Kennedy Center Honors

Washington -- Only during the weekend of the Kennedy Center Honors is one likely to find legendary tap dancer Fayard Nicholas hoofing it up for cameras in the lobby of the State Department. Or Gregory Peck holding forth at the White House. Or Congress and Cabinet types jostling to get an audience with the likes of Lauren Bacall, Carol Burnett, Patti LuPone or Martin Scorcese.In fact, only during this annual weekend of glitter and glamour -- capped by last night's star-packed show of music and dance at the Kennedy Center attended by the President and Mrs. Bush -- does official Washington seem to be awe-struck by something other than itself.

STARS from the worlds of opera, theater, film, music and dance have converged in Washington, D.C., for what has become a tradition the last 13 years: the bestowing of the Kennedy Center honors.The five artists honored last night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for their cultural contributions to the nation are the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, the actress Katharine Hepburn, the mezzo-soprano Rise Stevens, the composer Jule Styne and the film director and writer Billy Wilder.

Every year around this time, television earns itself a little class by airing the Kennedy Center Honors, a tribute to the best performing arts talent this country has to offer. This year's edition, set for tonight on CBS, gets the class stuff right but, for the most part, lacks the poignancy and emotion needed to make the evening something special.In fact, the tributes to Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman and Edward Villella seem almost rushed, as though the show's producers have to get somewhere.

BETTY COMDEN, 89 Broadway lyrics writer Betty Comden, whose more than 60-year collaboration with Adolph Green produced the classic New York stage musical On the Town, as well as Singin' in the Rain, died of heart failure Thursday in New York City. On Broadway, Miss Comden and Mr. Green worked most successfully with composers Leonard Bernstein, Jule Styne and Cy Coleman. The duo wrote lyrics and often the books for more than a dozen shows, many of them built around such stars as Rosalind Russell, Judy Holliday, Phil Silvers, Carol Burnett and Lauren Bacall.

Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro lunched at a Harbor East restaurant Saturday. De Niro had an early afternoon meal with actor and restaurateur Chazz Palminteri at his six-month old establishment Chazz: A Bronx Original in the 1400 block of Aliceanna St., according to restaurant spokeswoman Marianne Ortiz. De Niro was accompanied by several other guests, she said. He was on his way to Washington for the Kennedy Center Honors, scheduled for Sunday. Also present for the meal were Sergio and Alessandro Vitale, who run the business with Palminteri.

Public works director dies George L. Winfield, director of Baltimore's Department of Public Works and a veteran city employee, died after suffering a stroke. Pianist Leon Fleisher honored Peabody Conservatory faculty member and renowned pianist Leon Fleisher was given the Kennedy Center Honors, one of the nation's highest awards for the arts. Long and short of utilities The Public Service Commission predicted shortages and rising electric rates unless partial re-regulation is imposed.

As reported in the Baltimore Sun and elsewhere, Robert De Niro had lunch on Saturday at Chazz: A Bronx Original, the Harbor East restaurant opened this summer by his friend, the actor Chazz Palminteri. De Niro was traveling on Saturday from Philadelphia, where he's filming a movie, to Washington, D.C., for the annual Kennedy Center Honors. I was at the restaurant when De Niro visited, with a dog's-eye view of the excitement. Actually it was less exciting than sweet. Palminteri and his Baltimore partners, the Vitale family, were obviously delighted that De Niro, a noted restaurateur in his own right, was coming for a visit.

Baltimoreans have long acknowledged the city's good fortune in having pianist Leon Fleisher in residence at the Peabody Conservatory. Though not a native, he has made the city his home for 48 years and has enhanced Baltimore's cultural scene and reputation through teaching, conducting and, most notably, performing over these many years, even as he struggled to overcome a debilitating affliction of his right hand. But his talent has reached far beyond the borders of his adopted city - and his receipt of a Kennedy Center Honors award last weekend confirmed that.

Because TV isn't "counting the house" this week -- ratings don't matter much until after the New Year -- the networks can put on programming with high ambitions but relatively low ratings potential. They can -- and tonight, some of them even do.* "TV Nation: Year-in-Review Special" (8-9 p.m., Channel 4) -- Great news for "TV Nation" fans: This isn't a collection of old "TV Nation" clips. Bad news for some: It's blacked out on Channel 2.It's an all-new special looking back on what, by any yardstick, was a rather amazing year.

Gregory named successor to Russert on 'Press' David Gregory's new job as moderator of Meet the Press was made official yesterday with an announcement on the long-running NBC interview program that he will take over starting next week. The 38-year-old chief White House correspondent was introduced by Tom Brokaw, who stepped in as temporary host in June after the death of Tim Russert, the program's moderator since 1991. "I've thought a lot about what it means to succeed somebody like Tim Russert," Gregory told viewers.