In a rare move, Harlem’s Apollo Theater has been named a Kennedy Center Honoree

WASHINGTON (AP) — This yr’s group of Kennedy Center Honors recipients includes an iconoclastic movie legend and considered one of the world’s most iconic music artists.

Director Francis Ford Coppola and the Grateful Dead can be honored for his or her lifetime achievement in the humanities, as will jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, blues legend Bonnie Raitt and the legendary Harlem theater The Apollo, which launched generations of black artists.

The forty seventh Kennedy Center class can be honored with a night of tributes, testimonies and performances on December 8 on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The ceremony will air on CBS on December 23.

The Grateful Dead began in Sixties San Francisco as a folk quintet but eventually evolved into a cultural phenomenon and probably the most successful touring groups of all time.

Fueled by the carnival atmosphere of Deadhead’s traveling fans and an ethos that encouraged tape-swapping and emphasized live over studio performances, the Dead have spanned multiple generations and remain wildly popular. Lead guitarist and founding member Jerry Garcia died in 1995, however the band continues to tour almost constantly in lots of incarnations.

“There are a lot of ingredients to it,” drummer Mickey Hart said when asked concerning the music’s longevity. “Fans say that the shows are like home. It gives them a sense of connection, community, joy and love for life and music.”

The band, now called Dead and Company with guitarist John Mayer replacing Garcia, is within the midst of a months-long run at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Coppola, 85, established himself as a pioneering filmmaker, winning five Oscars and earning a popularity as an ambitious artist willing to risk his popularity and funds for his vision. Even after the massive successes of “The Godfather” and its sequel, Coppola nearly bankrupted himself while making “Apocalypse Now,” which proved to be one other classic.

He sometimes wondered if he had stirred up an excessive amount of emotion along the option to being honored with the Kennedy Center Honors.

“I’ve been eligible for the award for the last 20 years, so the fact that I never got it made me feel like maybe I never would,” said Coppola, who attended fellow director Martin Scorsese’s inauguration in 2007. “I just assumed I wouldn’t win it, so it was a surprise and a joy to hear that I had been selected.”

Coppola, who has been producing wine from his vineyards in Northern California for greater than 40 years, didn’t fail to say one other winner from Northern California this yr.

“And it’s a great pleasure to be there this year with the Grateful Dead, my colleagues from San Francisco,” he said. “I’m very delighted and pleased.”

Featured Stories

Sandoval, 74, rose to fame as a musician in his native Cuba, playing piano and drums but specializing in trumpet. His work brought him into contact with jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, who championed his music and personally helped him escape from Cuba while on tour in Europe in 1990. Shortly after his escape, Sandoval performed at his mentor Gillespie’s Kennedy Center Honors.

“Apart from being modest, I think I deserve it. I’ve worked so hard for so many years,” Sandoval told the Associated Press. “It’s a huge honor and I feel completely overwhelmed. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I’m just a little farmer from Cuba. God has been so good to me.”

Raitt’s memories of the Kennedy Center Honors date back to the Nineteen Seventies, when she accompanied her father, Broadway performer John Raitt, to a tribute to composer Richard Rogers.

“I had the opportunity to visit the White House and meet with the Carters,” said Raitt, 74. “It was the first time I felt what this weekend really meant.”

As an adult artist, Raitt experienced the opposite side of the Kennedy Center Honors equation: performing as a part of tribute to Mavis Staples in 2016 and Buddy Guy in 2012. Those performances are sometimes kept a secret from the recipients themselves, and Raitt said she will’t wait to see who organizers select in her honor.

“I really, really want to be surprised and I don’t want to know anything,” she said.

Raitt has received a slew of music awards over her 50-year profession, including 13 Grammy Awards and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone magazine has named her considered one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists and 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. But Raitt said the Kennedy Center Honors status holds a special place since it encompasses all points of the performing arts, including all types of music, dance and performance.

“The thing that puts (the Kennedy Center Honors) over the top is that it’s a cultural event,” she said. “It’s hard for me to even fathom what that means.”

It’s rare for the Kennedy Center Honors to decide on a venue quite than a performer. But the Apollo’s ninety-year history as an incubator for generations of black talent has made it an exception.

“This is certainly not a traditional honor,” said Michelle Ebanks, president and CEO of the theater, who cited the recent introduction of “Sesame Street” as a similarly unconventional selection. “We are absolutely thrilled to receive this honor.”

Historic Harlem has served as a testing ground for black artists from Billie Holiday, James Brown and Stevie Wonder to contemporary artists like Lauryn Hill. This yr, the theater moved its events to a recent location down the road, called The Apollo Stages on the Victoria Theater, while the unique venue undergoes renovations and expansions.

“It’s more than just theater. It’s a cultural touchstone … rooted in the Harlem community,” Ebanks said. “It’s really a recognition of a collective passion. … Over the decades, The Apollo has never stood still.”