The President:
Well, good evening, everyone. On behalf of
Michelle and myself, welcome to the White House. This is truly one of our
favorite nights of the year, and not just because of everyone
who visits the White House -- this group also usually
wins "best dressed" award. [laughter] All of you look spectacular. I am a little disappointed
that Carlos Santana wore one of his more conservative
shirts this evening. [laughter] Back in the day, you could
see those things from space. [laughter] I want to start
by thanking everyone who dedicates themselves
to making the Kennedy Center such a wonderful place
for the American people to experience the arts -- David Rubenstein,
the Kennedy Center trustees, and of course, Michael Kaiser, who will conclude 13
years of tremendous service as the president of the
Kennedy Center next year. [applause] So on behalf of
Michelle and myself, we want to all thank Michael so
much for the extraordinary work that he has done. As always, this celebration
wouldn't be what it is without the enthusiasm of the co-chair
of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities,
George Stevens. George. [applause] And his son, Michael. And together, for years they've
put on this event to honor the artists whose brilliance
has touched our lives. President Kennedy once said
of such creative genius that, "The highest duty of
the writer, the composer, the artist is to
remain true to himself and to let the chips
fall where they may." Now, that's easy to say when --
as they do for these artists -- the chips usually
fall in your favor, whether at Woodstock or
the Oscars or elite venues all over the world. But the fact is that the
diverse group of extraordinary individuals we honor today
haven't just proven themselves to be the best of the best. Despite all their success,
all their fame, they've remained true
to themselves -- and inspired the rest
of us to do the same. Growing up in Harlem,
Martina Arroyo's parents told her she could be
and do anything. That was until she said that she
wanted to be an opera singer. [laughter] Her father -- perhaps not
fully appreciating the versatility required
of an opera singer -- said he didn't want his daughter
to be like a can-can girl. [laughter] In her neighborhood back then, opera was not the
obvious career path. And there weren't a lot
of opera singers who looked like her that
she could look up to. But Martina had a dream
she couldn't shake, so she auditioned relentlessly and jumped at any role
she could get. Along the way,
she earned money by teaching and working as a social
worker in New York City. And when she got a call
from the Metropolitan Opera asking her to fill in
the lead for "Aida," she was sure it was just
a friend pulling her leg. It wasn't until they called back that she realized
the request was real, and she just about
fell over in shock. But in that breakout role
she won fans around the world, beloved for her tremendous
voice and unparalleled grace. Martina has sung the great
roles: Mozart's Donna Anna, Puccini's Madame Butterfly,
Verdi's Lady Macbeth, and, of course, Aida. She's played
the world's stages, from Cincinnati
to Paris to Israel. She's broken through barriers,
broadening our notion of what magnificent artists
look like and where they come from. And along the way,
she's helped people of all ages, all over the world,
discover the art form that she loves so deeply. For a lot of folks, it was
Martina Arroyo who helped them see and hear and love the
beauty and power of opera. And with her
charitable foundation, she is nurturing the next
generation of performers -- smart, talented, driven,
and joyous, just like her. For moving us with the power of
her voice and empowering others to share theirs too,
we honor Martina Arroyo. [applause] Herbie Hancock played
his first concerto with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra when he was 11 years old. Two years later, he heard a
classmate play jazz piano at a variety show and thought,
"That's my instrument, and he can do that? Why can't I?" It turned out he could. [laughter] By 23, Herbie was playing
with Miles Davis in New York and on his way to becoming
a jazz legend. And he didn't stop there. In the seventies, he put his
electrical engineering studies to work and helped
create electronic music. In the eighties, his hit
"Rockit" became an anthem for a fledging new genre
called hip-hop. At one recent show,
he played alongside an iMac and five iPads. [laughter] And a few years ago, he became
the first jazz artist in 43 years to win
a Grammy for best album. But what makes
Herbie so special isn't just how
he approaches music; it's how he
approaches life. He tours the world as
a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He's done so many benefit
concerts that Joni Mitchell once gave him a watch
inscribed with the words: "He played real good for free." [laughter] And we know this because he's
played here for free a lot. [laughter and applause] We work Herbie, I'm telling you. [laughter] But we just love the man. Michelle and I
love this man, not just because
he's from Chicago. Not just because he and I had
the same hairdo in the 1970s. [laughter] Not just because he's got
that spooky Dorian Gray doesn't-get-older
thing going on. [laughter] It is his spirit,
it is his energy -- which is relentless
and challenging, and he's always
pushing boundaries. Herbie once said of his outlook, "We're going to see
some unbelievable changes. And I would rather be on the
side of pushing for that than waiting for somebody
else to do it." Well, Herbie, we are glad that
you didn't wait for somebody else to do what you've done,
because nobody else could. For always pushing us forward,
we honor Herbie Hancock. [applause] When a 22-year-old
Carlos Santana took the stage at Woodstock, few people outside his
hometown of San Francisco knew who he was. And the feeling was mutual. Carlos was in such a --
shall we say -- altered state of mind that he remembers almost nothing
about the other performers. [laughter and applause] He thought the neck of his
guitar was an electric snake. [laughter] But that did not stop Carlos and
his band from whipping the crowd into a such frenzy with a
mind-blowing mix of blues, and jazz, and R&B,
and Latin music. They'd never heard
anything like it. And almost overnight,
Carlos Santana became a star. It was a pretty steep
climb for a young man who grew up in Mexico, playing the violin
for tourists, charging fifty cents a song. But as a teenager, Carlos
fell in love with the guitar. He developed a distinctive
sound that has drawn admirers from Bob Dylan
to Herbie Hancock. And he gave voice to a Latino
community that had too often been invisible to
too many Americans. "You can cuss or you can pray
with the guitar," Carlos says. He found a way to do both. [laughter] And today, with 10
Grammys under his belt, Carlos is considered one of the
greatest guitarists of all time. And he's still
attracting new fans. Back in 2000,
his album "Supernatural" beat out Britney Spears
and the Backstreet Boys to get to the Number 1
on the charts. Kids were listening to Carlos who hadn't even
heard of Woodstock. But despite all his success, Carlos says he
still feels blessed to "be able to play a
piece of wood with strings and touch people's hearts." So for blessing all
of us with his music, we honor Carlos Santana. [applause] Now, when you first
become President, one of the questions
that people ask you is, what's really going
on in Area 51? [laughter] When I wanted to know,
I'd call Shirley MacLaine. [laughter] I think I just became
the first President to ever publicly
mention Area 51. How's that, Shirley? [laughter and applause] We love Shirley MacLaine. She's unconventional, and that makes her
incomparable -- with nearly 60 years of reign
as one of the most celebrated stars in movie history to prove it. "There are some performers
that are indelible," said one fan about Shirley. "We fall early and we fall hard
for them and we follow them for the rest of their lives." Now, that fan just happens to
be a legend in her own right, who we honored here two
years ago -- Meryl Streep. But Meryl is not the
only one who fell hard. Shirley has been drawing fans,
including me, since -- well, not since she first
lit up the big screen -- because in 1955 she was
in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Trouble with Harry," but she's still spitting
fire with the same old spunk, most recently playing
the American grandma in "Downton Abbey," which Michelle I think
got some early previews for. [laughter] Along the way, Shirley
has racked up just about every Hollywood award
that is out there. That's why her nickname,
"Powerhouse," is so fitting. The truth is Shirley earned that
nickname for hitting the most home runs on the boys' baseball
team when she was a kid. But I'd say that it
still works pretty well to describe her today. And that's because
Shirley MacLaine's career isn't defined by a list of film roles
and musical performances. Through raucous comedies,
and stirring dramas, and spirited musicals,
Shirley has been fearless and she's been honest, and she's tackled
complicated characters, and she's revealed a
grittier, deeper truth in each one of
those characters -- giving every audience
the experience of cinema at its best. It's a motto she has lived by: "Don't be afraid to
go out on a limb. That's where all the fruit is." For her risk-taking,
for her theatrical brilliance, for her limitless
capacity for wonder, we honor this
American powerhouse -- Shirley MacLaine. [applause] And finally, in a world
full of brilliant musicians, there's only one Piano Man. The son of a Jewish father
who left Germany for America to escape the Nazis, Billy Joel
started piano lessons as a boy growing up on Long Island. His father was a
classical pianist, so that was Billy's
training too -- until the night he and millions
of Americans watched The Beatles play the Ed Sullivan Show. Most people thought, "I want
to hear more music like that." But Billy thought, "I want to
make my own music like that." And from then on, it was
all rock and roll to him. With lyrics that
speak of love and class and failure and success, angry young men and the
joy of becoming a father, he's become one of the most
successful musicians in history, selling more than
150 million records. Above all, Billy Joel
sings about America: About the workers
living in Allentown after the factories closed down. About soldiers home from
the war, forever changed, bidding "Goodnight Saigon." Commercial fishermen struggling
to make a living in the waters off of Long Island,
sailing the Downeaster Alexa. The sights and sounds of
that city like no other, which can put anyone in a
"New York State of Mind." And of course,
the rag-tag bunch of regulars at the bar where he started out, shouting at him again and
again to "sing us a song." Billy Joel probably
would have been a songwriter no matter where he was born. But we are certainly lucky
that he ended up here. And the hardworking
folks he's met and the music that he's heard across
our nation come through in every note and every
lyric that he's written. For an artist whose songs
are sung around the world, but which are thoroughly,
wonderfully American, we honor Billy Joel. [applause] So, Martina Arroyo,
Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Shirley MacLaine, Billy Joel -- each of our brilliant honorees
has given us something unique and enriched us beyond measure, as individuals and as a nation. Together they bring us closer
to President Kennedy's vision of the arts as
a great humanizing and truth-telling experience. Their triumphs have lifted our
spirits and lifted our nation and left us a better
and richer place. And for that we will
always be grateful. So we thank you all. God bless you, and please join
me in saluting one more time our remarkable 2013
Kennedy Center Honorees. [applause]
