Julie Andrews introduced Burnett as an old friend who "seems to bring out some devil in me." Andrews joined Scott Bakula, John Schneider, Elaine Stritch, Kim Cattrall, Florence Henderson, Tim Conway and Bernadette Peters, who came onstage wearing costumes from "The Carol Burnett Show" and sang a musical tribute culminating in the show's theme song.

Alan Alda said Perlman "plays the violin as if it could come alive, and it does." Fellow violinist Pinchas Zuckerman led a group of students from the New York-based Perlman Music Program in a performance of Vivaldi's "Summer" from "The Four Seasons." [AP]

The Kennedy Center Honors website has nice bios on the honorees:

James Brown:

Soul Brother Number One, the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, Mr. Dynamite-all these titles describe just one man. James Brown is arguably the most influential African-American musician in popular music in the past half-century and one of the most dynamic, exhilarating performers of our time. Singer Bonnie Raitt has said, "You couldn't even list how many people have been influenced by him. In the Mount Rushmore of musical figures, he'd definitely be on it."

Brown, with his impassioned vocals born of gospel and the complex rhythms of his beat, was at the forefront of not one but two major musical revolutions and has contributed invaluably to a third: In the 1960s he turned R&B into soul and a decade later reinvented his own invention when he turned soul into funk. And his music continues to be as influential as ever, as his recordings are sampled by innumerable rap and hip-hop performers. "Single-handedly, he has been the epitome of soul music," said Chuck D of Public Enemy, one of dozens of rap groups to use Brown's groundbreaking beats.

Brown is the recipient of the American Music Awards Award of Merit, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

James Brown's life is a classic show business rags-to-riches fairy tale, with the prerequisite hard times in between. Born into poverty in the South, Brown ended up singing, dancing, and playing piano, drums, and guitar on the streets to help support his family. Though his formal education ended in seventh grade, Brown learned about gospel, and by the time he was twenty he had joined a gospel group with singer Bobby Byrd, originally knows as the Avons and then as the Flames. He changed the focus of the group from gospel to R&B as the sound of rock and roll began to dominate the airwaves, and in 1956 they had their first hit, "Please, Please, Please." His mesmerizing onstage performances became instant classics. The blood curling screams, the flying splits, the dropping to the knee, the one-legged skate made him the star attraction and became his lifetime trademarks. His name had to be added to that of the band: James Brown and the Famous Flames.....