http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/na ... story.html
Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman to be honored by PEN
When PEN New England handed out its inaugural Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award a few years ago, it set the bar extremely high, honoring Leonard Cohen and Chuck Berry. The dais that Sunday at the JFK Library was loaded with luminaries singing the songwriters’ praises, including Keith Richards, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, Al Kooper, Peter Wolf, and writers Salman Rushdie, Peter Guralnick, and Tom Perrotta. It was a tough act to follow, and when PEN New England didn’t give anyone the award last year we wondered if it ever would again. It will. Monday, the writers group is honoring Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman in a ceremony emceed by Costello and featuring T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, and Allen Toussaint. Alas, there are no tickets available to the public so we’ll report back.
Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
-
sweetest punch
- Posts: 5986
- Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
- Location: Belgium
Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Last edited by sweetest punch on Sun Jun 01, 2014 6:59 am, edited 2 times in total.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
-
sweetest punch
- Posts: 5986
- Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2004 5:49 am
- Location: Belgium
Re: Kris Kristofferson, Randy Newman to be honored by PEN
http://www.pen-ne.org/
2014 Song Lyrics Award honorees are Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman. On June 2nd they will be joined by Master of Ceremonies Elvis Costello and special guests including T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, Allen Toussaint and Peter Wolf.
2014 Song Lyrics Award honorees are Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman. On June 2nd they will be joined by Master of Ceremonies Elvis Costello and special guests including T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, Allen Toussaint and Peter Wolf.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Hopefully they will make the video available as they did when they honored Cohen and Berry last time.
Dave
Dave
-
And No Coffee Table
- Posts: 3524
- Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:57 pm
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
http://twitter.com/JFKLibrary
.@ElvisCostello acts as Master of Ceremonies at this year's @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Award.
T-Bone Burnett, Kris Kristofferson, Roseanne Cash and @ElvisCostello at @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Award. #Boston
@KrisKristofersn being inducted @PENNewEngland award @JFKLibrary.Intros by @ElvisCostello #TBoneBurnett song by @rosannecash Sorry no pic):
Kris Kristofferson, 2014 @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Award honoree, delights our audience with "Me and Bobby McGee."
Kris Kristofferson, in tears, with Elvis Costello, T-Bone, and Rosanne Cash, at PEN Lyrics Awards @JFKLibrary
Lyle Lovett honors @RandyNewman at this years @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Award. #boston
A standing ovation for @RandyNewman and Kris Kristofferson, the 2014 @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Award honorees.
Lyle Lovett testifying about the music of Randy Newman: fearless, benevolent, redemptive #penlyrics
"How Kris Kristofferson Saved My Life," by John Prine: a letter now being read onstage by the Woofa Goofa. #penlyrics
"@RandyNewman has given us permission to think freely and to smile." Lyle Lovett @PENNewEngland #boston
Alan Toussaint performs @RandyNewman's "Louisiana." @PENNewEngland #Boston
.@RandyNewman speaks to our captivated audience at 2014 @PENNewEngland Song Lyrics Awards.
@RandyNewman tells like it is. @JFKLibrary @PENNewEngland .Total chutzpah & hilarity about his 5 kids. Sings "how hard life is"!
.@RandyNewman performs "Karl Marx and Me." @PENNewEngland #Boston
Today's performers take one final curtain call. Congratulations @RandyNewman & Kris Kristofferson! @PENNewEngland
-
And No Coffee Table
- Posts: 3524
- Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:57 pm
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Pics: http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Searc ... =495634189
Social Studies: Musicians sing praises of fellow greats
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
By: Erica Corsano
The JFK Library welcomed PEN New England for its biennial Song Lyrics Award for Literary Excellence yesterday, celebrating the work of honorees Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman.
PEN New England, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a branch of PEN American Center and part of International PEN, the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization.
Award presenters included friends and fellow musicians T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, Allen Toussaint, Peter Wolf and master of ceremonies Elvis Costello.
“Kris is to songwriting what John Steinbeck is to American letters ... no one has been more encouraging to me,” Burnett said. Holding back tears, he added, “God bless you, soul comrade.”
The heartfelt dedications continued as Wolf read notes to Kristofferson and Newman from celeb friends such as James Taylor and Jackson Browne, followed by a heartfelt performance by Cash and Costello as Kristofferson watched and tears flowed.
Costello then asked Kristofferson, “Can we prevail on you to give us a song?”
He wiped the tears from his face, took hold of Costello’s guitar and sang a divinely beautiful version of “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Lovett then took the stage to praise Newman, and Toussaint performed Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” to celebrate the singer songwriter’s remarkable work.
“Listening to a Randy Newman song is like looking in the mirror,” Lovett said. “Randy implores us to look deeper ... to see what’s really going on.”
Onlookers included: producer Christy Cashman, author Tom Perrotta, actor Chris Cooper and his wife, actor and writer Marianne Leone, longtime supporter and former PEN treasurer Esmond Harmsworth, Crashline Productions’ Brian Appel and Mike Snow, PEN’s executive director Karen Wulf, Boston mag editor Carly Carioli and archivist David Bieber.
After accepting his award, Newman said, “I’m enough of a snob to appreciate an award from a literary org like this!” He added, “I’m always surprised and I’m very gratified that people seem to get what I do. ... I do it well enough that they understand that I’m not all bad.”
His comical performance of a song dedicated to Karl Marx had the audience howling.
The ceremony was followed by an uber-private reception in a stunning Back Bay home where org donors mingled with the musicians, who chatted, signed autographs and posed for selfies.
Rosanne Cash tweeted this picture:
Social Studies: Musicians sing praises of fellow greats
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
By: Erica Corsano
The JFK Library welcomed PEN New England for its biennial Song Lyrics Award for Literary Excellence yesterday, celebrating the work of honorees Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman.
PEN New England, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a branch of PEN American Center and part of International PEN, the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization.
Award presenters included friends and fellow musicians T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, Lyle Lovett, Allen Toussaint, Peter Wolf and master of ceremonies Elvis Costello.
“Kris is to songwriting what John Steinbeck is to American letters ... no one has been more encouraging to me,” Burnett said. Holding back tears, he added, “God bless you, soul comrade.”
The heartfelt dedications continued as Wolf read notes to Kristofferson and Newman from celeb friends such as James Taylor and Jackson Browne, followed by a heartfelt performance by Cash and Costello as Kristofferson watched and tears flowed.
Costello then asked Kristofferson, “Can we prevail on you to give us a song?”
He wiped the tears from his face, took hold of Costello’s guitar and sang a divinely beautiful version of “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Lovett then took the stage to praise Newman, and Toussaint performed Newman’s “Louisiana 1927” to celebrate the singer songwriter’s remarkable work.
“Listening to a Randy Newman song is like looking in the mirror,” Lovett said. “Randy implores us to look deeper ... to see what’s really going on.”
Onlookers included: producer Christy Cashman, author Tom Perrotta, actor Chris Cooper and his wife, actor and writer Marianne Leone, longtime supporter and former PEN treasurer Esmond Harmsworth, Crashline Productions’ Brian Appel and Mike Snow, PEN’s executive director Karen Wulf, Boston mag editor Carly Carioli and archivist David Bieber.
After accepting his award, Newman said, “I’m enough of a snob to appreciate an award from a literary org like this!” He added, “I’m always surprised and I’m very gratified that people seem to get what I do. ... I do it well enough that they understand that I’m not all bad.”
His comical performance of a song dedicated to Karl Marx had the audience howling.
The ceremony was followed by an uber-private reception in a stunning Back Bay home where org donors mingled with the musicians, who chatted, signed autographs and posed for selfies.
Rosanne Cash tweeted this picture:
-
And No Coffee Table
- Posts: 3524
- Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:57 pm
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman honored by PEN New England
By Mark Shanahan and Meredith Goldstein | GLOBE STAFF JUNE 03, 2014
Awards ceremonies can sometimes feel perfunctory and off-putting, an occasion to congratulate someone not for the art they create but for the commercial success they enjoy.
There was none of that at Monday’s ceremony at the JFK Library honoring two of America’s greatest lyricists. Indeed, during the 90-minute celebration of songwriters Kris Kristofferson and Randy Newman, there was not a mention of units sold or gold records or Billboard charts. That would be crass.
Instead, the folks at PEN New England, which created the Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award in 2012, are focused on the spectacular effect well-chosen words can have when put to music. Whether lyrics can rise to the level of literature, said PEN New England chairman Richard Hoffman, is a “puny and preposterous question,” as the canon of Kristofferson and Newman makes clear.
If you’re wondering who picks the honorees, it’s a committee whose members know a thing or two about verse and chorus, including Bono, Smokey Robinson, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, poets Paul Muldoon and Natasha Trethewey, music historian Bill Flanagan, and novelist Salman Rushdie. (The inaugural recipients of the award were Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen, meaning it may be time to honor someone of the opposite sex.)
Monday’s honorees were feted with words and music of their own by an A-list lineup that included Costello, Cash, T Bone Burnett, Lyle Lovett, Allen Toussaint, and Peter Wolf, who read admiring missives from the likes of John Prine, Jackson Browne, and James Taylor.
Cash, whose daddy was country legend Johnny Cash, said Kristofferson had been “like family” since she was a little girl. “He knows where all the bodies are buried,” she said, grinning. Accompanied by Costello on acoustic guitar, Cash then sang Kristofferson’s 1971 song “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again).” The song’s author bowed his head and wiped away tears as the last notes faded.
Invited to perform, the 77-year-old country singer, his creased face still plenty handsome, stepped to the microphone and strummed “Me and Bobby McGee,” his best-known song and an enormous hit for onetime girlfriend Janis Joplin. It was the audience’s turn to get emotional.
“That song has never been done better,” Newman said afterward. “I’m so happy I was here for that. You’ll remember that for the rest of your life.”
Newman, whose 40-year career has included a few improbable hits (“Short People” and “I Love L.A.”), two Academy Awards (and 20 nominations), and a trove of smart, satirical songs that has won him the reverence of his peers, seemed to enjoy himself Monday. He told the crowd he’s “just enough of a snob” to relish receiving an award from a literary group.
Lovett said Newman songs like “Rednecks,” about bigotry and the South, are “outrageous and courageous.” Burnett said the song “Sail Away” is “as deft a use of irony as our language has produced,” which is high praise coming from a guy who was Bob Dylan’s guitarist. And Toussaint reminded us what a talented piano player Newman is, performing “Louisiana 1927,” which includes some uncommon chord progressions.
“I’ve heard that song played hundred of times, mostly by me,” deadpanned Newman. “Wow. I’m really touched by that.”
-
And No Coffee Table
- Posts: 3524
- Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:57 pm
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Kris Kristofferson Stuns PEN Awards With Impromptu Performance
Outlaw hero and Randy Newman honored by Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash and Lyle Lovett in Boston
By JAMES SULLIVAN
June 3, 2014 10:50 AM ET
Though he was one of the guests of honor PEN New England's Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Awards, Kris Kristofferson did not seem inclined to serenade the audience: "No, I don't think so," he appeared to mouth when emcee Elvis Costello whispered to him onstage.
Rosanne Cash had just finished singing a pristine version of "Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)," but the irrepressible Costello, who hosted the same ceremony when it honored Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen two years ago, is not so easily denied. Stepping to the microphone, he looked over his shoulder and said with a wink, "Kris, can we prevail upon you to give us a song?"
Kristofferson, still looking like an outlaw movie hero at 77, accepted a guitar and let out an emotional "Woo!" before he ultimately obliged, playing an unaccompanied, suitably weather-beaten version of "Me and Bobby McGee." A few minutes later the afternoon's other honoree, the wily ironist Randy Newman, stepped to the podium and declared with total sincerity, "I'm so happy to have been here for that."
Like the inaugural event, the second songwriters' tribute was a bold-name affair. T Bone Burnett presented Kristofferson's award (a heavy medallion featuring a lyre, symbolizing all literature's roots in song), saying he'd been "an evolutionary step in country music" and had created "a country-and-western religion," before Lyle Lovett paid tribute to Newman's unmatched ability to be "brutally honest" yet "benevolent" in his songs.
"Certainly a song like 'Rednecks' is outrageous," he said, "but it's also courageous." And, he continued, when Newman steps outside his trademark character sketches to write in the direct style of most singer-songwriters, as on his debut album's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," "his honesty is so overwhelming, it makes the rest of us conscious of our own artifice."
This year, honorees were chosen by a committee including Costello, Cash, Bono, Peter Wolf and the writers Salman Rushdie, Paul Muldoon, Natasha Trethewey and Bill Flanagan. They chose the recipients after a lengthy round-table debate, Costello explained, with Bono on speakerphone from London. At one point they forgot the latter was on the line, giving Costello the chance to joke, "It's the longest he's ever been silent."
But for Kristofferson, Newman and their peer-admirers, silence often isn't enough. Given PEN's commitment to human rights, the guests of honor were chosen for more than ability to think up a catchy melody. Burnett, for instance, cited Newman's "Sail Away," a gorgeous song about slave trad,e for "as deft a use of irony as our language has ever produced."
"I'm very grateful people seem to get what I do," Newman said, again setting aside his sardonic default mode. Wondering if he always makes it clear enough that's he's writing in character, he defended himself to the crowd: "I'm not all bad," a line that drew even more laughter from the invitees. In their songs, these two masters may have asked what it means to be bad, but as writers they've been very, very good.
Outlaw hero and Randy Newman honored by Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash and Lyle Lovett in Boston
By JAMES SULLIVAN
June 3, 2014 10:50 AM ET
Though he was one of the guests of honor PEN New England's Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Awards, Kris Kristofferson did not seem inclined to serenade the audience: "No, I don't think so," he appeared to mouth when emcee Elvis Costello whispered to him onstage.
Rosanne Cash had just finished singing a pristine version of "Lovin' Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)," but the irrepressible Costello, who hosted the same ceremony when it honored Chuck Berry and Leonard Cohen two years ago, is not so easily denied. Stepping to the microphone, he looked over his shoulder and said with a wink, "Kris, can we prevail upon you to give us a song?"
Kristofferson, still looking like an outlaw movie hero at 77, accepted a guitar and let out an emotional "Woo!" before he ultimately obliged, playing an unaccompanied, suitably weather-beaten version of "Me and Bobby McGee." A few minutes later the afternoon's other honoree, the wily ironist Randy Newman, stepped to the podium and declared with total sincerity, "I'm so happy to have been here for that."
Like the inaugural event, the second songwriters' tribute was a bold-name affair. T Bone Burnett presented Kristofferson's award (a heavy medallion featuring a lyre, symbolizing all literature's roots in song), saying he'd been "an evolutionary step in country music" and had created "a country-and-western religion," before Lyle Lovett paid tribute to Newman's unmatched ability to be "brutally honest" yet "benevolent" in his songs.
"Certainly a song like 'Rednecks' is outrageous," he said, "but it's also courageous." And, he continued, when Newman steps outside his trademark character sketches to write in the direct style of most singer-songwriters, as on his debut album's "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," "his honesty is so overwhelming, it makes the rest of us conscious of our own artifice."
This year, honorees were chosen by a committee including Costello, Cash, Bono, Peter Wolf and the writers Salman Rushdie, Paul Muldoon, Natasha Trethewey and Bill Flanagan. They chose the recipients after a lengthy round-table debate, Costello explained, with Bono on speakerphone from London. At one point they forgot the latter was on the line, giving Costello the chance to joke, "It's the longest he's ever been silent."
But for Kristofferson, Newman and their peer-admirers, silence often isn't enough. Given PEN's commitment to human rights, the guests of honor were chosen for more than ability to think up a catchy melody. Burnett, for instance, cited Newman's "Sail Away," a gorgeous song about slave trad,e for "as deft a use of irony as our language has ever produced."
"I'm very grateful people seem to get what I do," Newman said, again setting aside his sardonic default mode. Wondering if he always makes it clear enough that's he's writing in character, he defended himself to the crowd: "I'm not all bad," a line that drew even more laughter from the invitees. In their songs, these two masters may have asked what it means to be bad, but as writers they've been very, very good.
-
And No Coffee Table
- Posts: 3524
- Joined: Thu Aug 21, 2003 2:57 pm
-
Top balcony
- Posts: 923
- Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:48 pm
- Location: Liverpool
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
As good an excuse as any to post a link to this marvellous performance of the wonderful April 5th: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cldEvQP_ ... e=youtu.be
Colin Top Balcony
Colin Top Balcony
-
Top balcony
- Posts: 923
- Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2006 5:48 pm
- Location: Liverpool
-
The imposter
- Posts: 600
- Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2003 4:37 am
- Location: Permanent Vacation
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
Any sign of a recording of this year's event ?
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
The Boston Globe's images of the week include -
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/0 ... cture.html
JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF
Light shone on musician Elvis Costello's hat during the PEN New England Award for Literary Excellence event at the JFK Library in Dorchester.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/0 ... cture.html
JESSICA RINALDI/GLOBE STAFF
Light shone on musician Elvis Costello's hat during the PEN New England Award for Literary Excellence event at the JFK Library in Dorchester.
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
That is a GREAT picture.
Re: Elvis MC at Kristofferson and Newman honoration by PEN
The PEN class of 2014