he closed his eyes for a few seconds, I wonder what he was thinking about. I enjoyed seeing carl and dennis in footage i never seen. When dennis kissed the back of brians head, i almost cryed, how a tender momemt has never been seen before.

The Carl and Dennis footage is in the Knebworth DVD.

I guess I never watched that video :-[

Brian looked like Brian last night. I expected him to look that way before the show started. He gets so focused, he's like a horse with blinders on. It's just Brian. Diana Ross was very nice to Brian. She did hold his hand at the end, and they shared a few smiles. I think she's empathetic of his condition. Brian obviously should have gotten this award twenty years ago, but I understand their reasoning in why they waited. I was impressed with the whole show really, and everybody up there easily deserved induction. Leon Fleischer is amazing, and Diana Ross has to be one of the three or four greatest female artists of all time.

I loved seeing Brian dancing to I Get Around. :)

Some YouTube footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhldJfHxu88

When they showed people like Robert Deniro clapping for Brian, you really got the sense that they weren't just being nice, that these were an entire room full of people who were casual fans of the Beach Boys.  It really drove home how influential his music is, I think the respect for him has really grown over the past 6 or 7 years.

There was one neat moment when Smokey Robinson said something really nice about Diana Ross, Brian jerked around in his seat really quick, smiled at her, and said something as if to suggest "Hey! Wasn't that nice of him!" and Diana just smiled. 

To be honest, this show has gone a lonnnnnnng way towards making me think Diana isn't a tyrant.  lol. 

I loved seeing Diana dancing like a go-go girl to it, that was kind of hot.  In a "She's in her 60's" kind of way. 

I enjoyed most of it, and I didn't find the Hootie and the Blowfish segment to be as bad as a lot of people are making it seem...sure, they aren't the best band out there, and they probably weren't the best ones to do the job. But they did alright, and pretty much everyone looked like they were having a good time. Lyle Lovett just kind of dragged out...I didn't think his version really went anywhere. I like him normally, but his version of 'GOK' just didn't cut it for me.  The choir doing 'Love and Mercy' was great.

And, like several others have already mentioned, I respect Diana Ross a bit more now. I've never been a huge fan of hers, but I've always heard such negative stories about her 'diva' personality...but watching her interacting with Brian so kindly really puts her in good favor with me. It was great to see so many 'big names' there, cheering on Brian and his music. You could tell that when the audience stood and clapped, it was genuine. The beach balls were a nice final touch!

After watching the Hootie segment again this morning, I thought they did quite well. Since Darius did the BW Tribute a few years back, he was probably a shoo-in to do this one with the other guys. They are still quite popular down in the South Carolina area.

Imagine if they'd combined the orchestra, choir and rockers for Surf's Up or Cabinessence (with a more appropriate lead vocalist).

Brian reminds me of Buster Keaton's movie character: the Great Stone Face.

It's wonderful that Brian got so much attention, though kinda funny that he looked so unimpressed.

I was thinking the same thing. Of all of Brian's "honors", this one might be the tops. He was recognized among the greatest artists of the 20th Century. Not a guitar player or record company executive, but an artist. And he looked as if he just wanted to go home and take a nap, which he probably did. :)

I mean, there's our guy, standing up there with Academy Award-winning film makers, actors, divas, and presidents. Steve Martin used to play cards with Johnny Carson. Diana Ross is a friend of Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson. Martin Scorsese hangs with Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel. President Bush deals with Heads Of Countries. And there's brother Brian, a shy guy from Hawthorne California, who wants nothing more than to walk his dogs and eat a nice lunch at the local deli. Oh, but look at what his music did to those people there. Very, very few people could bring those people together the way his music did. Amazing...

Brian was impressed and he was  hanging - on - every - note  of his music that was played. His eyes told me he really got into it.

Anyone want to post the Brian Video segmant on youtube please?????

http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2007/12/shabby_salute_for_beach_boy_brian.html

Shabby salute for Beach Boy Brian
By Shay Quillen
Thursday, December 27th, 2007 at 8:46 am in TV, Music, Shay Quillen, General.

Just watched the Kennedy Center Honors last night, and I thought I’d weigh in on the Brian Wilson tribute from my undisclosed vacation site somewhere in the Midwest.

Like many of you, I’m a full-fledged Beach Boys fanatic, and I was hoping for a tribute that would demonstrate to unbelievers Wilson’s harmonic and melodic brilliance, his compelling mix of innocence and sadness, his simultaneous complexity and simplicity. Instead we got a third-rate treatment that made him seem more like a run-of-the-mill pop hack than “rock’s Mozart,” as the intro referred to him.

First of all, the presenter. I was praying for Paul McCartney; we got Art Garfunkel. Harrumph. Art gave a perfectly fine speech, actually, but things went downhill once the musical tributes started. First, Lyle Lovett, of all people, came out to sing “God Only Knows.” Now I love Lyle Lovett, but I can think of a thousand singers better suited to sing GOK than Lyle. (If you want someone with a touch of twang, how ’bout Vince Gill, who did a great job on “Surf’s Up” at the televised Brian Wilson tribute a decade or so ago?) Maybe they were trying to honor Brian by finding another singer with a lopsided smile. I dunno. Then they pulled out Hootie & the Blowfish — what a coup to catch them on a free night, eh? — to sing “I Get Around” and “California Girls” (without Brian’s exquisite intro — the best part!!). A British boys choir came out, so I figured they’d show off some of Brian’s gorgeous, jazzy vocal harmonies, but instead they went into a bland, schlocky version of “Love and Mercy,” a decent solo track that falls far short of the work of his Beach Boys peak. The whole gang ended up with another up-tempo number — “Fun, Fun, Fun” or something, while a couple dozen beach balls fell from the Kennedy Center ceiling. Lame-o.

Here’s how they should have done it: First of all, Brian’s got a band that has spent years mastering his arrangements. Fly them in. They could have started out with that choir singing “Our Prayer,” the opening of Wilson’s singular “Smile” suite. Then “God Only Knows,” with a great singer (Gill? McCartney? Elvis Costello? Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet?) and Wilson’s band. Maybe an a cappella version of “Warmth of the Sun” or “Surfer Girl” sung by Take 6 or someone to show off his knack for Four Freshmen-style harmonies. Then all the singers and Wilson’s band doing “Good Vibrations,” followed by a final romp through “Fun, Fun, Fun.” How hard is that?

Oddly, Steve Martin got a higher caliber of musical stars to pay homage to him, with both Earl Scruggs and Mark O’Connor taking part. And Leon Fleischer got Yo-Yo Ma. Brian Wilson gets Hootie. What a drag.

I found a link to the Hootie and co. doing I Get Around and California Girls on YouTube.   And a bit of the God Only Knows performance by Lyle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j0P_HC-6uk

If someone could please post on YouTube Brian's intro by Art and the video piece that would be fantastic..... :)

thanks in advance.

Nobody's going to remember the performances by Hootie, Lyle, and the choir ten years from now, let alone next year, so it's not a big deal. What's important is that Brian's name is up on that wall with all those other successful and groundbreaking artists.

Very true.

I bet the Steve Martin fanatics weren't happy with Steve's tribute and the Diana Ross fanatics weren't happy with theirs, and blah blah blah. I would have preferred maybe Cameron Crowe or Rob Reiner to do Brian's tribute, but Art Garfukel is a cultural fixture and a very articulate man who loves music. And Lyle Lovett may not have a beautiful voice, but it's fragile and haunting, and that's kind of Brian-esque. I think GOK should be stripped down sometimes so that people can see that at its core, even without the production and Carl's voice, it's a beautiful song. It also sent a message that this isn't just Beach Boys music-- it's standards that can be performed by a range of artists for years to come. Yes, Brian is a great songwriter-- not just that guy who lost it years ago.

They played songs people would know. Our Prayer would have been nice, but Surf's Up might have been lost on most of the viewing audience. People tuned in wanting California Girls. And people got up and danced to Brian's music. That was wonderful.

I doubt much of anyone will remember his name on the wall, either. I don't know if I had ever heard of the Kennedy Center Honors until I heard Brian was going to get one. It has certainly never been a hot topic in years past when I was in school or at work. It's cool that he got it; it's unsurprising that it kind of sucked; and I doubt much of anyone except serious fans cares anyway.

Luther, sometimes you take the Gen-X cynicism thing a bit too far.  :) And I say that as a member of Gen X myself. But I'm a nerd, so it was important to me. I remember seeing all the old movie stars get honored when I was a kid. I always loved watching the show and think it's a lot of fun in a country that doesn't celebrate the arts nearly enough. If some people watch in their post-Christmas stupor and re-discover an artist they'd forgotten about or learn about an artist they didn't know much about (like me with Leon Fleischer), then it's worthy. You don't have to be a serious fan to care about these artists. I mean, the Oscars kind of suck in the same way, but it's a nice recognition nonetheless.

But while the Oscars suck, at least everyone knows what they are. That's all I'm saying--I don't think the same is true for the Kennedy Center Honors.

I hate to think of myself as a Gen Xer, btw. Too many bad memories of bad Seattle bands. [shudder]

Yeah, as a long time fan, I know what you mean & totally agree.  Unfortunately to those who don't know much of his personality, would that came close to comparing him to Forest Gump?   ::)

Never heard of them??? I'm shocked.

I'd never heard of the Kennedy Center Honors, either, and neither had any of the people I told about them.

Any time the President Of The United States (and other dignitaries - did I see Condi Rice?) takes time out of his busy schedule to attend, you know it's something special, regardless of how you feel about the sitting President at the time...

Yep, it was definitely tough watching through the 90s.  ;D

It is a great honor though. There's been less than 150 to receive the award.

The boys' choir version of Love and Mercy almost had me in tears......spectacular. I would love to have an MP3 of that version....Hootie and the Blowfish?!? Well, I'm glad they paid tribute to Brian, but......I'd rather have the Chili Peppers!!!

It was emotional wasn't it. What if they would've shown Brian during "Love And Mercy", and a tear would've trickled down his cheek? I think everybody would have lost it....

He closed his eyes a few times during Love And Mercy, maybe to prevent the tear trickling down his face. I think Diane Ross brought a handkerchief to her eyes at the end of the song. Brian gave the choir a standing ovation. We all know that you never can tell when he’s emotional, but watch the man’s attitude during the song. It’s there. I think he was really moved. The song was never a hit, but it has become a classic during the years….

I do believe that he was deeply moved by the choir, and Melinda says he expressed interest in performing with them in the future. However, I don't think he was leading a standing ovation. I think he was standing up at the end of the performance because the honorees have to stand up at the end of their tribute to acknowledge the crowd's applause for them (the crowd turns to look at the box where the honorees are sitting).

I guess it could have been either way... but right at the end of the performance, Brian stood up first and appluaded the choir.  Then everybody else did.  After the break, Caroline Kennedy had everybody stand up to receive applause from the audience, and Brian stood up a second time.