Yo-Yo Ma 'Finger-Synched' Inauguration Gig

John Williams will compose new music for Obama's landmark occasion

(NEWSER) - Aretha Franklin will participate in Barack Obama’s inauguration next month, the New York Times reports, with the Queen of Soul hitting the stage after evangelical leader Rick Warren gives the invocation. Obama has also commissioned composer John Williams to write a new piece of music for the ceremony—to be performed by a star-studded quartet featuring Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. More»

Technology 'cut the driver out of the picture,' says taxi boss

(NEWSER) - GPS technology reunited a violinist with the $600,000 instrument he left in a New York cab yesterday, the Times reports. After Korean musician Hanh-Bin left a vehicle without his 18th-century instrument, the Taxi and Limousine Commission was able to find it in less than an hour, using the cab’s GPS transmitters and Hanh-Bin’s route to figure out which car the musician took. More»

Ceremonies fully funded by trinkets, donations

(AP) - Barack Obama's inauguration fundraisers had no problem capitalizing on a hot market for keepsakes. Obama-themed clothing, jewelry, rulers, and piggy banks raked in a grant total of $2 million for the inaugural committee. Even before the tchotchke change, the committee was already debt-free—the $53 million in individual donations disclosed earlier this week put total fundraising well ahead of the $50 million cost of the swearing-in. More»

(NEWSER) - Aretha Franklin’s inauguration hat has been mercilessly mocked by some, but lots of people want one of their very own. The Detroit millinery where Franklin has been a customer for 20 years has been flooded with calls for orders, the AP reports. But Aretha wannabes soon learn that the hand-molded $500 hat isn't for sale—it was custom-designed for her. Instead, customers can order a slightly different version for $179. More»

Tongue-in-cheek column mocks critics

(NEWSER) - You might be euphoric after Barack Obama’s inauguration, but “not everyone feels the ‘Obama high,’” writes Lloyd Garver on the Huffington Post. These “Democrat-haters” who “enjoy puncturing balloons of hope” probably viewed Inauguration Day through slightly less rose-colored glasses than you did: For one thing, “How bad was that inaugural poem? It didn't even rhyme. And Aretha Franklin's hat looked like something Dick Cheney tried to shoot.” More»